Will Rogers at the Ziegfeld Follies

Rogers (1879-1936) was not only one of his era's most popular performers on stage, screen, radio and records, he was also noted as a comic writer for a syndicated newspaper column he began in 1922. Born in Oklahoma, he first appeared in the theater in 1905 when he played the part of a cowboy doing rope tricks; Rogers began making asides to the audience, and soon his skill as a monologist eclipsed his talents with a lasso. He appeared in various versions of the Follies (where he formed close friendships with entrepreneur Flo Ziegfeld and fellow comics W. C. Fields and Eddie Cantor) from 1915 to 1925, and he changed his patter nightly to comment on what he had read in the day's newspapers--an innovation at the time. While some of the material selected by Wertheim, the editor of Rogers's papers, seems naive and innocent today, it establishes that Rogers was the father of a comic tradition that would eventually include Mark Russell, Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce. This volume makes a significant contribution to show-biz history. Illustrations include photos, playbills, posters. (Nov.)