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 Will Rogers and the Battle of the Medford Pears In 1931 humorist Will Rogers
briefly visited Medford and wrote about it--to the town's chagrin.
Famous Humorist Visits Medford en
Route Orient
Will Rogers, cowboy humorist, "citizen of the world"
and screen and stage comedian, en route to the Orient, as an observer
of war conditions in China and Japan, spent four hours in this city
yesterday. The plane on which he was traveling from Los Angeles to
Vancouver, B.C., was forced to land here on account of "low
visibility." He continued his journey as far as Portland by train, and,
weather permitting, will fly today to Vancouver, B.C., to sail Saturday
on the Canadian liner Empress
of Russia for Japan.
Rogers expects to be in the Far East three months. He will cable daily his observations on the Jap-Sino situation--a daily feature of the Mail Tribune. Rogers is as sociable and talkative as an Eagle Point cowboy, with a modest personality, and better looking than his pictures. He is fidgety, and displays all the mannerisms--sly wink included--known to thousands of film fans. In the business office of this newspaper he held open court for all comers, and told Natalie, young daughter of Carl Tengwald, when she refused to shake hands with him: "Never mind, Sis, most of the women folks act that way towards me." Most of the former residents of Oklahoma now in these parts came to have a word with the Oklahoman. There were more people at the depot last evening to catch a glimpse of him than have been in that structure since the auto buses took to the highways. Many drove through the rain when they read in the Mail Tribune he was in town. Rogers declared: "I have no idea why I am going to Japan, and wish somebody would tell me. The trip will take 11 days, and I'll be seasick ten of them. I can't talk Japanese--just barely get by with my own language. The Japs don't like wisecracking. I'm not going to mess with them. They are going to hear the awfullest lot of compliments they ever listened to. The Mikado won't stand for my jokes like Coolidge did." "I'll be back in time for the campaign," he further said. "It'll be hotter than any old war. The Democrats have a chance to cop, but they'll mess it up. They'll fight among themselves about Prohibition, and nominate two candidates for president--maybe do it up brown and name three candidates." He predicted by spring "the Republicans will make things hum, and folks will forget their troubles." "The farmers all tell me they have no money--that's everybody's trouble. They have kerosene cans full of pickled peaches and stuff to eat, and a place to sleep. The boys who are taking it on the chin are in the factory towns and cities. They have no barn to crawl into, and no grub. Everybody's jawing Mr. Hoover too much. It's a wonder he does anything. I wouldn't." "I'll say Medford is a fine town, if nobody from the Chamber of Commerce is listening," Rogers said, executing the winsome Rogers wink. Twenty minutes before his train left he announced, "I'm going to sneak off and phone the girl at my house." He did. "Someday I'm coming back here and eat a pear and catch a fish. Guess everybody tells you that," was Rogers' parting comment. Excerpt, Medford Mail Tribune, November 20, 1931, page 1 Humorist Grins in Downpour
Will Rogers, noted writer, humorist and movie actor, drifted down out
of the skies yesterday afternoon about 3 o'clock and paid Medford a
short but lively visit.
Rogers was on his way to Victoria, B.C., where he has booked passage for Japan to serve there as a war correspondent for American newspapers. Heavy rains and low clouds forced the plane down in Medford, so Rogers continued the trip north on the Southern Pacific. Rogers was rather careful about the wise ones he let go, using only the ones he had already sold to the newspapers. He did say that he had spent many years of his life waiting for trains but of late he had seldom found waiting for them burdensome. "A rain such as you are having here," Rogers said, "if it fell in California would be heralded all over the nation as a million-dollar rain." He agreed with his company that the country needed lots of rain and should be glad to get it. The slow droll the movie fans are used to while listening to Rogers was lacking. He does talk with a droll, and with a decided southern accent, but not quite so much as he does before the talkie machine. He did, though, pull at the rim of his hat with every few words, and punched at things with his left forefinger. His characteristics and gestures were perfectly in keeping with his stage manner. He was not chewing gum. "I've had a good time while I've been here," Rogers said. "I've met a lot of my kinfolks, people from Oklahoma I mean, and I'm always glad to see them." "I'll write to you all from China," he said, as he boarded the northbound train. Many followed him into his stateroom, where last requests for autographs and handshakes were made. Excerpt, Medford Daily News, November 20, 1931, page 1  Say, Texas has got a chance next Tuesday to put the Democratic congressional majority over the top and cinch Garner for speaker if they elect Kleberg of San Antonio. I would like to see a real cowpuncher get in there, even if he is a Republican. Say, we are running into a snowstorm and may have to set her down at Medford, but you can always trust a good airline pilot. This one has flown this route five years. Postscript--And we did set her down here.  William Rogers, the humorist, who was here a month ago, had a piece in the Sunday papers describing his visit here, and how everybody lectured him on the glory and the grandeur of the pears, but forgot to produce any prima facie evidence of the same, though he was well nigh starved. At that time the civic mind was fretting about the taxes, the times, Hoover, and all other matters they could do nothing about, and could not drop their tax cutting long enough to leave a box of Boscs in his berth. As a result of the original oversight, however, when William gets back from China he will find a box of pears on his front porch from everybody who ever saw a pear, if they have to send back to New York to get them. Arthur Perry, "Ye Smudge Pot," Medford Mail Tribune, December 14, 1931, page 4 Asleep at the Switch!
