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The Cowboy and the Senorita: A Biography of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and

Happy Trails: A Pictorial Celebration of the Life and Times of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

In the fall of 1947 Roy proposed to Dale as he sat on Trigger. The pair was performing at a rode in Chicago, and moments before their big entrance Roy suggested they get married. The date set for the wedding was New Year’s Eve. Gossip columnists predicted that Trigger would be the best man and that Dale would wear a red-sequined, cowgirl gown. The prediction proved to be false.

Roy and Dale’s wedding was a simple affair held at a ranch in Oklahoma, which happened to be the location for the filming of their seventeenth movie, Home in Oklahoma. The couple’s agent, Art Rush, served as best man and his wife, Mary Jo, was the matron of honor.

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The Cowboy and the Senorita and Happy Trails.

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Happy Trails:  A Pictorial Celebration of the Life and Times of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

On December 30, 1951, The Roy Rogers Show debuted on NBC. Children across the country were poised in front of their parents’ television sets on Sunday nights at 6:30 to watch their favorite singing cowboy fight for law and order in the contemporary West. The theme song for the program, written by Dale Evans, was “Happy Trails.”

Dale joined Roy in the series, as did actor-singer Pat Brady, who played a bumbling sidekick. In addition to the human actors, the show featured Roy Roy’s horse, Trigger; Dale’s horse, Buttermilk; her dog, Bullet; and Pat’s cantankerous jeep, Nellybelle.

Critics believed the show was popular not only because audiences loved the mix of action and comedy, but also because of the high morals it brought to light. Roy and Dale’s faith in God and their desire to live according to His ways were evident in each episode. (Roy read the Cowboy’s Prayer at the Riders Club meetings at theatres that featured his movies and television shows.) The programs struck a positive chord with children and parents alike. The show remained on the air for seven years.

Evangelist Billy Graham invited Roy and Dale to perform at his crusades and give their testimony. New attendance records were established wherever they appeared. Dale went on to record her testimony in a series of books about her life and faith. Each one was a popular seller for the publishing house, the Revell Company.

To learn more about the talented cowboy duo read Happy Trails!

The Wild West Film Festival has named The Cowgirl’s Lament

written by Mark Jackson, Pamela Haan, David R. Morgan, and Chris Enss Country Song of the Year!

The award presentation will take place on October 9 at the

Wild West Film Festival in Folsom, California.

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Happy Trails: 

A Pictorial Celebration of the Life and Times of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

Hundreds of excited children, with hard-earned nickels and dimes clutched tightly in their fists, exchanged their money for a ticket at Saturday matinees across the country in the 1940s. The chance to see singing cowboy Roy Rogers, his horse, Trigger, and leading lady Dale Evans come up against the West’s most notorious criminals brought young audiences to theatres in droves.  And, in the process, it elevated western musicals to one of the most popular film genres in history.

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were the reigning royalty of B-rated westerns for more than a decade. They helped persuade moviegoers that good always triumphs over evil in a fair fight and that life on the open range was one long, wholesome sing-along.  Together, the King of Cowboys and the Queen of the West appeared in more than 200 films and television programs.

Roy and Dale made their first picture together in 1944. The film, The Cowboy and the Senorita, brought an estimated 900,000 fans to movie houses in America and began a partnership for the couple that lasted fifty-two years.  The chemistry between Roy and Dale was enchanting, and together they were an entertaining powerhouse.  In addition to their films, they had popular radio programs, comic book series, albums, and a long list of merchandise (including clothes, boots, and toys), all bearing their names.

Roy and Dale were successful individually, as well. Dale, a talented singer-songwriter, performed with big band orchestras, shared the stage with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, and penned many popular tunes, including the song that would be Roy and Dale’s theme, “Happy Trails.”  Roy was a co-founder and member of the group the Sons of the Pioneers.  The band made a name for itself singing original country music songs, including “Cool Water” and “Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds.”

