Annie Oakley - Little Sure Shot

Since I grew up in the 50's and 60's, my first contact with Annie Oakley was the fictional television show on which the beautiful Annie, with the long gold braids did trick riding and always managed to save the day with her sharp shooting. After watching several episodes of this exciting program, I discovered a biography about Annie Oakley in the school library. To be truthful, I was a little disappointed as I read about the poor, rather coarse and unattractive dark haired young back woods woman who could shoot a rifle better than most men.

Miss Annie Oakley by CircusArt

Annie Oakley, as she would come be to known by millions, was born on August 13, 1860 in Darke County, Ohio. She was the fifth of seven children. From the age of nine, she shot small game to help her widowed mother put food on the table.

When she was sixteen, Annie Moses become nationally know for her marksmanship after out shooting ranking marksman, Frank E. Butler, in Cincinnati.

Later Butler and Annie were married. They toured Vaudeville circuits and circuses until 1885 when they joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. She starred in "Buffalo Bill's Show" and was known as "Little Sure Shot". They stayed with the show for 17 years with Annie having top billing as "Miss Annie Oakley" "the Peerless Lady Wing Shot" and Butler, her husband, was her manager, promoter and attendant. Early on, Butler recognized Annie's star quality and crowd appeal and readily took a back seat to her.

At 30 paces, with a rifle, her amazing feats included hitting the thin edge of a playing card, a dime tossed in the air and the end of a cigarette held in Butlers lips.

Annie stayed active, even after a serious injury in a train wreck left her paralyzed for a time. She never gave up and at the age of sixty-two, in a shooting contest in Pinehurst, N.C. in 1922, Annie hit 100 clay targets, without missing, from the 16 yard mark.

She died at the age of sixty-seven of pernicious anemia on November 3, 1926 in Greenville, Ohio.

Photo available at Swapsale

The television program was a fictionalized story of the Annie Oakley story. Gail Davis played, Annie, a sharp-shootin', trick ridin' rancher lady. It was VERY unusual for a female to have the lead in any series, but in a Western was extremely rare.

The series was geared toward children and was a big hit, especially with the girls. I was one of those little girls and wanted to learn how to shoot and ride. I also wanted long gold braids and a cow girl outfit. I did learn how to shoot and ride pretty well, but had to settle for golden brown braids in the late sixties and cut-off jeans with a peace symbol decorating them.

Gail Davis was a marksman and a skilled rider and she did most of her own stunt work. She was definitely ahead of her time.

Cast

Gail Davis as Annie
Jimmy Hawkins as brother, Tagg
Brad Johnson as Deputy Sheriff Lofty Craig
Fess Parker as Tom Conrad
Shelley Fabares as Trudy

Horses: Target - Annie's horse

Reference: fiftiesweb.com