Autographed "Cowboy Princess" Books

When Cheryl Rogers' book, Cowboy Princess, came out several years ago, I couldn't wait to read it. I got it from the library as soon as they had a copy and it soon became one of my favorite Roy and Dale books. She has such a great style. Like she is talking to you alone. She remembers a lot about the earlier days with her parents and she tells a lot of stories. Her chapter about Trigger is great, as she remembers getting to ride Trigger around unaccompanied.


Sadly the book went out of print very soon and I couldn't find an affordable copy. Then I discovered that Cheryl has a personal website and that she was selling copies of it. AND she would autograph it for you! Swell! Sarah and I decided to buy ourselves a present and we ordered them. They arrived last week and are absolutely wonderful. Beautifully autographed and personalized. We couldn't be happier. This is definitely a book that I will read over and over.

If anyone is interested in getting a copy, here is the link to her website.

Pt. 3 - Roy Rogers' Favorite Christmas Story

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night."

After Mary and Joseph, the animals in the stable were the first to see Him, in His swadling clothes. . . . The animals - then the shepherds from the hills. The shepherds were the first men to come. The people in the courtyard may have looked in at Him and smiled, and gone away never knowing what they had seen, but the shepherds came, and they came because they knew, and they came to worship. Out on the hillsides, watching their sheep, they had heard a great strange music. . . .

The shepherds heard the angels sing: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will . . . " Peace? For the shepherds, who got kicked around by everybody? Good will? Who had anything good to say about a shepherd? You were really out of luck, if you had to watch sheep for a living; that was about as far dwn as you could go. But my Bible says the shepherds heard it first, and that they came first to worship the little King who would make them the equals of anyone in the world. They had waited a long, long time for this night - ever since Abraham was a shepherd in Ur, ever since David was a shepherd in Bethlehem, believing what the angels had told them. They came first because they were the first to understand that this was the Good Shepherd . . .

They were poor, so they couldn't have brought any Christmas presents - oh, maybe a little milk, or wool, or a baby lamb. But their gifts weren't important. They brought themselves. It was all the Baby would have wanted from them. Did you ever stop to think, at Christmas, that the only gift He wants from you is you? Christmas is giving time - time for giving ourselves.

We don't think enough about those shepherds. We talk about how they came to Bethlehem; how about looking how they left Bethlehem? They left it "glorifying and praising God" - and man, that's important. I'll bet they sang all the way home. Anyone who meets Jesus Christ goes away singing.

Something happened to the shepherds. They didn't go home and sit around the rest of their lives dreaming about what happened that night. They told everybody about it, and "all who heard about it wondered." It figures. They had to tell everybody. I never knew a happy man who was a quiet man, who could keep his mouth shut about whatever was making him happy.

Christmas is telling time - wondering time. Wonder enough about it, and you'll know, and you'll tell about it. . . .

P. 2 - Roy Rogers' Favorite Christmas Story

"But thou, Bethlehem . . . though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel. . . ." Mary knew this. She knew her Baby was the Promised One, the One promised by the prophets and the Book and God. She knew she was the blessed "handmaid of the Lord," through whom the Son would come.

That's what fascinates me about Christmas. It isn't just a day to pass around presents to everybody, or one day in the year when you're nice to everybody whether you love 'em or loathe 'em; this is the day God Almighty chose to give us His only begotten Son, through Mary of Nazareth. How can we miss that?

Most of the folks in Bethlehem missed it, when poor frantic Joseph knocked on the door of a little inn and asked for a room. . . .

". . . there was no room for them at the inn."

"And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger. . . . "

So the Baby was born in the cold, unfriendly night, in a cave cut in the side of a hill, in a bed of straw, in a stable. In Bethlehem, when you ask to see the place where Christ was born, you are taken to a little rock-bound room. There is a big stone church built above it now, with great high beautiful pillars and alters with gold and silver and precious stones, but people who go there now never pay much attention to that. They hurry through the church and take little candles in their hands and go down a flight of narrow twisting stone stairs worn smooth by the feet of saints and sinners and scholars and common folks, into the little rock cave underneath the floor of the church. They stand there hushed, some of them with big tears running down their cheeks, and they look down at the big golden star set in the floor to mark the place where the manger was, where He was born. Princes and paupers come, high and low, good and bad, just to stand for a few minutes where the innkeeper tried to turn Joseph and ary and the Baby away. They come into the place through a door that's only four feet high, so low that you have to bow to get through it. No matter who or what they are, they bow as they approach the manger.