To learn more about the cowboy duo read Happy Trails

Enter now to win a copy of

Happy Trails:  A Pictorial Celebration of the Life and Times of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

Hundreds of excited children, with hard-earned nickels and dimes clutched tightly in their fists, exchanged their money for a ticket at Saturday matinees across the country in the 1940s. The chance to see singing cowboy Roy Rogers, his horse, Trigger, and leading lady Dale Evans come up against the West’s most notorious criminals brought young audiences to theatres in droves. And, in the process, it elevated western musicals to one of the most popular film genres in history.

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were the reigning royalty of B-rated westerns for more than a decade. They helped persuade moviegoers that good always triumphs over evil in a fair fight and that life on the open range was one long, wholesome sing-along. Together, the King of the Cowboys and the Queen of the West appeared in more than 200 films and television programs.

Roy and Dale made their first pictures together in 1994. The film, The Cowboy and the Senorita, brought an estimated 900,000 fans to movie houses in America and began a partnership for the couple that lasted fifty-two years. The chemistry between Roy and Dale was enchanting, and together they were an entertainment powerhouse. In addition to their films, they had popular radio programs, comic book series, albums, and a long list of merchandise (including clothes, boots, and toys), all bearing their names.

Roy and Dale were successful individuals, as well, Dale, a talented singer-songwriter, performed with big band orchestras, shared the stage with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, and penned many popular tunes, including the song that would be Roy and Dale’s theme, “Happy Trails.” Roy was a co-founder and member of the group the Sons of the Pioneers. The band made a name for itself singing original country music songs, including “Cool Water” and “Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds.”

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were married in 1947. As a couple they were consistently ranked in the top ten among the western stars at the box office. They costarred in twenty-nine movies and recorded more than 200 albums together. In 1951, they parlayed their fame to the small screen, appearing in a half-hour television show aptly called The Roy Rogers Show.

When they weren’t working, the western icons spent a great deal of time visiting children in hospitals and orphanages. They were dedicated Christians who sought to serve the hurt and needy. They would later be recognized by national civic organizations for their humanitarian efforts.

Roy and Dale’s off-screen life was filled with a great deal of love and happiness. They had nine children, whom they adored and showered with affection. Their family was no stranger to tragedy though. One child, Robin, died of complications associated with Down syndrome. An adopted daughter, Debbie, died in a church bus accident when she was twelve; their adopted son, Sandy, suffered as accidental death while serving in the military in Germany. Robin’s death inspired Dale to write Angel Unaware, the first of her more than twenty books.

After the couple was semi-retired from the entertainment industry, they greeted fans at the museum in Victorville, California, and enjoyed life with their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Thousands of western enthusiasts and fans alike now make the pilgrimage to Branson, Missouri, where the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum is currently located. They come to get a glimpse of their heroes’ six-shooters, boots, costumes, and other personal artifacts on display.

The Rogers family’s collection of priceless items elicits fond memories of an inspirational pair who used their immense talent to encourage moral and spiritual strength. The artifacts draw visitors back in time to when knights of the American plains yodeled, wore white hats and fancy boots, and thrived on defeating the outlaws and rescuing the defenseless.

To learn more about the cowboy duo read Happy Trails

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The Cowboy and the Senorita: A Biography of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and

Happy Trails: A Pictorial Celebration of the Life and Times of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

Elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers and elected again in 1988 as Roy Rogers.

Roy got his horse Trigger in 1938 and rode him in every one of his films and TV shows after that. He had appeared in one earlier movie, ridden by Olivia de Havilland in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Trigger died in 1965 at age 33.

Roy’s theme song, “Happy Trails”, was written by Dale Evans.

Inducted (as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers) into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1995.

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Happy Trails:  A Pictorial Celebration of the Life and Times of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

This month Roy Rogers and Dale Evans fans can enter to win a copy of Happy Trails:  A Pictorial Celebration of the Life and Times of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.  Visit www.chrisenss.com to learn more.

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans ruled the West from the silver screen as the King of Cowboys and Queen of the West. Off screen, this husband-and-wife duo raised a family and lived the “Code of the West.” Now, in this new book, the Rogers family shares their memories of Roy, Dale, and Trigger, along with their other sidekicks and more than a hundred never before seen, behind-the-scenes photographs.

