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Liner Notes
Happy Trails: The Roy Rogers Collection (1937-1990)
$49.98
King of the Cowboy Collectibles
My mother-in-law was inconsolable. The Roy Rogers Western toy town that she'd loved so much as a child in the early 1950s was rusty and decrepit. She thought it had been safely stored away for her grandchildren, but it had been accidentally stashed in her 92-year-old mother's basement in Atlanta, where the Georgia humidity had gotten the better of it. Her loss had nothing to do with the Western town's value--in good condition, the town (manufactured by Marx) is now worth hundreds of dollars on the collectors market. Instead, it's because Roy Rogers and Dale Evans had been her childhood heroes, and the little town with its detailed metal facade, filled with miniscule plastic figures, symbolized a time of innocence and happiness for her. Her children--my husband and his brother--had loved playing with the set, too, and now she wanted to pass it on to the next generation of Warrens. That kind of deep attachment is pretty common when it comes to those who collect toys and products endorsed by the King of the Cowboys.
Beginning in 1943, Roy's handsome, smiling face first turned up on a box of Quaker Oats; for more than two decades thereafter, he lent his name and image to everything from cap guns to bedspreads to alarm clocks to tepees. Getting your hands on those items today can be difficult--and costly. It's hard to believe that all kinds of Roy Rogers gadgets and toys, some available for a little change when originally issued, are worth thousands of dollars today. But for collectors, the value has much more to do with what these products stand for.
In the 1940s, when Roy Rogers was the biggest draw of any Western movie star, manufacturers knew that putting him on their products would automatically increase sales. So, various companies--including Whitman Publishers, Post Cereal, Nestlé, H Bar C, Fieldcrest, Quaker Oats, and American Thermos--vied for Roy Rogers' endorsement. Quaker Oats, for example, sponsored the Roy Rogers radio show in 1948 and created numerous premiums that kids could earn with cereal box tops. Items included a branding iron ring, a plastic mug with Roy's face, and a deputy badge with a secret compartment. A few years later, in 1952, Post cereal became the show's sponsor and began putting premiums in the cereal boxes. Whitman began publishing children's books starring Roy Rogers in 1943, to coincide with the release of his King Of The Cowboys movie. Before long came all kinds of products; for the American public, if it was good enough for Roy, then it had to be good.
Which actually was pretty much the truth. Each of the more than 450 items-- including Western clothing, toys, books, games, jewelry, furnishings, and items such as flashlights, binoculars, and lunch boxes--eventually endorsed by Roy Rogers had to pass the Rogers family test. In fact, each came with a tag bearing the following pledge: "Dale and I are very proud of every product that bears our name, and we use these items for our own children. You pay no premium for our name. Rather, it is your assurance of authenticity and quality."
Indeed, in the large Rogers household, there was an abundance of Roy stuff put into use by the kids. Roy's oldest son, Dusty Rogers, who was born in 1946, recalls, "I grew up in Roy everything. I had bedspreads and sheets and pillow shams and curtains and carpet-- everything Roy. Most kids put R and L on their boots to tell the right from left, but I had a double R on each boot. I didn't know which one was which for years. I had Roy Rogers pajamas to neckties to hats to boots to scarves--everything."
Probably just about every American kid in the late '40s and early '50s had at least one product from the Roy Rogers line, which included items emblazoned with the image of Dale Evans, Trigger, Bullet the Wonder Dog, even Nellybelle the Jeep--from Roy and Dale's TV show in the '50s. In the '40s Roy Rogers was second only to Disney in the number of licensed goods. (Though Hopalong Cassidy ran a close second, Roy Rogers continued into the '60s to have the most products of all the cowboy licenses.) Products could be ordered through the mail by sending in cereal box tops with a little change, purchased in toy stores, or bought from a special Roy Rogers Corral section of Sears stores. In fact, one of the most valuable Roy objects today, according to Dusty, is the four-foot-tall rubber-and-papier-mâché statue of Roy riding Trigger used in the Sears display. "There's two of those running around," says Dusty, "and one of them sold at an auction for $10,000." By the mid-'50s the Roy Rogers licensing brand was worth close to $50 million. (A recent People magazine article estimated that the total eventually reached $1 billion.) Lucky for the Rogerses, Roy had struck a deal with his movie studio, Republic, back in the 1940s that gave him the right to license his name and image himself. "Dad was first approached about putting his name on gun belts when he was in New York," according to Dusty. "They wanted to put his name on the belt, and he said, 'I don't think I can do that; let me check with the studio.' Then he checked his deal with Yates and found he had the rights to his name. He asked for it because he said he couldn't endorse a product if he didn't have control over his name and likeness, and the studio said, 'Here,' and gave it to him and said, 'Just don't ask us for any more money . . .'"
