Roy Rogers

12/30/1951 – 6/23/1957 NBC

Black and White
30 minutes – 104 episodes

Dec. 1951-June 1952 Sunday 6:30-7:00
Aug. 1952-June 1957 Sunday 6:30-7:00

Produced by Roy Rogers Productions

Roy Rogers Cast

Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys
Dale Evans, Queen of the West
Pat Brady
Harry Lauter as Mayor Ralph Cotton

Horses: Trigger and Buttermilk
Bullet was the dog
And, Nellybelle. I bet you’d forgotten ‘ole Nellybelle, she was the Jeep.

Roy Rogers Theme Song

“Happy Trails to You” by Dale Evans
Happy Trails to you, until we meet again
Happy Trails to you, keep smilin’ until then…
Who cares about the clouds when we’re together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy Trails to you, until we meet again…”

Roy Rogers Tidbits

They lived at the Double R Bar Ranch outside of Mineral City in modern times. The show was mostly kid stuff and predates the so called “adult” Westerns like Gunsmoke and Wagon Train. Gene Autry was his main competitor.

Roy Rogers took a successful movie career and moved it to the little screen of TV. Rogers, whose real name was Leonard Slye and who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, had become known as the King of the Cowboys. He was one of the first to see the potential of TV and zealously guarded the show to insure success. He sued the network to prohibit exhibition of his movies in competition with the TV show and won.

In answer to the question: Yes, he had Trigger stuffed. Really.

Passings

Pat Brady died in 1972 in an accident. Roy Rogers (real name Leonard Franklin Slye) died in 1998 of congestive heart failure, followed by his wife Dale Evans in 2001. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
Dale Evans and Roy Rogers
From the Doug Abbott Collection