Trigger

[W. Gray]

Roy Roger's stuffed horse, Trigger, was sold at auction yesterday for $266,000.

The horse was bought by the RFD TV channel.

[twirldoggy]

Thanks Waldo

[frawin]

Interesting Waldo, Tom Mix's horse Tony is stuffed and on display up the road a mile from Bartlesville at the Tom Mix Musuem in Dewey, Oklahoma.  Trigger was probably the most famous of all the movie horses.

[W. Gray]

I was not aware that Tony was stuffed. I guess I would have known had I stopped at that museum on one of my many trips through Dewey. Never felt the right moment, I suppose.

I recall that Roy Rogers received a lot of criticism for stuffing such a revered icon. But, maybe he got the idea from Tom Mix.

After Rogers died, his museum in Victorville, California, went downhill so much that it was moved to Branson, Missouri. Apparently did not do very well in Branson either and the memorabilia is now being sold at auction.

One generation's hero(es) does not translate to the next.

The gigantic white rearing "Bronco" that stands atop Mile High Stadium in Denver is a replica of Trigger, but is called Bucky. The statue is 27 feet tall and weighs 1,600 pounds. The ball club received permission from Roy Rogers to duplicate the stallion. Trigger's original name was Golden Cloud and he first appeared in the movie "The Adventures of Robin Hood" with Errol Flynn.

For some reason, Trigger, who died in 1965, was never bred and he has no descendants. Trigger Jr. was from a totally different line.

[W. Gray]

On the subject, of Roy Rogers, I began wondering whatever happened to the Roy Rogers fast food restaurants.

Seems to me there might not have been any built in Missouri or Kansas and the single time I patronized one was somewhere in the east. I liked the fact that orders for hamburgers were plain only. Then when the hamburger was delivered one could go to a cafeteria style counter and put whatever one wanted on the burger. There were heaping bins of lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, relish, etc., from which to choose.

Besides burgers, today's Roy Rogers restaurants also serve chicken and roast beef. And it seems to me in the early days in 1968 when the restaurants started, there were three distinctive Roy Roger's restaurants: Roy Roger's Roast Beef, Roy Roger's Chicken, and Roy Roger's Hamburger.

Turns out there were 650 restaurants by 1990 but today there are only 52, all located in the northeast U.S.

[patyrn]

When we visited in Washington, D.C. in 1995, there was a Roy Rogers Restaurant right by our hotel.  We had never heard of them in Kansas, and our kids loved it.

[frawin]

Waldo, there was a Roy Rogers Restaurant in Midwest City Oklahoma in the early 1980s. It seems like it was Roy Rogers Roast Beef. We stopped at Southwest Ford in Midwest City and bought a new Ford Custom Van in 1982  and the dealer treated us to Lunch at Roy Rogers.

[Mom70x7]

There was also a Roy Rogers in Oklahoma City, around OCU. When I was in school, we'd go to Roy Rogers to get a sandwich of some kind, then across the street to McDonald's to buy their fries. 

[Wilma]

I never see any Roy Rogers or Gene Autry movies on TV anymore.  I wonder why.  They might not have been as good as John Wayne, but then he couldn't sing.

[sixdogsmom]

Oh but Wilma, just watchin' John Wayne walk away was worth all the singin' cowboys on the screen!