You stand there, and all the world stands still around you, and you hear nothing and see nothing but the Baby in the feeding-box where the oxen came to eat, and if you've got a heart, it breaks. That's Christmas to me: standing at the manger. . . .

Pt. 1 - Roy Rogers' Favorite Christmas Story

As the Christmas Season approaches, I thought I would take some excerpts from Roy Rogers' book, "My Favorite Christmas Story". This is a hard book to find and Roy didn't write vary many books. So, Keep a look out for other posts, and find out Roy's thoughts on Christmas.

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king . . . "

That was about two thousand years ago, and it happened 'way off in a little town in one of the smallest countries in the world. . . . Funny, isn't it, that people all over the world this year will be thinking and talking about Bethlehem and the Baby born there? Or maybe it isn't so funny, at that; God planned it that way. . . .

We'll all be singing about Jesus, but nobody will be singing about Herod, the "king of Judea." There was a mean polecat, that Herod. He was one of those ornery characters who will do anything to get what he wants. He wanted to be a king, and he really went after it, with his guns out of both holsters.He murdered his favorite wife (he had ten wives, and I guess that was one thing that was the matter with him), her brother and her grandfather, and some of his own children; he bribed anybody low enough to be bribed, among the politicians, and he killed anybody he couldn't buy, to get that throne. It's a good thing he didn't have a six-shooter or a machine gun; there wouldn't have been anybody left.He was mean, and deadly, and so were the Romans who were running the world and Judea, right then. The Roman Emperor probably didn't like like the little murderous upstart, but he knew a determined man when he saw one, so he said to this little Hitler, "All right - you can be king of Judea" (Judea was only about fifty-five miles long and fifty-five wide, smaller than the state of Delaware, which looks like a pretty small kingdom to me.) . . .

That's how Herod got his little sawed-off kingdom. He got to be "king of the Jews," and every Jew from Dan to Beersheba hated him like we hate a rattlesnake. (Herod wasn't a Jew, even though he was born in Palestine; he was an Edomite, and no Jew ever liked any Edomite.). . .

That's the way things were, "when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king." There was fear and terror and bitterness and blood all over the place. And poverty. There wasn't enough freedom to put in a ten-gallon hat; it was all blood and sweat and toil and tears. And taxes.

God got tired of Herod along about A.D. 4, and took him out of the way. That's a habit God has; He seems to let the big bloody tyrants and trigger-men go just so far, and then - out! He took Herod, but just before he died the old rascal put on a real spectacular. He heard that a new "king" had been born in Bethlehem . . . and he figured that while this "king" might be no king at all . . . he couldn't afford to take any chances. No king likes a rival king. So he ordered his soldiers to go out and kill every baby in Bethlehem. It's hard to believe that even as vicious an hombre as Herod could think up anything like that, but the Bible says he did.

Herod lost out, at that. The Baby was taken out of Bethlehem just in time, and the soldiers never found Him. And a little while later Herod died, and the Baby grew up to be a king with a kingdom and a power that Herod never dreamed of . . .

This I believe, because He's King in my heart, and because I believe in Christmas. Old Herod was gone. But there were still taxes.

(To be continued . . . )

Happy 100th Birthday, Roy!

Today would have been Roy's 100th birthday. In celebration, we have put together a special tribute video to Dusty's fantastic song, "The King of the Cowboys". Roy was a very special hero to the people during his lifetime as well as to the generations since his death.

Thanks to film and records, we can relive the many wonderful films and shows that can bring us entertainment and adventure. Whether he was riding across the range, or singing a cowboy tune, or trying to get Dale out of trouble, Roy always provided enjoyment. His spread-eagle boots, the colourful wool shirts dripping with fringe, the jingle his spurs made as he walked. Who can forget the beautiful image of him flashing across the desert on Trigger, golden mane flying in the wind.

So sit back and enjoy Dusty's fantastic tribute to his father, The King of the Cowboys!