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The Lady and the Mountain Man: 

Isabella Bird, Rocky Mountain Jim, and their Unlikely Friendship

The Greeley stage arrived by mid-morning and came to a stop at the stables not far from the inn.  A male passenger dressed in tailored clothing from his head to his boots stepped out of the vehicle.  He was wearing light colored, woolen breeches, a white shirt, silk bandana, a heavy, double-breasted, lined flannel coat, and a black woolen-lined driving cap with ear flaps.  Isabella recognized him as the Englishman William Haigh.  She’d had occasion to meet him once in Estes Park while he was visiting with Griff Evans.  Carrying a few of her belongings, she walked to the stage.  Jim followed alongside her, clutching her bags in each hand.

Ever the polite dandy, Haigh bowed briefly at the waist when he saw Isabella.  The two exchanged cordialities, and then she introduced him to Mountain Jim.  After expressing how honored he was to make his acquaintance, he told Jim his reputation had proceeded him and how much he would enjoy going on a hunting trip with him.  Jim was courteous and thanked the Englishman for his thoughtfulness.  Haigh extended his hand to shake Jim’s.  It was a scene Isabella recalled vividly.  “…[H]e put out a small hand cased in a perfectly fitting lemon colored kid glove,” she wrote in her memoirs.  “As the mountain man stood there in his grotesque rags and odds and ends of apparel, his gentlemanliness of deportment brought into relief the innate vulgarity of a rich parvenu.”

Once the stage driver secured Isabella’s bags on the vehicle, it was time to go.  Haigh helped Isabella into the coach while regaling her with news of England, his trip to the Rockies, and the influential people he’d come to know during his time in the American West.  The driver cracked the whip, and the team of horses lit out.  Isabella looked back to wave goodbye to the desperado she had come to know and dared to love.  Jim had mounted his ride and was trudging through the mud and snow in the opposite direction.  The dazzling sunlight broke through the thick tree line and danced on the renegade mountain man’s golden yellow hair.  Slowly, his image faded into the snowy terrain.

To learn more about Isabella Bird and her time with Rocky Mountain Jim Nugent read

The Lady and the Mountain Man

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The Lady and the Mountain Man: 

Isabella Bird, Rocky Mountain Jim, and their Unlikely Friendship

A vibrant summer sun blanketed the pristine Rocky Mountains with its far-reaching rays, reflecting lavender and amber colors on the clouds hovering over much of Estes Park.  Mountain Jim, atop his white mule, rode through the vicinity of Griff Evans’ settlement, close to the tree line.  Beaver pelts and squirrel carcasses dangled off the horn of his saddle.  Horse and rider moved slowly, almost gliding.  KA-BANG!  KA-BANG!  The sound of a shotgun roaring interrupted the serene setting.  A slug struck Jim hard, knocking him to the ground.  Five of the large, blue whistler shots plowed into his head and face.  William Brown, a hunter traveling with Jim, hurried his horse to the spot where he lay to check on his downed companion.  Jim was bleeding badly.  Riding hard to the scene from the direction of the Evans’ ranch were three riders.  Griff Evans, William Haigh, and the Earl of Dunraven himself, Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin.  At just that moment, Dr. George Kingsley spurred his horse out of the tree line.  He’d been hunting bear and content to continue his quest when he heard the men yelling at him to help.  Dr. Kingsley obliged.

The four men were talking over one another with an inebriated Evans taking credit for the shooting when the doctor got to them.  Disregarding the chatter, he jumped off his horse and rushed to the wounded mountain man lying under a clump of aspen trees.  He quickly assessed the situation and announced to the group that one of the bullets had entered the back of the brain.  Another had gone through the bones in his nose, splintering them when it hit and when it exited.  The doctor and William transported Jim to a nearby log hut where everything was done to make the mountain of a man comfortable.  Doctor Kingsley noted in his memoirs the date Jim was shot – June 29, 1874.  “What a horrible case this would have been in a polluted war hospital,” he wrote.  “But up here 8,000 feet above sea level not a single wound festered, and all healed as healthily as the cut of a healthy schoolboy.”

