The Cowgirls

6. Out of the chutes: The early years

6 Out of the Chutes: the Early Years ............... he twin spectacles of rodeo and Wild West show brought the frontier to the doorstep of civilization so that it could be inspected at close range. Other heroes needed the woods, the mountains, or the ocean, but cowboys and cowgirls were portable, needing only an enclosure, a horse and a rope. Even more important, real cowgirls and cowboys could be imitated, as thousands of youngsters know, and the actors could learn their parts, not from firsthand experience in cattle country, but from those who were already authentic participants in the rodeos and shows. And when the masses did inspect closely, they could not tell the old hands from the newly initiated. Perhaps they need not have cared anyway since, real or fabricated ' the heroines and heroes satisfied both Americans and Europeans, as Mody C. Boatright called them, "the taste makers of the era."1 Trying to determine which came first, the WildWest show or rodeo, is not an easy task. In some instances it is hard to tell when rodeo leaves off and the Wild West part begins, and in other cases a Wild West show looks mighty like a rodeo. The truth of the matter is that the two are inextricably woven together. The cowgirl heroine first made national headlines in Wild West shows. The unlikely figure on which attention first centered as the ideal woman of the western frontier was none other than that sweet young thing who observed sadly, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein version, that "you cain't shoot a 79 80 : THE COW G I R L S male in the taillike a quail"-Annie Oakley. As is often the case with heroines, Annie nearly stole the show from the hero, Buffalo Bill. In 1882, the ranchmen of North Platte, Nebraska, had asked William F. Cody to arrange some kind of celebration in honor of the Fourth of July. The entertainment for the Old Glory Blowout, as it was called, consisted ofcowboys in riding and roping events and of Indians in a mock attack on the Deadwood stagecoach. This celebration developed into Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in 1883.2 In the same year that Cody was getting up a celebration for North Platte, one ofthe first rodeos in which prizes were awarded was produced in Pecos, Texas.3 Neither the Texas nor the Nebraska contests of 1882 featured any cowgirls, but by 1885 Annie Oakley was on the scene as a member of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Phoebe Ann Moses, who changed her name to Annie Oakley for no special reason, who had never been west of Cincinnati before getting into show business with a shooting act, and who knew nothing ofhorses, cattle, or cowboys, seems at first glance a poor choice as a western heroine, but Annie managed to hold the fort until the genuine thing could get there. Mostly she, and the other ladies like her, held the Wild West fort with guns. The story ofhow Annie helped to feed her family by trapping and shooting quail and squirrels, and, consequently, ofhow she met, had a shooting match with, and married Frank Butler has been most attractively told in the musical comedy Annie Get Your Gun. Equally well known are her exploits with a gun in behalf of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, but Annie's abilities were not restricted to firearms. She combined her shooting skills with a sense of drama and a winning personality. BiographerDexterFellowsexplainsAnnie's impact on America: Even before her name was on the lips ofevery man, woman, and child in America, the sight of this frail girl among the rough plainsmen seldom failed to inspire enthusiastic plaudits. Herentrance was always a very pretty one. She never walked. She tripped in, OUT OF THE CHUTES: THE EARLY YEARS:81 bowing, waving, and wafting kisses. Her first few shots brought forth a few screams offright from the women but they were soon lost in round after round ofapplause. It was she who set the audience at ease and prepared it for the continuous crack offirearms which followed.4 Little Sure Shot also combined primness with a dash of individuality which endeared her to crowds. Between shows, Annie oftenworked fine embroiderywhile the otherperformers were out on the town. When she was introduced to the Prince ofWales,Annie ignored protocol and the prince by greeting the princess...