Readorama: Will Rogers’ influence, Thomas Hart Benton’s activism subjects of talks at KC libraries

When Will Rogers, the cowboy journalist, film actor and vaudeville trick roper ran for president in 1932, he was kidding.

Franklin Roosevelt, that year’s Democratic Party nominee, wrote Rogers a note just to make sure. He asked that Rogers not do anything to “make the good old Donkey chase his own tail and give the Elephant a chance to win the race.”

Yet for all his Depression-era celebrity, Rogers’ cultural effect seems diminished now. “A lot of his contributions today seem ephemeral,” said Amy Ware, author of “The Cherokee Kid: Will Rogers, Tribal Identity and the Making of an American Icon.”

Rogers, who was part Cherokee, represented a complicated cultural icon in his day.

“He was a cowboy but he was also an Indian, and so he was representing two very specific cultural identities in the early 20th century,” Ware said.

As a vaudeville comedian with the Ziegfeld Follies, he helped bridge the early 20th century gulf between rural and urban America.

“If you were from rural America and went to see Will at the Ziegfeld Follies, which was sometimes considered scandalous, he could make jokes that made you feel more comfortable with New York and that part of America.”

Rogers’ own Cherokee heritage sent a complex message as well to many Americans, Ware said.

“Back in the day being part Cherokee meant mostly white with a dash of Indian blood,” Ware said. “The Cherokee were considered more amenable to European or American lifestyles.”

Ware speaks at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Central branch of the Kansas City Public Library, 14 W. 10th St.

Thomas Hart Benton, activist

Henry Adams, longtime scholar of Thomas Hart Benton, has published his fourth book on the Missouri artist.

“Thomas Hart Benton: Discoveries & Interpretations,” is a compilation of essays addressing the artist’s paintings depicting World War II, his relationship to abstract expressionist artist Jackson Pollock, his painting “Flood Disaster” (a reaction to the 1951 Kansas City flood) and Benton’s technique as a teacher, among other topics.

Adams, who published a 1989 Benton biography upon the artist’s centennial, has been studying Benton long enough to realize how perception of him continues to evolve.

“Back then, in the world of art history, the predominant view of Benton was very hostile; he was considered a foe of modern art,” Adams said recently.

“But today there is a whole new generation of art scholars who consider Benton as one of modern art’s towering figures.”

Benton, who died in 1975, remains contemporary, Adams said.

“Benton was interested in the same things that young artists today are concerned with, such as income equality and racial justice,” he said.

“Benton was an artist who was active in modernism, who was a leading figure in regionalism, and also served as the teacher of Jackson Pollock. And he cut through issues of race and social class in a way that no other American artist did in the 20th century.”

Adams will discuss Benton’s activism regarding Kansas City’s cultural heritage at 2 p.m. Nov. 8, at the Plaza library branch, 4801 Main St. For more information on either event, go to kclibrary.org.

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 4:25 AM with the headline "Readorama: Will Rogers’ influence, Thomas Hart Benton’s activism subjects of talks at KC libraries."