Annie Oakley

When I was 8, I was obsessed with Annie Oakley. I wanted to be Annie Oakley. No really. I wanted to be Annie Oakley. We had a career day at my church, and I went dressed up complete with gun. Of course, given time, I came to understand that this was not a viable career choice and I moved on. But I still find Annie to be a inspiration - a woman who carved out a niche in a man's world, who found a way to take her talent and turn it into a glorious career.

Let's set the record straight here from the beginning. Annie Oakley was a sharpshooter. She was a show woman. She was a world traveler.

What she wasn't was a cowgirl or even part of the Wild West. Born and raised in Ohio, she never lived west of the Mississippi - no matter how many TV shows or movies you see that portray her that way. This doesn't make her any less impressive. It just goes to show that Bill was a better spinmaster than most.

Yep - that's really her!!! It's so cool to me that she lived long enough to be immortalized on film. It's hard sometimes to see historical figures as living, breathing creatures. They become pictures on a page or a modern actress playing dress-up rather than a real person.

Annie was nicknamed "Little Sure Shot" and spent a great deal of her time in retirement passing on her knowledge to others. She trained women and soldiers up and down the east coast on marksmanship.

Carrying on her tradition is the Annie Oakley Sure Shots.

Its goal is to...

• Provide a safe, encouraging and comfortable shooting environment for women of all skill levels from novice to expert.
• Promote firearms safety and education.
• Open the door to a wide variety of experiences allowing women to progress into other shooting disciplines for personal satisfaction and/or competition.
• Address concerns facing new shooters such as; self-defense, firearms purchases, care and cleaning of your firearm and other questions, in an open environment.
• Facilitate a place where women can mentor each other, have fun and compare experiences with others who share a common interest in the shooting sports.
• Offer a recreational activity in which the whole family can enjoy.

I'm going to plead youth here, but I had no idea there was an Annie Oakley TV show!! It starred Gail Davis, was totally inaccurate historically and ran for 81 episodes. Can't wait to see it myself. Oh, and there was also a comics series based on the TV show. Here's the opening segment for you, and the show's now out on DVD - five seasons worth.

Back before the days of computers, theaters would punch holes in tickets that were given out free to media or friends of the actors. The holes helped them separate paid tickets from free when it came time to count the box office. These punched tickets were called "Annie Oakleys" due to their resemblance to playing cards Annie purportedly shot holes in during her act.

Annie Oakley was America's first female "superstar" so it's only fitting that she was played by some of the biggest stars out there in various portrayals of her life. Often exaggerated, rarely accurate portrayals, but all fun nonetheless.

• In 1935, Barbara Stanwyck played Annie in a highly fictionalized film called Annie Oakley.
• The 1946 Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun is very loosely based on her life. The original stage production starred Ethel Merman, who also starred in the 1966 revival. A 1950 film version starred Betty Hutton. Some years after headlining the 1948 national tour, Mary Martin returned to the role for a 1957 NBC television special.
• From 1954 to 1956, Gail Davis played her in the Annie Oakley television series.
• A highly-fictionalised Annie Oakley appears in the 1966 comedy film, Carry On Cowboy. This version of Oakley had a father who was sheriff of the fictitious Stodge City, and traveled out west to kill her father's murderer, and eventually fell in love with the inept Englishman, Marshal P. Knutt (Jim Dale). Oakley was played by Angela Douglas.
• In 1976, Geraldine Chaplin played Annie in Buffalo Bill and the Indians with John Considine as Frank Butler.
• In 1982, Diane Civita played Annie, opposite Richard Donner as Bill Cody, in an episode of "Voyagers!", where, during Cody's performances before Queen Victoria, Annie engaged in a marksmanship contest with a Russian duke.
• In 1985, Jamie Lee Curtis offered a fresh portrayal in the "Annie Oakley" episode of the children's video series, Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and Legends.
• In 1999, Annie Get Your Gun was revived on Broadway with Bernadette Peters in the title role.
• In 2006, an episode of PBS's American Experience documented Oakley's life.

Women In Ohio History

Extensive bio of Annie.

Annie Oakley House in Cambridge, Maryland

A history of Annie and Frank Butler that covers much of what happened to them after they retired to Cambridge.

Buffalo Bill Historical Center

Bio of Annie covering her show career

Annie Oakley Foundation

Seeks to provide accurate information on the life and legend of Annie Oakley, to disseminate educational materials, and to create and maintain the Annie Oakley Education, Cultural and Sports Activity Center.