Roy Rogers Museum closed forever.

HAWKEYE10

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Roy Rogers Museum has closed its doors forever.











This is for the over "55 group" who know Roy Rogers & Dale Evans. ( King & Queen of the Cowboys )

The Roy Rogers Museum has closed its doors forever.

Here is a partial listing of some of the items that were sold at auction . . .

Roy's 1964 Bonneville sold for $254,500, it was estimated to sell between 100 and 150 thousand dollars.







His script book from the January 14,1953 episode of This Is Your Life sold for $10,000 (est. $800-$1,000)

A collection of signed baseballs (Pete Rose, Duke Snyder and other greats) sold for $3,750

A collection of signed bats (Yogi Berra, Enos Slaughter, Bob Feller, and others) sold for $2,750.

Trigger's saddle and bridle sold for $386,500 (est. 100-150 K)

One of many of Roy's shirts sold for $16,250 and one of his many cowboy hats sold for $17,500.



One set of boot spurs sold for $10,625. (He never used a set of spurs on Trigger.)

A life size shooting gallery sold for $27,500.

Various chandeliers sold from $6,875 to $20,000. Very unique and artistic in their western style.

A signed photograph by Don Larsen taken during his perfect game in the world series against the Dodgers on Oct. 8, 1953, along with a signed baseball to Roy from Don, sold for $2,500

Two fabulous limited edition BB guns in their original boxes with numerous photos of Roy, Dale, Gabby, and Pat sold for $3,750.

A collection of memorabilia from his shows entertaining the troops in Vietnam sold for $938. I never knew he was there. His flight jacket sold for $7,500.



His set of dinner ware plates and silverware sold for $11,875.

The Bible they used at the dinner table every night sold for $8,750.

One of several of his guitars sold for $27,500.

Nelly belle sold for $116,500.



A fabulous painting of Roy, Dale, Pat, Buttermilk, Trigger, and Bullet sold for $10,625.

One of several sets of movie posters sold for $18,750.

A black and white photograph of Gene Autry with a touching inscription from Gene to Roy sold for $17,500.

A Republic Productions Poster bearing many autographs of the people that played in Roy's movies sold for $11,875.

Dale's horse, Buttermilk (whose history is very interesting) sold below the pre-sale estimate for $25,000. (est. 30-40 K)



Bullet sold for $35,000 (est. 10-15 K). He was their real pet.

Dale's parade saddle, estimated to sell between 20-30 K, sold for $104,500.

One of many pairs of Roy's boots sold for $21,250.

Trigger sold for $266,500.








Do you remember the 1938 movie The Adventures of Robin hood with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland? Well Olivia rode Trigger in that movie. Trigger was bred on a farm co-owned by Bing Crosby. Roy bought Trigger on a time payment plan for $2,500. Roy and Trigger made 188 movies together. Trigger even out did Bob Hope by winning an Oscar in the movie Son of Paleface in 1953.

It is extremely sad to see this era lost forever. Despite the fact that Gene and Roy's movies, as well as those of other great characters, can be bought or rented for viewing, today's kids would rather spend their time playing video games. Today it takes a very special pair of parents to raise their kids with the right values and morals. These were the great heroes of our childhood, and they did teach us right from wrong, and how to have and show respect for each other and the animals that share this earth.

You and I were born at the right time. We were able to grow up with these great people even if we never met them. In their own way they taught us patriotism and honor, we learned that lying and cheating were bad, and sex wasn't as important as love. We learned how to suffer through disappointment and failure and work through it. Our lives were drug free.

So it's good-bye to Roy and Dale, Gene and Hoppy, The Lone Ranger and Tonto. Farewell to Sky King and Superman and Sgt. Friday. Thanks to Capt. Kangaroo, Mr. Rogers and Capt. Noah and all those people whose lives touched ours, and made them better.

A time in History, never to be seen again, but what a ride it was.

HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU!

THOSE WERE THE DAYS, MY FRIENDS
 
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OK, w/o looking it up in Goggle, tell me: Who was Pat Butram (sp?), what did he ride (hint, it wasn't a horse) and what was its name? And if you know the answer you're probably drawing SS.
 
royrodgers.jpg

Here's my bit of Roy Rogers history.I used to eat every meal on this plate back in the 50's.Great times back then.Happy trails to all.Slow
 
At those prices listed I would think everything went to a good home. I find it a bit sad when any museum closes, but with western cowboy culture falling into a nitch status I guess this was a matter of time with this one. I just hope these treasures are well kept beyond just their new owners.
 
Thanks for the post. Too young to have ever watched any of his work but I couldn't help but break out in spontaneous song. My 4 year old is looking at me like I am crazy. :)
 
I use to live in the area and visited both his museums several times. He had a fair amount of guns on display. He had hunted on safari`s etc.
His first museum was at apple valley and it moved to victorville california. I never heard a bad word about him and I knew people that knew him. You cant say that about many celebertys now days.
 
I pretended to be him many times as a kid. Heck, I may still be pretending.

With the internet, he'll live on forever, probably.
 
Sidekick. Jeep. Nellybelle. Yes.

I thought I wasn't going crazy. Pat Buttram was Gene Autry's sidekick.
Pat Buttram - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

He rode a mule named Dandruff (that one I had to look up). Seems like I can remember him on a mule with a circle around its eye, but maybe that's Smiley Burnett.

