As usual, all the names were put onto slips of paper and put into a “hat.”  Tonight it was a plastic  bucket.  And because we have company here tonight, our friend Pedro picked the winner, which is Ann Stephens.  Congratulations to Ann, who is the winner of the book, THE LAST WARRIOR.  Ann, please email me separately at karenkay.author@earthlink.net with your snail mail address so that I can send the book to you.   I really enjoyed reading all the many posts.  Enlightening actually, as well as very supportive.  And some were very heart touching.  So thanks again to all who stopped by today to chat.  I send a hearty hug to you all and lots of  love.

I wish you all a super evening and a fabulous weekend.

Good Morning!

I hope you’ll bear with me today as I take a very brief break from posting about Native America, and talk a little about the writer’s life.  With the release of my most recent book, SENECA SURRENDER, I find myself doing much, much promo, including touring, and I thought you might like a brief glimpse into what that goes into this.  I will be giving away a copy of the book, THE LAST WARRIOR, to some lucky blogger today.  Also, I’ll be doing a book signing today at Sunshine Books in Cypress, CA.  If you’re close-by, come on over — but forgive me if I post early and then don’t post again until evening.

Off to the left here is the stunning cover of the book, SENECA SURRENDER, my most recent effort.  Because the book was released on April 6th, my tour started then.  But what really goes into the promotional side of writing?  It’s something we don’t talk about too often, I don’t believe, and yet for most of us authors, it’s a very involved second job.   But, why?  Doesn’t the publisher do all the promotion that you need?

My pat answer to that it yes and no.    Have I confused you?  It kinda goes like this — at least from my viewpoint.  Your publisher is going to make sure that your distribution is good enough in order to sell the books that the publisher has invested in this book.  Distribution is everything when it comes to selling your book.  It’s hard to sell what isn’t there.  So the first condition has to be that your book is in the stores and is capable of being bought and/or ordered on line.  Your publisher usually ensures this — at least this is so for most of the New York Publishers.  I’m not certain about ebooks, and how this relates to them, as I don’t write ebooks — if my books are on ebook format, it is because my publisher (which is Berkley/Penguin/Putnam) does this for me.

Off to the left is a recent photo of a Barnes & Noble booksigning in Manhattan Beach.  Once the books are in the bookstore, many authors start a tour of dropping by bookstores to sign copies of their books that are on the shelves.  We sometimes call them “drive-bys.”  It is pretty simple.  One goes into the store, picks up the books and signs them.  But a book signing per se is an entirely different animal.  A book signing takes a bit more work.  To do a book signing tour, anywhere from 2-4 months before the book comes out, one needs to start contacting book stores and asking if they might be interested in a book signing. 

Ten years ago a man called Ingram owned a book distributing chain that made book signings easy and painless.  He loved authors and he encouraged all his clients to do as many signings as possible.  He allowed bookstores to return books from signings and always made sure many, many books were on hand for signings.  When he passed away…gee, I forget the exact date, but it happened about what?  seven years ago or so?  But when he passed away, it became a little more difficult to schedule and do book signings.  Why this is, I’m not completely certain.  But from what I’ve been told, it seems to have something to do with returns on books.

Be that as it may, when planning a tour, one needs to contact the stores.  This was an interesting thing to do this year, if only because so many bookstores have closed.  In 1994 when my first book, LAKOTA SURRENDER, hit the shelves, you could find a bookstore on almost any corner.  There were so many — Borders, Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, B. Dalton, Crown, Books-A-Million, Hastings and many, many, many independents.  There were many, many books at WalMart and K-mart and drug stores and even grocery stores.  People really read a lot.  But now I’d say that probably 2/3′s of my personal bookstore list is gone.  There are almost no more B. Dalton’s — they’ve almost all been closed or are closing soon.  There are almost no more Book Stars — they’ve almost all been closed or closing soon.  Same with Waldenbooks.  Crown books closed many, many years ago.  And many of the independent bookstores closed when the big bookstores moved in and took over the business.  Sort of like what happened in “You’ve Got Mail.”  Off to the left above is a recent book signing done at Russo’s Books in Bakersfield, CA.

