ROY ROGERS AND ANDY DEVINE
the Wanderling
"For my 11th birthday my stepmother who I loved dearly, arranged for me to meet one of my then favorite childhood heroes, the cowboy-western movie star, Roy Rogers. At the time my grandmother and grandfather lived in the small California mountain community of Big Bear Lake. The two knew Andy Devine, legendary movie sidekick, who owned a sort of locals tavern on the road from Big Bear Village to Big Bear City. Through that connection, even though my stepmother and grandmother didn't get along appreciably well --- or at all --- for my sake they put together a plan for me to meet Rogers."
(source)
ONCE ANDY DEVINE'S OLD SPORTSMAN'S TAVERN IN
BIG BEAR LAKE. TODAY THE CAPTAINS ANCHORAGE.
HOMAGE TO ANDY AND OTHERS INSIDE THE TAVERN
The reason for all the extra effort on everybody's part for me to meet Rogers on my birthday, especially so my stepmother, was because, like so many young boys growing up during my era I loved cowboy-western movies and the actors that showed up in them. As well, right up there with westerns were Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies, especially Tarzan and the Huntress, Warner Brothers cartoons, Leonardo Da Vinci, astronomy, the cosmos, rockets to the Moon and Mars, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, along with a myriad superheroes, especially the 'mortal' type such as the Spirit and Captain Midnight. But still it remained, the cowboy western movie stars and heroes such as the Durango Kid, Lash LaRue, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers, their horses Champion and Trigger, and their sidekicks Smiley Burnette, Gabby Hayes, and Andy Devine were the ones that in the end interacted in my life in real life.[1]
The "sort of locals travern" on the road from Big Bear Village to Big Bear City mentioned in the quote at the top of the page that allowed my grandparents to know Andy Devine was built in 1946, opening a year later by Devine as the Sportsman's Tavern. With no offense intended toward the on-screen persona or personal integrity of the actor, but more or less taking a cue by harkening back to the old days of the wild and wooly western saloon, the place gained a well earned reputation as Big Bear's den of inequity. It had 35 slot machines upstairs, not to mention a bevy of always-willing call girls. When word came down that the county sheriff and his deputies had crossed over the dam or on their way up up the back grade, word spread quickly. The taveren, located on the main road about halfway between the only two valley entrances available in those days, which were miles apart, always seemed to have time to shove the machines into a hidden backroom while the prostitutes quickly disappeared down the back stairs into the woods. To find out where some of those "ladies of the night" eventually relocated to as their presence was being phased out see:
THE EL REY CLUB: RESORT, CASINO, BROTHEL
Construction of the Sportsman's Tavern began in the late 40s by two men with ties to the aerospace industry. The restaurant-tavern, built in two stories, sported kitchens on both floors with a dumbwaiter between them, a bar, a dance floor, large stone fireplaces and cabins out back for --- well, lets just say extra curricular activities. The slot machines were upstairs on rails and wheels that allowed them to conveniently and quickly disappear by sliding them backwards into compartments hidden by secret panels in the walls. So elaborate were their plans that the two men ran out money before they were able to complete it, and that is when it is thought Andy Devine stepped in.
In an interesting tid-bit of information, it should be noted that the slot machines were eventually removed from the Sportsman's Tavern after word got out they were going to be confiscated, ending up unbeknownst except to a few, being a hidden in a secret storage room located in a lumber yard in Big Bear City. A few years later my stepmother's ranch foreman Leo and another man, with me tagging along, took a big old truck, actually an old canvas covered four wheel drive World War II army truck, up the back grade into Big Bear and with the help of a couple of other men already there, loaded the machines into the back of the truck after which they were eventually installed in a secret hidden room on her ranch.(see)
For more on the slot machines and what happened to them including my eventual connection to them and ties to the mob after my stepmother's ranch mysteriously burned to the ground please see:
JOHNNY ROSELLI,SLOT MACHINES, AND THE FBI
Presently in operation under the name Captain’s Anchorage, the establishment had been closed for awhile in the 1960s. From 1946-1952 it was known as the Sportsman’s Tavern with the ownership title listed under the name Sportsman’s Village, Inc. Title was transferred into Devine's name in May of 1952 when a deed was prepared albeit left unrecorded until 1959. Devine held title until August of 1966. Most people pretty much agree that although listed under Sportsman’s Village, Inc. from the beginning, Devine was a "silent partner" in all of the goings on of the tavern up until 1959, with an initial financial interest in it from 1947. Devine died in 1977.
GAMBLING IN BIG BEAR AND THE SPORTSMAN'S TAVERN
COWBOY CODE OF THE WEST
Roy Rogers and his long time sidekick Gabby Hayes last movie together, after appearing in some fashion in 44 of Roy's films, was Heldorado, with a release date of December 15, 1946. Four months later, with a release date of April 15, 1947, Andy Devine showed up in Bells of San Angelo as a semi-sidekick to Roy playing Cookie Bullfincher, and doing so after that in basically the same role, for a total of nine movies. The pairing of Roy and Andy together, coinciding with all the dates and goings on regarding the Sportsman's Tavern et al, could not have been more perfect for what was to come, re the following:
Four years after the end of World War II, on the occasion of my birthday in April of 1949, and still very much a young boy, my brand new Stepmother together with my grandparents, i.e., the parents of my biological mother who, after a long illness, passed away a few years prior, arranged for me to meet Roy Rogers. My grandmother and grandfather during that period of their more-or-less retired lives, lived in the small California mountain community of Big Bear Lake. The two knew Andy Devine, legendary movie sidekick, who owned a sort of locals tavern on the road from Big Bear Village to Big Bear City. Through that connection, even though my stepmother and grandmother didn't get along appreciably well, for my sake, they put together a plan for me to meet Rogers --- a plan that in the end, for all involved, went off magnificently well.