Pat Brady was Roy's sidekick, who drove Nellybelle.
Pat Brady - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


edit: Nope. Just looked up Smiley. His horse had a ring around his left eye, but it was a horse, not a mule.
 
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Really sad to know the museum is no more. Glad I got to see it in Apple Valley back in the 70's. I grew up on Roy and Dale, also, and being horse happy, Trigger was my imaginary friend for many years (shh, don't tell anyone). All of us who watched didn't know we were learning good moral standards at the time, it was just the cowboys and horses and a happy ending.

The National Rodeo Finals are held in Vegas every year. At that time they have some killer shopping with western themed items called Cowboy Christmas. I was there this last Dec. and came across Trigger and Bullet. RFDTV bought them and brought the display. Gone for 46 years, now, he doesn't look too bad.
IMG_0541.jpg
 
Pat BUTTRAM. Pat BRADY. I couldn't keep those guys straight when I was eight and obviously I still can't. Gene and Roy should have made them wear name tags.

Anybody remember Mr. Haney on Green Acres? One of them was him, and I never got that right either.
 
Pat BUTTRAM. Pat BRADY. I couldn't keep those guys straight when I was eight and obviously I still can't. Gene and Roy should have made them wear name tags.

Anybody remember Mr. Haney on Green Acres? One of them was him, and I never got that right either.

Pat Buttram.
 
Man, this is sad news.

I had a Roy Rogers lunch box, way back when.:D I have no idea what happened to it. It would be worth money now....except that it was all beat up from being carried to school day in and day out.

I can remember watching his movies: he was ALWAYS the good guy, and I can't remember him ever shooting anyone: he would shoot the revolvers out of the bad guys' hands, and bring him in alive.

He really was a good role model. He ALWAYS did the 'right thing'; he always kept his word, and he protected the 'innocents' in any situation.

I'm curious: where did the money from the auction of the Roy Roger's memorabilia go?
 
The fellow that bought Trigger and Bullet is the founder and owner of RFDTV out of Omaha, they are now showing RR movies and I think the animal mounts are on display there. Jeff
 
The truth is, as much as we loved them and they were a part of many of our childhoods, only a devoted cinema fan of old westerns today could enjoy the shows. The plots and acting were somewhat cheesy by today's standards but it was a different time when it was easy to tell the good guys from the bad and the good guys always did things for the right reason, always upheld the right and defended the weak, and the bad guy always got his just desserts. Unfortunately a romanticized and unrealistic comparison to the way life really has always worked.

If you were born much past the mid 60's (that's the 1960's to the anal retentive among us :p) then you probably grew up with different values and a somewhat more jaded if more realistic view of the world. We loved Dirty Harry because he did things Roy & Dale wouldn't; he may have done it for the ultimate right reason and the bad guy usually got his just desserts via Harry's justice, but Harry didn't always do things above board to accomplish his goals. Roy Rogers always did and most will admit (though they hate to) that it wasn't usually very realistic. But we admired the ideal.

I was born shortly after the close of WWII so the books, movies, TV shows were rife with it and many of us had fathers, uncles and grandfathers who had served so it was very real and relevant to me.

To my kids, Viet Nam was "ancient history". Over about the same period for them when they were born as WWII was for me - but the mood had changed and the country wasn't feeling good about Viet Nam in the aftermath in the mid 70's. It's all relative. WWII is just something akin to the Crusades or the Civil War they read about in a history book that has little or no relevance to anything they relate to. As it is with the type of entertainment they grew up with - an inability to relate to what Roy Rogers represented to those of us who remember him and his day fondly.

I doubt aside from a sense of curiosity and quaint nostalgia that it's possible for someone who didn't grow up during the time to appreciate Roy Rogers and the time he represented. And I count it as their loss that they have nothing equivalent to look back on that imparts the same values. Part of what we have lost as our "culture" has become more "refined". More's the pity.

We have shifted our focus away from ideals and standards to celebrate the lowering of the bar. We musn't aspire to the ideal because so many fall short and refuse to even try and it makes them feel bad when others point that out. It's discriminatory, or racist, or heartless, or "mean spirited". Therefore our "heroes" (how that word has been cheapened and watered down to next to nothingness !) are people who garner the most attention by their perverted, narcissistic, or anti-social behavior or how much money or notoriety they have.

It's popular now, because of this, to try to tear down those idealistic images of the past, since mediocrity is the standard of today. If there is no one truly outstanding by the ideal, then the rest don't have to feel bad by comparison.

My wife and I discussed this recently as we were leaving the movie theater, a past time I find myself participating in less and less these days. Been a long time since I left a film with real, true "feel good" feeling; not what it's supposed to be about these days, I guess.

Happy trails, Roy & Dale. History marches on - we touch who we can when we can and nothing lasts forever in this world. Growing older and more introspective is not without it's pitfalls.
 
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Back in my army days I was stationed at Chatsworth, Ca. which is in the San Fernando Valley next to Topanga Canyon. Roy's Double R Bar ranch was located there. I was getting my haircut in Chatsworth & Roy drove up in the Bonneville and came in & got a haircut just like regular folks!!.
 
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