Oklahoma! - A Tangle of Love Triangles in the Old West

Oklahoma! One of my personal favorites, is a 1955 musical film based on the 1943 stage musical Oklahoma!, The first musical written by infamous collaboration team of composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The film debuted Shirley Jones as Laurey and Gordon MacRae as Curly, Rod Steiger, as Jud best know for his Oscar winning portrayal of Gillespie, in 1968’s In the Heat of the Night. Also starring Charlotte Greenwood, Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, James Whitmore and Eddie Albert.

The musical is a tangle of love triangles in the old west just before the Oklahoma territory joined the union. With the backdrop of the “range wars” between cowboys and farmers over water rights or grazing rights for the land.

Curly is a Cowboy, in love with a farmer’s daughter, Laurey. Jud is a farm hand working for Laurey’s Aunt Eller.

A box social dance that night, which includes an auction of lunch baskets prepared by the local girls to raise funds for a schoolhouse. The man who wins each basket will eat the lunch with the girl who prepared it. Curly asks Laurey to go with him and Laurey being coy refuses. Curly attempts to persuade her,("The Surrey with the Fringe on Top"). Laurey teases him about it, not realizing that Curly really has rented such a rig. Jud asks Laurey to the social and she says yes to spite Curly.

Cowboy Will Parker returns from a trip to modern Kansas City ("Kansas City"). He wins $50 at the fair, the exact amount he needs to marry his girl, Ado Annie. Unfortunately, in his excitement, Will spends all the money on gifts for Annie.

Later, Ado Annie confesses to Laurey she has been spending a lot of time with Ali Hakim, a Persian peddler. Insisting she loves them both, ("I Cain't Say No"). Laurey and her friends prepare for the social, while Gertie Cummings flirts with Curly (her obnoxious laugh floating in to taunt Laurey). Laurey tells her friends that she doesn't really care about Curly ("Many a New Day").

Ado Annie’s Farmer father discovers Annie with Ali Hakim, he institutes a ‘shotgun wedding’. Curly discovers Jud is Laurey’s escort to the and tries to convince her to go with him instead. Laurey tries to convince Curly she doesn’t love him ("People Will Say We're in Love"). Hurt by her refusal, Curly goes to the smokehouse to talk with Jud, suggesting the miserable man hang himself ("Pore Jud Is Daid"). After Curly leaves, Jud vows to make Laurey his bride.

In an extended dream ballet sequence, prompted by a potion given to Laurey by Ali Hakim, Laurey dreams of her marriage to Curly. Her dream takes a nightmarish turn when Jud appears and kills Curly. She cannot escape him, confused by her desires. Realizing Curly is the right man for her, Jud arrives to escort her to the dance.

At the social, during an upbeat square dance ("The Farmer and the Cowman"), the rivalry between the local farmers and cowboys surges, and Aunt Eller ends by firing a gun to silence everyone. Laurey is upset when she sees Curly at the dance with Gertie.

Ali Hakim buys Will's souvenirs from Kansas City for $50. The auction starts and Will bids $50 on Ado Annie's basket, not realizing that without the $50, he would no longer have the money her father insisted he needs to "purchase" marriage with her. Hakim saves the day with a bid of $51.

Laurey's basket comes up for auction. Having saved all of his money to ensure his winning, seems to outbid everyone until Curly sells his saddle, his horse, and even his gun to raise money. Curly finally outbids Jud and wins the basket.

Later that night, Will and Annie work out their differences, as she reluctantly agrees not to flirt with other men ("All Er Nuthin'"). Ali Hakim decides to leave the territory and bids Ado Annie goodbye after telling her Will is the man she should marry.

Jud confronts Laurey about his feelings for her and when she tells him the feeling is not mutual, Jud furiously threatens Laurey before he departs. Laurey runs to Curly in fear, he reassures her and proposes to her, and she accepts ("People Will Say We're In Love (Reprise)"). He then realizes that he must now become a farmer.

Laurey and Curly are married and everyone rejoices in celebration of the territory's impending statehood ("Oklahoma!"). During the celebration, Ali Hakim returns with his new shotgun wife, Gertie. A drunken Jud reappears, harasses Laurey by kissing her and attacks Curly with a knife. As Curly dodges a blow, Jud falls on his own knife and soon dies. The wedding guests hold a makeshift trial for Curly, at Aunt Eller's urging, as the couple is due to leave for their honeymoon. The judge, Andrew Carnes, declares the verdict: "not guilty!" Curly and Laurey depart on their honeymoon in the surrey with the fringe on top ("Finale Ultimo").

The love stories are simple, laughable and even sometimes sad (Poor Jud). The songs are catchy and will stay with you forever. One of my favorites and a great example of musical story telling is “The Farmer and the Cowman”. Below is the YouTube video from the original 1955 classic. Enjoy!!

Little Sure Shot - Annie Oakley A Western Legend

When I was a little girl my first record was Disco Mickey Mouse, my second record was the

original cast recording of “Annie Get Your Gun”, starring the magnificent Ethel Merman. I knew, and still know every word to every song and I belted them out at the top of my lungs! I walked into my room, closed the door and became Annie. I knew nothing about her other than what I imagined from the cover of the album and the tale within the lyrics of the songs. I have seen all of the film versions of her life. Of all the women who have portrayed Miss Annie Oakley, Ethel Merman is my favorite. My father played Sitting Bull in a local production of the musical. Sitting Bull, so impressed with the Skills of Annie Oakley he adopted her into the tribe giving her the nickname of “Little Sure Shot”


*Fun Fact - When the original Broadway Musical was turned into a feature film, Judy Garland was originally cast as Annie Oakley. Later to be replaced by Betty Hutton.