I have to admit to a bit of crying when I went through my book sellers list and found so many stores were either closed or closing.  Some days I would just sit and cry.  But all that aside, one must contact the stores and see if they’d like to do a signing.  This photo to the right was at Cameron Books in Hemet, CA.  Now book signings are a bit of trouble to do, and so not everyone wants to do this, which is completely understandable.  But there are some people in these stores that love signings since they do potentially bring in more readers to their stores.  Believe it or not, scheduling these tours usually takes me about 1-2 months to do.  Press kits need to be gotten together, complete with bookmarks and/or post cards, and they need to be sent out, plus one need to stay in good communication with the bookseller so that the event comes off well.

Book signings are actually a lot of fun.  Not only do you as an author get to get out of the house (because most of us work from home, we often stay home a lot), but you have the opportunity to talk to many people, readers, book sellers and customers.  I can’t begin to tell you the conversations we’ve had this year alone.  I think we’ve talked all around writing, politics, the world in general and publishing.  These are moments that I really treasure.  There’s also online tours that authors do.  There’s blogging, chats and there’s even a new option for authors called Second Life book signings.  I’m learning about this new one — Second Life.  Off to the right here is me in Second Life. 

So far, I haven’t been able to get around in Second Life very well — it’s based on having an avatar that you dress and walk around the world of Second Life.  So far, I fly into the air when I get up from sitting, and I walk off platforms and into walls.  : )  But there’s a possiblity here in Second Life in reaching people that you otherwise might not be able to reach — and that’s an exciting concept to me.  If you as an author are interested in this concept, please let me know and I’ll put you in contact with Denise, who can really help you in Second Life.

This is all quite in addition to sending out bookmarks to your readers, to making calls, talking up your book on Facebook or elsewhere, blogging, chats.  Often your days of touring are hard, long days.  I just finished up a 4 day weekend tour where I was putting in 17/15 hour days.

You might ask, “Is it worth it?”  I can’t begin to tell you how many authors have asked me this.  And I don’t have a ready answer to the question.  All I can say is this:  There are so many books in bookstores and on the internet, that is seems to me that it only stands to reason that if you want your book to be noticed, that it requires some kind of promotion.  There are many different forms of promotion, also.  I think an author needs to find one that works for him/her and stay with it.  And by “works” I mean, does it influence your bottom line?  If it increases your sales, stay with it.  Do it to the best of your ability. 

For me, tours are often worth the effort  I know many authors who think they don’t work.  But I like them.  Yes, they are work.  Yes, I complain over lack of time and not being able to do enough, but it gets me out of the house — allows me to talk to people, and like research is for me, getting to talk to and know your readers is one of the perks about being an author.   

Now if this is something you’d like to know more about, I have about 3-4 weeks more touring to do and am keeping a daily diary of the tour on my Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=760039010&ref=profile.  There I post pictures of the tour daily — or if I don’t have a book signing that day, I keep you informed of chats and other book related happenings.  Or you can go to my website at www.novels-by-KarenKay.com you’ll find my book signing schedule.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and I hope I haven’t bored you with the particulars of the business of writing/promotion.  I’d love to hear from you whether you’re an author who has another form of promotion that you love — or whether you’re a reader, who has suggestions or comments. 

At present, I have two books out on the bookshelves, SENECA SURRENDER and BLACK EAGLE.  Please do yourself a favor (and me, too) and pick up your copy of SENECA SURRENDER or BLACK EAGLE today.  I’ve been told they are good reads.  You should be able to find SENECA SURRENDER on the bookshelves at your most favorite bookstore.  Or order it online at Amazon.com or Borders.com or BarnesandNoble.com or books-a-million.com.  BLACK EAGLE is also available by order.

Remember, I will be offering a free book — THE LAST WARRIOR — to some lucky blogger today.   So come on in and leave a comment and let’s chat.

Hello Darlings,

Miss Donna Alward has saddled up and will dismount her horse here in the Junction on Saturday.