If you get off the Sunset Limited anywhere within a
hundred miles of Los Angeles, fine oranges are put under your nose, at
two for a nickel up.
You can't get off in the desert country without having neat packages of dates to test your sales resistance. In Arizona the same thing is true of grapefruit. You can't travel anywhere in that part of the world without knowing what the country produces and getting a chance to sample same. But one can travel through Southern Oregon by train or motor--can even stop here for several hours and look around--and NEVER SEE A PEAR! We wonder why it is. Our wonderment is particularly acute at the moment, for we have just read what Will Rogers said about us in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle. As everyone knows, when Will's airplane was forced down here a few weeks ago, the noted humorist spent nearly two hours in the office of the Mail Tribune, and before he left on the train that night he had met about half the downtown population. On all sides he heard about pears, but he never saw one and was never offered one. No wonder he decided there isn't a pear in the country! How many of the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visited Oregon the past summer have the same idea! Here is Will's comment: Did you ever seen this Oregon country? Well, say I want to tell you it's beautiful; lovely streams running all along, big pine trees, then a long stretch of beautiful valley. We passed right by Mount Shasta; the clouds and snow was so low that we couldn't see the top. A beautiful stock farm at the foot of it, where they used to raise those Shasta-bred racehorses Shasta Nut, Shasta Daisy, and all named Shasta something, it used to belong to Curley Brown, since dead.Of course there is nothing to worry about now. Will Rogers' train had barely reached Gold Hill before a box of pears was packed and ready for shipment to his boat at Victoria, B.C. And when he returns, if he isn't flooded with pears, it won't be the fault of Medford's loyal growers. But that's hindsight, not foresight. The thing we can't understand is why we have gone on all these years, neglecting one of our best avenues of publicity, and leaving the matter of pears up to chance and the initiative of some quick-witted citizen. Single pears are being sold by the unemployed in New York City. Why couldn't they be sold at the railroad and stage stations, the airport--the motor registration headquarters, and also at the Chamber of Commerce? If this were the established practice, such an extraordinary experience as Mr. Rogers suffered would never have been possible. However, we live and learn. The absence of pears gave us some excellent publicity, and in the future, we believe, no notable will be able to go through Southern Oregon without at least having a chance to SEE a pear, before he departs. Medford Mail Tribune, December 14, 1931, page 4 Will Rogers Razzed City; Unable
To Get Pears Here
Medford, the
Pear City, fell down on its reputation when Will Rogers, noted
columnist and now war correspondent in Manchuria, was here last
month.
Will heard the word "pear" from the time he landed at the airport till he left town on the train, but during his stay here failed to see a single pear. His article "razzing" Medford for it appeared in the Sacramento Bee, was clipped by W. Y. Crowson and is herewith reprinted: [see below] Medford Daily News, December 15, 1931, page 1   incidentally
a beautiful trip, especially from Frisco north, up along
the Sacramento River for a long, long way. They had just had their
first snow, and the mountaintops were covered, and the railroad and
highway was winding along down there like a couple of black snakes.
