The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show was a Western

Western (genre)

The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

 comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 and variety program that ran on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 for 13 episodes from September 29 to December 29, 1962. In addition to Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...

 and Dale Evans Rogers

Dale Evans

Dale Evans, was an American writer, movie star, and singer-songwriter. She was the third wife of singing cowboy Roy Rogers.-Early life:...

, who married in 1947, the program featured the Sons of the Pioneers

Sons of the Pioneers

The Sons of the Pioneers are one of America's earliest Western singing groups whose classic recordings set a new standard for performers of Western music. Known for the high quality of their vocal performances, musicianship, and songwriting, they produced finely-crafted and innovative recordings...

, Pat Brady

Pat Brady

Pat Brady was best known as cowboy Roy Rogers' "comical sidekick." Pat's full name was Robert Ellsworth Patrick Aloysious O'Brady and this was shortened to "Bob Brady," although it is not known when the "O'" was dropped from "O'Brady."Born in Toledo, Ohio, Pat Brady first set foot on-stage at the...

, and Cliff Arquette

Cliff Arquette

Clifford Charles Arquette was an actor and comedian, famous for his role as Charley Weaver.-Early life and career:...

 in his role of country iconoclast

Iconoclasm

Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes...

 Charley Weaver.

The premiere episode entitled the "Seattle World's Fair" honored the celebration in 1962 in Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, Washington. The November 3 episode was set at Knotts Berry Farm amusement park

Amusement park

thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...

 in Buena Park

Buena Park, California

Buena Park is a city in northwestern Orange County, California. As of Census 2010 the population was 80,530. The city is adjacent to the city of Anaheim and is 12 miles northwest of downtown Santa Ana. The Current OMB metropolitan designation for Buena Park and the Orange County Area is "Santa...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. Martha Raye

Martha Raye

Martha Raye was an American comic actress and standards singer who performed in movies, and later on television....

 guest-starred in the December 8 episode "Circus". Dale Robertson

Dale Robertson

Dayle Lymoine "Dale" Robertson is an American actor best known for his starring roles on television. He played the role of Jim Hardie in the TV series, Tales of Wells Fargo, and the owner of an incomplete railroad line in ABC's The Iron Horse, often appearing as the deceptively thoughtful but...

 of NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

's Tales of Wells Fargo

Tales of Wells Fargo

Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...

appeared in the episode "Western Hit Parade" on October 20, which offered the songs "Cool Water", "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling", and "Don't Fence Me In". Still another segment featured singer Kathy Taylor and magician Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson (magician)

James "Mark" Wilson is an American magician and author. He is widely credited as becoming the first major "television magician" and in the process establishing the viability of illusion shows as a television format.-Early years:...

.

A patriotic program was broadcast on October 27. A tribute to silent film

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 star William S. Hart

William S. Hart

William Surrey Hart was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered for having "imbued all of his characters with honor and integrity."-Biography:...

 aired on November 10. A Thanksgiving Day celebration aired on November 17, and a Grand National

Grand National

The Grand National is a world-famous National Hunt horse race which is held annually at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, England. It is a handicap chase run over a distance of four miles and 856 yards , with horses jumping thirty fences over two circuits of Aintree's National Course...

 horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

 show followed on November 24. A minstrel

Minstrel

A minstrel was a medieval European bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories of distant places or of existing or imaginary historical events. Although minstrels created their own tales, often they would memorize and embellish the works of others. Frequently they were retained by royalty...

 show was presented on December 1.
The last new episode entitled "Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 Open House" aired on December 22.

From 1951 to 1957, the couple had a successful half-hour western drama The Roy Rogers Show

The Roy Rogers Show

The Roy Rogers Show is an American Western television series that broadcast 100 episodes on NBC for six seasons between December 30, 1951 and June 9, 1957. The show starred Roy Rogers as a ranch owner, Dale Evans as the proprietor of the Eureka Cafe in fictional Mineral City, and Pat Brady as...

