Quoting the funny Will Rogers - Part 1:

“There's two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither one works.”

“I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.”

“I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!”

“There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.”

“The taxpayers are sending congressmen on expensive trips abroad. It might be worth it except they keep coming back!”

“Everything is changing. People are taking the comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.”

“Always drink upstream from the herd.”

“Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?”

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William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers . . . born November 4, 1879 . . . was an American comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer and actor.

He was born on the Dog Iron Ranch in Indian Territory, in what would later become the state of Oklahoma. His father was Clement Vann Rogers (1839-1911) and his mother was Mary America Schrimsher, both of whom had Cherokee heritage. He used to quip that "My ancestors didn't come over on the Mayflower, but they met the boat." He attended Kemper Military School (in Boonville, MO) until the 10th grade.

As a young man, Rogers loved the cowboy ways, yet had not settled into any definite career path. In March 1902, he traveled to England in a round-about way of securing passage for Argentina, where from May 1902 he spent five months seeking a career with the gauchos of the Argentine pampas. Later in 1902, the still-restless Rogers sailed for South Africa, where he took a job breaking in horses for the British Army. While in South Africa, he began his show business career as a trick roper in "Texas Jack's Wild West Circus", billed as "The Cherokee Kid". He held the record for throwing three lasos at one time.

Returning to the U.S. by continuing to perform as a 'Wild West' show performer and trick roper with the Wirth Brothers Circus, Rogers began to try his roping skills on the American Vaudeville circuits.

Although he began by doing only roping tricks (including roping live horses with 2 or more ropes on stage), his wry comments after missing a trick also found favor with audiences. He began working more jokes into his act, yet still concentrated on his top-notch roping abilities.

The key event in Rogers' stage career was his securing a one-week engagement in New York, in the fall of 1915, for showman Florenz Ziegfeld's "Midnight Frolic." This variety revue, beginning at midnight in the top-floor night club of Ziegfeld's New Amsterdam Theatre, drew many influential — and regular — customers. This meant that Rogers could not simply repeat his act each night, as he had done for years of 'one-nighters' in different cities. He made use of his appetite for reading the news of the day by working up comic commentary on news and newsmakers.

Rogers' monologues on the news of the day followed a similar routine every night. He would appear on stage in his cowboy outfit, nonchalantly twirling his lasso, and say, "Well, what shall I talk about? I ain't got anything funny to say. All I know is what I read in the papers." He would then make jokes about what he had read in that day's newspapers. (This line -- "All I know is what I read in the papers." -- is often misquoted as Rogers' most famous punch line. In fact, it was his opening line.)

The one-week spot ran on into 1916, and Rogers' obvious popularity resulted in an offer to be one of the comic acts on the more-famous "Ziegfeld Follies." Ziegfeld saw comedians as mere 'stage-fillers' who entertained the audience while the stage was reset for the next spectacle of beautiful girls in stunning costumes. Rogers managed to not only hold his own, but to achieve star status, with both his roping and his precise satire on the daily news. He did this while competing with fellow "Follies" acts such as W. C. Fields, Bert Williams, and Fanny Brice. Rogers would eventually appear in most of the "Follies" from 1916 to 1925.

- Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia               Read more > > >

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