Papers of Will Rogers : Wild West and Vaudeville, April 1904-September 1908, Volume Two - Hardcover

Rogers Jr., Will

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0806132671 ISBN 13: 9780806132679

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000

Synopsis

The stage career of Will Rogers, one of America’s most influential humorists, began to take shape during the years covered by this documentary history, the second volume in The Papers of Will Rogers.

Between 1904 and 1908, Rogers made the transition from Wild West shows to the vaudeville stage. During these early years, he developed and polished his act, blending his homespun humor with his cowboy skills of roping and horseback riding to the delight of his audience. At the same time he began courting Betty Blake, his future wife. Their on-again, off-again relationship matured as Rogers was realizing his goal of making a career in show business.

Along with Rogers’s personal correspondence, Arthur Frank Wertheim and Barbara Bair present theater programs, performance reviews, and newspaper clippings, all providing detailed snapshots of vaudeville at the beginning of the twentieth century. Much of this material, gleaned from private collections, interviews, and theater-arts collections in New York City and across the country, has never before been published in any form.

About this title

About the Author:

Arthur Frank Wertheim is the editor of Will Rogers at the Ziegfeld Follies (University of Oklahoma Press). Barbara Bair is Documentary Editor for the Jane Addams Papers Project, History Department, Duke University. Wertheim and Bair are co-editors of The Papers of Will Rogers: Volume One, November 1879-April 1904 (University of Oklahoma Press).

Review:

"The thorough going critical accouterments of this work, the precise essays marshaling evidence about the available documents are a treasure trove for scholars and excellent in themselves. Jump into the texts themselves and become acquainted with one of the most beloved and original Americans of all time". -- The Reader's Review

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0806132671
• ISBN 13: 9780806132679
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 592
• Editor: Wertheim Arthur Frank, Bair Barbara