Then we began to hit bad weather, snow and a drizzling rain, and clouds
began to close in on us. It looked like we wasn't going to get any
farther than Redding, a little town on the edge of the mountains. But
this pilot had been on this route for five years and he, without taking
any chances, kept low below the clouds and wound his way right with the
big canyon and railroad, and we got through as far as Medford (just
over the line into Oregon).Good field and a beautiful little city of twelve thousand. Well, the radio weather report said we couldn't go, so we decided to take the train in about three hours and arrive in Portland in the morning. Well, I was kinder glad. I had never been to this town before, and I don't know I kinder like to hit these strange towns. I always run into a few old birds or young kids that recognize the old [face] from the movies, and I never lack for company. The pilot took us into town in his car, as that was the end of his run anyhow. We went to the depot first, and got our tickets. (I keep saying "we"; what I mean was another passenger and I, who I had just met on the plane, his name was Kennedy, and funny thing he had years ago when he was working for the Frigidaire Co  .
and they had a big convention in Akron, he had
booked me to appear before the convention. Now he and some others had
started in the same business, only they called theirs
some kind of
icebox, and they was a great big company, they catered to the people
who didn't know what Frigidaire meant but wanted an icebox that was
cold all the time.)Well, he was on there, and then they had a stewardess, that's a very charming girl, she is a qualified nurse, and she makes things comfortable for the passengers, and is a great comfort to ladies on there, especially if they don't feel well. Well, this one could have been a comfort to a lot of men that was even feeling well, too. Did you ever seen this Oregon country? Well, say I want to tell you it's beautiful; lovely streams running all along, big pine trees, then a long stretch of beautiful valley. We passed right by Mount Shasta; the clouds and snow was so low that we couldn't see the top. A beautiful stock farm at the foot of it, where they used to raise those Shasta-bred racehorses Shasta Nut, Shasta Daisy, and all named Shasta something, it used to belong to Curley Brown, since dead. I didn't know what this town had, but the pilot told me all the way in that it specialized in raising pears (not pairs), pears. The depot agent informed me that they shipped the most pears ever shipped from one place. The newspaper owner told me I should stay and see the pears (that meant in eight months from then). The girls that worked in the office there all told me of what wonderful pears they had. Newsboys came in and shook hands and informed me that pears was right up this town's alley. Over at the train a couple of hours later in came a lot of fine wholesome friendly people all telling me that pears from there was [as good as] melons from Rocky Ford. The owner and two reporters from the other paper came to the depot and they asked me if I knew that Medford was  noted
for its wonderful pears. Now
I am not criticizing this. It was all done in such a proud way that it
made you know these folks had a town, but most of all they had pears.
And the thing that made it all the more enjoyable is that it was done
by just everybody you would meet and not by the Chamber of Commerce.I didn't even see the Secretary of the Chamber. So you see it wasn't any organized effort to poke pears down a visitor's throat by the better element. These folks just wanted you to know they raised pears. I hadn't eaten any lunch on the plane, and it was then late in the afternoon. I had had two and a half hours of steady pears, but NO PEARS. Just one lone pear distributed in the right spot could have done the Medford pear industry more good than lip service from the total population. But not a soul dug up a pear. Some school boys and girls that knew me from the movies came to the train to tell me of pears, but brought no evidence. It's a beautiful little city, fine folks, but I don't think there is a pear in the country. Black River Democrat, Lowville,
New York, December 17, 1931 page 1
Roger's Lament on Pears Stirs
Editors of Oregon
In a country that has a great gift for passing laws, there certainly
ought to be a code to forbid cruelty to humorists. You may think a
humorist has a happy life, but you forget that much of the time he has