The Fillies are busy as bees getting things ready for the dear lady.  She has wiggled her way into our hearts and we’re as happy as a dog with two tails to wag.

Miss Donna is going to talk about all the attributes of a cowboy that make our hearts go pitter-patter. My only requirement is that they’re breathing. Hee-hee! I prefer ‘em rope-broke but don’t shy away from introducing them to the rope myself.

Miss Donna has a new book out called SOLD TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER. It sure has a hunk of a  man on the cover and there’s no two ways about it.

So, drop your knittin’ and get on over here on Saturday. We’ll miss you if you’re not here.

And you won’t have a chance at winning her prize either!

In the early 1880s Godey’s Ladies Book was the only reading material available for women. Louis Godey considered himself an authority on proper reading for women, on fashion and even household hints. Godey’s magazine also contained recipes and some fiction.

Cyrus Curtis published a farming magazine called Tribune and Farmer. In 1883 he decided to broaden the appeal of his publication and added a women’s supplement called The Ladies Home Journal and Practical Housekeeper.

The supplement was so popular that after a year, Curtis’s women’s magazine became an independent publication with Curtis’s wife Louisa Knapp Curtis as editor for the first six years. She dropped the last three words in the title in 1886 and the magazine became The Ladies Home Journal.

The couple wanted to attract a million subscribers. Some people just set their sites too low, you know? They went about achieving their goal by asking well known authors of the day to write articles and short stories. Writers like Louisa May Alcott and Mark Twain attracted subscribers, and circulation continued to climb even when the rate was raised from fifty cents a year to a dollar in 1889.

Louisa eventually retired and their son-in-law took over as editor. Edward Bok added advice columns to the mix. Helen Keller contributed an article on neonatal blindness. Because of the connotation that neonatal blindness was almost always caused by a venereal disease, that article lost the magazine subscribers.

By 1903 The Ladies Home Journal surpassed the million subscriber goal, regardless. Good Housekeeping has been on the market since 1885 and Vogue since 1893, though none of the other publications held the same broad appeal as The Ladies Home Journal.

Today The Ladies Home Journal continues to be one of the leading magazines for American women, offering commentary on issues such as politics, religion, health and child-rearing. You can find one in every doctor and dentist’s office in the country. Amazing, huh?

Sometimes I reach for organization and plan a series of blogs, then something happens to totally knock me off course. Take my bald eagle blog of March 17. I’d fully intended to tell you about a guy with a hole in his head but couldn’t resist sharing that eagle cam. By the way, the babies are hatched and healthy if you wanna snare a quick peek

http://chil.vcoe.org/eagle_cam.htm

So… when I found out today is the hundred-year anniversary of Mark Twain’s death, well, duh. The American Lit teacher in me screamed out.  The guy was born in 1835 when Halley’s Comet was making its infrequent sojourn around the universe, and the ever-witty Samuel Langhorne Clemens always said he wouldn’t leave this world until Halley’s came around again. He was right, passing away on April 21, 1910, in Hartford Connecticut.

Born in Florida, Missouri of good Virginia and Kentucky stock, the puny, determined boy survived two stronger siblings. In 1839, the family moved  to Hannibal along the Mississippi River. Today, Hannibal, where Samuel lived from age 4 to 18, is the “holy land” for Twainiacs. Some 60,000 visited Mark Twain’s Boyhood and Museum last year. As Hannibal native Pulitzer Prize-winning writer/historian Ron Powers puts it, “One of our guys made it.”

The caves, cemeteries and islands off the mighty Mississippi where he played- along with the simple clapboard homes of the Clemenses and his first sweetheart, (she inspired Tom Sawyer’s Becky Thatcher)– influenced his writings later. Mark Twain said in his autobiography, “In…Hannibal, Missouri when I was a boy, everybody was poor but didn’t  know it. And everybody was comfortable and did know it.”

