Thursday, June 23, 2011

The Original Singing Cowgirl

Hollywood filmmakers struck gold in the 1920's and 1930's and featured new American heroes like John Wayne and Gary Cooper, who sat tall in the saddle,  to star in epic tales of the west. Rustler's were caught, ranch owners were saved from certain disaster from desperados who were meaner than a rattlesnake in a pickle barrel and the hero always got the girl.

In 1938, Grand National Pictures signed Dorothy Page to star in a series of westerns featuring a singing cowgirl. She was billed as "A True Sweetheart Of The West!" and the description alongside her photo with co-star David O'Brien featuring Dorothy in a large Stetson hat went on to say, "The Singing Cow Girl! At Home in the Saddle... Packing a Six-Shooter in Defense of Right... Her Heart Full of Song!"

The box office audience didn't buy it and John, Gary, Rex, Tom and the other heroes of the celluloid west could rest easy knowing the only cowgirls they would be dealing with were ready to look adoringly into their eyes and be swooped off their feet to ride off into a beautiful sunset. The cowgirl series failed, Grand National Pictures went broke and Dorothy Page left the business to become a housewife. In 1939 she married Los Angeles attorney, Frederick D. Leuschner.

This film is licensed under Creative Commons.

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