Will Rogers (Davidson)
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''Will Rogers'' is a statue created by Jo Davidson, two versions of which were unveiled in 1938.


Background and history

Shortly after entertainer and social commentator
Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...
was killed in an airplane crash on August 15, 1935, the state of
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
passed a bill to authorize that its second statue for the National Statuary Hall Collection in the
U.S. Capitol building The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill at ...
in Washington, D.C. be one of Will Rogers. On the recommendation of Betty Rogers, Will Rogers' wife, the sculptor Jo Davidson was awarded the commission. Davidson and Rogers had known each other for a number of years, during which time Davidson had frequently attempted to convince Rogers to pose for him, and Rogers had always put it off, referring to Davidson as “you old head-hunter.” Davidson prepared for the commission by requesting
Fox Film The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film C ...
s, for whom Rogers had made many films, (Rogers had acted in dozens of movies, 50 silent and 21 sound) to loan him films that he then screened in his
Paris studio The Paris Theatre (also known as the Paris Studios) was originally a cinema located at 12 Lower Regent Street in central London which was converted into a studio by the BBC for radio broadcasts requiring an audience. It was used for several ...
, where Davidson “worked, talked and lived nothing but Will Rogers”. He next procured the service of a model built roughly like Rogers and modeled him in clay, nude. He then asked Mrs. Rogers to send him some of Rogers worn clothes, which “still contained his personality,” which she did, and they were modeled on the nude clay. When he had completed the life-sized clay model, he made a plaster cast and sent it to the Valsuani foundry in Paris, where two casts were made, one for the National Statuary Hall Collection and the other for the Will Rogers Memorial, then recently opened in Claremore, Oklahoma, near Rogers birthplace. When that statue was unveiled, president
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
broadcast a message live on coast-to-coast radio from his home in
Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...
. The plaster cast was returned to the US and donated to the Will Rogers Memorial Fund, a charity established by the movie industry as a tribute to Will Rogers, in 1936. The WRMF was an eventual replacement for the National Vaudeville Artist Fund, which operated social assistance programs and a hospital for vaudevillians suffering from tuberculosis. The hospital was in Saranac Lake, New York and often referred to as the NVA Lodge. As a result of an agreement between vaudeville producers and movie moguls, the hospital name was changed to the
Will Rogers Memorial Hospital Will Rogers Memorial Hospital is a historic tuberculosis sanatorium located at Saranac Lake in Essex County, New York. It was built in 1928 as the National Vaudeville lodge by the National Vaudeville Artists Association, who previously sent pati ...
, where the plaster cast was on display until the hospital closed in 1974. After the hospital closed, a research and teaching lab was established, called the Will Rogers Institute, at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, in White Plains, New York, where the cast was on display until it was moved to Los Angeles in 1997. The plaster cast was restored in 2004 by Irena Calinescu, Objects Conservator, and is among the secure holdings of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation, the new name of WRMF, as of 2002. The Washington, D.C. version of the statue was unveiled in 1939. At that unveiling on June 6, Senator
Joshua B. Lee Joshua Bryan Lee (January 23, 1892August 10, 1967) was a United States representative and Senator from Oklahoma. Early life Lee was born in Childersburg, Alabama on January 23, 1892. He moved to Pauls Valley, Oklahoma (then Indian Territory) ...
said of Rogers' effect on the United States during the Depression, “His humor was the safety valve for American Life.”Architect of the Capitol Under the Direction of the Joint Committee on the Library, Compilation of Works of Art and Other Objects in the United States Capitol, United States Government Printing Office, Washington 1965 p. 65.


See also

*
1939 in art Events from the year 1939 in art. Events * March 20 – The Berlin Fire Brigade is ordered to burn around 5000 works of graphic art considered by the ruling Nazi Party in Germany to be "degenerate art" and which have little market value. * April ...


References


External links

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Will Rogers Capitol Statue
- A
C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
interview with Architect of the Capitol curator Barbara Wolanin on the Will Rogers statue in National Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol. {{coord missing, Oklahoma 1938 sculptures 1939 sculptures Monuments and memorials in Oklahoma Monuments and memorials in Washington, D.C. Rogers, Will Sculptures of men in Oklahoma Sculptures of men in Washington, D.C. Statues in Oklahoma Statues of musicians in the United States Portraits of actors Cultural depictions of Will Rogers