When his dad died in 1847, formal schooling ended for 12-year old Samuel, and he went to work as a printer’s apprentice. Brother Orion, already a printer by trade, started up a small newspaper in the family home. Initially a typesetter, young Sam began to write articles in his own inimitable style—usually in his brother’s absence. He often got in trouble upon Orion’s return, but his efforts helped the paper sell. Sadly, Orion never realized his brother’s potential—both of them could have been successes early on.

Although he visited New York and worked in Cincinnati in a printing-office, Sam developed the popular ambition of visiting South America. Meeting Horace Bixby,one of the greatest pilots of the time, Sam decided instead to become a pilot (captain) on one of the riverboats sailing the great Mississippi. Bixby  took on Sam as his apprentice.

The task of learning the 1,200 miles of always-changing river between St. Louis and New Orleans—even in the dark—was daunting, but within 18 months he became not only a pilot, but one of best and most careful on the river. Those who knew the writer Mark Twain later on when he was a dreamy, air-headed gent without a care for details, could hardly accept that he’d been so successful.

Although Samuel joined the Confederate army as a Lieutenant, he resigned after two weeks.  His steamboat career was over due to the blockaded river, so he  journeyed to Nevada with his abolitionist brother. Orion had been appointed by President Lincoln as Secretary of the new Territory.

Clemens became a miner but not a rich one, and contributor to the Territorial Enterprise newspaper in Virginia City. In 1862, he was invited to take over as local editor, and it was at this time he came across his pen name, Mark Twain, a term from his steamboat days that means two fathoms deep. He –and fellow overland writer Bret Harte–quickly became known up and down the Pacific coast.  Both would soon acquire a world-wide fame.

After forced to leave Carson City due to a duel, Twain set up in San Francisco for a bit. With pal Jim Gillis (apparently Jim’s brother was the indirect cause of Twain’s troubles) he went up into Calaveras County, deep in California’s gold country.  For three peaceful, happy months Twain lingered here, laying the cornerstone for his future. For while he and Jim tried to find gold at Angels Camp, the groundbreaking tall tale The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County was born. The story appeared in in New York’s Saturday Press of November 18, 1865, becoming an uproarious success that annoyed, rather than gratified, its author. Twain had thought very little of the story and wondered why work he had regarded more highly had not found fuller recognition. But The Jumping Frog did not die. Papers printed it and reprinted it, and it was translated into foreign tongues.

The name of “Mark Twain” became known as the author of that tale, for which Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are forever grateful!  Since I could write forever, please find more in-depth information and a list of works in these fine links.

http://www.territorial-enterprise.com/

http://www.mtwain.com/l_biography.html

http://www.marktwainhouse.org/theman/bio.shtml

http://www.twainquotes.com/Steamboats/Bixby.html

How about you all? Any favorite Twain works? Study him in high school? Get annoyed by the phonetically-spelled dialect in Huck Finn? What other  authors from your school days stand out?

I’m constantly amazed at the larger-than-life men and women who settled in Texas and helped the state become a strong symbol of extraordinary strength and courage.

It’s fair to say that Margaret Heffernan didn’t have an easy life. But she didn’t stand around wringing her hands either. She took the bull by the horns and made things happen when adversity came calling.

Margaret was five years old when she arrived on the first ship bringing Irish colonists to Texas in 1829. Her family settled on the wild prairies around San Patricio. Her father died in an Indian attack a few years after they put down roots. Then came the Texas Revolution. Margaret’s mother gathered up her children and fled the advancing armies in search of safety. It’s believed they sought refuge in the fort at Goliad. When the Mexican army won the battle of Goliad, it’s rumored they escaped the massacre by speaking Spanish so fluently that the officers believed them to be native Mexicans.

After the Texas war for independence, the Heffernan family returned to San Patricio where nineteen year old Margaret met Harrison Dunbar and they were married. Shortly after the birth of a daughter, Harrison Dunbar was killed in a pistol duel on the streets of Victoria.

Margaret found herself a widow and single parent at the age of twenty.