to live with his own jokes.(From Eugene Register-Guard) PEARS FOR LUVA ALLAH In the middle of the day, he may feel the first twinges of an oncoming wisecrack at Congress, but he may labor with it till far into the night ere it attains the perfect finish. One should always be kind to humorists. Seeing the funny side of things is sometimes apt to be sorrow enough. Thus our heart bleeds for our good friend Will Rogers who has just related in his Sunday column a harrowing experience when his plane was forced down at Medford recently. All through the perilous journey over the storm-swept mountains the pilot diverted his distinguished passenger with tales of the promised land ahead--a sun-gladdened plateau of Oregon with rich rolling meadows and orchards, a land where all fruits, but the pear above all, has attained the last word in perfection. There were great golden pears, Will was told, pears touched with russet and purple, pears gushing with juices as rare as the Jovian ambrosia. Pear pies! Hot or cold! Prepared by the women of Medford and flavored with mystic distinction. Pear tarts, pear cakes, pear puddings! The mouth of the humorist dribbled and he panted to reach this fair haven. He found them quite kindly in Medford. He was greeted by all the chief people. And they told him more about pears, the unapproachable pears of the region. Children were turned out of school, spoke pieces about the great orchards. Folks showed him pictures of pears and factories which pack pears for market. "But never a pear did I see," writes Will in his Sunday epistle. "I don't think there's a pear in the country." The editors of the Medford Mail Tribune are quite stirred up over the incident. They point out that before Will had been gone an hour somebody had remembered to ship a whole box of the very finest pears to the ship which was to carry Will to the battle fronts of Manchuria. However, they confess frankly that there was an omission, an omission which is all too common in Oregon. We often overlook the obvious. We talk a lot about our amazing products but we fail to put them forward as they do in California. Somehow, we think Medford and Oregon will survive this cruel thrust. Our grief is all for the tortured humorist. For the Medford pears ARE superb. Pear pie, as it is done in Medford, IS a supreme creation. No Parisian monarch could have devised a more subtle cruelty than that inflicted on the patient Rogers. ----
"But one can travel through Southern Oregon by train or motor--can even
stop here for several hours and look around--and never see a pear,"
says the Medford Mail
Tribune.(From Oregon Journal) THEY ALL WONDER And the paper adds that it "wondered why." Will Rogers also wondered why. He tarried a few hours in Medford on a recent trip but didn't see a pear. He said: "I hadn't eaten any lunch on the airplane and it was then late in the afternoon. I had two and a half hours of pear talk but no pear. Just one lone pear distributed in the right spot could have done the Medford pear industry more good than lip service from all the population. But not a soul dug up a pear. It's a beautiful little city, fine folks, but I don't think there is a pear in the country." A Medford pear makes its own best sales talk. Its arguments as to its excellence are unanswerable when you bite into its juicy body. But, not only in Medford but at Hood River and all over Oregon you have almost to make a search for Oregon's luscious pears in order to find them. The Comice, the Bosc, the Anjou and the Winter Nelis are all famous and delicious. But mostly they have to be sold outside the state. Oregon people do not realize what they have. And in consequence, they import thousands of carloads of fruit from other states. Oregon pears are seldom seen on a menu, but always on the list are fruits all the way from California to Florida. ----
Several weeks ago Will Rogers spent a few hours in Medford, and
subsequently an account of his visit, written by the inimitable Will,
appeared in the San
Francisco Chronicle. The
humorist testified that he met no citizen of Medford, young or old, who
did not extol the virtues of the Southern Oregon pear--but that he left
town without having seen one. His comment on this unintentional
oversight stirred Medford as effectively as though Table Rock had
developed an eruption or Toggery Bill had hooked and landed a
twenty-six-pound steelhead. Said the Mail Tribune, on
resolving to mend the local ways:(From the Oregonian) "No wonder he decided there isn't a pear in the country! How many of the hundreds of thousands of tourists have the same idea? In the future, we believe, no notable will be able to go through Southern Oregon without at least having a chance to see a pear." There is, we will all agree, a foremost economic ordinance which we call the way of supply and demand. Marvels of every sort are attributed to its workings, and it can create thickest gloom as deftly as it dispenses brightest joy. But in certain respects, we are beginning to learn, the law of supply and demand isn't harshly immutable. For example, it nowhere forbids a little enterprising effort to stimulate or create the latter part of it. Medford Mail Tribune, December 20, 1931, page 9 Send George a Pair!
