Happy trails to Roy Rogers: To stuff or not to stuff?
Roy Rogers, America's greatest singing cowboy with his own museum, died of congestive
heart failure on July 6, 1998. He was 86.
At the Roy Rogers Museum in Victorville, floral tributes from grieving
fans filled the lobby only hours after Roy's demise became known. The 30,000-square-foot
facility displays Roy's bowling trophies, his Shriner fezes, and the mounted
( not stuffed -- most newspaper accounts are getting it wrong) carcasses
of Trigger, Bullet, Buttermilk,
and Trigger Jr. -- Roy's horse, Roy's dog, Roy's wife's horse, and Roy's
horse's horse, respectively.
Trigger. Will Roy ride once again?
Roy posed in the museum lobby with lucky visitors. |
Roy, who lived just up the road, would visit the
museum frequently to mingle with his fans and dead pets -- as he did during
a brief Roadside Hypertour touchdown in
1994.
Roy played a singing cowboy in dozens of grade-B westerns. His backup
singers -- also singing cowboys -- who now have their own theater in
Branson, MO, cancelled their July 6 performance in Roy's memory. In a press statement,
they hailed Roy as "a great hero." Roy's fame and brand had a second life on
America's highways as the name of a popular fast food chain, where one could
get a good roast beef sandwich.
A persistent legend, never confirmed, was that Roy and Dale (his wife) planned
to have their bodies preserved after death (mounted, not stuffed), placed
astride their respective steeds, and exhibited in the museum. While this story
sounds too good to be true, Roadsiders in the Victorville vicinity might consider
stopping by the museum over the next few months, just to take a peek. [07/11/1998]
Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum:Address: 3950 Green Mountain Dr, Branson, MO [
Show Map]
Directions: Northwest edge of town, on the southeast corner of Green Mountain Drive and Hwy 376.
Hours: Daily 9-5:30. (Call to verify)
Phone: 417-339-1900
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