TV WESTERNS—ANNIE OAKLEY
Scott Harris
and I have begun work on 52 Weeks • 52
Western TV Shows, the sequel to 52
Weeks • 52 Western Novels and the just released 52 Weeks • 52 Western Movies. The issue is there were 39 new Western
TV shows which premiere on the network schedules in 1959 alone, and that number
didn’t even cover the Westerns already on the air. Clearly, having to choose 52
shows out of the hundreds that have aired over the history of television is a
daunting task. Some shows deserving of attention are unfortunately going to be
left on the cutting room floor. To partially remedy the situation, I’m going to
be taking a look at some of the shows that won’t make it into 52 Weeks • 52 Western TV Shows, but are
deserving of honorable mention. In this format, I’ll also have more room to
feature many of the TV tie-in books, comics, and collectibles from each of the
shows—plus I won't be hammpered by the 550 word count limitation for each book entry. First up...
ANNIE OAKLEY
STARRING GAIL
DAVIS,
BRAD JOHNSON, JIMMY HAWKINS
81 TWENTY-FIVE
MINUTE EPISODES
DECEMBER
1953—MAY 1957
Cast as Annie
Oakley in 1953, Gail Davis became TV’s first female heroine. It was a role the
then 27 year old actress would be associated with for the rest of her life—in
much the same way as Clayton Moore was linked with The Lone Ranger. Gene Autry’s Flying-A Productions produced the
half hour episodes of Annie Oakley,
which ran in syndication across the nation. Alongside deputy sheriff Lofty
Craig (Johnson)—considered her silent
suitor—and her kid brother, Tagg (Hawkins), the five-foot-two, 95 pounds,
and cute as a button Annie was a crack shot and the scourge of badmen who dared
show their bandana-covered faces in her mythical hometown, of Diablo, AZ.
Deputy Craig handled all the fisticuffs, but it was the sharpshooting Annie who
saved the day—often rescuing the mischievously annoying Tagg in the process. As
for parents who might be concerned by her exploits, in one episode Annie refers
to her mother’s death, but there was no mention of her mysteriously absent
father.
Davis had
previously co-starred with Gene Autry in 14 features, but was not originally considered
to play the historically iconic female sharpshooter. Autry and executive
producer Armand Schaefer auditioned girls who could ride, and girls who could
shoot, but they couldn’t find a girl who could do both, not realizing she was
right there under their noses. Up until her death in 1997, Davis never stopped
being Annie Oakley, visiting kids in hospitals and other venues everywhere.
Target, Annie’s horse, was played by three similarly colored
Palominos. Tagg’s horse was Pixie.
Each episode opens
with Annie shooting a neat hole in the center of a nine of spades playing card,
being held up by Lofty, while standing upright on the saddle of her trusty
Palomino Target, who is galloping at top speed. For a kid there wasn’t anything
more thrilling. In the pilot
episode for the series, Bull's Eye,
Billy Gray played Tagg, but quickly moved on when the pilot didn’t sell and he
was offered the role as James Bud
Anderson, Jr. on television’s Father
Knows Best. Also in the original pilot, Annie’s uncle was Sheriff Luke
McTavish (Kenneth MacDonald), who was always conveniently out of town when
trouble came. Convinced he had a great concept, Gene Autry order a second
pilot, Annie Gets Her Man, to be
shot. This time the episode had more action oriented and less saccharine. This
time the show sold and the series went on to huge popularity. Annie
Oakley was a show like The Lone Ranger, which the whole family could enjoy. A girl who
could out shoot and out ride any male, however, gave a whole generation of girls their
first taste of female empowerment.
