Will Rogers Made Americans Laugh
Will Rogers became one of the best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s. He had a talent for concise and clever remarks. He’d poke fun at gangsters, political parties, Congress, and hot topics of his time in an unoffending manner.
During his life, Rogers was the number-one radio personality, the biggest box office draw, and the most-read newspaper columnist.
He learned how to ride a horse and do rope tricks while growing up on a ranch in what would become the state of Oklahoma. So he wound up performing in Wild West shows in the United States.
His moniker eventually became the Cowboy Philosopher because his pithy comments held a pearl of Western wisdom.
Here are three examples.
Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people that they don’t like. —Will Rogers
The short memories of American voters is what keeps our politicians in office. —Will Rogers
There are three kinds of men. The ones that learn by readin’g. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves. —Will Rogers.
He said his epitaph should read: “‘I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn’t like.'”
He said he was proud of that and wanted it on his gravestone.
