Jimmie Rodgers: What Damaged his career? (Jerry Skinner Documentary)

[Music] [Music] this is Jimmie Rodgers musician singer writer TV and movie star he has 23 gold records and 40 top-ten hits plus four gold albums with such records as honeycomb kisses sweeter than land uh-oh I'm falling in love again and many many more during the 50s and 60s Jimmie Rodgers was on top of the recording world no doubt the sky was the limit and he was on his way to becoming one of the greats such as Frank Sinatra Dean Martin and yes even Elvis but on December the 1st 1967 the unthinkable happened in the middle of the net he was pulled over by so called off-duty Los Angeles policeman beaten with an object such as an iron Tartu for no apparent reason and left in his car for dead unable to walk or remember or speak for years the question was why years later it was discovered through FBI surveillance that the recording company that had helped make Jimmy famous was connected to the New York Genovese crime family when he learned that his record company roulette records had no intention of paying him or anyone else their royalties he did what other roulette artists were scared to do he walked out on roulette and its mob-connected boss James Frederick Rogers was born September the 18th 1933 in chemist --an Jimmy was the youngest son of Archie and Mary Rogers he had one older brother Archie jr. that was born January the 1st 1929 he was called Buster or sometimes just bust for short the georgia-pacific pub would mill was a dominant industry in Camus both Archie and Mary worked there Mary also taught piano lessons and she had passed the love of music on to her youngest son during the silent movie area Mary had played piano two silent movies and in those days being able to do that was almost being like a celebrity itself as far as Jimmy's daddy Archie was concerned he was called Tuffy and he lived up to his name the only advice he ever gave his son was keep your right hand high and your ass off the floor like an obedient son that's what he tried to do the boys grew up in this house located at 725 Northwest 10th Avenue and Camus Washington in 2013 the street name was changed from 10th Avenue to Jimmy Rogers Avenue to honor the hometown singer this is Jimmy and his brother bus as teenagers in 1951 Jimmy graduated from chemische high school by this time even his classmates realized that Jimmy Rogers had a great singing voice and giving you what he wanted to do in life like other high school classmates he enrolled at Clark Junior College in Vancouver even worked at the pub wood mill for a while just to make enough money to go to college after trying college Rodgers became Restless and things just wasn't moving fast enough so Jimmy joined the Air Force and in 1952 the Korean War was going strong and during wartime being a good shot was imported and it soon became apparent that Jimmy Rogers was a good shot he grew up with guns so eventually the Air Force gave him a job of training others how to shoot Jimmy will end up in Korea although they tell you don't worry you're in the Air Force and won't be on the front lines they forget to say everything in Korea is on like the time he decided to skip miss something that he hardly ever did and that night the enemy slipped across the flatland and killed several Airmen as they were eating things like that was a constant reminder where he wasn't after returning stateside he was assigned to Seward Air Force Base located 20 miles southeast of Nashville Tennessee while there he met Bob Greene and his wife Bobby they were owners of a small club at the end of printers alley called Club unique Jimmy began playing the piano and singing on the weekends for $10 per night the greens suggested a song that they thought was perfect for Jimmy's style and boys Honeycomb had been written by Bob Merle in 1954 he was a noted songwriter in Nashville Jimmy performed his own arrangements of honeycomb and began playing it often everyone loved the song but all he could do was sing it wherever he was performing in March 1956 Jimmy's enlistment was up and back to kamas he went after he arrived home he soon heard of a girl that was a local beauty who was becoming a movie star her name was Colleen McClatchy she had already appeared in several unaccredited movie Rhodes the great man starring Joseph Farrow written on the wind with Rock Hudson the tennessee plowboy Eddie Arnold and Frances and the haunted house that starred Mickey Rooney Universal Studios always started out their potential stars were bit unaccredited rows of colleagues a mother ran a cleaning shop in downtown chemists and why I changed Jimmy stopped by one afternoon and Coleen happened to be there she had returned from California to visit her folks they agreed to meet for coffee that started it all and soon was in love and spending as much time together as they could between Jimmy playing in different nightclubs and Coleen having to go back and forth to Hollywood time together was precious on May the 12th 1956 Jimmy was performing at the Ford Cafe and Vancouver Colleen was attending a