WILL ROGERS AT FOX

Folksy comedy at Fox meant Will Rogers. Rogers was Fox's first important star in the sound era.

A cowboy philosopher, cracker-barrel humorist, actor, and news commentator, Rogers was one of the

best-loved Americans of his time. Starting out in show business in 1904, he performed roping acts and

cowboy tricks in wild-west shows. Moving to vaudeville, he embellished his act with humorous comments

expressed in an Oklahoma drawl. His Broadway career reached its zenith in 1917 when he became a star

attraction in the Ziegfeld Follies. Performing off and on there until 1925, "his home-spun philosophy and

cracker-barrel wit made him a surprising hit with New Yorkers: he spoke with seeming sincerity and

without malice. He was Mr. Everyman—it was soon realized that he spoke for Mr. Joe Public."¹⁴⁴ In 1922,

Rogers started writing a series of syndicated articles for the New York Times that were carried by some

350 newspapers with an estimated 40 million readers.

Rogers's stage character was transferred directly to the screen. The formula for his pictures was simple.

What Variety said about HANDY ANDY (David Butler, 1934) can apply to just about all his pictures:

"There's no doubt or hesitation about this one; it's all Will Rogers and all box office. There isn't any sophistication

and there isn't any sheen—just Will Rogers." An insight into his act is found in Variety's review of

LIGHTNIN' (Henry King, 1930):

There is a scene where Lightnin' [Will Rogers] discourses solemnly with a bevy of fluttering Reno divorcees the ins and outs of alimony, and it's a gem for homely philosophy. There's also Lightnin's epic tale of how he "drove a swarm of bees across the prairie in the dead of winter without losing a single bee." The play is a mine of artless nonsense of the same sort, rising to the final scene, old Bill in court, where his devoted but headstrong wife has been inveigled into a divorce suit. Here is a bit of action that plays unerringly upon the heartstrings, with Rogers handling it for every ounce of appeal. (VFR, 3 December 1930)

Two of Rogers's pictures made it to Film Daily's Ten Best and to Variety's list of hits, STATE FAIR (Henry King, 1933) and JUDGE PRIEST (John Ford, 1934). FAIR, his greatest success, was adapted from Phil Stong's best-seller by play-wright Paul Green and Sonya Levien and featured Janet Gaynor and Lew Ayres. Said Variety,

Henry King has nicely caught the spirit of the simple story and has turned in a production that has the charm of naturalness and the virtue of sincerity. No villain, little suspense, but a straightforward story of a rural family who find their great moments at the state fair, where paterfamilias captures the title for his prize hog, the mother makes a clean sweep in the pickle entries, the boy gets his first vicarious but satisfying taste of romance, and the girl finds a more lasting love. … State Fair promises to be a winner all the way down the line. (VFR, 31 January 1933)

After Rogers's death in 1935, Shirley Temple kept sentimental comedy alive at Fox for the remainder of the decade.

Tino Balio, Grand Design, 260-62