Starting in 1936, most of the the major film studios in Hollywood, on a rotating basis,and at no charge, would make an annual theatrical short to be shown country-wide and, following the showing, the lights would come up and ushers, employees and owners would then pass buckets (mostly) from front-to-back and down each aisle for the patrons to drop money in for the support of the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital (tuberculosis sanatorium) located at Saranac Lake in Essex County, New York.
It was not a let's-make-a-salute short to Will Rogers per se (albeit archive footage of Wil Rogers was used in every one of these)...it was a funds appeal to support the hospital.
The studio that produced it would primarily use performers under contract to that studio, but the film itself was distributed through the hundreds of film exchanges throughout America of all of the major studios(and not just that year's producing studio), plus it was distributed via National Screen Service.
THe suggestion here is before so-called "reviewers" start their "expert" critiques of the Will Rogers Memorial Funds annual shorts, they should at least have a bit of film knowledge in their Critics Kit and know exactly why the short was made.
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