The Life and Legacy of Annie Oakley Read Online Free PDF Page B

placed an apple on George's head, either he or Annie split the apple with a bullet. George caught a piece of the apple in his mouth and walked toward the footlights, grabbing his share of the applause.
Annie soon began to design and sew her own costumes, a habit that continued throughout her career. She fashioned an ankle-length dress and leggings of durable cloth. She wore her chestnut hair loose, flowing down her back. Standing only five feet tall and weighing about 110 pounds, she must have created doubts in many people's minds. But when she hefted a rifle or a shotgun to her shoulder, she soon answered all questions regarding her competency. The shotgun itself may have been what Annie called her "first gun of quality," an 1878 Parker Brothers sixteen-gauge double-barrel, breech-loading hammer-mode shotgun. Weighing more than seven pounds, this gun featured a beautifully burled walnut stock, Damascus steel barrels, and delicate engravings, including several ducks and pheasants, on the lock plates.
Annie remembered those early days with fondness. She loved Frank, who, with great patience, helped her improve her reading and writing skills, develop new tricks, and refine her stage presence. She loved George, who traveled with them in railroad cars, bunked with them in theatrical boardinghouses, and walked at her side. And Annie loved the extra money that meant gloves, stockings, and pretty hair ribbons as well as savings in the bank. Even this early in her career, Annie showed how important money in the bank was to her.
In the background always stood Susan. Annie and Frank visited Susan between engagements. According to Annie's niece Fern, Annie seldom forgot Susan at paycheck time. And although Annie was now on the stage, she never surrendered the Quaker and family values of her mother. She refused to dress in a risque
     

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fashion, to wear makeup, or to use tricks to enhance her shooting. Frank always backed Annie in this area; he too believed in such traditional values as honesty and hard work. He frequently revealed his homespun philosophy in the sentimental poetry he wrote. In one poem, written on May 9, 1881, and bearing the notation "written . . . by her loving husband" (which also throws into question an 1882 marriage date), Frank called Annie a "charming little girl" with "rain drops in her eyes.'' Another poem, one of the most revealing of his inner self, Frank titled "What a Little Bird Said."
Don't waste your brightest hours
Pining for things beyond your reach;
Live up to the golden rule
And practice what you preach.
Life is like a game of cards
In which we pass our stand;
Sometimes the stake is a true heart
Oft time it's but a hand.
Sometimes we take in the trick
Which we should have past;
But if you play your cards for all they're worth
You're bound to win at last.
Given Annie's and Frank's homely values, the world of vaudeville and stock companies must have sorely tried their forbearance. After the Civil War ended in 1865, audiences increasingly called for more drama, more variety, and the exposure of more skin. As early as 1868, Lydia Thompson and the British Blondes thrilled Americans with their ample, tights-clad figures. Two years later, Mme. Rentz's Female Minstrels and numerous imitators presented the first widely viewed girlie shows in the United States. By the 1880s, female burlesque troupes toured regularly.
During the early 1880s, vaudeville star and producer Tony Pastor fought back. Intent on offering "clean" entertainment in "Tony Pastor's New Fourteenth Street Theater" in New York, he presented on October 24, 1881, the first variety show ever staged in the United States. He appealed to "high-brow" women by giving away dress patterns and sewing kits. Although Pastor's competition demeaned his bid for business, they underestimated the appeal of his show. A mixed audience of
     

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"ladies and gents" not only attended his