Description: A portrait of Roy Rogers, one of the most influential icons of American popular culture in the mid-20th century. Roy Rogers was born Leonard Franklin Sly on November 5, 1911 in Cincinnati , Ohio. He moved to this farm at age 8 from Portsmouth and lived here with his family until the Great Depression. He went to California in 1930, working as a truck driver, fruit picker, and country musician before signing a movie contract with Republic Pictures in 1937. Immediately popular, the clean-cut singing cowboy appeared in more than 100 western films, often making six or more movies a year during the 1940s. With his nearly equally-famous horse Trigger and his wife and partner Dale Evans-"the Queen of the West"-he subsequently starred in more than 100 television episodes of the family-oriented Roy Rogers Show from 1951 to 1957. A perennial hero and good guy, Rogers personified the mythical American cowboy who always fought fairly and lived by a strong moral code. He died in California on July 6, 1998. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07939
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Popular Culture; Entertainment; Western films; Actors
 

Description: A portrait of Roy Rogers riding his horse, Trigger. One of the most influential icons of American popular culture in the mid-20th century, Roy Rogers was born Leonard Franklin Sly on November 5, 1911 in Cincinnati. He moved to this farm at age 8 from Portsmouth and lived here with his family until the Great Depression. He went to California in 1930, working as a truck driver, fruit picker, and country musician before signing a movie contract with Republic Pictures in 1937. Immediately popular, the clean-cut singing cowboy appeared in more than 100 western films, often making six or more movies a year during the 1940s. With his nearly equally-famous horse Trigger and his wife and partner Dale Evans-"the Queen of the West"-he subsequently starred in more than 100 television episodes of the family-oriented Roy Rogers Show from 1951 to 1957. A perennial hero and good guy, Rogers personified the mythical American cowboy who always fought fairly and lived by a strong moral code. He died in California on July 6, 1998. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07940
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Popular Culture; Entertainment; Western films; Actors
 

Description: Zane Grey pictured on horseback on the set of the film version of Riders of the Purple Sage, 1918. Grey, born Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939), was an American author born in Zanesville, Ohio. He wrote popular adventure books and stories of the American frontier. After marrying his wife, Lina Elise (Dolly) Grey (1883-1957), the couple settled Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania. In addition to raising their three children, Lina became Grey's manager and supporter, and edited his manuscripts. Grey self-published his first book "Betty Zane" in 1903 only to become the bestselling fiction author in the world during his lifetime, his most respected work being Riders of the Purple Sage, published in 1912. In 1918 the Greys moved to California where the author formed his own motion picture company. Grey was a very prolific writer. During his 37 years of writing career, Grey published close to 70 novels, 12 non-fiction books, 250 short works, and 4 boy's books. Over 100 Western movies were made using his novels as source material, and he is considered to be one of the major literary influences on the film industry in Hollywood. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P49_B05F08_01
Subjects: Grey, Zane, 1872-1939; Authors, American--Ohio; Motion picture film--History; Western films; Horses
Places: California
 

Description: This color poster advertises a 1946 film based on author Zane Grey's novel "Sunset Pass." The poster's dominant image, an illustration, portrays a fistfight between two men wearing Western clothes. In the background a woman wearing a hat is watching the fight. At the bottom right corner is the figure of a cowboy holding a six-shooter. The poster lists the film's major credits: actors, director, producer, screenwriter, and Grey's novel. The movie stars an actor named James Warren. The poster is exhibited at the National Road and Zane Grey Museum, Norwich, Ohio. The novel "Sunset Pass" was serialized in 1928 and first published as a complete work in 1931. Three motion pictures dating from 1929, 1933, and 1946 were made based on the novel. Zane Grey (1872-1939) was a popular and widely read novelist of the American West. Grey was born in Zanesville, Ohio, on January 31, 1872. As a teenager, Grey was an excellent baseball player. He won a baseball scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied to become a dentist. After beginning his dental practice in New York, Grey realized that he was not happy. He decided to leave dentistry behind and become a writer. Grey's first novel, "Betty Zane," drew inspiration from the stories he had heard about frontier Ohio when he was growing up. He wrote "Betty Zane" in 1904 but was not able to find a publisher at first. Refusing to give up, Grey traveled west and continued writing. In 1910, he had his first success when "Harper's Magazine" published "The Heritage of the Desert." Two years later, "Harper's" published "Riders of the Purple Sage," one of his best-known works. Grey married Lina Elise Roth in 1905. The couple had three children, Romer, Betty, and Loren. After publication of "The Heritage of the Desert," the family moved to Altadena, California. Grey also had a hunting lodge in Arizona. Each year, Grey spent time traveling in the west and fishing in the Pacific. He then would return home and spend time writing. Grey died unexpectedly of a heart attack on October 23, 1939. By the time of his death, he had written almost ninety books. Most of his books were Westerns, but he also wrote nine books that had a fishing theme. Grey also published many short stories, a biography of George Washington as a young man, and several stories for children. Some of Grey's other popular Western novels included "Spirit of the Border," "Desert Gold," "The Last Trail," "The Call of the Canyon," and "The Thundering Herd." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05844
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Literary Ohio; Motion pictures; Posters; Grey, Zane, 1872-1939; Western films; Advertisements