THERE'S GOLD IN YOUR ATTIC
The Collector's Column
By: Michael R. Hurwitz

The school year had ended and summer was about to take its place. For a ten-year-old, the summer promised to be full of adventure. We lived outside the city and there were plenty of open spaces, woods and creeks, farmer’s fields and their barns. The summer was only three months long, but somehow, at ten, it seemed longer.

The highlight of vacation would be the Ohio State Fair in August. My father was very involved in the fair. He had thirty food stands, several flower stands and several "sno-cone" stands, my personal favorite. Every year I asked if I could help him get the stands ready and work the fair. He hadn’t even entertained my request in years past. I was simply too young to hang out at the fair and work any of the "joints." (That was what Dad called the stands and, of course, I picked up on the phrase and used it every chance I got.) Well, this year was different. I guess ten was the magic age because Dad thought it was time.

The hours were very long. Dad would leave the house each day at 5:30 am and wouldn’t return until after midnight. That was a bit too much for even an eager ten year old, so the arrangement was for me to be dropped off at the fair around 10:00am and picked up to go home around 10:00pm. That was still a long day!

The Ohio State Fair was seven days jammed pack full of activities. Of course there were all the agricultural exhibits and displays, the livestock and commercial area, not to mention the racetrack. But most important to me was the midway with all the rides, games and sideshows. It just had everything!

In addition to all of this, the fair featured a number of nationally known performers. This year, the big name on the bill was none other than Roy Rogers and Dale Evans – The King of the Cowboys and the Queen of the West! I watched their show every week and purchased everything I could afford to play with. I even had a Roy Rogers Deputy Sheriff outfit with the shirt and the hat. Maybe, if I were lucky, I’d have a chance to see the show during the fair, close-up. It was too much to even think that I would have the opportunity to actually meet Roy Rogers.

All during the summer I played at being Roy Rogers. I think every boy my age looked up to Roy and the image he portrayed. We didn’t recognize it then, but he represented the good things – honesty, fidelity, a real sense of fair play. Roy and Dale were the best role models that we could have had growing up.

The summer I had anticipated for so long had flown and the Ohio State Fair was just about here. I would visit my dad as he set up the stands and each time the joints looked more and more finished, more like a fair. I can remember the opening day like it was yesterday. There were both the Governor and the Mayor cutting the ribbon at the front gate. There was a rush of people, the sounds of the midway, marching bands and, of course, the smell of all the different foods. Somehow it seemed magical.

It was only a fair, but to this ten-year-old, it was my first ‘adult’ experience. I worked with the young men that Dad had hired to supply the various joints with ice, cups, bread, etc. It was a thrill for me, and great experience. Dad used only Pepsi Cola in all the joints and he sold a great many soft drinks. Our ‘home base’ was a trailer that was used as an office. The telephones were there, the money was counted there and it was the only place I knew that had an air conditioner! (Keep in mind that it was 1956 – this was first class for that time.)

One afternoon I reached the trailer and found the door locked – unusual to say the least. I knocked and my dad’s voice boomed out, "Who’s there?" He opened the door when he heard who it was and I found the office area filled with people. Sitting across from my father was a distinguished-looking lady. My dad introduced me to Joan Crawford, truly a Hollywood legend – even to this ten year old! Well, I had a wonderful conversation with her and she couldn’t have been nicer. But how was it possible that Joan Crawford was in my dad’s trailer? As it turns out, Miss Crawford’s husband was President of Pepsi Cola at the time and they were in town to promote their product and say thank you to good clients. My dad was one of them. Well, I was duly impressed, to say the least. My dad somehow looked a little different to me after that meeting.

Now, as nice as this experience was, I was looking forward to seeing my hero, Roy Rogers. Finally the day arrived and I could hardly wait. It was arranged that I would have a front row seat! I arrived at the afternoon show, dressed in my Roy Rogers shirt and hat. I was all set. The grandstand was packed. I had never seen that many people in one place. The music began and there he was – on Trigger – riding right in front of me! The show was wonderful! The tricks that Trigger performed, the shooting demonstration, and, without question, the music – all were without equal as far as I was concerned.

Needless to say, the show was too short. I could have sat there all day. But eventually the crowd began to leave. As I, too, found my way out of the stands there was Dad. "How did you like the show?" he asked.

"It was the best!" I replied.

"Come on, Michael. I have a little surprise for you." Well, we walked across the racetrack in front of the grandstand toward some trailers behind the stage. I turned the corner with my dad and there he was! Roy was standing just ten feet away! There was a crowd around him and he was talking with everyone, signing autographs.

My turn finally came and I was introduced to my hero, The King of the Cowboys, Roy Rogers! He couldn’t have been nicer. He even complimented me on my shirt. It was just the best experience a ten year old could have had. I was simply overwhelmed! As I was walking away with my father, I realized that I hadn’t asked him for an autograph!

I later found out that the audience was the biggest paying crowd in the history of the Ohio State Fair. That record would hold for twenty years. It was a testament to the popularity and the character of Roy Rogers.