A year later, she married again, this time to Milton Hardy and they settled down to ranch on the 2,912 acres of land they owned. Margaret gave birth to a son and three daughters, one of whom died in infancy. Again tragedy struck her marital life and her second husband succumbed of the dreaded cholera. She also lost her young son in the same epidemic.

Margaret’s younger brother came to help her run the ranch until she married for a third time four years later to Alexander Borland. Alexander was one of the richest ranchers in South Texas. She bore this husband four children-three sons and a daughter-to enlarge her brood to seven.

In 1860, Alexander and Margaret Borland owned 8,000 head of cattle. It’s at this time they began to hear about trail drives from Texas to Missouri and beyond. They dreamed of taking a herd to northern markets. But Alexander died in a yellow fever epidemic before they could realize their dream.

Despite Margaret’s best efforts, she was unable to halt the terrible toll yellow fever took on her family. Before it was over, in addition to her third husband, she lost three daughters, a son, and an infant grandson. Only three of her seven children remained alive.

After the devastating loss, she threw herself into the running of the ranch and managing the huge herd of livestock.

But, a great blizzard swept down upon the plains during the winter of 1871-1872 and tens of thousands of Texas cattle froze to death.

When early spring rolled around, Margaret weighed her options and decided to drive 1,000 head of cattle that survived up the Chisholm Trail. The Kansas market was paying $23.80 per head compared to $8.00 in San Antonio.

With no one at home to care for her three remaining children and her six year old granddaughter, she decided they’d go with her. Margaret was 49 years old. It took them two months to reach Wichita, Kansas. Margaret and the children took a room at a boardinghouse. Word quickly spread through town of the amazing feat she’d accomplished. The newspaper wrote articles about her saying she had “pluck and business tact far superior to many male trail drivers.” One article remarked that she had “become endeared to many in town on account of her lady-like character.”

Before Margaret was able to sell her cattle, she took ill. On July 5, 1873, Margaret Borland died.

Speculation had it that she died from “brain congestion” and “trail driving fever.” Doesn’t that sound like it came from a man? And one who was probably jealous of what she did.

The woman who’d once managed over 10,000 head of cattle, and did it quite expertly, became a legend up and down the Chisholm Trail. She overcame despite adversity to be revered for her many accomplishments.

Have you read any western romances that feature a woman rancher and trail driver? Pam Crooks’s UNTAMED COWBOY comes to mind.

Spring always makes me feel nostalgic.  Maybe because, in my growing up years, it heralded a time of magic and make believe.  That time officially began every year when the first stream of water gushed down the irrigation ditch. 

Let me explain.  Southern Utah is a desert with less than ten inches of rainfall a year.  Monroe, the little town where I grew up, was a place of beautiful gardens.  The only way to water them was through a system of irrigation ditches.  Snowmelt ran off the high mountains into a canyon creek.  That creek supplied water to the town, which is why the pioneer settlers chose to build in that spot and why they dug the network of ditches that ran along the streets. 

When I was growing up the earthen ditches had been there for longer than anyone still alive could remember.  Their beds were dotted with a treasure trove of colorful gravel stones.  Their banks were festooned with long grass and wildflowers where frogs, bugs and little garter snakes found a home.  Asparagus and mint grew wild there.  We could go out and pick as much as we wanted.  And the sound of the water was wonderful.

As kids, we could spend whole days playing in the ditches.  The water level varied.  Maximum depth was 8 or 9 inches, perfect for wading and splashing.  Sometime we were explorers.  Sometimes mermaids.  We also loved floating things down the ditch – boats made from wood scraps or hollowed-out cucumbers.  We would run along the bank, chasing them for blocks.  When the water went down, usually because it was a neighbor’s turn to divert it to their garden, we were left with a make believe kingdom of rocky pools where we could hunt for pebbles or set up dramas with miniature toys.  Once we caught a good-sized trout that had gotten into the system and become stranded.  It was delicious. 

Spring was also a time for dandelions.  Nobody sprayed them in those days, and the field behind the elementary school was a mass of yellow flowers.  Sitting among them, we’d make long chains out the stems, forming each link by tucking one end of the stem into the other.  Once we made a chain twelve feet long—a record!  And did you know that if you split a dandelion stem and suck on the ends, they’ll curl up into neat spirals, like fiddleheads?  It was fun to do, even though they tasted bitter. 