To the
Editor;Have just read with interest an article in the Portland Oregonian of Will Rogers' recent visit to the city of Medford, Ore., stating that all he heard while he was in Medford was the Medford pear, but he did not see one. The remarks of Mr. Rogers express my sentiments exactly. I have been making regular monthly trips to Medford for the past 35 years, and during most of that time, and especially in recent years, I have heard of the Medford pears. When you had a large and a small crop I have heard of it, and I have heard of the big prices they have brought in the European market. Of all the different times I have been in Medford my mouth has watered for a Medford pear, just for the taste of one, but like Will Rogers I can truthfully say that I have never tasted one, and I do not remember of having seen one. Upon a recent visit I was told that the farmers were not making a profit on their pears this year because they could not sell them. Why are they not displayed where a visitor can purchase them? Why is it that a guest at your leading hotels cannot find them mentioned on the menus. If they are anxious to exchange those wonderful Medford pears for the good old gold standard, why is it that the merchants and the hotels of Medford do not display them where a visitor can purchase them. Just think of all the money I would have spent for Medford pears during the past 35 years if I could have ordered them from a hotel menu. I realize I could have ordered them, but that is not getting them. Just at the present time if I should receive a basket of Medford pears for a Christmas gift, I am sure I would value it as the most valuable of all the gifts I am to receive for Christmas. Why would I consider the gift so valuable? Probably because a Medford pear is so difficult to buy, especially when in the city of Medford. I might also find that the merchants of Medford have been "spoofing" me, and they haven't any pears, and if they have they are not what they are "cracked" up to be. Moral: Put Medford pears on your hotel menus. GEO.
H. GRAVES
Box 373, Salem, Ore."Communications," Medford Mail Tribune, December 21, 1931, page 6 Buy a "Will Rogers" Pear!
We don't believe the people of Medford REALIZE what the visit of Will
Rogers has done in the way of advertising Medford and its pears to the
outside world.Instead of NOT presenting the famous humorist with pears being a stupid and regrettable oversight, it was one of the luckiest things that ever happened. For this failure gave Will material for one of his characteristic articles, of which he immediately took advantage. Had the conventional thing been done, Will, who is Chamber-of-Commerce and free-publicity shy, would probably have given Medford no more than a dateline. As it is, during the past two weeks, the Mail Tribune has literally been flooded with newspaper clippings from practically every state in the union, containing Rogers "No pears today" feature with "Medford, Oregon," plastered all over them. From the advertising and publicity angle this so-called "oversight" was simply a "knockout!" In appreciation for this service, we believe it would be an excellent idea for local producers to get together and evolve a Will Rogers brand of pears, paste the old boy's familiar phiz on the box, and thus cash in on this extraordinary free publicity. "The pear that Will Rogers flew a thousand miles to taste." How is that for a starter? Medford Mail Tribune, December 23, 1931, page 6 PEAR PUBLICITY BY WILL ROGERS
PROVES KNOCKOUT
The shot heard round the world has little on the shot that Will Rogers
recently gave Medford regarding his inability to see a pear when he
spent several hours here when forced down on an air flight from Los
Angeles to Vancouver to catch a boat for Japan.Rogers made a real story out of this incident, and it was published in every state of the union. During the past two weeks, the Mail Tribune has literally been flooded with clippings from all points of the compass, containing the "no pears today" feature. Many of them were illustrated by home paper artists and were undoubtedly read by hundreds of thousands of people who probably never heard of Medford, Oregon before, but now know it is the country's most famous "pear city." Incidentally, the humorist's claim that he couldn't even get a sight of a pear, much less eat one, during his three-hour stop in this city, has aroused H. E. Marsh, pioneer grocery man, and justly so. For Mr. Marsh for many years has made a window display specialty of local pears during the holidays and has shipped Christmas boxes of them to all parts of the world. He has done the same thing this year, and had Mr. Rogers walked down Main Street, he would have seen more pears than he could have eaten in 20 years. However, if present plans materialize, no prominent visitor will be able to stop here during the fall and winter without being presented with some of Medford's famous fruit, and there will be permanent displays at the Chamber of Commerce and tourist registration station, so that all who pass through may see some of the pears that have made Medford and the Rogue River Valley famous. Medford Mail Tribune, December 23, 1931, page 10 PEAR PRICES EAST HOLD STRONG AND
MAY MOVE HIGHER
The eastern pear market is "holding strong, with favorable prospect for
the future," according to local fruit distributors. Good Anjous have
been selling at $3.75 per box, and as high as $4, with a tendency to
brisk demand. It is expected that the late January and February prices
might exceed this mark. This is about double the price of last year,
plus a much stronger demand.On December 26 last, there was in storage in this city 108,979 boxes of pears as follows by varieties:
D'Anjous……...……54,637
On the
same date, 56,653 boxes of apples were in storage here.Nelis………………..52,062 Comice…………….. 2,280 Local distributors attributed the present conditions "to a combination of favorable conditions," the advertising campaign in the eastern center by the Northwest Pear Bureau, under direction of William Horsley of Seattle, and a public weary of eating oranges, apples and bananas in the winter. Statistics have been received from federal departments, showing that the pear crop of the nation last year was only four to six percent below 1930. It was thought in some fruit circles that a recent article by Will Rogers, humorist, on valley pears, might have been a mild tonic for pear sales. R. R. Reter of the Pinnacle Packing Company said while the article was widely read throughout the land, it was impossible to trace any direct sales to it. "It certainly didn't do the pear sales any harm, and probably did them a lot of good." Medford Mail Tribune, January 3, 1932, page 1 RURAL LIFE AGREES WITH E.J.