Phoebe Ann Moses (Mosey), born on August 13th 1860 in Darke County, OH. Phoebe was the fifth daughter of a poor farm couple, Susan and Jacob Moses (Mosey).
The family name has always been a source of confusion. Annie's brother, John, born a year later,insisted that their name was Moses. Annie equally insistent that it was Mosey, or Mozee.
In the winter of 1865, Annie's father, Jacob, was driving a team of horses into town to purchase supplies and to have corn and wheat ground at the mill. Caught in a blizzard, and then suffering of injuries and related illnesses sustained during that snowy ride, Jacob died in March of 1866 at the age of 67.
Widowed with seven children, Annie's mother, was forced to move to a smaller home. The children ranged from age fifteen to two years old. They all worked hard each day to provide food and provisions to keep the family together. Every evening, no matter how tired they were, Susan would gather them all around her to sing hymns and pray. She came from a Quaker background and she wanted to instill her values in her children.
At the age of five, Annie trapped birds and small animals to supplement food for her family. Annie loved to go for walks through the woods with her stepfather and was always begging to shoot her rifle. But he would laugh and tell her that shooting was a man’s job. One day before Thanksgiving when Annie was seven years old, her step father finally let her shoot her rifle. She killed the turkey with one shot in the head, delivering Thanksgiving feast.
Annie’s stepfather became very ill and died. Annie’s mother, having very little money, returned to work as a nurse. She sent the younger children to a friend’s house while she worked and sent Annie to live with friends who ran an orphanage. The more she used her fathers old muzzle-loading gun, the better shot she became. Successfully bagging more and more game Annie started selling her game, telling the local store owner she shot the birds in the head so the meat would not get ruined.

Impressed at how she shot the quail, the Greenville, Ohio, merchant Charles Katzenberger bought all of the game Annie could provide. He distributed it to restaurants and hotels around the region. Annie's reputation as a shooter began to grow. She earned so much from her skills, by the time she turned 15, Phoebe paid off the mortgage for her mother's home. In that same year, Annie received a letter from her older sister asking her to come to Cincinnati for a visit. Upon meeting her brother-in-law, she told of her success in Greenville, and he took her to a Shooting Show where she met Frank Butler. She entered a shooting contest against Butler. The match was run according to the regular rules of trap shooting. Frank shot twenty-four out of twenty-five birds. Annie won, killing all twenty-five of her birds. Frank would be quoted as saying, “he lost as soon as he saw the pretty and shy 15-year-old girl step to the mark”.
 Frank Butler, the Irish American, fell for Phoebe Ann, now Annie Oakley, that night. Leaving his first wife Elizabeth and marrying Annie on August 23, 1875.

 *Fun Fact - In his professional shooting act Frank Butler was assisted by a dog, a French poodle named George. Annie fell for George. So Frank courted Annie by sending her letters and cards "signed" by George.

In 1885, Oakley and Butler joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. Annie received top billing and center stage, while Butler supported her as a manager and marksmanship coordinator. Annie and Frank coordinated wowing stunts, such as shooting the end off a cigarette in Frank’s mouth. Hitting the thin edge of a playing card from 30 paces, shooting holes in playing cards as they were thrown in the air.

*Fun Fact - Shooting holes through cards inspired the practice of punching holes in a free event ticket being referred to as an "Annie Oakley."

A top earner for the Wild West Show, Annie frugally shared money with her extended family and made regular donations to charities for orphans. She also helped to raise money for the Red Cross with exhibition work at army camps. Annie and Frank’s love affair lasted more than half a century, and the musical, “Annie Get Your Gun” is loosely based on their life together. On November 3, 1926, Annie Oakley died. B. Haugen reports that Frank stopped eating after Annie's death, which caused his own death from starvation eighteen days later, on November 21, 1926. Officially, the death certificate stated he died of "Senility". Annie Oakley is the first strong female character in my life. Her example and perseverance set the stage for women in the years long after her last stage appearance. Thank You, Annie.

You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun 
(Original Lyrics from the Musical Soundtrack)

 ANNIE OAKLEY:
Oh my Mother was frightened by a shotgun, they say, That's why I'm such a wonderful shot.
I'd be am out in the cactus and I practice all day, And now tell me what have I got.
I'm quick on the trigger with targets not much bigger Than a pen point, I'm number one.
But my score with a feller is lower than a cellar-
Oh you can't get a man with a gun.
When I'm with a pistol I sparkle like a crystal, Yes, I shine like the morning sun.
But I lose all my luster When with a Bronco Buster.
Oh you can't get a man with a gun.
With a gun, with a gun, No, you can't get a man with a gun.
If I went to battle With someone's herd of cattle You'd have steak when the job was done.
But if shot the herder, They'd holler "bloody murder"
And you can't shoot a male In the tail like a quail
Oh you can't get a man with a gun. I'm cool, brave and daring To see a lion glaring
When I'm out with my Remington But a look from a mister Will raise a fever blister
Oh you can't get a man with a gun.
The gals with "umbrellars" Are always out with fellers In the rain or the blazing sun
But a man never trifles With gals who carry rifles Oh you can't get a man with a gun.
With a gun, with a gun, No, you can't get a man with a gun.
A man's love is mighty It'll leave him buy a nightie For a gal who he thinks is fun.
But they don't by pajamas For Pistol packin' mamas,
And you can't get a hug From a mug with a slug, Oh you can't get a man with a gun.

 Song lyrics from soundtrack cd "Annie Get Your Gun" are property & copyright of their owners & provided for educational purposes. Visit Annie Get Your Gun page to find more lyrics, or use search.