Alas, those times are no more.  Progressive town officials, with no sense of beauty, sprayed the dandelion fields and burned the ditch banks.  A few years later they filled in the ditches and installed a system of underground pipes linking to each yard.  The ditch banks and dandelions of my childhood are gone forever. 

I could cry. 

Is there some childhood memory you miss these days?  I’d love to hear about it.

Ah put all the names in a hat and tossed them up real good.

Winners of Melinda Elmore’s dreamcatcher keychains. . . . .

DEBBIE D

LAURIE G

Congratulations, ladies! Please send Melinda your mailing address at nativeauthor@gmail.com  and she’ll get those to you pronto.

Melinda thanks everyone who dropped by to chat. She had a great time. Hope you did too. Come back tomorrow and see what Elizabeth Lane is blogging about.

Until next time, happy trails.

The Mexican Gray Wolves, (AKA: Lobos) exists only in the Southwest in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas in the early 1900’s. Now there are only 42 of them remaining. The lobo’s only have two breeding pairs in the wild so they are losing in the battle to stay alive.

The US Fish and Wildlife Agency are working hard to save this sacred wolf. They are in the fight to save the wolves from extinction.

The Southwest Lobo’s are rare and once they are gone, we will lose an animal, which is so sacred, that we cannot ever get back. They are the most endangered and we must stand up and defend them.

Now, I want to give a little history about wolves. Most people view them as dangerous killers, when actually they are like us. They communicate within their pack. They speak to one another by growls, moans, and even their body language. The wolf is a teacher. The wolf takes one mate for life. Wolves are a symbol of family. In a wolf pack, they stick together and protect each other. Wolves also help balance all things upon Mother Earth.

Millions of wolves were violently killed off during the 20^th century due mostly out of fear of the animal. The only thing that saved the unique animal was the Endangered Species Act, which was passed in 1973. But even today, there are wolf hunt’s and the Mexican Gray Wolf of the Southwest are just one group that are being killed off. Please help in the fight to save the Mexican Gray Wolf of the Southwest, along with all other breeds of wolves.

Please visit the following links to learn more of how and what we can do to save these sacred animals before it is too late. Please pass the links to all family and friends to help stop the senseless killing of the Mexican Gray Wolf (Lobo’s) and all of the Creator’s animals.

http://www.mexicanwolves.org

http://www.defenders.org

Wolf Photos are courtesy of USFWS Photo Gallery.  If you would like to view more:

http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/photogallery.cfm

Remember, my book, “Native Spirit” will be published February 2011, by Desert Breeze Publishing.  http://www.desertbreezepublishing.com

My new website:

http://www.melindaelmoreauthorofmysteryromance.blogspot.com

Thanks to all the fillies for having me here at Petticoats and Pistols. It is always an honor to be here.

Please leave a comment and be entered in the dreamcatcher keychain give away, where two lucky winners will be drawn.

Melinda Elmore

With the issuance of the “Cowboys of the Silver Screen” stamps, the U.S. Postal Service honors four extraordinary performers who helped make the American Western a popular form of entertainment. Film stars from the silent era through the singing era are featured on the stamps: William S. Hart, Tom Mix, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers. The stamps go on sale April 17.

Roy Rogers was so much more than an extraordinary performer. Born Leonard Slye on November 5, 1911, on a quiet street in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Cinergy Field, home of the Reds, now stands; “right where second base is now” according to Roy.

Though Roy was city born, he was farm raised. His family bought a small farm near Duck Run, OH, when Roy was seven. On Saturday nights, Roy was the musical entertainment, singing, yodeling, and playing mandolin while the family and their neighbors danced. His yodeling abilities were self-taught, and he, his mother, and sisters used the musical form to communicate when they worked in different areas of the farm.

The Roy Rogers we know best was a silver screen cowboy who sang his way to stardom. He always played the Western hero, with a warm smile, good character, and strong values.

