Customer Reviews

American Experience - Annie Oakley

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Annie Oakley's life has become much distorted by bad biographies, musical plays and movies as to be lost forever. But here we have at least a sincere attempt to tell her story without romantic gimmicks and half-truths. The real story of her life is far more interesting than the one invented by Hollywood or Broadway.

Her early life was filled with poverty and pain, of feeding the Oakley family by hunting game, and shooting was the unlikely talent that lifted her above being forgotten. The rather dainty and feminine Miss Oakley met and bested one of the champion shots of her day, they married, and she became world famous. It sounds easy to put it that way, but it was anything but easy. Starting in pre-vaudeville, they later traveled with Buffalo Bill's Wild West, were the toast of Europe, met Queen Victoria, the Kaiser, and other dignitaries. Not bad for a girl born in a small Ohio town, a girl who had to be hired out to cruel employers because her mother could not feed her.

It all sounds like some bizarre Horatio Alger story, of course, and it goes to prove that real biography can exceed the exaggerations of the dime novel.

i enjoy American experience series about characters like Annie,Mary picford,F.D.R. Rockefeller's a lot of persona's you were interested in but never had time to research are presented well in this program and when i was a kid i had such a crush on little miss Oakley after seeing the movie with barbara stanwyck another fave .the series is still being produced and on the older episodes you hear the beautiful musical theme witch cannot be purchased believe me I've tried