The Creation of The Will Rogers Follies
by Peter Stone, author
Will Rogers was a unique American who, though he died almost sixty years ago, remains a beloved figure remembered for his humor, his wisdom and his just plain common sense. At the heart of his populist philosophy was his most famous statement: "I never met a man I didn't like".
Rogers became the biggest, most popular, and highest paid star of every existing medium of his time - stage, screen, radio, newspapers, and public appearances. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that he was the greatest star this country has ever produced.
Nonetheless, I couldn't get Will out of my mind. He had been a commanding figure in my home when I was growing up - my father read his daily newspaper column aloud every morning at breakfast. While I was too young to understand them fully, I knew they were funny and they pleased my parents and older brother very much. And, because this daily ritual was, as we call it today, quality time, it was relished.
When I was first approached to write a musical play about this great and beloved man, my first reacton was negative. I don't believe that biographies are well-suited for drama. As a European writer once said, "God does not write second acts," meaning that people's lives are not dramatically laid out; in order to make a life stageworthy, either the playwright has to alter the facts (not historically responsible) or tell it exactly like it was (not dramatically responsible).
I actually met Will Rogers. It was on April 23, 1935, and I was five-years-old. I can pin-point the exact date because it was, not coincidentally, Shirley Temple's birthday. There was to be a party with ice cream and cake on the set of her current picture. All of the children of studio executives were invited (read commanded) to attend, so my brother and I were picked up after school and transported to the Fox lot for the celebration.
Conducted by our father, who had each of us firmly by the hand, my brother and I were led to the appointed stage. But just as we were about to enter, he stopped; then without explanation, he pulled us across the street to another stage and dragged us inside.
Even before our eyes had become accustomed to the darkened set, we found ourselves standing before the great man himself, immediately recognizable from the small photo that accompanied his newspaper column. Rogers, being under exclusive contract to Fox, was also shooting a film. We were introduced and, as I looked up into that kindly, smiling, crinkled face, he vigorously shook my hand. I vividly remember every second of it.
Four months later he was dead, the victim, along with the famous aviator, Wiley Post, of a plane crash in Alaska. He was fifty-five years old.
My father was, of course, devastated. And therefore, so was I. No more family laughter at the daily readings. No more Will. I can't really remember our breakfasts together after that. I'm sure we had them and I'm sure they were warm, pleasant affairs. I just don't particularly remember them. Not after Will died.
I can't honestly say that the reason, fifty-five years later, for my writing a Broadway musical about Will Rogers was a direct result of that meeting. But my life-long fascination with the phenomenon of his national importance is undoubtedly related to his imporance to my father. And to me. After all, I knew him.
So I found myself, many years later, pouring over hundreds of newspaper columns and the numerous collections of Will Rogers' sayings. And I was astonished by what I found - reams of humerous wisdom and wise humor. And above all, I was struck by the remarkable relevance of just about everything he said and wrote - about America and Americans, about people all over the world, their lives, their politics, their habits, their strengths and weaknesses, their accomplishments and foibles. It was all just as valid today as it was when he created it sixty and seventy years ago.
During my research I discovered that one of Rogers' major successes had been starring in ten separate editons of the fabled "Ziegfeld Follies" on Broadway. It was then that the ideas came to me - instead of trying to make Will Rogers' life stageworthy, why not let Ziegeld do it for me? Why not present his life and career as the great showman himself would have done it - with all of the girls, the glitter, the glamour, and pure entertainment that were Florenz Ziegfeld's trademark.
With this concept firmly in hand, I approached the finest director-choreographer in America today, Tommy Tune (we had already done three shows together) and to my delight ( but not surprise) he was as intrigued and excited by the idea as I was.
The creation of the show quickly followed. We called it The Will Rogers Follies. Naturally, we were all pleased by its immediate success on Broadway and by all of the awards it won. But what pleases us most is to watch the young people in the audience as they react to the humorous truths about themselves and their country, uttered by a man they had barely ever heard of and who died in 1935.
Then again, Ziegfeld wasn't wrong when he said: Sixteen beautiful girls and a dog act don't hurt either.
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