Happy Trails

The youngish looking fellow above is one Leonard Slye, a.k.a. Roy Rogers, born this day 1911 in Cincinnati, Ohio. That is right, the "King of Cowboys" was born in fucking Ohio. Missing in the picture above is the white hat, that Roy usually wore during his films. That is how the uneducated could tell he was the good guy, and of course the bad guy had to have the matching black hat. Roy and his family did some knocking about Ohio before a visit to a sister in California convinced him and the family to pack up at move to California. He made his first film in 1935 as a "singing cowboy." He formed a musical group called the Sons of the Pioneers, and had hits like "Cool Waters" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." I must confess that I so old that I remember these tunes, and at the time thought they were the bomb. Maybe now, not so much, but at the time he was a hero, not only to me but to millions of children. Action figures, his horse Trigger, and his lovely wife Dale Evans, all combined to make good old Roy one hell of a hero. He was the square jawed fellow in the white hat that is going to save the day, and put everything in order. When I was a younger lad, I had to go to a training for my current profession, and one of the "teachers" there compared what I do for a living with being Roy Rogers, it made me sick to my stomach. What I do, and the things Roy Rogers did are miles apart, and do not ever let some day fool try to tell you differently. So for being the guy in the white hat that made it all ok, and for wishing us all "Happy Trails," Roy Rogers (November 5th 1911-July 6th, 1998, at the age of 86 of congestive heart failure.), you are my hero of the day.