dance in Seattle as honorary gift set up by the studio Colleen and Jimmy had been inseparable for the past 10 days it was after midnight before Colleen and a friend was able to leave the dates Colleen was a passenger and the cars in those days had no seatbelts during the early morning fog an elderly couple pulled across the main road in front of her car her head struck the steel dashboard her face was crushed she'll go through numerous surgeries taking several months to restore her face she will look the same outside but will have severe headaches that in time after several years will cause her to become depressed and immobilized when Universal Studios heard about the wreck within four weeks they had canceled her contract while Jimmy was still perform at the Fort cafe waiting for Colleen's bandages to be removed after several surgeries Chuck Miller was performing at the frontier room directly across the street chuck had already had a hit record house of blue lights they would sometimes visit each other show call it friendly competition but despite the competition Jimmy and Miller became friends and Miller was instrumental in getting an audition for Jimmy at roulette records in New York City he also advised Jimmy and Colleen to get married and get on with their life on 4 January in 1957 they took Chuck Miller's advice and got married when you're in love big weddings take too long Jimmy had won several talent contests during his career like the one while he was in the Air Force and got to travel to several Air Force bases for foreign he had appeared on art Linkletter show and several national Network shows but Steve no recording deal with Chuck Miller's help and encouragement and some doing it was hoped a meeting could be set up with roulette records even though Colleen was still having headaches she was ready to travel across country she had given up on her career and now it was Jimmy's that she was interested in when they arrived in New York they stayed in a low-rent hotel because money was scarce he was finally able to meet with some people that roll at records and sang a few songs but nothing definite came out of it in Jimmy's autobiography book giving full details of his life called dancing on the moon he relates how clapped by accident he and nerves of steel got onto Arthur Godfrey show walking down the street from roulette records he saw a sign that said authored Godfrey talent scouts he tells how you walked in with other performance with his name not even known the talent list and bluffed his way in he ended up went in the contest that he wasn't even supposed to be in the prize was seven hundred and fifty dollars and a week of a period on the odd for Godfrey's national TV show while appearing on Godfrey that week roulette records called him to come in and do a demo after recording honeycomb the song that Bob and Bobby Crane had introduced him to he felt good about the recording but no one at the record company saw the thing to him so he walked back to the hotel where Colleen was staying and they decided to take the 750 dollars that he had won his prize for the Godfrey show and head back to Camus while they still had enough money to get back on it was a few weeks later on July the 29th 1957 when Jimmy and his dad was planning on going fishing as they had many times before here they are on one of their early fishing trips now Jimmy had parked his car in the driveway and was intending on washing a dust before they left he had the car radio on and when the radio started to play honeycomb Jimmy couldn't believe it that was him singing he ran to tell his folks were also in disbelief the announcer stated that if anybody knew this Jimmie Rodgers to get in touch with a radio station as the recording company I lost touch with him honeycombs so 1 million copies was on the top of the charts for four straight weeks number one on the R&B bestseller chart and number one billboard top 100 and became Jimmie Rodgers his first gold record after honeycomb his career was like a whirlwind go records followed one after another kisses sweeter than Wayne uh-oh I'm falling in love again he sang the title song to the movie long hot summer with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward Orson Welles and Lee Remick the song was a hit along with seven consecutive hits that year Jimmy even performed at the Academy Awards he had been a part of the Alan Freed rock and roll tour along with Buddy Holly and the crickets later he toured with Everly Brothers Danny and and juniors Little Richard and many many more in August of 1958 Colleen was able to meet Jimmy in Atlantic City where he was playing she seemed to be doing some better away from her nurses and doctors that would prescribe her pain medication at the drop of a hat while taking a walk along the shore she seemed to be at herself and asked Jimmy when he had spoke with his parents you should call him she said he didn't know that it would be the last time he'd be able to speak with his dead Jimmy's mother was still working at the mill and his dad would be doing a lot of fishing Jimmy told