Iconic duo: Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger Credit: Bettmann
Ten years before the Beatles raised teenage babies -boomers in the state As for hysteria, it was the singing cowboy and his scene-stealing horse that sparked frenzied hero worship among the same generation.
The 1954 theatrical tour of the British Isles by 41-year-old Hollywood superstar Roy Rogers, his singer wife Dale Evans and his trusty sidekick Trigger caused quite a stir in the seven cities of their two-month itinerary. Not only did their visit become legendary in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Liverpool, Belfast, Dublin and London, but it also became a landmark moment in the lives of the young people, with thousands turning out to greet those who had attended their performances or happened to spot them when they were not while performing official duties.
Rogers, known as the «King of the Cowboys» and most recently seen in Bob Hope's hit comedy «Son of Paleface» in which he sang «Four Legged Friend», was a box office favorite on both sides of the Atlantic. Here children regularly watched his films (he made more than 100) on Saturday morning movie shows, and Roy Rogers' riding clubs had 80,000 members. Roy Rogers' comic books and yearbooks were important reading material in most schoolchildren's homes, and those with access to television also followed his adventures through this medium. It is not surprising that the young population went somewhat wild when news of their favorite screen stars' first visit to these shores became known.
In the week before Trigger arrived from New York at Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire, staff were fielding calls from mothers wanting to know if they could take their children with them to meet the plane. Thousands of young people — many of them dressed in cowboy gear and brandishing six-shooters — had been waiting since 8am on a bitterly cold Sunday for the KLM cargo plane carrying the world's most famous horse to land.
The 21-year-old Palomino, insured for $1 million on his flight, stepped sedately from the plane, bowed and, led by his coach, ran serenely down the runway, completely unperturbed by the chaos around him — as airport workers, police and firefighters could not stop the flow of screaming children who were storming the barricades.
Roy Rogers riding Trigger in front of a group of schoolchildren at Harringey Stadium in London 20 March 1954. Photo: Getty
More young fans lined the streets on their way from the airport to Glasgow, where Rodgers and Evans (known as the «Queen of the West»), who had traveled from London in a brand new red Austin Healy, were to be reunited with their horse partner (also known as «The Most smart horse in the movie»).
At Glasgow Central Station, five-year-olds who had begun gathering well before sunrise were disappointed when only human stars materialized around midday. Dressed in a white cowboy suit and matching Stetson and silver pointed shoes, Rogers, who greeted his young friends with a cheerful «Hello!» , later walked around the barriers, shaking countless outstretched hands before mounted police cleared a path through the crowd so he could travel by car to the theater where he will headline. Needless to say, he had a lot of foot traffic on his way to Sauchiehall Street and back to the hotel.
As Trigger's arrival in Glasgow became imminent, the number of excited children grew to around 3,000. As his shiny stable was hauled into the station, chants rang out: «We want Trigger.» About 13 hours after the crowd began to gather, Rogers appeared with Trigger and walked him up and down the barriers. To applause, Trigger, who Rogers told the press was «a real ham at heart,» bowed at the various entrances to the Central Hotel before being ushered inside.
Roy Rogers arrives at Northolt Airport with Trigger, March 20, 1954. Photo: Getty
Similar scenes played out in other cities along Rogers' route. A week later, The Scotsman reported that «Edinburgh's Saturday calm was shattered» by a gathering of hyperactive young children and their parents at Princes Street Station and the Caledonian Hotel as the Americans were due to arrive. The following month in Dublin, youths broke through a police cordon at Amiens Street station as Rogers' car was leaving the station, and eight people were knocked unconscious in the ensuing rush. The singing of what a local newspaper described as a «youthful mass» in Birmingham city center became deafening as Trigger raced up and down Stevenson Place to the delight of onlookers.
A grand show was organized in several cities: Trigger booked a room at the prestigious hotel that stars usually prefer — the Queen's Hotel in Birmingham, the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool, etc. — and «checked in» at the counter registration with a pen in his teeth. before walking up the stairs to his intended abode at such a fast pace that photographers often had to jump away from him. Newspapers reported that the hotels had a room set up for Rogers' four-legged pal to sleep in, but in fact, after he nodded or shook his head while answering questions at a press conference, he was checked into a nearby hotel. the corporation's stables — or, in the case of his Belfast residence, the backyard of the local veterinarian.