, which aired for 104 episodes on Sunday afternoons on NBC. It was rebroadcast on Saturday mornings on CBS from 1961 to 1964. Evans herself composed the words and music of the program theme song, Happy Trails

Happy Trails (song)

"Happy Trails," by Dale Evans Rogers, was the theme song for the 1940s and 1950s radio program and the 1950s television show starring Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Rogers, always sung over the end credits of the program. Happy Trails was released in 1952 as a 78 RPM and 45 RPM by Rogers and Evans with...

. The song quickly became the composition most associated with the pair.

The series was quickly canceled. The program preceded another short-lived ABC series, the sitcom Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (TV series)

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1962-1963 ABC sitcom starring Fess Parker as Eugene Smith, an honest but unsophisticated U.S. senator from an unidentified small-populated state. The half-hour program is based on the 1939 Frank Capra film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, starring James Stewart in...

, starring Fess Parker

Fess Parker

Fess Elisha Parker, Jr. was an American film and television actor best known for his portrayals of Davy Crockett in the Walt Disney 1955-56 TV mini-series and as TV's Daniel Boone from 1964-70...

 and Red Foley

Red Foley

Clyde Julian Foley , better known as Red Foley, was an American singer, musician, and radio and TV personality who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II....

. Roy and Dale aired opposite the first year of The Jackie Gleason Show

The Jackie Gleason Show

The Jackie Gleason Show is the name of a series of popular American network television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970.-Cavalcade of Stars:...

, another comedy-variety program, on CBS. NBC ran the legal drama

Legal drama

A legal drama is a work of dramatic fiction about crime and civil litigation. Subtypes of legal dramas include courtroom dramas and legal thrillers, and come in all forms, including novels, television shows, and films. Legal drama sometimes overlap with crime drama, most notably in the case of Law...

 Sam Benedict

Sam Benedict

Sam Benedict is an American legal drama that aired on NBC from September 1962 to March 1963. The series was created and executive produced by E. Jack Neuman....

at that hour, co-starring Edmond O'Brien

Edmond O'Brien

Edmond O'Brien was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. and his Oscar winning role in The Barefoot Contessa...

 in the title role, with Richard Rust

Richard Rust

Richard Rust was an American actor of stage, television, and film born in Boston, Massachusetts, probably best remembered for his role as a young lawyer in NBC's Sam Benedict series. Rust's mother died when he was five, and his father was an officer in the United States Navy...

 as his understudy.

The Handbook of Texas

Handbook of Texas

The Handbook of Texas is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association .-History:...

described the 1962 variety program as an unsuccessful attempt by Rogers and Evans to "revive their flagging popularity". The couple retired to Apple Valley

Apple Valley, California

-Climate:*On average, the warmest month is July.*The highest recorded temperature was in 2002.*On average, the coolest month is December.*The lowest recorded temperature was in 1949.*The most precipitation on average occurs in February.-History:...

 in San Bernardino County

San Bernardino County, California

San Bernardino County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 2,035,210, up from 1,709,434 as of the 2000 census...

, California, and devoted themselves to their Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum, which was moved thereafter to nearby Victorville

Victorville, California

Victorville is a city located in the Victor Valley of southwestern San Bernardino County, California. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010 census, the city had a population of 115,903, up from 64,030 at the 2000 census.-Geography and climate:...

, California, and then to Branson

Branson, Missouri

Branson is a city in Taney County in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was named after Reuben Branson, postmaster and operator of a general store in the area in the 1880s....

, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

. Evans continued to write books testifying to her Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 faith and appeared at numerous spiritual conferences. The Texas Press Association named her "Texan of the Year" in 1970. She was named in 1995 to the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame

National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame

The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is a museum and association which honors women of the American West who have displayed courage or spirit and who have distinguished themselves while exemplifying the pioneer spirit...

. She and Rogers were elected to the Western Music Association

Western Music Association

The Western Music Association was incorporated in 1989 to promote and preserve western music in its traditional, historical, and contemporary forms....

Hall of Fame in 1989.