Roy Rogers and Me

nostalgia

“ HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU" - AN END OF AN ERA The young guns may not understand the meaning of this, but you should!! Cuzzin Ricky The Roy Rogers Museum in Branson, MO has closed its doors forever. The contents of the museum were sold at a public auction. Roy Rogers told his son, if the museum ever operates at a loss, close it And sell the contents. He complied. Note the follow-on article truly the end of an era. Here is a partial listing of some of the items that were sold at  auction... Roy 's 1964 Bonneville sold for $254,500, it was estimated to Sell between 100 and 150 thousand dollars. [Continued] I'm not sure why people should "understand the meaning of this," but it has plenty of meaning for me.  Namely, because of my first name, I was always Roy Rogers in guns.  I was nuts over Roy, and have two remembrances of his impact on me.  One was when  our Gramma and Grandpa West took us to a drive-in movie to see a Roy Rogers film.  This was rural Indiana, ca 1948. I had never been to a drive-in movie.  Never even heard of the concept. This one was little more than a big screen in a cornfield somewhere around Jasonville, but I was awed.  The second memory can be pinpointed to a date and time certain. Sunday, December 30, 1951.  That was the Sunday premier date for the Roy Rogers television show, and I was so excited I couldn't stand it.  However, I know it wasn't all that cold out because my mom went looking for me.  She found me under the front porch playing doctor with a girl down the street, whose name I forget, if I ever knew it.   I was caught in flagrante delicto—well—not me so much as the girl, who the patient.  So intent was I with the examination (that involved a toy whistle) that I failed to hear her.  She grabbed my rudely around the shirt neck and dragged my into the yard.  But that wasn't the worst part.  The worst part was that as punishment I couldn't watch Roy Rogers that day.  The Premier, and I couldn't watch it.  My sister stuck her tongue out; sign language for "ha-ha, I can watch and you can't."  I tried to peek from out my bedroom door, and I think mom allowed me to watch the opening "Shot From Oats" sequence,  just to drive home what I would be missing before warning me that if I persisted I'd never watch the show, ever,  and they'd sell the television.  I cried myself to sleep. All this was before re-runs, and certainly VCRs, so I never did see that first show.  A trauma so great that I am able to recall it today, 64 years later. I was 23 years old.  Just kidding. Did I learn a lesson?  LOL.