Thanks to Gene Autry and his wildly successful films, every movie studio in Hollywood wanted a singing cowboy. Columbia Pictures signed the Sons of the Pioneers to appear in a series of westerns. Here, give ‘em a listen.

Sons of the Pioneers ~ Tumbling Tumbleweeds, written by band member Bob Nolan

When Gene Autry, who’d grown unhappy with his contract with Republic Pictures, threatened not to report for the start of his next film,  Republic held auditions for another singing cowboy, just in case. Roy heard about the auditions: “I saddled my guitar the next morning and went out there, but I couldn’t get in because I didn’t have an appointment. So I waited around until the extras began coming back from lunch, and I got on the opposite side of the crowd of people and came in with them…” It worked, and Republic signed him to a sever year contract. And when Autry left the studio, they put Len Slye, who had been renamed Roy Rogers, into the lead role in Under Western Stars. When the film was released in April 1938, it became an immediate hit, and Roy Rogers was a star.

In preparation for filming of Under Western Stars, several of the stables that provided horses to Republic brought their best lead horses to the studio so Roy could select a mount. The third horse Roy got on was a beautiful golden palomino that handled smoothly and reacted quickly to commands. Roy used to say “he could turn on a dime and give you change.” Roy named him Trigger, and the horse became synonymous with Roy Rogers.

As Roy’s popularity grew he never failed to give Trigger credit for much of his success. Roy was proud of the fact that through more than 80 films, 101 episodes of his television series, and countless personal appearances, Trigger never fell.

Trigger wasn’t his only sidekick. Smiley Burnette was Roy’s sidekick in his first two films, followed by Raymond Hatton, who worked with him in three films. Early in 1939, Gabby Hayes was cast as Roy’s sidekick in Southward Ho. Although Gabby had already made a number of films with John Wayne and William (Hopalong Cassidy) Boyd, he is probably best remembered today for the many films he made with Roy Rogers.

Roy Rogers & Gabby Hayes ~ We’re Not Comin Out Tonight

In 1943 Roy was voted the #1 Western star at the box office, and Republic began billing him as the King of the Cowboys. A few months later he made a guest appearance in the Warner Bros. all-star wartime musical film Hollywood Canteen, in which he and the Pioneers introduced the Cole Porter song Don’t Fence Me In.

Here’s another one I think you’ll enjoy: Roy Rogers & Sons of the Pioneers ~ Cowboy Ham and Eggs 

By 1944, Roy had starred in 39 films and had worked with almost as many leading ladies. Then the studio cast Dale Evans in The Cowboy And The Senorita. The immediate chemistry between Roy and Dale lit up the silver screen. Dale’s intelligence, strong will, beauty and talent earned her the moniker “the queen of the West.”

Did you know that Happy Trails to You, the song that became a Roy Rogers trademark, was written by Dale? Here are the two of them singing it together: Happy Trails to You

 Children across America who grew up on The Roy Rogers Show wanted to be just like him and tried to live by the Roy Rogers Riders Club Rules:

1. Be neat and clean.
2. Be courteous and polite.
3. Always obey your parents.
4. Protect the weak and help them.
5. Be brave, but never take chances.
6. Study hard and learn all you can.
7. Be kind to animals and care for them.
8. Eat all your food and never waste any.
9. Love God and go to Sunday School regularly.
10. Always respect our flag and our country.

Roy Rogers died on July 6, 1998, at the age of 86. Although Roy was a huge success in show business, he remained a down-to-earth country boy that Americans couldn’t help but admire. “Roy Rogers was a man who unashamedly loved his God, his family, and his country. He was that rare public figure who was just the same on screen as he was off. He just wouldn’t have known how to be anything else.”    — from Happy Trails: The Life of Roy Rogers by Laurence Zwisohn  (www.royrogers.com/roy_rogers_bio.html)

It’s Home Sweet Home to Me

“Goodbye, good luck, and may the good Lord take a likin’ to ya.”  – Roy Rogers