him to be careful out there on the lake by himself he told Jamie that somebody was going with him but they must have never arrived because Jimmy received a phone call from his brother Archie there father Archie senior had drowned in Fallen Leaf Lake his rubber Ralph had sank family was devastated Jimmy and bus stayed with their mother a few days as Colleen stayed with her parents Archie Rogers was 58 years old the press was ever were making this private time for the Roger's family it's almost impossible soon after mr. Rogers is passing Ralph Edwards surprised Jimmy for an episode owned this is your life a coast-to-coast television show now here is Ralph Edwards standing on the left with Jimmy's brother bus next to him and a singer Chuck Miller that helped Jimmy get a interview with roulette records next to him is David Walker who helped teach Jimmy to play the guitar and the lady next to David Walker is Bobby green who along with her husband Bob owned the club unique in Nashville and found the song honeycomb for Jimmy next is sergeant Brown a friend from the Air Force the next two are producers from roulette records sitting is Jimmy's mom Mary Jimmy and Coleen in 1959 NBC placed Jimmy only shortly of TV show this is a publicity photo of Jimmy Coleen and his mother Jimmy said in his book dancing on the moon that the man from NBC looked at me and said the only thing that could stop us from keeping your show on the network is this new show called Gunsmoke but it won't take your place we're sure of that it turned out to be okay because not long after Jimmy's show was canceled his agent gave him a movie script from 20th Century Fox called the little Shepherd of kingdom come Jimmy was picked to play the lead an orphan who fights for the north during the Civil War and returns to his girlfriend in Kentucky Jimmy's co-star was Luana Patten with chill wheels and Robert Dix the movie was not expected to be released until a year or so later in 1961 in 1960 Timmy decided to make a change Marsh levy with his mob connections control roulette records and roulette records Oh Jimmy over a million dollars in back royalties Jimmy wasn't the only artist that roulette records over royalties too but he was the biggest money maker at that time and no one was sure what the mob might do if Jimmy left they produce contracts that he had never signed and people would call him at home in the middle of the night and say I saw you sign that contract and then hang up to fight him in court was useless considering their connections regardless of the consequences Jimmy had his dad's fighting spirit and left Marsh levee and roulette records with two years left on his contract he'll not be able to record anywhere for the next two years in the meantime he was busy promoting the little Shepherd of Kingdom Come and doing personal appearances Jimmy knew that his wife was spending more and more time with his co-star while he was working but he was carrying the weight of a movie on his shoulders and thought that the little flirtations were innocent after filming of this little shepherd of Kingdom Come was over he knew Colleen was spending more time in her bedroom and seemed depressed Jimmy thought he was because she was five months pregnant and of course there was always two terrible headaches on Christmas Eve 1960 was entrench old him she said that she was in love with another man and as soon as the baby was born she was leaving Jimmy was in shock and disbelief he thought of leaving and moving out of the house but he knew that if he left Colleen would not be able to take care of herself if left alone he also knew that the flavonoid actor had no idea how thick Colleen really was he knew he had to put his own pride aside for her sake again pop Rodgers his fighting spirit came through damned if he was going to lose his family to someone just pass him through and this time it was another ass that was going to hit the floor it wouldn't be Jimmy's after confronting the actor he was no longer a threat Colleen will forget in time and life will go on Oh in April of 14th 1960 D me was on stage at the cave supper club in Vancouver British Columbia the waitresses were all waiting on word and when it came they held up a sign for Jimmy to see it said it's a girl Michelle Colleen Rogers Michelle was a sweet blessing to Jim in his little family by 1962 Jimmy's contract with relent records was over and now he could look for another record company he found it with dot records where he could record and produce and sit behind a desk giving him a chance to stay close to home the next year in 1963 Colleen was pregnant with Michael now this is Colleen Michelle and Michael she tried to stay off medications as much as her pain would allow while pregnant and she had spent most of her time and be it even at that Michael James Rogers was born fully at four pounds and nine ounces on the 24th of June 1963 the Roger's family was living at 1/6 and 37 Norwood tribe and Granada Hills an upscale community northwest of Los Angeles they were living the life of a whorl entertainer swimming pools three