wild women of the west

When news that cowgirl and silent film actress, Victoria Forde, had left her husband Western star, Tom Mix, in August 1928, fans were crushed.  The husband-and-wife team had entertained audiences in several films together between 1914 and 1922. Both were skilled riders who performed their own stunts in the cowboy and outlaw movies made for...

Reel cowgirl Ruth Roland portrayed Pearl Marvin in a dozen silent films in The Perils of Pauline series between 1915 and 1917. Fans were on the edge of their seats watching the spunky actress ride her way in and out of trouble while solving crimes.  They waited in suspended animation for the film operator to...

Between 1954 and 1957, actress Gail Davis portrayed famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley in the television series of the same name.  Known as the “Queen of the Wild Frontier,” Davis was only five foot two and the pigtails she wore in the show were her own.  Her father was a surgeon in McGehee, Arkansas, which was...

When the five-reel Western drama A Knight of the Range premiered in early 1916, critics praised silent film cowboy and cowgirl actors Harry D. Carey and Olive Fuller Golden performances.  Audiences were dazzled by the equestrian feats never-before seen in a motion picture.  “Stunts that are inconceivable of execution are performed before the all-seeing eye...

Today’s film fans cannot conceive of a time when kids stomped and whistled and cheered when the names of their favorite cowgirl actresses flashed on the screen.  Children of all ages flocked to the Saturday matinee to see such silent film stars such as Eileen Sedgwick, Ruth Roland, and the serial queen of 1919, Marie...

Texas Guinan (Mary Louise Cecelia Guinan) was a popular cowgirl star from 1918-1923, who grew up on a ranch near Waco, Texas. Before graduating from high school, she received a scholarship from the Chicago Conservatory of Music. After she acquired a degree in music and art, she moved to Denver and helped her father on...

A jubilant group of children huddled around a massive color poster affixed to the arena walls of New York’s Polo Grounds.  The broadside, dated May 28, 1884, was filled with images of beautiful Hispanic women riding horses.  Bold print across the bottom read:  COME SEE THE MEXICAN SENORIATS IN A CONTEST OF EQUINE SKILL.  “Those...

The angry hawk clenched its talons on the heavy leather gauntlet, stabbing the delicate wrist beneath.  Wings bated, the half-wild bird glared fiercely into the large, gray eyes of his captor.  Mary Anderson stared back with steely determination.  This unruly bird would be tamed, she resolved, and would become a living prop for her performance...