As Christmas approaches, Roy and I are helping collect toys for children so every child can have a special Christmas like Roy did 50 years ago. Here is Roy’s letter to Santa in 1951.

Dear Santa,

This is your pal, Roy. I am seven years old and in the second grade. My Daddy is still sad because he said that his favorite player Joe retired after the World Series this year. He says two kids named Mickey and Willie were rookies this year, but they won’t never be as good as Joe.

I don’t really care Santa, cause I’m too little to play ball anyway, so I don’t want no ball and bat this year even if Daddy tells you I do. And, Santa, I don’t want no boxing gloves neither. Daddy says that since somebody named Rocky Marshmellow beat Joe, maybe a little boy like me could be a boxer. Santa! Even my sweetheart Roxanne can beat me up. I don’t want no boxing stuff. And Santa, please remember that Joe this year. He’s had a bad year.

Santa, I wish you could bring my family a t.v. this year. Everybody is getting one, and we’re still listening to Jack Benny and Charlie McCarthy on the radio. We saw a funny show called Lucy at a neighbor’s last week. It was really funny, specially Fred.

So Santa, here goes. I’m going to tell you what I want. First I want Uncle Bud to be home Christmas from fighting in Korea. I bet he could beat Joe. And second, let me tell you what I just have to have.

You see, Santa, we go to the city to the movies. Mom likes movies like American in Paris. Singing and dancing, yuch! Daddy likes a funny looking little guy in a movie about a guy and a school teacher on a river in Africa. That ole school teacher looked like my teacher at school. Yuch, Yuch! But, Santa, I go for the cowboys. Sometimes on Saturday, Daddy takes me to see some real movies with Johnny Mack Brown and Lash Larue, and Gene Autry and Red Rider and Little Beaver and the Long Ranger and Tonto. But the one I like best is my friend Roy Rogers, the King of the Cowboys. Roy is a great cowboy who always gets the bad guys. And his horse Trigger looks a little like my teacher also. Except Trigger is prettier.

Santa, I just got to have some Roy Rogers six shooters and a Roy Rogers hat and a Roy Rogers badge. I named my dog Bullet after the real Bullet, and sometimes when I’m after the bad guys, I can almost feel like I’m riding Trigger.

This is all I want, Santa. But I don’t want it to be too much trouble, cause Mom says children are starving in Albania or someplace. But I have been good, except when I put chewing gum in Jimmy Hood’s hair and threw Davy Nix’s hat in the toilet. But other than that I have been good.

God Bless Mom and Dad, my sweetheart Roxanne, Uncle Bud, the kids in Albania and all your reindeer, specially Rudolph. Say hello to the elfs and Mrs. Claus. And remember what I would like to have. Think about Roy Rogers and me, Roy in the second grade, Georgia.