In packed theaters, the show was a hit with young cowboys and girls, many of whom brought sugar cubes and other treats for their four-legged pet, but was greeted with less enthusiasm by critics. Rodgers, Evans and their troupe, which included the singing group The Whippoorwills, performed a mixture of «cowboy songs» and Christian numbers.
Roy Rogers and Dale Evans arrive in London on February 10, 1954. Photo: Dennis Olds/Getty
Trigger, who turned out to be a 52-trick pony, showed off his arithmetic and dancing skills, while Rogers, who acted as a genius entertainer, performed shooting tricks. “How many of you little cowboys brought guns with you?” — he asked, and small hands flew up all over the hall, some of the revolvers fired caps. “Okay,” he said. “You'll need them if there's any shooting here.” But the only shooting was Rogers shooting at clay targets in the air. Each time he hit one, hundreds of excited voices shouted, «Bull's-eye!»
There was a bit of unscripted drama early on in the tour when a stunt went wrong at Edinburgh's Empire Theatre. so, and “The trigger worked.” Luckily, he received medical attention backstage and the show went on. It turned out that one of the bullets fired by Rogers ricocheted off the stage and hit Trigger in the flank. Another hit Rogers in the nose.
Religion and family values were recurring themes in the show. Rogers and Evans told stories about their life on the ranch and the brood of children to which they had recently added a young Native American daughter who was from the same Choctaw tribe as Rogers' mother's family. Indeed, Rogers' respect for Native Americans may well have inspired his fans to replace the «Indians» in their cowboy role-playing games with «bad guys.» » />
In a show that a cynic might call half circus, half sermon, the devout Rogers gently lectured young fans on the importance of going to Sunday school (“Don’t listen to the little kids who call you a woman for going to school,” he gave advice to them), brushed their teeth and ate vegetables without complaint.
The sermon was not liked by critics. The Birmingham Post columnist said: «His 'rousing' speech… seemed better suited to the parish hall stage than to the music hall stage, and this side of the performance benefited little from the aura of Christian virtue propagated by Dale Evans.» The Birmingham Daily Gazette critic was grateful that «Trigger, a very talented horse indeed, danced gracefully, blew kisses to the audience, performed simple arithmetic, nuzzled Roy Rogers affectionately and did not encourage us to go to church.»
However, the show was not aimed at adults; it was for children — and they didn't seem to mind the religious aspect. Indeed, it was because of Rogers' influence on young people that the London leg of his tour was included in up-and-coming evangelist Billy Graham's «crusade» at Harringay Stadium, where 40,000 children turned out to see the Christian cowboy perform.
Roy Rogers riding Trigger at Harringay Stadium, 20 March 1954. Photo: Getty
Between performances, Rogers and Evans, who lost daughter Robin seven years ago before her second birthday, visited private orphanages and hospitals wherever they went.
One child made a particularly strong impression on them. Marion Fleming, a 13-year-old girl who sang for them when they visited the Danforth Home for Destitute Children in Edinburgh, charmed them to such an extent that she was invited to spend the summer holidays at their California ranch. They subsequently adopted her. In 2019, a couple of years before her death, she said: «When we were in the house, we were just a family, they weren't Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, they were Mom and Dad.»
Extremely generous with his time and patient with his young fans, Rogers gave a free performance of «Home On the Range» from a side window of the Glasgow Empire between shows on the night of its premiere in this country. Thousands of fans — many of them little boys on the shoulders of their parents; some of the families who couldn't afford the inflated ticket prices the theater was charging that week joined them.
Watching these Hollywood legends perform — whether on stage or on the street — was a magical experience that can only be seen once. -lifelong experience for youth 1954. And even now, 70 years later, the mention of Roy Rogers and Trigger (whom Rogers loved so much that when he died, his skin was attached to a life-size plaster model of a horse standing on its rack) lights a twinkle in the eyes of adult cowboys and girls whose hero treated them like friends and sprinkled them with stardust for the first time.
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