Imperial Valley press., 1935-08-22
Bv ROBERT BURKHARDT
Written for the United Press

| fCopvrieht. 1885. BY United Press
HOLLYWOOD. Aug. 22.-Proo-
ablv no man of our time has had
such a distinguished COLLECTION Oh
intimate friends as VIII Rogers
The list might well be published as
who's Who" of the world.
Kings. prime ministers, presl-
dents dictators. famous diplomats,
Inoted writer's. leaders in every line
of industry were proud to call Jhe
loveable Oklahoma cowboy thelr
friend.
Mussolini. Won Hindenberg, King
George. Lloyd George, Clemenceau'
Einstein. Prime Minister STANLEY
Baldwin. Ramsay Macdonald, King
Albert. former President Gales OF
Mexico. Stain. military leaders OF
Japan. Chinese statesmen and gen.
+ erals-not to mention our own
Presidents. most of our senators
and leading congressman, political
and industrial leaders-they all
were on his visiting list, all enjoy
ed his keen witticisms.
Rogers public was constant ana
never waYered from the time ne
first flashed across the American
scene until he came at last to the
end of the road, in the midst OF
another of his glorious adventures.
Wealth did not change nm,
neither did movie stardom nor So
cial prestige. Although he was
millionaire he retained the dress
the bearing and speech OF a num-
BILE man. -
While it may be denied. Bills
trips about the world were not all
entirely undertaken because OF his
love of travel or to provide new
material for his writings, On sew
eral occasions. at least, it is indi-
Gated that he actually was an 'un-
official ambassador" when delicate
situations prevailed.
! Boosted Aviation
For aviation, he was the greatest
rublicist it has ever known. In the
| last 10 years, Will figured that he
had travelled more than half MIL
lion miles by air and until the
time of his death. had suffered only
two previous minor miShaps. Once
he was jolted bit and scratched
and the other time he escaped with
out a bruiSe.
Despite all the honors and sue
cess that came to him, Will refused
to take himself seriously. While
he delighted in lambasting politi-
clans. he was just as quick to kid
! himself as anyone else.
One time when one of the big
universities wrote that it intended
to award him an honorary degree
| because Of his great contribution
to the betterment of humanity" he
answered by politely refusing.
I'D prefer to stick to my degree
of D. A he said. Doctor of APP
plesauce."
Recently when someone called
attention 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
And one day when he overheard
Alice Faye in the studio cafe tell a
friend: Hes about the silliest man
I ever met; laughs at anything; y
Will leaned over and whispered:
Better give me his name. He's a
good man to try out my jokes on"
Lamar Trotti, scenarist, is one Of
the few men who can boast of top
ping the Oklahoma philosopher in
a gag. It happened while prepar-
ing the script for Life Begins at
40" Rogers had a habit of impro-
vising dialogue as he went along,
memorizing lines and then twisting
them around to suit himself But
there was one line that stopped
him, and he accused Trotti OF
framing him.
Feared Alibi Claim
The situation of the story was in
a newspaper office conducted by
Rogers and the proof reader took
the comedian to task for misSpell-
ing so many words. When I first