On Oscar’s Trail

As a kid, he rooted for his white-hatted hero at Saturday matinees and carried a genuine “King of the Cowboys” lunch box to school each day.

Today, at 53, Art Emr is still rooting for Roy Rogers. He’s carrying the torch for the cowboy star to win the Academy Award that he never managed to rustle up with the 91 western films he made between 1935 and 1975.

Emr is waging a one-man campaign to persuade the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize Rogers and his wife, Dale Evans, with an honorary Oscar.

For two years, he has rallied support from longtime Roy Rogers fans through country music radio stations and television shows and postings on the Internet. Hundreds have responded with letters of support and by signing a petition printed by a newsletter that specializes in western lore.

But so far none of the 6,000 Academy members have stepped forward to nominate Roy and Dale--as is required by academy rules.

Evans, 85, and Rogers--who turns 86 on Wednesday--have been ill. Emr worries that time is running out for them to accept an Oscar.

“We should say ‘thank you’ before we say ‘Happy Trails’ to Roy and Dale,” Emr said. “Wouldn’t it be nice to say thanks for the values they brought forth before we say goodbye?”

Rogers briefly visited the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum in Victorville on Monday, riding in a golf cart dubbed “Trigger III” after his beloved horse. Neither he nor Evans was available for comment, however.

But both are pleased by Emr’s efforts--although neither is saddling up just yet for the ride into town to the Academy Awards, according to their son, Dusty Rogers.

“ ‘B’ western actors have never been considered legitimate actors by a lot of people,” Dusty Rogers said. “I guess they just have to stand in line with everybody else. There are certainly a lot of actors and actresses that did ‘A’ pictures that deserve consideration too. It’s nice of Art to do it, but I don’t see it happening in Mom and Dad’s lifetime.”

Academy officials have encouraged Emr to keep trying for the nomination.

“We receive a great many proposals each year, and obviously we can only honor a very few of the artists suggested,” former academy President Arthur Hiller wrote to Emr last fall.

“That shouldn’t discourage you from hoping, though, and it’s just conceivable that you’ll find yourself with a special reason to celebrate come March 24.”

But this year’s Oscar ceremony came and went without a mention of Dale and Roy.

Last month, current academy President Robert Rehme wished Emr luck in getting a nomination letter from an academy member by next January, when the group’s board of directors meets to consider honorary awards.

As Dusty Rogers surmised, the odds are against winning an honorary Oscar, even if you’re nominated.

“We’ll probably have 40 names proposed at the January meeting,” Bruce Davis, the academy’s executive director, said Monday. “There are more distinguished names than we would have time to deal with on any given show. There are a lot of sponsors who will be disappointed.”

Davis said he, too, grew up as a Roy Rogers fan, enjoying Roy Rogers films and reading Roy Rogers comic books. “But my views are irrelevant in the board room,” he added.

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Emr says generations of young moviegoers were fans of Rogers and Evans. He feels most probably benefited from the message carried by such films as “Tumbling Tumbleweeds,” “Sons of the Pioneers” and “My Pal Trigger.”

Good always won out over evil in the last reel of a Roy Rogers movie.

“Roy would be outnumbered, but he would stick to his guns and triumph,” said Emr, a Malibu film producer.

As a boy growing up in New Jersey, Emr made annual pilgrimages to New York City to see rodeo shows staged by Rogers and Evans. At the end of each performance, the pair would circle the hall, shaking as many small hands as they could reach.

Married 50 years this December, Evans and Rogers are “an enduring Hollywood couple--who have never had a scandal,” he said.

Emr’s own wife of 32 years, Sally, said she is not surprised at his Oscar campaign.

“Art truly admires Roy Rogers. He’s always been interested in westerns. He’s always wanted to get close to the west,” she said Monday.

Emr said his campaign is one of love.

“This is not an obsession,” he said. “It’s an appreciation.”