Today’s postcard from a 1940 Oklahoma souvenir pack is of the Will Rogers Memorial Museum and Tomb at Claremore. Yesterday’s card was of his birthplace, so two of the twenty cards in the pack dealt with The Cherokee Kid.

That’s not surprising, given that just a few years earlier, in 1935, Rogers had died in the plane crash with Wiley Post. It is hard, at this distant remove, to grasp how popular Will Rogers was on the national stage and the “good press” that gave Oklahoma, a state that often only makes the national news when something disastrous or embarrassing has occurred.

One obvious change at the memorial, beyond the switch from a single U.S. flagpole to poles for the U.S. and Oklahoma flags, is that the museum has expanded on its east side, which is the right side in the photographs.

Less obvious is that back in 1940, Will Rogers’ remains were still in a holding vault in Glendale, California. The bodies of Rogers and his wife, Betty, were not buried at the tomb in Claremore until 1944. The tomb is inscribed with an abbreviated form of what Rogers had said should be his epitaph:

I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn’t like.

Will Rogers

One indicator of Will Rogers’ status to Oklahomans is in the U.S. Capitol. Oklahoma donated two statues, of Sequoyah and Will Rogers. Rogers made it a condition that his statue be placed facing the House Chamber, supposedly so he could “keep an eye on Congress”. It is the only one facing the chamber’s entrance, and staff sometimes direct media to be at the “Will Rogers stakeout” to catch House members during and after votes. The left shoe of the statue shines, and supposedly each U.S. President rubs it for good luck before entering the House Chamber to give a State of the Union address.

After Rogers’ death, Oklahoma commissioned Jo Davidson to sculpt it. Betty had recommended him, as Will and Jo had known each other for some time. Davidson had frequently attempted to convince Rogers to pose for him, and Rogers had put him off, referring to Davidson as “you old head-hunter”. Davidson screened a number of Rogers’ films and sculpted him in the nude in clay, and then asked Betty to send him some of Will’s old clothes, which he modeled on the nude clay. Two casts were made, one for the U.S. Capitol and the other for the Memorial in Oklahoma.

The Memorial Museum and Tomb are located on a site Rogers had purchased in 1911 for his retirement home. When it opened in 1938, FDR gave a radio speech.

President Roosevelt’s Dedication by Radio on November 4, 1938:

This afternoon we pay grateful homage to the memory of a man who helped the nation to smile. And after all, I doubt if there is among us a more useful citizen than the one who holds the secret of banishing gloom, of making tears give way to laughter, of supplanting desolation and despair with hope and courage. For hope and courage always go with a light heart.

There was something infectious about his humor. His appeal went straight to the heart of the nation. Above all things, in a time grown too solemn and somber he brought his countrymen back to a sense of proportion.

With it all his humor and his comments were always kind. His was no biting sarcasm that hurt the highest or the lowest of his fellow citizens. When he wanted people to laugh out loud he used the methods of pure fun. And when he wanted to make a point for the good of all mankind, he used the kind of gentle irony that left no scars behind it. That was an accomplishment well worthy of consideration by all of us.

From him we can learn anew the homely lesson that the way to make progress is to build on what we have, to believe that today is better than yesterday and that tomorrow will be better than either.

Will Rogers deserves the gratitude of the nation and so it is fitting that the dedication of this Memorial should be a national event, made so by the magic of radio. The American nation, to whose heart he brought gladness, will hold him in everlasting remembrance.

The Memorial was initially almost bare except for the Jo Davidson statue of the man. The crowds that came to pay their respects were large, motivating Betty to give a major portion of his memorabilia to the Memorial Museum. It now houses his entire collection of writings and is the largest collection of Will Rogers memorabilia. The expansion to the east was made in 1982, and it includes a theater where you can watch some of his movies. I have always enjoyed visiting the museum, and there is a virtual tour.

A Bartlesville Connection

Will Rogers was friends with Frank Phillips and several of his brothers, and he would visit the Frank Phillips Home in Bartlesville as well as the Frank Phillips Ranch which became Woolaroc.

Will and Betty would also get together with Frank and Jane Phillips in New York, and once spent a week in upstate New York with them and Henry Firestone and his wife.

If you make it out to Claremore, be sure to also tour the J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum. I’m not into guns, but it still impressed me. Have lunch or dinner at the Hammett House.

Tomorrow’s postcard will take us to a frontier outpost established in 1824 to keep the peace between the Osage and the Cherokee.