Roy Rogers in England – at Walsall and Scotland – Edinburgh and Glasgow 1954

Roy Rogers In England

March 1, 1954 none other than Roy Rogers and Trigger appeared at the Savoy Walsall ABC Minors – and what a draw that would have been.

He apparently stayed at the Queens Hotel in Birmingham – and Trigger at the stables of  the Mitchells and Butler Brewery

With Roy of course was his wife Dale Evans who he had met a decade before on the set of The Cowboy and the Senorita.

Distinctive in his white stetson with its silver hatband and his hand-tooled boots, the Wild West hero’s tour was a smash hit

Roy Rogers in Edinburgh 1954

 

Roy Rogers and Trigger, Edinburgh 1954

This is singing cowboy Roy Rogers and wife Dale Evans taking their golden palomino horse Trigger up the stairs at the Caledonian Hotel in the capital in February, 1954. Roy had appeared in many TV shows and films with Trigger who really was an exceptional horse. To drum up publicity on their British tour they would often book into their hotel with Trigger much to the delight of fans.

The crowd are genuinely happy to see Roy and Trigger, although there must be a nervous hotel manager lurking in the background somewhere fretting about his carpets.

The story goes that the couple visited an orphanage in Edinburgh where a 13-year-old girl, Marion Fleming, sang Won’t You Buy My Pretty Flowers? and the couple promptly adopted her and took her back to America. Think it’s maybe a little more complicated to do these days.

Roy Rogers and Marion

Above: Roy Rogers and Marion Fleming singing together.

Also this snippet from one of the forums :-
Roy Rogers did visit Glasgow, he and Dale Evans did have a room in The Central Hotel and he booked one for trigger who preferred the stables in Parliamentary Road (or was it the southside) He did ride Trigger down the hotel staircase.He also visited Edinburgh. While entertaining at Dunforth Orphanage they met 13 year old Marion Fleming who became their fourth foster child.

Another very sad report on the tragic deaths of two of their children :

Off the well-documented happy trails of their on-screen magnetism, Dale and Roy blazed a trail of compassion, caring for their Down-Syndrome baby Robin, who died before her second birthday. Dale’s best-selling book ‘Angel Unaware’, a tribute to Robin, affected millions of special needs children and their families. Also during this period, Dale penned with Robin in mind the trademark chorus “Happy Trails to you until we meet again.”

Then, in 1964, their 12-year-old daughter Debbie was killed in a bus accident during a mission trip to Mexico. And, less than one year later, their son Sandy had a freak accident and choked to death while stationed with the military in Germany.

“You are not supposed to bury your children,” said their eldest son Roy Rogers Jr., choking back tears in the film. “People realised their faith was real the way they dealt with tragedy.”

“Mom and dad knew something good had to come from whatever was bad,” said Marion Fleming Swift, a foster daughter Rogers and Evans adopted from Scotland. Out of the tragedies came more books, the proceeds of which were donated to humanitarian organisations like World Vision and Campus Crusade for Christ.

 

 

 

 

posted by Movieman in Uncategorized and have Comments (3)

3 Responses to “Roy Rogers in England – at Walsall and Scotland – Edinburgh and Glasgow 1954”

  1. Julie Burwood says:

    My husband (now 75) remembers being taken by his Grandma and Aunt to see Roy Rogers et all in Ilford where he and Dale Evans rode through the High Street !!

    • Movieman says:

      Julie. That is very interesting as I can’t find a lot about his visit to Ilford though I know he went there from what you say. That would have been quite an exciting outing for your husband as a young lad at that time because Roy Rogers had a big following. To see an actual ‘film star’ at that time – and certainly one of his status – would have been unimaginable. Neil

  2. Bernie says:

    Anybody recall he came to Preston my !other took me it was the Kings Theatre now long demolished x

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