automobiles housekeepers gardeners and all the rest that goes with it however not long after Michael was born Jimmy came home to find Colleen had gotten worse she was seeing things that weren't there the doctor found a large blood cut on her brain causing her delusion in severe headaches the calls most likely from her automobile wreck before they were made she needed immediate surgery and she will need other surgeries later and will never fully recover partly because of her initial injury and partly from unqualified surgeons Colleen's mother came to live with them to help look after Colleen in the children eventually Colleen's dead and her younger brother came also Jimmy was mostly on the road working paying bills in 1964 Rogers made one of several tours to Australia here he is in a publicity picture at the mascot Airport after just arriving from a long flat with the singing group the crystals now the crystals was a Brooklyn gal group that had several hits such as he's a rebel when he kissed me and they do run run he was surprised when he learned that 20th Century Fox wanted him again for another movie and this woman it's entitled back door to hell it was to be a war film and it meant spending a month filming in the Philippines he was to star alongside two newcomers Jack Nicholson and Buddy Hackett the money was good but it meant being away from home according to Timmy's book dancing on the moon leaving little Michelle and Michael was a heartbreaking event even returning home and seeing them hanging onto his legs and looking up with so much love made leaving even to pay bills and keep things are going for everyone much harder when a dad leaves home usually the mother takes up the slack while he's gone but when the mother is unable to even care for herself it becomes almost impossible the one thing Jimmy regretted was not caring enough to always be there he knew that Colleen would always be taken care of by her parents he also knew there was nothing that he could do really to make her will it soon became apparent is the only worth was to work and keep money coming in and the only saving grace to that was knowing that Michael and Michelle were benefiting in 1965 Jimmy Rogers was on television singing a jingle advertising spaghetti to the tune of oh I'm falling in love again while he was still under contract to dot records he was asked to tour with herb Albert and the Tijuana brass the lonely bull was at the top of the charts Jimmy said that while a band was performing at Carnegie Hall in New York he saw a girl standing outside the stage door crying she told him her boyfriend was a member of the band and had just broken up with her and it was over Jimmy went back to his hotel room and wrote and recorded it's over it's over in 1967 was recorded by Glen Campbell Dusty Springfield Roy Orbison and yes in 1972 even Elvis recorded later as it's over was coming off the chart Jimi's contract where dot records was also over he then moved on to a indium records where it wasn't long before he was back on the charts again with child of clay here is performing child clay on The Smothers Brothers show in 1967 no November 30th 1967 Jimmy called his good friend also his music arranger and conductor Eddie Samuels now Samuels had worked for years for Eddie Fisher but it became friends with Jimmy and they worked well together and Rodgers felt comfortable with Samuels conducting according to James autobiography dancing on the moon he has Samuels to meet him downtown that afternoon Jimmy said they went to actor Bob Cole Bert's home and played music for a while and then all three went to a boutique where he bought Christmas gifts for Colleen from there they went to the China trade bar and restaurant where another friend of theirs actor Bob troupe and occasionally his wife Julie London was playing Jimmy had dinner there and sang a few songs with Eddie playing piano while there they met some people that they really didn't know and was invited to their home in the valley for Christmas party around 2:00 a.m. on the morning of December the 1st Jimmy and aadya left the party going home Jimmy was in his car and Eddie was fallen in his at a distance Eddie was planning on spending the night at Jimmy's house while traveling north on the San Diego freeway across the still sleepy San Fernando Valley there was almost no traffic stirring samuel stated that he caught up with jimmy and was afraid that Jimmy was going to miss the Rinaldi turnoff coordinator Samuel he knew that Jimmy had been drinking and he was driving in the far left lane now Jimmy never denied that he had a few drinks at the party and accepted full responsibility for his drinking that night however it should be pointed out unlike other show business personalities Jimmy Rogers was never caught up in the drug scene he wasn't much of a drinker so Eddie Samuels pulled in front of Jimmy's car and turned on his blinker to remind Jimmy to turn off Jimmy swore his Cadillac and barely made the Rinaldi exit but Annie was too busy wondering about Jimmy he missed the exit and went to the next one and drove on to