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CHAPTER 1 Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Symbols ofthe Mythic American West For more than sixty years Roy Rogers and Dale Evans entertained the American West. From their public appearances, films, recordings, and radio and television performances they molded images that personify American, particularly Western, traditions and values . Their appeal transcended age and gender as millions ofAmericans, both young and old, male and female, idolized them to the point that they became legendary. Despite their celebrity status, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans maintained a common touch and retained a strong sense of their own histories-two factors that in themselves might explain their continuing popularity and influence. Their western identity is so strong with twentieth-century Americans that mention of their names evokes immediate recognition and mental images of the romantic and imaginary West. I In that mythical West, Roy Rogers on horseback, toting a gun and a guitar, riding through exotic movie locales singing romantic cowboy ballads, has a nostalgic appeal to millions of Americans. Dale Evans portrayed an independent woman in the same magical locales, prompting audiences to believe that western heroines were more than passive, dependent females. Together in their performances, Rogers and Evans possessed a special chemistry that permitted them to show an American West that was optimistic, lighthearted, and musical. Rogers and Evans combined not only their professional careers but their personal lives as well. Married for more than fifty years, they successfully meshed the raising of a large family with exceedingly busy professional lives. On occasion, the Rogers children performed with their parents at state fairs, sang with the couple on recordings, or acted in their television adventure series. Currendy, the Rogers children and grandchildren continue to perpetuate the Rogers-Evans legacy. They run the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum and oversee other family projects. Three of the Rogerses' granddaughters (Mindy Peterson, Candie Halberg, and Julie Ashley) have formed a vocal trio called the Rogers Legacy, and a grandson, Rob Johnson, has a musical group known as Heritage. Rogers and Evans's determined efforts to incorporate their children into their professional activities came from a strong sense of family befitting their roles as fictive American frontier personalities. 3 Copyrighted Material 4 King of the Cowboys, Queen of the West A vital part of Rogers and Evans's family life was their deeply held Christian beliefs. In their radio and television dramas, their rodeo performances, and some aspects of their music, Rogers and Evans meshed Christian beliefs with their interpretation of the historical and mythical American West. Combining family and Christian values with western adventure struck a responsive chord among American parents during the 1950s and may partially explain why Rogers and Evans's partnership worked so well. Indeed, the combination of their personal and professional lives brought the couple a success that they probably would never have achieved as individual performers. Rogers and Evans's dual professional life began in 1944 when they first starred together in the Republic Western The Cowboy and the Senorita. Prior to that film, they had worked hard to perfect their talents and skills individually. Indeed, the development of these skills began when he was a boy growing up in southern Ohio and she was a child in her native Texas and in Arkansas. A look at their early lives and careers adds to the understanding of their combined careers as western performers. Roy Rogers, born Leonard Frank Slye in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 5,1911, had roots deep in southeastern and midwestern America.2 The third of four children born to Andrew and Mattie Slye, Leonard Slye grew up with his three sisters, Mary, Cleda, and Kathleen, on a houseboat docked at Portsmouth, Ohio, and on a farm in the nearby area of Duck Run, Ohio. His parents and his childhood experiences shaped and molded the talents and the character that became evident in his later public life. Both his mother and father were determined, hard-working people who instilled the same values in their son and encouraged his curiosity about life and his compassion for living things. Moreover, they introduced him to a world of music. Although the Slyes worked hard, they also found time for relaxation. Music was especially important to the family, and Leonard began playing stringed instruments at an early age, learning mainly from his parents. Andrew was a self-taught guitarist and mandolin player who had performed on a showboat and with his four brothers at square dances throughout Ohio. Mattie played stringed...

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