A couple of Extracts from the Happy Trails: The Life of Roy Rogers by Laurence Zwisohn at

http://www.royrogers.com/roy_rogers_bio.html

Roy Rogers was everyone's image of what a cowboy should be, from his white Stetson with its silver
hatband to his hand-tooled boots. His face was strong and handsome with eyes that squinted yet still
showed a twinkle. His smile was warm and reassuring. Whether he was wearing fringed Western wear
or a checkered cowboy shirt, he was the epitome of what a cowboy should be. He was the picture of
honesty and integrity. And was there ever a more exciting sight than watching Roy and Trigger riding
majestically across the television screen or a rodeo arena? No wonder three generations of kids (and
adults) wanted to be like Roy Rogers. We wanted to look like Roy, dress like Roy, and be as honest
and forthright as Roy.

He gave us standards to live by that helped teach us the difference between right and wrong. His
willingness to stand up for the things he believed in inspired us. And his religious faith and his
concern for the less fortunate helped mold our character. Roy lived his life off camera with the same
decency and humility that he projected on television and on the silver screen. He was the hero who
never let us down. Despite all the success that came to him, Roy never seemed to lose his way. And
he never forgot that his fans were the ones who made it possible for a poor boy from Ohio to attain a
level of success greater than anything he could ever have imagined. His decency and strength of
character come from a simpler time in America. Yet it was anything but an easy time.

Roy Rogers, the King of the Cowboys, was actually born in the city. It was in Cincinnati, Ohio, on
November 5, 1911, that Leonard Slye (later to be known as Roy Rogers) was born to Mattie and Andy
Slye. Years later, the building where he was born was torn down to make way for Riverfront Stadium
(recently renamed Cinergy Field), the home of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team. Roy liked to say
that he was born right where second base is now located. But the Slye family was never cut out for
city life, so a few months after Roy was born, Andy Slye moved his family to Portsmouth, Ohio (a
hundred miles east of Cincinnati), where they lived on the houseboat that he and Roy's uncle built.
When Roy was seven years old his father decided it was time they settled on solid ground, so he
bought a small farm in nearby Duck Run. Living on a farm meant long hours and hard work, but no
matter how hard they worked the land there was little money to be made. Roy often said that about all
they could raise on their farm were rocks. Eventually Andy Slye realized that he'd have to return to
his old factory job at the United States Shoe Company in Cincinnati if he was going to be able to
support his family. Since his father would be able to return home only on weekends, this meant that
even more of the responsibilities for farm chores fell onto Roy's young shoulders.

In September 1933 The O-Bar-O Cowboys straggled back to Los Angeles and the fellows went their
separate ways. Roy was able to land a job singing with Jack And His Texas Outlaws on radio station
KFWB. Still, the desire to be part of a good harmony group wouldn't leave him. Roy always loved
harmony singing, and even after achieving success as a solo performer, he always preferred singing
harmony to singing solo. He contacted Tim Spencer and talked him into giving it another try and said
he thought Bob Nolan should be the third member of the trio. Roy and Tim drove out to the Bel Air
Country Club where Bob was working as a golf caddy. (Somehow or other, even in the midst of the
Depression, Roy always managed to have "wheels.") Although Bob was somewhat reluctant, he
agreed to join with them and see if they could make a go of it. The three fellows moved into a
boarding house in Hollywood (that had once been owned by Tom Mix), and they began rehearsing.
The boys decided to put the emphasis on Western music and call themselves The Pioneer Trio. Day
after day and hour after hour they rehearsed until someone's voice gave out. Throughout this time Roy
continued singing with The Texas Outlaws so they could pay their rent. After weeks of constant
rehearsing, the trio finally felt they were ready to be heard.

The boys were able to get an audition at KFWB, and many years later Bob Nolan recalled that day.
He and Roy and Tim were confident they'd developed a good vocal blend, had some fine original
songs, and had come up with a unique trio yodel. While they stood on stage singing, Jerry King, the
station's general manager, along with staff announcer Harry Hall, listened to them from the control
booth. After a couple of tunes The Pioneer Trio went into Bob's song "Way Out There," which
featured their distinctive trio yodel. As soon as they began the yodel, Jerry King got up and left the
booth. Bob recalled, "our hearts fell to our feet." It seemed as if the endless weeks of rehearsing,
developing a new sound, writing songs, and building a large library of musical material had all been
for nothing. When a smiling Harry Hall came over to the boys, they asked why he was so happy when
the station manager had just walked out on them. Hall told them that as soon as Jerry King had heard
their trio yodel he'd turned to him and told him the group was hired. The boys' dejection rapidly
turned to joy.

