Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Birthdays, 11-05-93

Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Birthdays, 11-05-93
   • Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Birthdays, 11...  

Singing cowboy movie stars like Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gene Autry were my first movie heroes as a TV-weaned Baby Boomer kid in the early-to-mid-'50s.

Fast-forwarding to 1993, when I was a PR director with Rhino Entertainment, the company's A&R director James Austin produced the 4-CD "Songs of the West" boxed set, and yours truly, volunteered to handle the PR for the project.

Roy and Dale were featured prominently on "Songs of the West," with more than a dozen of their classic recordings going back to the Sons of the Pioneers, and of course including a duet of "Happy Trails."

The couple liked the project and graciously made themselves available to Rhino for a few key interviews to help us promote it.

One interview was with major Roy & Dale fan and friend Leonard Maltin for "Entertainment Tonight." We brought our photographer friend Henry Diltz to shoot stills during our much-anticiated visit to the Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Museum in Victorville, Calif., on Nov. 5, 1993.

Leonard's interview included a Roy and Dale giving us a personally guided tour of the museum before it opened for the day. They introduced us to stuffed Trigger and Buttermilk, and Nellybelle. The museum was crammed with every other kind of R&D-related memorabilia and merchandising item going back to the 1930s.

The occasion was even more memorable because it was Roy's 82nd birthday, and Dale's 81st had been a week earlier on Oct. 31.

So after the tour we all adjourned to a private lounge and presented them a cake, which they shared with us and their granddaughter, Amy.

A real pinch-me moment. The experience was beyond surreal. If I didn't have proof, I'd think it was a dream.

(c) Stephen K. Peeples
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https://www.stephenkpeeples.com

Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Birthdays, 11-05-93
   • Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Birthdays, 11...