Jimmy's house to wait on him Jimmy remembered going down the ramp and sitting at the bottom of the ramp to clear his head he then turned left on Sepulveda at the stoplight Jimmy turn left on West Rinaldi after traveling under the freeway suddenly a car pulls up behind in shining their bright lights and blinking him Jimmy began pulling over to the right side of Rinaldi he stops and rolls down the driver's side window thinking that it might his friend Eddie Samuels if someone walked up to the window Jimmy realizes that he had just been struck on the head by what seemed to be an iron tire - now the doctor said that Jimmy was struck several times about the head with something very hard like an iron rod he had a broken wrist which seemed to be defensive blows the doctor said that blows to the head was hard enough to a killed him Jimmy went in and out of consciousness he remembered being on the ground he remembers seeing shoes and black pants legs of what appeared to be policemen he remembered someone saying damn does he you've killed this man he remembered laying in the front seat of his car alone unable to move or focus not knowing how bad he was hurt and not knowing how much time had passed Eddie Samuels had been waiting at Jimmy's house and when he didn't show he went looking for him driving the east on Rinaldi he spotted Jimmy's car and saw a police car and a white Volkswagen pulling away Eddie drove on past and did a u-turn around and came back he left his car and drove Jimmy's home he had found Jimmy in the front seat of his car bleeding Rodgers was later taken to the Glendale Community Hospital on recommendation of his family doctor it was discovered that Jimmy had a blood clot and on the 5th of December he was operated on the right side of his head was left exposed Jimmy began having grand mal seizures on the 9th of December he will begin bleeding and have to have another emergency brain surgery Jimmy will eventually go through three major surgeries and numerous cosmetic surgeries he will lose the ability to walk or speak he will be bedridden for almost two years after being moved from Glendale hospital to a private hospital for therapy a male nurse named ray whacko was placed completely in charge of Rogers's rehabilitation wacko told everybody their way even his wife and family Jimmy was helpless under whackos control he was keeping Jimmy doped up and sleeping most of the time he was losing weight even down to a hundred and eighteen pounds why Co receive the insurance pay as long as his patient couldn't get out of bed and that seemed to be wackos game Jimmy didn't know how long he was there but one evening Colleen showed up and demanded to take him home in her condition it must have took every bit of energy she could muster unfortunately when she got home she went back into her shell and to make things worse Wakko came along Colleen's parents stayed in their part of the house and left everything up to wacko wackos attempt to keep Jimmy bedridden was actually slowly killing him Jimmy cannot help yourself or get out of bed if he got where he could thank clear Wakko would give him another shot and back in Wakko land he'd go Jimmy would cry out when he could but to no avail however he didn't know but he did have someone here in his cries his 7 year old daughter Michelle Wakko had given orders no visitors Jimmy's friend Bob Kolbert had called several times to ask about Jimmy he was always told that Jimmy couldn't have any visitors and was either sleeping or resting while Jimmy was at a place of recuperation and therapy Bob didn't worry so much but when it continued after he was brought home he felt something was wrong and a late part of February 1968 Bob Cobert went to see for himself when the door opened Bob was surprised to see Jimmy's little 7 year old daughter Michelle standing there and before he could say a word Michelle said the man is hurting my daddy when Bob asked what man she said the nurse man is hurting my daddy I can hear my daily crane this alone with the refusal to let Bob see Jimmy was enough to convince him to call Jimmy's brother at home in Washington State he knew that Colleen was ill and could be no help Archie called and was told that Jimmy was resting and couldn't talk Archie caught the next plane for California when he showed up at the door they couldn't keep him from seeing his brother Archie was shocked when he saw his brother Jimmy he looked like a skeleton 118 pounds unshaven unkept couldn't turn over his head was sunk in on one side and held together with water Jimmy managed to tell his brother without his mother-in-law and Wakko being able to hear Archie they're trying to kill me Archie believed him Jimmy said that he found out later to his surprise that Wakko was still alive Archie had let him leave after all after Wakko was dismissed by Archie with prejudiced things begin to improve during this time the papers was having a field day at first it was covered as another singing Idol called driving drunk wrecking and almost killing himself when they learned that the police was somehow involved the