RUNYARD, EX-MARKET MASTER
E. J. Runyard, former well-known Medford resident and for years
superintendent of the public market, is so enraptured with life on his
ranch above Gold Hill, on which himself and Mrs. Runyard have lived
since leaving Medford several years ago, that a week ago yesterday was
the second time he had visited Medford in two years.He was deeply touched on this last visit when he learned that hungry Will Rogers was wandering around Medford late one afternoon some time ago pining for a valley pear, and at once exclaimed, "Why didn't he buy one? I'd [have] lent him the price if I'd known it." He was also surprised to learn that a so-called depression was on throughout a vast stretch of our fair land, and that there were rumors of the county and city budgets being somewhat cut down, possibly. When told that moving pictures now talked, Mr. Runyard said that was almost too much for him to swallow. "Just because I'm from the sticks is no sign that I can be spoofed," he exclaimed. Mr. Runyard keeps closely in touch with the outside world and its development through voraciously reading almanacs and old magazines which his son Don and daughter Mrs. Howard Hill occasionally send him, and also by perusing a Mail Tribune whenever one is blown his way. His favorite amusement these winter nights is to doff his shoes, rest his feet on the stove and while watching the flames and humming "The Old Gray Mare," wonder what is going on in the great outside world of Medford and what Don and Sylvia are doing. Medford Mail Tribune, January 31, 1932, page 9 ROGERS CLIPPINGS COME FROM AFAR
It is agreed that Medford should have found a few pears and presented
them to Will Rogers on his recent visit, but it is also agreed that the
publicity was priceless.In today's mail come clippings of his famous article on pears from the Boston (Mass.) Globe, and another from Anchorage, Alaska, sent in by Edw. G. Johnson. An illustration in the Boston print shows the Mail Tribune editor informing the humorist "You ought to stay until the pears are ripe!" Medford Mail Tribune, February 12, 1932, page 9 WILL ROGERS HAS TASTE OF PEARS
Will Rogers has got his pears--at last! After making wisecracks in all
leading newspapers of coast and nation on the subject of Medford's
pears, of which he got none upon his visit to the pear city last year,
the humorist finally coaxed a box out of Raymond Reter of the Pinnacle
Packing Company.And in response to receipt of the gift sent the following telegram to Reter yesterday: "Thanks for the pears. They are the finest ones I have seen since I left Oklahoma. I had to kinder shame you into sending these, but I'm glad I did now. Regards and best wishes." Medford Mail Tribune, September 25, 1932, page 8  Rogers Has Pears To Prove Someone Reads His Humor At last Will
Rogers has "found somebody that reads his articles," and he has a box
of Medford pears to prove it.
The famous humorist, whose remarks on world events are a daily feature of the Mail Tribune, visited here about two years ago and later stated in one of his widely syndicated commentaries that, although he had spent the better part of a day listening to the folks in Medford tell what a great pear-producing section this is, no one offered him any tangible evidence to back up the claim. The typically Rogerian remark was contained in a telegram received yesterday by G. R. Green, Medford manager of the American Fruit Growers, who had sent the humorist a gift box of the company's "Blue Goose'" brand Comice pears and a personal letter recalling his "fruitless" visit here. Rogers replied by Western Union as follows: "At last I found somebody that does read my articles. Thanks for pears. I won't doubt you all any more." Medford Mail Tribune, December 20, 1934, page 1 Will Rogers Gets Box Medford
Comice Pears.