Therefore Roy was very particular about which products bore his stamp of approval. "He felt obligated that it had to be the best quality that could be put out simply for the fact that his name was going on it," says Dusty, "The kids looked up to him a lot, especially because of his fashion. He was one of the better-dressed cowboys on the screen. Kids wanted to emulate that, so consequently whatever came out with his name on it had to match what he wore. The gun belts matched, the hats, the shirt patterns, all matched. And a lot of the guys that made Dad's shirts, like H Bar C, also made children's clothes, so they matched up real well there."
Today vintage Roy and Dale goods are some of the most highly sought-after by Western toy and tchotchke collectors. A recent check of eBay, the on-line collectible and antiques auction service, found 564 Roy or Dale items available, ranging in price from a few dollars for a '60s-era Roy tin button to thousands for a Roy Rogers six-shooter cap gun. According to Dusty, "Some of the gun belts and guns that Dad had for kids that originally sold from $5 to $11 now go for $1,000, $2,000, $3,000." Dusty has his own collection, and the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum in Victorville has lots of the toys, gadgets, and household items on display. Recently, Dusty found one collectible he'd been coveting for years. "The Nestlé company ran a contest back in the early '50s," says Dusty, "and the prize was a gold gun belt set with gold lamé just like Dad's. The guns were 24-carat gold-plated. They only made 25 sets of those. One of those sets still in the box, in mint condition sold at Christie's auction house for $5,000. I really wanted one, and I finally got one about four months ago. It was just a fluke. A couple walked into the museum with one, and they wanted to know the value of it, and I told them about the one sold at auction for five grand at Christie's but that around here they'd only get $1,000 to $3,000 for it. I said, 'How much do you want,' and they said they really needed some money so they'd take $1,300 for it, so we bought it. It belonged to this guy's sister who won it in the contest, and she was a gal who didn't want to wear it, so it just sat in the box all those years--only worn once or twice in mint condition in the original box."
Sometimes the boxes that Roy's items came in are worth more than the actual product--they're much more rare, because they were frequently thrown out by Mom or Dad. That's pretty ironic, isn't it? Those parental tirades to clean up your room and "throw out all that junk" probably resulted in the loss of items worth hundreds of dollars today! "You can get a pair of Roy Rogers slippers for $200 to $400," says Dusty. "But if you can get the box, it sells for $600 to $800."
Certainly, the packaging itself is part of the allure of any Roy collectible. Decorated with PHOTOS or illustrations of Roy, Dale, and Trigger, the look evokes memories of a simpler time in America. Back then, it was easy to figure out who the good guy was. That's probably why the kids' cowboy clothes endorsed by Roy or Dale (made by Tex Tan, Rob Roy, and H Bar C) were so special too. Embroidered or silk-screened with Roy or Dale's likeness, or decorated with butterflies, horseshoes, and flowers, these heroic little outfits signified the true and the brave. A kid wearing a befringed outfit like that could face any challenges, whether from a scary baby-sitter with a big wart on her nose or the big, bad bully at school. Fortunately for those of us who were too young to get Roy Rogers goods when they were originally issued, a few items have been reproduced over the years. Recently available was a Roy and Trigger watch, which came packaged in a little mini lunchbox (with Roy and Dale's faces shining forth from the tin) and included a bonus Roy and Dale "Happy Trails" bolo tie. There have also been commemorative belt buckles and a reproduction of the Roy Rogers pocketknife. Paying a visit to the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum gift shop can also yield a cache of souvenirs crafted with the classic Roy and Dale look. I'm especially fond of some gold-and-frosted glass tumblers with Roy on a rearing Trigger, and a coffee mug with Roy and Dale depicted in front of the museum's fortlike facade. On the flea market prowl, I've found a few treasures too. My favorites: a Dale Evans cowgirl outfit--black fringed skirt with red blouse embroidered with butterflies (if only I could squeeze into it!)--and a little boy's purple satin tie with Roy and Trigger silk-screened on the front. (That one has no label, so it may be a bootleg.) One of these days, I hope to find a Roy Rogers chenille bedspread that I can afford. Fortunately, for those of us who still look to Roy and Dale as fashion role models, H Bar C is creating a line of six Roy Rogers-inspired cowboy shirts--ranging from simple, everyday Western-cut designs to elaborate, embroidered numbers. I can hardly wait!
In the meantime, I'm happy to report that my mother-in-law, with the aid of some industrial-strength rust-remover, has returned her Marx Roy Rogers Western town to its original glory. It's missing a few pieces, but my little buckaroo Jack loves it just the same. And I'm always on the lookout for additional parts at swap meets and antique malls. I think Roy Rogers--who himself was a collector and a huge fan of swap meets--would really appreciate our quest.
--Holly George-Warren
