Roy Rogers at the End of the Trail
I’m probably the last
guy on earth who should ask this question… but… hell, is nothing sacred?
We’ve got us a big ol’ auction coming up here in New York
this coming week. Christie’s is going to bang off some stuff once owned by Roy
Rogers and Dale Evans.
OK, some of you know where this is going.
The cool stuff comes from the now-closed Roy Rogers and Dale
Evans Museum in Branson, Missouri, the latest in a long line of celebrity
failures in that remote resort town. They’ll be auctioning off Roy’s silver
dollar studded 1964 Bonneville convertible, worth maybe $150,000.
They’re also hammering the hand-drawn music for Roy’s theme song, “Happy Trails”
and they think it’ll go for maybe $500. That seems cheap. And, sigh, so does this.
Yep, they’re auctioning off Roy Rogers faithful companion, Trigger.
Back in 1965 Roy took him to the taxidermist and had his old pal stuffed and
mounted. That’s kind of… I dunno… weird.
And in an icky sort of way, too. I mean, stuffing your horse. Hell, I grew up
watching that horse on teevee! He even had his own comic book! It outsold damn
near everything published by DC at the time!
At least Roy and Dale didn’t live to see Trigger go under
the gavel. And I do not think they were stuffed.
But if there’re a couple slots open near Walt Disney…
Mike, if I had the money and a place of honor for him, I’d buy Trigger. For more reasons than Roy and Dale.
See, that horse didn’t start as Trigger. That’s Golden Cloud, the horse Olivia DeHavilland rode in The Adventures of Robin Hood. He’s a piece of movie history. And while having a dead horse in your house may be pretty fucking weird, I’m a weird guy, and I’d hate to think of Cloud being bought by somebody and tucked in a warehouse someplace to rot.
In the words of John Wayne, call it professional courtesy.
Well, Roy did say that once that when he died, they ought to stuff him and put him up on Trigger’s back.
Can’t help wondering, now that i think, if that was the inspiration for the “Stuffed Jonah Hex” story…
Ha! That might be true. I knew Mike Fleischer pretty well and it never came up, but I read the unpublished sequel – it was to be for The Brave and The Bold, and ol’ Jonah was dead and stuffed throughout the story. Didn’t stop him from saving Batman’s life. I wish it had been published.
That’s such a great idea, I bet even The Westboro Baptist Church would love it!
Mike, if I had the money and a place of honor for him, I'd buy Trigger. For more reasons than Roy and Dale. See, that horse didn't start as Trigger. That's Golden Cloud, the horse Olivia DeHavilland rode in The Adventures of Robin Hood. He's a piece of movie history. And while having a dead horse in your house may be pretty fucking weird, I'm a weird guy, and I'd hate to think of Cloud being bought by somebody and tucked in a warehouse someplace to rot. In the words of John Wayne, call it professional courtesy.
Well, Roy did say that once that when he died, they ought to stuff him and put him up on Trigger's back.Can't help wondering, now that i think, if that was the inspiration for the "Stuffed Jonah Hex" story…
Ha! That might be true. I knew Mike Fleischer pretty well and it never came up, but I read the unpublished sequel – it was to be for The Brave and The Bold, and ol' Jonah was dead and stuffed throughout the story. Didn't stop him from saving Batman's life. I wish it had been published.
That's such a great idea, I bet even The Westboro Baptist Church would love it!