But who was Roy Rogers, really? He was actually born in Cincinnati, Ohio to Andrew and Mattie Sly. They named him Leonard Frank Sly. A year after baby Leonard’s birth, his father, Andrew, built a houseboat that his friends quickly dubbed Andy’s Ark and, on July 12, 1912, he loaded his family on board and headed back up the Ohio River, finally settling in Portsmouth, Ohio. Young Leonard would spend the next eight years in this small, southern Ohio town. Nicknamed Len, he was a pretty normal boy growing up in rural Ohio. He would visit the local theater to discover his first cowboy hero, Hoot Gibson.

When he was twelve, Leonard began calling square dances and playing a borrowed guitar. He was so good that people would travel several miles to attend one of Len’s dances. By 1930, Leonard and his family had their sights set on California. Saving $200 between them, the family loaded the 1923 Dodge with all their belongings and headed west. In 1931, Len decided that his goal was to make a living doing what he loved – playing music. He and his cousin, Stanley, joined up and billed themselves as the Sly Brothers. They were booked in LA theaters for two dollars a performance.

It wasn’t long before Len was noticed. The manager for a Western group, called The Rocky Mountaineers, offered Len a job and he was finally on his way. Appearing each week on the radio in Long Beach, Len began to build his confidence and hone his talent. For the next eight years, Len paid his dues, going from one group to another. He finally ended up with the group he is most identified with, The Sons of the Pioneers. Who can forget their songs – Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds, Cool Water – and all the rest? A long eight years saw Len Sly go from singing gigs, to radio shows, to a recording contract with a major label. But all his fame and fortune wouldn’t be realized until he became Roy Rogers.

Republic Studios introduced the rootin’-tootin’, two-gun hero and the rest is box-office history. In the movies he went from Len Sly to, believe it or not, the temporary stage name of Dick Weston. Finally, in the 1938 motion picture, Under Western Stars, Roy Rogers emerged. Throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, Roy appeared in motion pictures and on radio, making public appearances along the way at state fairs and the like.

Then, in 1951, Roy decided he wanted to develop a series for television. The Roy Rogers Show first aired as a one-half hour show on NBC on December 30, 1951. In one form or another, the show remained on the air until 1961. I remember the Saturday morning show the best. It appeared in one hundred thirty markets throughout the US. A trip down memory lane will recall Pat Brady as Roy’s comic sidekick with his jeep, Nellybelle. He worked for Dale in the fictional Eureka Café in Mineral City. Dale’s dog was ‘Bullet, the wonder dog’ and her horse was Buttermilk. The town of Mineral City was actually the western street at the Goldwyn Studios.

Roy and Dale weren’t unique in their merchandising approach. After all, Gene Autry and Bill Boyd had been very successful in the promotion of products relating to their respective shows. But Roy and Dale were thorough, always developing new products. It is estimated that during the course of the radio and television show, over twenty-five thousand items were produced and marketed!

An example of their marketing strategy is found in the various advertisements for their products, like the Christmas ad in the December 1955 issue of Life magazine. They advertised all sorts of products, like The Lunch Kit, with a 10oz., full color thermos, featuring Roy and Dale. It sold in 1955 for a mere $2.99. Today that same Lunch Kit is worth between $150 and $250. The holster set, made of natural top-grain cowhide, with a nickel ‘RR’ Western buckle, nickel-plated plastic bullets and leather ties originally sold for $4.95 and is today worth between $150 and $350!

The Roy Rogers Double-R-Bar Ranch Set, made by Louis Marx Company, numbered 3980, were tin lithographed with the bunkhouse, figurines, etc., and sold originally for $3.98. Today that set would fetch between $100 and $400, depending on condition. The ‘Nellybelle’ jeep, made by Sherwood Toys, in heavy gauge steel with ball-bearing rear axle and push rods, pedals and semi-pneumatic tires, complete with a decal of Roy rearing up on Trigger on the jeep’s doors, sold for $24, fairly hefty for prices of the day. But today you’re likely to pay anywhere from $500 to $1,000! How about my shirt? Well, mine is long gone. I wore it out completely and I’m sure it was relegated to the ragbag. A shame, because, if I had that shirt today in good condition, it would be worth about $100, quite a jump from the original $2.95 purchase price.

The one factor with all the merchandise of Roy and Dale was that the items were first class. Everything bore Roy and Dale’s own personal seal of approval as assurance to our parents that the item was as wholesome a quality item and priced as fairly as possible.

Roy and Dale’s life truly exemplify the story of America – America of the twentieth century – being born into a working-class family, raised with the ethics of the heartland, living according to those values, becoming icons of our culture and society. The way they closed their show each week is best remembered, "Happy trails to you, until we meet again." The trails were always happy when you were riding with Roy and Dale. n

Michael Hurwitz is a lecturer, filmmaker, and author of two books. THERE’S GOLD IN YOUR ATTIC: Memoirs Of A Collector, a compilation of many of his life experiences, is now available in book form on www.amazon.com and www.Bordersstores.com. It contains the articles that have appeared in The American Antiquities Journal over the preceding ten years and is richly illustrated throughout. Visit Michael’s website www.intriguedbyhistory.com.