Will Rogers and Florenz Ziegfeld are two magic names in show business. Today Rogers is considered America's most beloved humorist, while Ziegfeld is recognized as the most flamboyant impresario in the history of the American musical theatre.

Rogers was one of Ziegfeld's greatest comedy stars, performing in six editions of the Follies from 1916 to 1925. "Ziggy gave me my start," he once said. It was on the Follies stage that he began to joke extensively about current events and to poke fun at celebrities.

Will Rogers at the Ziegfeld Follies features the humorist's writings and poignant...

Horses, friends, ragtime music, and steer roping-those were the interests of the youthful Will Rogers as he came of age in the Indian Territory and traveled to the Southern Hemisphere in this first of six definitive volumes of "The Papers of Will Rogers."

By separating fact from legend and unveiling new knowledge via extensive archival research, this documentary history represents a unique contribution to Rogers scholarship and to studies of the Cherokee Nation West. Using many previously unpublished letters and photographs-together with introductions, notes, and biographies of his...

Between 1904 and 1908, Rogers made the transition from Wild West shows to the vaudeville stage. During these early years, he developed and polished his act, blending his homespun humor with his cowboy skills of roping and horseback riding to the delight of his audience. At the same time he began courting Betty Blake, his future wife. Their on-again, off-again relationship matured as Rogers was...

This third volume of "The Papers of Will Rogers" documents the evolution of Rogers's vaudeville career as well as the newlywed life of Will and Betty Blake Rogers and the birth of their children. During these years, the Rogerses moved to New York City, and after many years of performing with Buck McKee and horse Teddy, Rogers began a solo act in vaudeville as a talking, roping cowboy. He appeared on the same playbill with such performers as Fred Stone, Eddie Cantor, and Houdini, and his stage career expanded to include an appearance in the Broadway musical comedy "The Wall Street Girl."...