Shortly after the doctor’s initial diagnosis, Mountain Jim was moved to the hospital at Fort Collins.  A second examination showed additional shots had penetrated the biceps of his left arm and his chest.  Dr. Kingsley had tended to Jim before after one desperate occasion with the grizzly.  Among the injuries he attempted to repair after the mauling was the serious scratch across the man’s right eye.  The adhesions between the lid and eye had never properly healed, and the scar tissue was quite pronounced.  “I often examined that eye of Jim’s with a view of releasing it from its too permanent curtain,” the doctor wrote in his memoirs.  “The grizzly had performed a most remarkable operation, for a bear’s paw is not exactly an instrument well adapted to eye surgery.”

To learn more about Jim Nugent and when he saw Isabella Bird next read

The Lady and the Mountain Man

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The Lady and the Mountain Man: 

Isabella Bird, Rocky Mountain Jim, and their Unlikely Friendship

Once the group reached the area near the lava beds, they collected the horses they’d left there overnight.  Jim lifted Isabella and placed her on Birdie’s back.  She guided her ride slowly over the jagged shards of rocks.  When they reached the camping grounds, Jim lifted Isabella off her horse and led her to a bed of charred wood.  In a few moments, he had a fire going, and the four huddled around the blaze.  Rogers and Downer considered continuing to Estes Park, but Jim convinced them to stay.  “Now gentlemen,” the mountain man admonished, “I want a good night’s rest, and we shan’t stir from here tonight.”  No one disagreed.  In truth, everyone was too tired to debate the matter.

Isabella made herself comfortable under a cluster of nearby trees.  After wrapping herself in a roll of blankets, she fell fast asleep.

“When I woke, the moon was high shining through silvery branches, whitening the bald Peak above, and glittering on the great abyss of snow behind, and pine logs were blazing like a bonfire in the cold still air,” Isabella wrote about the excursion.  “My feet were so icy cold that I could not sleep again, and getting some blankets to sit in and making a roll of them for my back, I sat for two hours by the camp-fire.  It was weird and gloriously beautiful.  The students [Rogers and Downer] were asleep not far off in their blankets with their feet toward the fire.  ‘Ring’ lay on one side of me with his fine head on my arm, and his master sat smoking, with the fire lighting up the handsome side of his face, and except for the tones of our voices, and an occasional crackle and splutter as a pine knot blazed up, there was no sound on the mountain side….

“Once only some wild animals prowled near the camp, when ‘Ring,’ with one bound, disappeared from my side; and the horses, which were picketed by the stream, broke their lariats, stampeded, and came rushing wildly toward the fire, and it was fully half an hour before they were caught and quiet was restored.”

A light shower of snow drifted down on the camp.  Mountain Jim stared pensively at the flakes, melting as they met the flames of the campfire.  Eventually he spoke.  He had a great deal to say.  He told Isabella of his troubled childhood and how he squandered much of his youth breaking laws and promises.  Isabella gave no indication that Jim’s tales of his misspent younger years was his way of bragging about his misdeeds.  He spoke as though he sincerely regretted his actions.  He made no excuses for whatever bad he had done but was truly repentant.  He talked about the enthusiasm he once had for life and for exploring the West.  He confessed that the spark had been replaced with anger and frustration over wealthy nobles who took possession of land to which they had no moral right.  Tells welled up in Jim’s eyes as he shared with Isabella how he felt he had wasted his years.  He was a sinner who believed redemption for him was impossible.

Isabella only listened.  His pain was real, but she wondered if the emotions bubbled to the surface out of fatigue or the need to fill the silence?  She couldn’t help but be moved by all he was admitting.  While working with her father in the church, she’d heard similar cries from those who had fallen short.  She had encountered men and women who hated their sin nature and wanted to get right with the Creator.  Some, like Isabella, believed and accepted the gift of forgiveness.  Others, however, struggled with the idea that God’s grace could transform their lawless, desperate deeds.  Jim was one of those individuals.  He grieved, and Isabella was sad for him.

To learn more about the romance between Isabella and Jim read

The Lady and the Mountain Man