As for my meeting with Roy Rogers, the first of three and on the occasion of my birthday, occurred the day he and his horse Trigger were having their footprints set into cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater. Three years later I had graduated to meeting Albert Einstein.
About two months following that meeting with Rogers in April, just as school was out for the summer, which was sometime in early to mid June of 1949, than I, along with my two brothers and a few others, as found in The Tree and Franklin Merrell-Wolff, ended up living gently off the land like forest monks on the east side of the High Sierras under the auspices of my uncle clear up until the start of the new school year in September.
On a couple of days to a week between that roughly two month period that transpired after having met Rogers but before going to the High Sierras, my stepmother and I boarded the Southern Pacific's premiere overnight super-luxurious all first class Pullman, Los Angeles to San Francisco "Lark." Our objective? To meet Dr. Margaret Chung, the famous World War II Flying Tigers advocate. And we did, only doing so by going over to Sausalito for lunch. I brought a nearly pristine six year old issue of the Feb-Mar 1943 No. 9 Real Heroes comic book with me, in of which contained a full illustrated story on Dr. Chung, and gave it to her, which impressed her to no end.
AND NOW, FROM ROY TO BUCK:
1946 BUCK ROGERS U-235 ATOMIC PISTOL. ONE OF THE FEW THINGS FROM
MY CHILDHOOD. TEN YEARS LATER IT WAS D. T. SUZUKI'S ZEN BUDDHISM.
(for ray gun info click image)
CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT CODE-O-GRAPHS 1938-1949
THE ROSWELL RAY GUN
1847 COLT WALKER
RETURN TO EITHER:
THE WANDERLING, CONTINUED
GUY HAGUE
UFO OVER L.A.
THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES
ROSWELL UFO
ZEN ENLIGHTENMENT IN A NUTSHELL
THE WANDERLING
As to the subject of donations, for those of you who may be interested in doing so as it applies to the gratefulness of my works, I invariably suggest any funds be directed toward THE WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT and/or THE AMERICAN RED CROSS.
The following paragraph, as quoted below, can be found in opening segment at the top the main text above. The paragraph, which lists all kinds of cowboys, superheroes, et al, in one form or the other, have had some kind of connection or impact on my life, be it major or minor, positive or negative. For those who may be so interested, those connections and how they relate back to me, can be found by going to the linked list immediately below the paragraph:
"Like so many young boys growing up during my era I loved cowboy-western movies and the actors that showed up in them. As well, right up there with westerns were Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies, especially Tarzan and the Huntress, Warner Brothers cartoons, Leonardo Da Vinci, astronomy, the cosmos, rockets to the Moon and Mars, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, along with a myriad superheroes, especially the 'mortal' type such as the Spirit and Captain Midnight. But still it remained, the cowboy western movie stars and heroes such as the Durango Kid, Lash LaRue, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers, their horses Champion and Trigger, and their sidekicks Smiley Burnette, Gabby Hayes, and Andy Devine were the ones that in the end interacted in my life in real life."
Both Roy Rogers and Gene Autry made a number of movies using the mountain property where my two first cousins lived for background scenes and atmosphere. My girl cousin even had a bit part or two in a couple of their films. As the young boy that I was at the time, and as an avowed cowboy-western movie fan, meeting Rogers was something way up there on my list. Since both of my cousins had met them an knew them on a personal basis, when we crossed paths I never heard the end of it. Even though my grandmother detested my stepmother, who I was living with at the time --- albeit under the auspices of my uncle --- she still loved me, so she arranged, through Devine, for me to meet Rogers --- then informed my stepmother who followed through on the arrangements.
The funny part of it all was that my stepmother already knew Devine and even had a business dealings with him, or at least his proxy. When she caught wind of my desire to meet Rogers she could have set it up, and especially so through Devine, but she never thought of it. She did make sure my grandmother got credit for putting it all into place, however.
As it was, publicity wise, Rogers would never have allowed any meeting between he and I IF it was known my stepmother was behind it or if she was involved. Going through Devine as set up by my grandmother was the perfect way to go. I realize I am being a little cryptic here, but if you go to the Johnny Roselli link just below the bottom of this paragraph you will get where I am coming from --- I will tell you that it had more to do with the 35 slot machines and bevy of always-willing call girls at Devine's Sportsman's Tavern than nearly anything else.
What is quoted below is from a page associated with the link shown just beneath the quote. The quote should help make some of what I have presented above including Footnote [1] seem less cryptic. The "she" referred to in 'what she called a ranch' in the first sentence refers to my stepmother. Again, please be assured there is no offense intended toward the on-screen persona or personal integrity of Andy Devine, an ardent exemplar and defendant of the Cowboy Code of the West, but more or less takes a cue by harkening back to the old days of the wild and wooly western saloons:
"(D)uring my first full summer there, what she called a 'ranch' --- even though as a ranch it was a little on the sparse side in what I would call standard ranch fare --- had been completely rebuilt and refurbished with a rather long fully stocked bar, food service facilities, swimming pool, dance hall, live entertainment, along with rodeos and boxing matches on the weekends. It also had at least two dozen one-armed-bandit slot machines in a secret hidden room, plus like I like to say, a flock of ever present hostesses --- several of whom took me under their wing and one or two that may have been slightly more friendly than they should have been considering my young age, the youngest at the time at the very least being six years older than me."
SHANGRI-LA, SHAMBHALA, GYANGANJ, BUDDHISM AND ZEN
Footnote [1]
THE BLACK CONDOR: THE MAN WHO COULD FLY LIKE A BIRD
(please click)
JOHNNY ROSELLI
THE HOSTESSES
