By David Flynn

In the very early days of US television, there were a few stars who bridged the gap between the old black and white movies in theatres and the advent of television, but one of the most popular of those was Roy Rogers.

He was a singer, a cool-clean hero and was one of the old-fashioned western stars who brought positive stories to the silver screen.

After a couple of decades making full length features and short movies in Hollywood, and a successful radio show in the 1940s, he then followed the path to television, like many others such as Lucille Ball, Abbott and Costello and Hopalong Cassidy.

During that early period, he competed with Gene Autry to be America’s favourite singing cowboy, as both actors did similar roles in movie westerns, usually while singing favourite songs which are still remembered. Among the many Rogers songs still played by fans all over the world are: ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ and ‘Happy Trails’.
Roy Rogers married actress Dale Evans, and the duo became the most famous couple in cowboy movies and on the television series, The Roy Rogers Show, which began on NBC in 1951.

The Roy Rogers Show ran early on Sunday evenings, at 6.30 pm, and was an instant hit. The half-hour western show, which was set in the fictitious Mineral City, was light-hearted and suitable for young audiences at the time. It had a nice charm about it, which added to the popularity of Roy Rogers, who by that time had the name ‘King of the Cowboys’, and Dale had become known as ‘Queen of the West’.

The happy duo was joined by Roy’s beloved horse Trigger, who became a star in his own right and also his dog, Bullet. Roy and Dale in effect, played themselves and like Gene Autry in his movies and tv show, took their own real names in their fictitious stories.

They were joined on The Roy Rogers Show by actor Pat Brady (again using his real name). Pat was a fiddler with Roy’s real-life music group, Sons of the Pioneers and acted as Roy’s sidekick in the television show.

An interesting fact about The Roy Rogers Show was it was a western, but in a modern (1950s) setting which featured cars and telephones, although Roy and Dale stayed on their horses. Dale’s horse was called Buttermilk. However, the western series did have good and bad guys reminiscent of those that would be in shows set during the Wild West days.

After Roy and Dale solved the crime of the week in the hit series, the episode would usually end with the couple singing Roy’s big hit, ‘Happy Trails’.

The couple had genuine chemistry together on-screen, and there was also a bit of slapstick comedy going on between the cast of characters.
Interestingly it was left ambiguous about whether Roy and Dale were married on the television show. They were definitely close as friends or companions, but it wasn’t made clear if they were romantically involved.

Television viewers of the time accepted the relationship because the duo was well-known as a real-life married couple.

Roy and Dale spent a lot of time promoting the show around the US, particularly during its early years. They gave birth to a baby daughter, Robin Elizabeth in 1950, the year before the series began, but while they were filming the second season, Robin, who had Down Syndrome died, and Roy and Dale were devastated. However, throughout the horror of that, they continued with the series, putting on a brave face. Dale wrote a book about the tragedy in 1953, titled, ‘Angel Unaware’.

The couple had a deep religious faith, which helped them through their tragedy. At same time, they were working on the show, they adopted some more children which expanded their family.

The Roy Rogers Show ran in same timeslot on NBC until 1957 and in later years the series was run on BBC in the UK. Roy and Dale were together until his death in 1998.

Although he continued to make music recordings, he didn’t make many more screen appearances after his series ended, although he had a prominent guest role on tv shows, like The Muppet Show and The Fall Guy. Dale Evans died in 2001.

The couple left a legacy of a television series which showed a family-friendly, positive and wholesome side of US western life. ÷