papers demanded that the Los Angeles Police Department investigate even though they didn't want to it was soon learned that an off-duty police officer by the name of Raymond or Michael Duffy was the one that stopped Jimmy's car Duffy statement was that Jimmy was driving southbound on the northbound side of the freeway he pulled over and waited for Jimmy to do a u-turn and come back and pass him by he followed Jimmy on to Rinaldi and pulled him over by flashing his lights Duffy story was that he asked Jimmy to get out and walk back to his car at that time Jimmy fell backwards and must have hit his head on something he said the two owned duty cops that was called said that they'd never even seen Jimmy that Debbie told them that he was in his car sleeping it off on the front seat they entered on their logs that the subject had already left by the time there and they let her admitted falsifying their logs Duffey being off duty needed a good excuse for legally stopping someone just from making a rolling stop through a stop sign that wasn't good enough but stopping someone going the wrong way on the freeway was the police department knowing there'd be a lawsuit coming begin closing ranks to protect Duffy and their own duty cops Rowland Wagner and Raymond Wiseman the question in Jimmy's mind was why what had he done that was so bad that would cause police officers to leave him for dead and try and had the fact that there was even there was this just a rogue cop that loved to beat people to death and just went around in the middle of the night looking for a victim knowing that he had the protection of the department or was he a paid assassin from the mob-connected roulette records it was well known that when a singer dies his popularity increases and record sales skyrocket and roulette controlled a majority of Jimmie Rodgers is hit recordings in 1988 the FBI helped convict Marsh levy president of roulette records and mob connected to the Genovese crime family to 10 years in prison he was convicted of conspiracy and showed that he had no qualms of having someone beat up or worse however levy will pass away from liver cancer at the age of 62 before his Senate start singer-songwriter and producer Tommy James who was under contract to roulette records and who knew better than to leave Marsh levee until years later when things were safe James was famous for the songs hanky panky crimson and clover and many others he wrote in his book me the mob and the music that Marsh levy had instigated the hit on Jimmie Rodgers even stated at a book signing interview if you cross levee you could end up like Jimmie Rodgers left for dead on a la freeway James also said top la police officials was mob-connected along with the Los Angeles Medical Examiner's Office this might help explained while the attending physician told Rogers his family that he was beat with a possible iron rod and a few weeks later the medical examiner's office said no he fell and hurt himself might also explain why the three policemen were only given a 15 days of special for not following procedures instead of being arrested for malicious intent or attempted murder by 1969 Jimmy was on the slow road to recovery he'll even returned to performing there will be many times you'll have to be helped on and off the stage even being extremely hindi count with seizures not knowing when they might occur like when he was doing his last guitar solo at the circle star theater in San Carlos California in the middle of the solo he stopped playing and he just sit there in silence his friend Eddie Samuels quietly took the guitar out of his hand and laid him offstage to the roaring applause of the crowd in 1970 Colleen's parents filed for divorce I say her parents because she was not present at the divorce proceedings her mother seemed to everything Jimmy explained it this way it's impossible to keep a marriage together during their combination of five brain surgeries to keep the seizures to a minimum he was prescribed 500 milligrams twice daily of dilantin and of course it makes almost impossible to function on that much medication he had to be careful not to bump his head because of the steel plate he cared around on the right side of his head thanks to LA's finest after his divorce he naturally had to move out of the house to return only to see his kids giveme spent the next few months trying to make the marriage work he was up against a brick wall he rented a place on Cliffwood Drive in Brentwood he had to keep working in order to pay alimony and child support and build he began using a golf club as the walking stick to get on stage and sometimes put braces on his legs unbelievably he began receiving threatening calls again tim has said it was right out of the movies if I were you pal I wouldn't leave the house he started to call the police but what if it was the police Jimmy still had a lawsuit pending against the LA Police Department he tried to ignore the threats but one afternoon when he was on his way home he had left his little 1963 Chevy Stingray sports car and the open garage arrived home to