The Pioneer Trio started out on the Jack And His Texas Outlaws radio program, where their fine
harmonies soon began attracting quite a bit of fan mail along with good newspaper reviews. The boys
had worked up a particularly fine arrangement of "The Last Round-Up," which caught the attention of
Bernie Milligan, the radio columnist for the Los Angeles Examiner. "The Last Round-Up" had
become the year's biggest hit song and was being performed by just about everyone on radio. Milligan
said The Pioneer Trio's arrangement was the best of all the versions he'd heard. His review and their
growing fan mail didn't go unnoticed by Jerry King. Roy always smiled when he recalled, "The
station put us on staff at $35 a week . . . and I mean every week." The Pioneers were given a program
of their own where they began using Bob Nolan's "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" as their theme song.
Meanwhile, Bob continued writing more fine Western songs, while Tim Spencer, inspired by Bob's
efforts, began trying his hand at song writing. The Pioneer Trio's harmonies and Nolan & Spencer's
songs have since become the very foundation of Western music. Always determined to improve their
sound, the fellows soon decided they needed a good instrumentalist and added superb fiddler Hugh
Farr to the group. One day Harry Hall caught the boys off guard by introducing them as The Sons Of
The Pioneers. After their broadcast they asked why he'd changed their introduction. Hall said he
thought they were too young to be pioneers, but that they certainly could be Sons Of The Pioneers.
Since Hugh Farr was now a permanent member of the group, the fellows decided Hall was right, and
ever since that day they've been known as The Sons Of The Pioneers. Hugh Farr began encouraging
the boys to bring his guitarist brother Karl into the group. Karl joined the Pioneers early in 1935, and,
according to Roy, that was the turning point for the group as they became as strong instrumentally as
they were vocally. Jerry King had heard something unique in the Pioneers' sound and had given them
their first job. Now he was about to do something that would spread their popularity nationwide.

Meanwhile, radio work had led to the Pioneers' first film appearance, in the Warner Bros. short Radio
Scout, starring Swedish comedian El Brendel. A few months later the Pioneers made their feature film
debut, in The Old Homestead, which featured Mary Carlisle. These films were soon followed by their
appearances in two Westerns starring Charles Starrett (Gallant Defender and The Mysterious
Avenger), two with Dick Foran (Song Of The Saddle and California Mail), and an appearance in the
Bing Crosby film Rhythm On The Range, where they joined Bing in singing "I'm An Old Cowhand
(From The Rio Grande)." In July 1936 the Pioneers left KFWB and traveled to Dallas to appear at the
Texas Centennial. While performing there they appeared in Gene Autry's film The Big Show, which
was partially filmed on location at the Centennial. Interestingly, one of the visitors who saw The Sons
Of The Pioneers perform at the Texas Centennial was a young singer named Dale Evans.

Back in Los Angeles the Pioneers continued radio work on KHJ along with more film work and
recordings for Decca and OKeh. The enormous success of Gene Autry's films had caused just about
every movie studio to jump on the singing cowboy bandwagon, and Columbia Pictures signed The
Sons Of The Pioneers to appear in Charles Starrett's series of Westerns. In the meantime Gene Autry
had grown unhappy with his contract with Republic Pictures and was threatening that he might not
report for the start of his next film. Republic decided to prepare themselves just in case he carried
through on this. One day while Roy (who was still known as Len Slye) was in a hat store in Glendale,
he heard someone say that Republic was holding auditions for a singing cowboy the following day. "I
saddled my guitar the next morning and went out there, but I couldn't get in because I didn't have an
appointment. So I waited around until the extras began coming back from lunch, and I got on the
opposite side of the crowd of people and came in with them. I'd just gotten inside the door when a
hand fell on my shoulder. It was Sol Siegel, the head producer of Western pictures." Siegel, who
remembered Roy from the work he and the Pioneers had done in two of Gene Autry's films, asked
what he was doing there. When Roy said he'd heard they were looking for another singing cowboy,
Siegel asked if he'd brought his guitar with him. Roy said it was in his car, but that he'd run back and
get it. By the time he got back to the producer's office he was out of breath and couldn't sing. Siegel
told Roy to rest for a minute and then he'd listen to him. The wait must have been worthwhile,
because on Wednesday, October 13, 1937, Republic Pictures signed Len Slye to a seven-year
contract. Republic put him to work in the Three Mesquiteers film Wild Horse Rodeo in which billed
as Dick Weston, he sang one song. Things were quiet for a few months until Gene Autry failed to
report for the start of his next film. By then the studio was prepared, and they put Len Slye, who had
been renamed Roy Rogers, into the lead role in Under Western Stars, the film that had been scheduled
for Autry. When Under Western Stars was released in April 1938, it became an immediate hit, and it
made a star of Roy Rogers. Gene Autry and the studio soon resolved their differences, but in the
meantime Republic Pictures had launched Roy Rogers' career.

Before filming began on Under Western Stars, several of the stables that provided horses to Republic
brought their best lead horses to the studio so Roy could select a mount. As Roy recalled it, the third
horse he got on was a beautiful golden palomino who handled smoothly and reacted quickly to
whatever he asked it to do: "He could turn on a dime and give you some change." Smiley Burnette,
who played Roy's sidekick in his first two films, was watching and mentioned how quick on the
trigger this horse was. Roy agreed and decided that Trigger was the perfect name for the horse with
which he would become synonymous. After the success of Under Western Stars, Republic starred
Roy in a series of historical Westerns--Rough Riders Roundup, Days Of Jesse James, Frontier Pony
Express, and Young Buffalo Bill--as he quickly established himself as a major Western star. Early in
1940 Roy received excellent reviews for his role as Claire Trevor's younger brother in the film The
Dark Command, which also starred John Wayne and Walter Pidgeon