Medford
Ore., Dec. 28.--At last Will Rogers has "found somebody that reads his
articles," and he has a box of Medford pears to prove it, says the Medford Mail Tribune.
The famous humorist, whose remarks on world events are a daily feature of the Mail Tribune, visited here about two years ago and later stated in one of his widely syndicated commentaries that, although he had spent the better part of a day listening to the folks in Medford tell what a great pear-producing section this is, no one offered him any tangible evidence to back up the claims. The typically Rogerian remark was contained in a telegram received yesterday by G. R. Green, Medford manager of the American Fruit Growers, who has sent the humorist a gift box of the company's "Blue Goose'" brand Comice pears and a personal letter recalling his "fruitless" visit here. Rogers replied by Western Union as follows: "At last I found somebody that does read my articles. Thanks for pears. I won't doubt you all any more." The Chicago Packer, December 29, 1934, page 10 ROGERS AND POST PASS OVER HERE
Wiley
Post, stratosphere flier, and [Will Rogers, newspaper humorist and]
movie actor, who are planning a flight over the North Pole to Russia,
passed over the Medford airport yesterday afternoon about 4 o'clock.
Local reporters, having heard the famous pair intended to spend the night in Medford, were all atwitter and expecting to meet the famous pair, but plans took them high over Medford. Efforts were made to get a box of pears for Will Rogers, who had a lot to say last time he was here because he didn't get any pears. There wasn't a ripe pear in the valley, either this year's crop or last year's crop. Excerpt, Medford News, July 26, 1935, page 1 DEATH OF ROGERS RECALLS MEDFORD
CALL
IN NOVEMBER, 1931
Will
Rogers, famed comedian and humorist, who met death with Wiley Post late
yesterday in an airplane crash in Alaska, was a Medford visitor for a
few hours in November, 1931. Bad weather caused the plane, on which he
was flying to Seattle to take a liner for Japan, to be grounded here.
That evening he took a train north. Later Rogers flew to Europe.
During his short stay Rogers held an informal reception in the Mail Tribune office and greeted scores of Medford and Jackson County people who flocked to this paper when the news spread like wildfire that the distinguished man was in town. The following day at Portland, in an interview, Rogers uttered a wisecrack that gave worldwide publicity to this city: "I was in Medford yesterday afternoon. That's the prize pear-growing section of the country. Everybody talked about pears, but nobody offered me any." In his weekly feature letter, later, he devoted almost his entire contribution to good-natured twitting of this section for the incident. Rogers greeted all comers in the Mail Tribune and "joshed" his guests with the lightheartedness that won him fame. He talked of his world travels, his meetings with famous men of Europe and America, and was the soul of good nature. He strolled about the city for an hour before coming to the Mail Tribune, where he was recognized. The daily writings of Rogers have been a feature of the Mail Tribune for many years. His pictures were immensely popular with movie fans of this city. Excerpt, Medford Mail Tribune, August 16, 1935, page 1   Snow
all over the old anthill. We flew right up and over what I
think they call the Redwood Highway. [It was the Pacific Highway.]
Lots of pretty little towns nestled back in little valleys and canyons.
First stop out of Sacramento was Medford, Oregon, where a few days
before some ambitious reporter had sent out a U.P. dispatch that he had
seen Wiley Post and me flying over there, when we were at that time
crossing Arizona. So this time he is liable to report that I arrived
there by horse and buggy.Say, there is some mountains over that route. South of Medford, north of Medford, that's the town where they raise the fine pears. I was forced down there on my previous flight to Vancouver and they kept telling me about the fine pears and I afterwards wrote about them, but said they never did offer me any, they just kept telling how great they was. Well, sir, when I returned from around the world, they sent me practically all they raised in the valley that year, I think. Every time a box would come it would be more pears, and better pears (if possible). Excerpt, Daily Inter Lake, Kalispell, Montana, August 21, 1935, page 4 Rogers and Wiley Post died in a plane crash on August 15, six days before this column appeared. Last revised January 26, 2025 |
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