“Annie Oakley can outshoot Andy Taylor.”
Despite being more than six decades old, The Andy Griffith Show reruns are one of the best shows on television.
After seeing it several times, realization finally clicked that “Annie Oakley” was the sharpshooter in “The Perfect Female” episode.
For those missing that installment, Andy’s date Karen Moore played by Gail Davis showed him up in a shooting match.
From 1954 to 1957, Gail Davis starred as television’s Annie Oakley, handpicked by series producer and cowboy singer-actor Gene Autry.
Autry once famously called Davis “the perfect Western actress,” to which The Andy Griffith Show episode title likely calls back.
Davis didn’t just play a sharpshooter on television. Growing up in an Arkansas smalltown, Davis learned to shoot target practicing on acorns even before she learned to sing and dance.
Autry met Davis when she was a student at the University of Texas. Davis impressed him so much, Autry told her to look him up if she ever came to Hollywood.
Shortly after Davis graduated, she visited California and Autry made good on his word putting Davis in his shows.
In 1956, one newspaper described Davis as she appeared at a local show. “With yellow hair pigtails, cowgirl hat, she was dainty as a China doll, carrying a six-gun on her hip and toting a shiny-barreled .22 rifle.”
At live shows, Davis would thrill crowds by shooting Christmas ornaments off a revolving wheel.
She’d shoot over her shoulder while sighting in a mirror and then nailing a bullseye located far behind her. On The Andy Griffith Show in 1961, Davis recreated this act for the last time.
“I tried to find other acting work, but I was too identified as Annie Oakley. Directors would say, ‘Gail, I’d like to hire you. But you’re going to have to wait a few years, dye your hair. and cut off your pigtails.’
“Directors just couldn’t envision me in a sexy part or playing a heavy. I was always going to be Annie Oakley. So, as they say, I retired.”
Thus, The Andy Griffith Show would be the last time she ever appeared onscreen.
Both recognized sharpshooting cowgirl entertainers, Gail Davis and the real Annie Oakley she portrayed were different. And they both were born with different names.
Gail Davis was born Betty Jeanne Grayson on October 5, 1925, and passed March 15, 1997, age 71. The true Annie Oakley was born Phoebe Ann Mosey August 13, 1860, and passed November 3, 1926, age 66.
Annie Oakley developed hunting skills as a child to provide for her impoverished family in western Ohio. At age 15, Annie won a shooting contest against an experienced marksman, Frank Butler, who she later married in 1876.
The pair joined the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show in 1885, performing in Europe before royalty and other heads of state. As the only female performer, Annie traveled the globe as the world’s champion markswoman.
Audiences were amazed seeing Oakley shoot a cigar from her husband’s hand or splitting a playing-card edge-on at 30 paces. She earned more than anyone except Buffalo Bill himself.
In the late 1800s, ushers traditionally punched a hole or two in free tickets to the circus, theater, or shows. The pock-marked tickets resembled the playing cards that Oakley would shoot holes through during her performances. This led to free admissions being referred to as “Annie Oakley’s.”
After a bad rail accident in 1901, Annie Oakley had to settle for a less taxing routine. She toured in a play written about her career.
Oakley also instructed women in marksmanship, believing strongly in female self-defense. Her stage acts were filmed for one of Thomas Edison’s early Kinetoscopes in 1894,
Since her death, Oakley’s story has been adapted for stage musicals and films, including the popular “Annie Get Your Gun.”
Gail Davis and Annie Oakley were inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas.
“Back then I knew the Annie Oakley show was having a positive impact, especially on little girls,” Gail Davis said. “It wasn’t until years later that I realized just how much. Little girls had turned into influential women, thanking my portrayal of Annie for showing them the way.”
The real Annie Oakley pressed for women to be independent and educated. She was a key influence in the creation of the image of the American cowgirl.
Oakley provided substantial evidence that women are as capable as men when offered the opportunity to prove themselves
Throughout Oakley’s life, she campaigned for equal pay for equal work, and advocated participation of women in the military
Andy Griffith is a famous actor, but he must stand behind Gail Davis and Annie Oakley when it comes to marksmanship.
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