The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-08-22
WILL ROGERS HAD
PROMINENT MEN
AS HIS FRIENDS
Distinguished Collection OF
People, Who Stuck to
s.. Him in Life
1, BY ROBERT BURKHARDT
I downright 1885. BY United Press)

(COpyrlRnC 1850. by Onlteh fresSI
s Hollywood, Aug. 22-(U.Po-
!. Probably no man of our time has
had such a distinguished collection
OF intimate friends as Will Rogers.
The list might well be published
as a who's who of the world.
n Mussollni, Won Hindenberg,
king George, Lloyd George, Glenn
enceau, Einstein, Prime Minister
Stanley Baldwin, Ramsay MacDon-
aid, King Albert. former President
Gales of Mexico, Stain, military
leaders OF Japan, Chinese states
men and generals-not to mention
scur own presidents, most Of our
ssenators and leading congressman,
political and industrial leaders,
they all were on his visiting list,
all enjoyed his witticisms.
Public Was Constant
Rogers public was constant.
Wealth did not change him,
neither did movie stardom nor So
cial prestige. Although he was a
S.nillionaire, he retained the dress.
the bearing and speech of an hum
sSle man.
While 1t may be denied, Wills
trips about the world were not all
sntirely undertaken because Of his
love of travel or to provide new
material for his writings. On sew
ssral occasions, at least, 1t is indi-
Gated that he actually was an "un-
sofficial ambassador" when delicate
situations prevailed.
r. For aviation, he was the great
.eSt publicist 1t has ever known. In
the last ten years, VIII figured
that he had Travelled more than
half q million miles by air and un-
til the time of his death, had suf-
fered only two previous minor
aiaishaps. Once he was jolted u bit
and scratched and the other time
sho escaped without bruise.
g. Never Too Serious
ss-Despite all the honors and sue
cess that came to him, VIII re-
fused to take himself seriously.
sWhile he delighted IN lambasting
pnliticians, he was just as quick to
kid himself as anyone, else.
49, One time when one of the big
universities wrote that It intended
10 award him an honorary degree
because of his great contribution
40 the betterment of humanity"
Unanswered by politely refusing.
I'D prefer to stick to my de-
gree OF D.A.," he said. Doctor OF
Applesauce."
NJ Recently when someone called
Intention to his greatly increased
Fan mail. he drawled the following
explanation:
Sign Of better times; more peo-
pie have money to throw away on
postage stamps"
W. And one day when he overheard
Alice Faye In the studio cafe tell
n friend: He's about he silliest
,nan ! ever met; laughs at any
thing" VIII leaned over and whis-
pered: "Better give me his name.
He's 4 good man to try out my
Jokes on"
One Man Topped Him
Lamar Trotti. scenarist. Is one
of the few men who can boast Of
topping the Oklahoma philosopher
LII q gag. 1t happened while pro-
pairing the script for "Lifo Begins
at 49," Rogers had habit OF Inn
browsing dialogue as he went
aIong, memorizing lines ana then
twisting them around to suit HIM
kalf. But there was one line that
stopped him, and he accused Trot-
II OF framing him.
The story was laid In a news
paper office conducted by Rogers
and the proof-reader took the
comedian to task for misspelling
80 many words.
when l first started out to
write and mispelled few words
people said / was Just plain ig-
giorant. But when I got all the
words wrong they accused me OF
hein' a comedian and said l was
quaint"
Which. taken by and large. was
the story OF Rogers in a nutshell
"I'll read them lines IL you want
me to-" VIII told Trotti, but peo-
pile are goin' to swear l pu. 'em In
myself to abb my bad writing
TOMORROW. Politics and Polo