Roy Rogers Builds An Empire – Dale’s Daily Data

He was born in Cincinnati and first went to Hollywood in the 1920s as a migrant fruit picker. In the early 1930s, Roy Rogers joined a singing group that was heard on the radio called Uncle Tom Murray's Hollywood Hillbillies. Later he became a member of the Sons of the Pioneers and recorded "Tumbling Tumbleweeds."

The Sons of the Pioneers was also recruited for low-budget western films, and members of the group played bit parts for Republic Pictures, the same studio where Gene Autry worked. When Autry quit over a dispute with the studio in 1937, Rogers was given more exposure. It didn’t long after that that he became one of the top 10 moneymakers in Hollywood.

Starring with his horse Trigger and his co-star Dale Evans, Rogers also followed Autry into radio with the start of The Roy Rogers Show in 1944. It was a show that mixed music and drama, and always closed with "Happy Trails," which became his theme song. In 1951, a TV version of the show debuted.

Rogers wisely invested his money in TV production studios, real estate, cattle, horses, a rodeo show and a restaurant chain making him one of the wealthiest men in Hollywood.

It was on this date in 1955, an era came to a close with the airing of the last episode of the Roy Rogers radio show.

Here's the way they closed the TV show back in the 1950's with "Happy Trails"