find the fire department trying to put the fire out they arrived too late no more sports car someone was making a point Jimmy still wasn't safe whether it was the mob in New York are the police in LA - Jimmy it's all the same if you're on the receiving end the lawsuit against the police department was still going on but he was having a hard time keeping lawyers they'd all start out saying we're gonna win this case it'll be easy a week later it would be Jimmy I'm not gonna be able to handle your case sorry it was playing someone got to during this time Jimmy met Trudy buck an airline stewardess and model on a blind date within a few months team and Trudy were married in Venice California on the first of August 1970 Trudy was 21 and Jimmy was 36 it was her first marriage and of course his second they honeymoon at the Mona Key hotel in Hawaii she will give up her job as the stewardess to become a supportive wife to her husband On February 17th 1972 Jimmy and Trudy will have a son Casey Williams Rogers Jimmy was home when Casey was born it was the first that is not on the road when a child was born the next year in 1973 Jimmy's lawyer informed him that there was no way he was going to win a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department the lawsuit was finally settled after four years of one deposition after another the police department offered a settlement because they didn't need the publicity a trial would bring the next year on July the 28th 1974 Jimmy and Trudy's second son Logan Andrew Rogers was born when Logan was three years old Trudy and Jimmy separated in August of 1977 and divorced one year later on August of 14 1978 Timmy took full responsibility saying that he had put Fame ahead of his marriage colleen McClatchy Jimmy's first wife had been rushed to the hospital for surgery it was discovered that she had a blood clot on the brain and that was the reason for the headaches all those years Colleen the beautiful would-be star passed away from brain surgery on the 20th of May 1977 at the age of 38 although Jimmy and Colleen had been divorced for seven years he had continued to support her care during Jimmy Rogers his career he continued to perform even though at times he was unable his family was dependent on him he was in and out of the hospital several times trying to control his seizures and once when his metal plate got dislodged and pushed through the scalp under these conditions finding work was not easy in 1978 Jimmy had been asked by the American folk ballet touring company to be their host to introduce different forms of dates the troupe was making one-night stands with about 20 performers traveling from place to place and a bus there was one dancer in particular mary-louise Bickerstaff Jimmy said in his book that when Mary took the stage lights went on and for him they stayed on Jimmy and Mary married September the 10th 1978 Jimmy was 45 and Mary was 25 her 81 year old grandmother kept asking Mary where did you get this nice young boy Jimmy said it's funny Mary was a 25 year old woman and I was a 45 year old boy Mary and Jimmy's family along with a list of celebrities attended his 15 year old son Michael flew up from California Jimmy said he would come up missing from time to time and they'd find that he had sneaked into the casinos it's been saying that when a woman marries into a family her attitude can become a blessing and raise the family up or she can tear the family down Mary was a blessing after their wedding Jimmy and Mary hit the road to pay off $80,000 worth of bills one show at a time on October 31st 1989 giving me a had a daughter Katrine Elizabeth Rogers two years after Katrina was born Jimmy and Mary moved to Branson Missouri they opened the Jimmie Rodgers Family Theater Mary and Jimmy's five kids all performed in the show there was two shows a day six days a week Jimmy had been diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia disorder which made it hard for him to sing he told his audience that he was singing along with his records and they didn't care all they wanted was to see and be close to Jimmy Rogers the entire family loved their time together in Branson Jimmy's last show in Branson was December the level of 2001 when they returned to California and Giggs was few and far between Mary talked dancing which she loved and did studio work Jimmy painted apartments and parrot houses he just wanted to stay busy in 2012 Jimmy had a mild heart attack but he put off open-heart surgery so he could perform for a sellout crowd in his hometown of Camus Jimmy and Mary Rodgers have been married 41 years they both deserve happiness pop Rodgers would have been proud of his son who else could have bucked up against the New York mob in fact the entire LA Police Department and still keep his right hand high and his ass off the floor [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Jerry Skinner

Views: 275,126

Rating: 4.874238 out of 5

Keywords: Jimmie Rodgers, Tommy James

Id: 0Oysq_h2r8w

Length: 45min 27sec (2727 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 27 2019