THE KING OF THE COWBOYS
He rode across your silver screen
For over forty years
He's brought bad men to justice
he's seen laughter, and he's seen tears
and I know forever, in many hearts he'll reign
As the King of the Cowboys.
There is honour to his name.

He's a kind and gentle legend
a hero is his name
Showing young folks to see the right from wrong
And he's taught me the very same
And I know forever, in many hearts he'll reign
As the King of the Cowboys
There is magic in his name

He's the King of the Cowboys, a legend in his time
A man who loves his country
Where he will always ride
Saddled up on his golden Palomino
A six gun at each side
His spurs and boots and his white hat
Walks a man with a lot of Pride

He's the King of the Cowboys
A legend in his time
A man who loves his country
Riding off into the sunset
In a western sky of blue
He has given precious memories
and Happy Trails to me and you!

Don't Fence Me In (1945) Complet UNCUT Version

In 1945, Roy and Dale teamed up to make their tenth film together, "Don't Fence Me In", which also featured Gabby Hayes and The Sons of the Pioneers. They sang four of the most famous western songs, Tumbling Tumbleweeds; Along the Navajo Trail; The Last Round Up; and, of course, the title song. The plot is actually quite entertaining about Eastern city magazine reporter Toni Ames (Dale Evans, who else!) taking a busman's holiday out West to follow a lead about the supposedly dead outlaw, Wildcat Kelly. The fun begins when she meets up with dude ranch owner Roy Rogers and his foreman, Gabby. Putting facts together, she concludes that Gabby was really Wildcat Kelly and manages to sneak some photos to prove her story. However, when the story hits the cover of the magazine, an unknown assailant takes a shot at Gabby. Roy and Gabby, with the help of the sheriff and the Sons of the Pioneers, decide to stage Gabby's funeral so that they can catch the assassin and clear Gabby's name of murder (after all, who was the person buried in Wildcat Kelly's grave?). With photographer Dale's help, they discover the assailant's identity and folow him to the owner of the big night club in town. Getting jobs as performers, Roy, Dale, and The Sons of the Pioneers go undercover to nab the mastermind and the fun begins!

We have found an old copy of the complete, uncut version! Most of Roy's films were chopped down to 55 minutes for airing on TV, and almost twenty minutes of "Don't Fence Me In" landed on the cutting room floor. It became a choppy, plotless mess and not very memorable. However, here it is in the complete 72 minute form, making it one of Roy and Dale's best films and very entertaining. Actually, it is one of my personal top two favorite Roy and Dale films! If you have only ever seen the short version, you will be thrilled at everything they removed.

Two interesting notes, Dale said that when she pushes Roy into the swimming pool was her favorite film moment from all their films! Also, when Trigger dances at the ranch, and when he rips through the screen on stage for the finale, that is "Little Trigger", Roy's stunt double for Trigger The Old Man.

Trigger's Film Debut in 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' with Errol Flynn!

It may sound crazy, but Trigger, The Smartest Horse in the Movies, actually made his film debut in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938). It's not a very featured role. In fact, if you blink a few times you might just miss it! Trigger's name at the time was "Golden Cloud", and he appears as Maid Marian's noble stead to the banquet in Sherwood Forest. He is pretty much covered in fancy get-up (to match Olivia De Havilland's gown) and is far from his soon-to-be stardom. You can check out this "bit part" in the clip below.

According to Roy: . . . the minute I got on this palomino stallion brought over by the Hudkins Stables, I didn't even consider any of the others. He was beautiful with his flaxen mane and tail and proud arched neck.

. . . His sire had been a racehorse; and his mother was a cold-blooded palomino; he took his power from his Dad and his good looks and easygoing personality from Mom. Named Golden Cloud, he was four years old at the time and had already appeared in one other movie --- as Olivia De Havilland's horse in "The Adventures of Robin Hood". He got his name changed when Smiley Burnette and I were hanging around the set one day and I was practicing my quick-draw. Smiley said, "Roy, as quick as that horse of yours is, you ought to call him Trigger."

And so, "The Smartest Horse in the Movies" was born. His hoof-print is even in the courtyard of Grauman's Chinese Theater! Happy trails.