Education
Born in Hobart, Oklahoma, Rogers attended the University of Arizona, the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and the Chicago Art Institute.
Born in Hobart, Oklahoma, Rogers attended the University of Arizona, the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and the Chicago Art Institute.
His artistic influences included Walter Berndt. In the late 1920s and through the 1930s, Rogers illustrated newspaper strips for such syndicates as the Newspaper Feature Service, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. Rogers was Zack Mosley"s assistant on The Adventures of Smilin" Jack when he sold his own strip, Sparky Watts, to the Frank Jay Markey Syndicate, which distributed such strips as Editor Wheelan"s Big Top and Rube Goldberg"s Lala Palooza.
Sparky Watts debuted Monday, April 29, 1940 in some 40 newspapers.
The strip ended when Rogers was drafted. During World World War II he gave chalk talks to servicemen.
His World World War II experiences are detailed in his autobiography, Homeless Bound (1984).
