QUARANTINE BLOG # 196

October 12, 2020

A 1794 silver dollar believed to be among the first ever minted in the U.S., and the most valuable, went unsold during a public auction in Las Vegas.  The coin dubbed the Flowing Hair Silver Dollar didn’t reach the minimum bid.  Twelve rare coins sold for almost $4 million.  Coin collecting experts had thought the Flowing Hair coin could sell for more than the $10 million.  The coin features images of Lady Liberty ringed with stars on the front and an eagle on the back.  A different Lady Liberty image was adopted for silver dollars beginning in 1795.  Experts say the coin is one of perhaps 300 original silver dollars that still exist among 1,758 struck in one day at the first U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.

**  A British zoo has had to separate five foul-mouthed parrots who keepers say were encouraging each other to swear.  Billy, Eric, Tyson, Jade and Elsie joined Lincolnshire Wildlife Centre’s colony of 200 gray parrots in August, and soon revealed a penchant for blue language.

“We are quite used to parrots swearing, but we’ve never had five at the same time,” said the zoo’s chief executive, Steve Nichols.  “Most parrots clam up outside, but for some reason these five relish it.”  Nichols said no visitors had complained about the parrots, and most found the situation funny.  Nichols said the parrots have been separated to save children’s ears.  They were moved to different areas of the park so they don’t “set each other off,” he said.

**  Roy Rogers, the “King of the Cowboys,” was one of the most popular Western stars of his era. He appeared in over 100 films and numerous radio and television episodes of “The Roy Rogers Show.” In many of his films and television episodes, he appeared with his wife, Dale Evans; his Golden Palomino, Trigger; and his German Shepherd, Bullet. He was one of very few actors who performed in the productions using his own name, not the name of a character – he was simply, Roy Rogers.

Roy was born Leonard Slye, the son of Mattie and Andy Slye, in Cincinnati, Ohio.  The family lived in a tenement on 2nd Street, where Riverfront Stadium would later be constructed. Rogers often joked that he was born at second base.

In the spring 1931, after the construction company where he was working went bankrupt, Len traveled to Tulare, California, where he found work picking peaches for Del Monte.  He auditioned in 1931 on a radio show, and joined the short-lived singing group, the Rocky Mountaineers, who were followed by the O-Bar-O Cowboys.  When the O-Bar-O Cowboys disbanded, Rogers and his associates went on to organize the Sons of the Pioneers.

The Sons of the Pioneers signed a recording contract with the newly founded Decca label and made their first commercial recording on August 8, 1934.  One of the first songs recorded during that first session was “Tumbling Tumbleweeds.”  Here is the song from the movie by the same name https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7xUqTHGkw8.

In 1932, a palomino colt foaled in California was named “Golden Cloud.”  When Rogers acquired him, he renamed him Trigger.

From his first film appearance in 1935, Len worked steadily in Western films, including a large supporting role as a singing cowboy while still billed as Leonard Slye in a Gene Autry movie.  In 1938, Autry demanded more money for his work, and there was a competition for a new singing cowboy.  Len ended up winning the contest and was given the stage name Roy Rogers by Republic Pictures. 

He became a matinee idol, a competitor with Autry as the nation’s favorite singing cowboy.  In addition to his own movies, he played a supporting role https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DUtTBNEaAw in the John Wayne classic Dark Command, a 1940 film loosely based on Quantrill’s Raiders during the American Civil War.  It was the only time John Wayne and Roy Rogers appeared together in a movie.

Roy Rogers met Dale Evans in 1944 when they were doing a film together.  Both were outspoken Christians.  Beginning in 1949, they were part of the Hollywood Christian Group.  Billy Graham and Jane Russell were also part of this group. 

Rogers and Evans’ famous theme song, “Happy Trails,” was written by Evans; they sang it as a duet to sign off their television show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7cgxqVR9Vo.

Here is a clip of Roy, Dale, and the Sons of the Pioneers doing a medley of the greatest western hits https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6spb-HzJMKI.

Rogers’ cultural influence is reflected in numerous songs, including “If I Had a Boat” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26SJVROZmC8 by Lyle Lovett, “Roy Rogers” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJurH2LG1XI by Elton John on his 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs8QEYiDdHE by Toby Keith.

Rogers died of congestive heart failure on July 6, 1998 in Apple Valley, California.   He was buried at Sunset Hills Memorial Park in Apple Valley, as was his wife Dale Evans three years later.

**  Today’s message from the Crawfordville pulpit: http://davidsisler.com/christian/GoodNews.mp3 “Good News.”

**  Today’s close is from Ed Young.

“After Jesus called the crowd to him again, he said, “Every person should listen to me and understand what I am saying.  There is nothing people put into their bodies that makes them unclean.  People are made unclean by the things that come out of them”  (Mark 7:14-15 NCV)

Do you watch what you eat?  How about what you allow to enter your heart?  Jesus is saying that it’s not the food that we eat that makes us “unclean,” but the pollutants that we allow into our hearts, such as lying, theft, greed, etc.  Jesus is trying to make His disciples understand that it’s what’s in our hearts that truly matters.

Are you compromising with anything in your life?  Jesus came to set the captives free; even from the hypocrisy within our hearts.  He’s trying to show us the way.   Choose to listen and let Him guide your heart!

Prayer: “Lord, help me to be mindful of what I allow into my heart.  I choose to live a life free from hypocrisy and criticism.   Help me to walk this out on a daily basis, and to live my life honorably, according to Your word.”

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