THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994 TAG: 9406010447
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BILL RUEHLMANN
DATELINE: 940605 LENGTH: Medium
It's stunning to reflect that the King of the Cowboys' first starring film, ``Under Western Skies,'' premiered on Broadway in 1938.
{REST} By 1943 he was on the cover of Life magazine, reared back astride Trigger.
To understand the scope of this man's appeal, consider that in the late 1940s Rogers was beating out James Mason and Bing Crosby as the most popular movie star . . . in England!
Mattie says he's cool and keeps his picture on the wall of her room. Now she and the rest of us kids have a lavishly illustrated book that records our hero's cinematic progress as well as his down-home, off-screen observations as 83-year-old Leonard Slye, the ``country boy from Duck Run, Ohio, who happened to get a job in the entertainment world.''
Appropriately titled Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys (HarperCollins, 144 pp., $24.95), with 200 photographs, 60 in color, the volume is almost as ornamental as its subject and just as sincere.
``I always felt I had a responsibility to the kids, to be somebody they could look up to,'' he said once, and no caveat has ever been attached to the four-square reputation of this rootin'-tootin', red-white-and-blue-blooded, 100-percent family man and, by now, American institution.
He just wasn't a party guy.
I had the opportunity to interview him about 15 years ago, and I can testify that he was one of the few authentic celebrity icons I ever met who didn't disappoint.
He was still steaming over another reporter who had set him up to receive a public pie in the kisser, but the King of the Cowboys let me ride with him and the Sons of the Pioneers anyway on a bus to the opening of another Roy Rogers restaurant, where thousands of people waited to see him.
In spite of the luminous rhinestone chuck wagon emblazoned across his chest, he turned out to be just folks. We chatted as the singing Sons warmed up the crowd. Then, when the moment was ripe, the squinty buckaroo rose from his seat and settled the gun belt on his still-slim hips.
``Well,'' he said, ``now I've got to go and be Roy Rogers.''
I never liked him more.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, kids will also enjoy Wally's Wonderful Wish (A.R.E. Press, 32 pp., $14.95) by clinical psychologist Judi Craig and Virginia Beach artist Pamela Barcita. It's all about Wally Whale, who personifies the philosophy of being helpful. Wally's creator, Linn Jacobs, also lives in Virginia Beach.
``In a subtle way,'' the publisher notes, ``Wally and his sidekick Spikey Seahorse are reciprocating the `Save the Whales' campaign by inspiring children to help others save the important things that will make life more enjoyable.''
Fault that!
Plus, Wally is ``an unofficial ambassador of Virginia Beach.'' He was invited by the White House to participate in the annual Easter Egg Hunt. After greeting visitors during Earth Month at the United Nations, Wally will join the Better Homes and Gardens Tour of 30 cities, promoting the ``Reading Is Fundamental'' program for children.
Whale of a fellow, really.
Another book that should receive wide attention among young people and their parents is Just Build the Ark and the Animals Will Come (Villard, 143 pp., $14.95), a compilation by David Heller of children's observations on Old Testament stories.
The kids are Jewish, Catholic, Protestant - and acute.
``God created heaven and earth,'' observed Robert G., 8, ``but that didn't make Him too busy to spend time with His children.''
``God created love on the first day,'' added Nancy Z., 11, ``and the rest is history.''
These youngsters, like theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, remind us that laughter is the beginning of prayer.
by CNB