A bit of history on steemit | The best entertainment of the Wild West - diving on horseback
The Wild West in modern culture is a time of unbridled power and cold-blooded cynicism, cruel passions and unimaginable stunts. However, this image is only a grotesque processed by many generations, as vivid and unambiguous as any exaggeration. Nevertheless, the very exaggeration began in the Wild West, with those shows that showed a cut of the era. Later, they moved to the cinema, but left behind something very important, a part of themselves, which eventually died off, not finding a haven, but left an unforgettable mark on history. This piece - about what I will tell - jumping into the water on horseback from a springboard.
Show Buffalo Bill
The performances of the Wild West began with a man named Buffalo Bill - an American military man, a buffalo hunter and the greatest showman or, as they would say today, a producer. Under the loud name "Wild West", he gathered a wandering troupe of people of very different skills. It included, for example, his namesake - Wild Bill Hickok, who was known for having once killed a bear with a knife, and another time alone shot three gangsters. Oddly enough, the company found a place for an Indian named Sitting Bull, who only signed autographs and took pictures with visitors.
©Depositphotos / Buffalo Bill
The spectators were amazed at the fast-paced ride, the stunts on the horses and the marksmanship - with skills much more suitable for men at that time than for women. Only a few ladies managed to join the troupe. Most often, there were two of them: the alcoholic Calamity Jane, who became famous during the Indian Wars, and the accurate shooter Annie Oakley, who later became the named daughter of Sitting Bull. The latter was more the exception: having begun to hunt at the age of eight, she had not parted with a gun all her life, and therefore could not but get into the wonderful team of Bill.
©Depositphotos / Annie Oakley
With incredible fame that came to stray artists, there were also imitators who gathered their "Wild West" and traveled around the country with their own ideas. Although their repertoire was different from the original, many of the numbers were the same, and they still paid little attention to the ladies. The situation has changed itself with the arrival of a young and brave girl, one kind of which made men dream of her. Her name was Mamie Francis.
Elba Mae Ghent or Mamie Francis
She was born in 1885 and was then called Elba Mae Ghent. The brother and sister who was born earlier soon died, and the marriage of her parents could no longer hold two people together. She stayed with her mother, who worked as a housekeeper at the house of the farmer Edmund J. James. She lived there for up to 15 years, until the show Pawnee Bill, one of the imitators of Buffalo Bill, appeared in their area.
The beauty and sparkling energy of live performances captured the girl, and she was determined to devote her life to performances. In the nomadic troupe, there was always a place for newcomers, especially since the organizers did not risk anything except food. Once under the patronage of the dashing rider Lulu Bell, she took on her stage name Mamie Francis, forever rejecting the old name.
Lulu Bell superbly ruled the horse. No one in their small group could compare with her in the dexterity with which she toured the stallions. Mamie Francis studied with her, but she could not, and maybe she did not want to imitate her. In the end, she was only fifteen, and she was interested in other things. A year later, she met with the veteran of the Spanish-American War, Harry Skepper, who also performed tricks on horseback. They had a daughter, Ren, but she did not remember her father. Young quickly parted, most likely regretting this short hobby.
Mamie Francis did not have long to regret the separation. In 1905, she was asked to join their small case, Lillian Smith, a female shooter who once traveled with Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill, and now opened her own show for a couple with her husband, Frank Hafley. Around the same time, Frank began his first collaboration with the Miller brothers - so two shows gathered more people and got more money.
How did the jumps begin?
©Depositphotos / Mamie Francis
Many knew about the Wild West girls, Frank Hafley. There were rumors about a world horseback riding champion, Lillian Smith, and a young lady dancing the operetta Merry Widow Waltz on her horse, Ada Sommerville. Mamie had to come up with something special too. Then for the first time she jumped into the pool from the tower, holding her horse tightly.
This act looked crazy, wild and incredibly brave. The height of the springboard all the time increased until it reached 15 meters. It seemed that only a madman would jump with a horse from that height, and certainly not a woman.
After the first jump, Mamie realized that her horse was not suitable for such fun, and she took as a substitute for her Arab breed, which she affectionately called "Babe". Soon it was Mamie and her dizzying performances that became the main sensation of the Frank Hafley show. One of the fans of this show was Sonora Webster Carver, who later became an imitator of Mami, though she claimed that Bill Carver, her father-in-law, had invented the trick. Here is what she wrote in her autobiography about the performance of Francis:
"When the horse rode past the girl on the railing, she jumped onto her back. They merged into a single unit on the very edge of the platform ... for a moment the horse hung down at an angle almost perpendicular to the platform, then pushed off and flew down in a free fall ... its gorgeous body gracefully bent and plunged into the water tank ... Everything calmed down, nothing was happening, and suddenly she jumped out, as if ejected. The girl was still sitting on her back."
No other show of the Wild West contained so much beauty, courage and entertainment, but the price for all this was no less significant. In 1908, "Babe" was frightened by the loud hubbub of the crowd and, nervous at the very top of the platform, fell sideways into the pool. Hitting the surface of the water, she lost consciousness and would have died if it were not for the artists who dragged her out and pumped it out.
In the second incident, Mamie suffered: she broke her arm, because a horse fell on her. In the third rider nearly died. During the fall, she hit her head and was already unconscious, buried under the weight of "Babe" at the bottom of the pool. Unknown men rescued her and the horse. After recovering from the shock, she was bruised all over. She wanted to thank the rescuers, but it was too late: they were already gone.
©Depositphotos / Sonora Carver
Sonora Carver paid even more severely. In the eighth year of her career, she made a mistake that cost her sight. Performing a trick on the Atlantic City stage, she did not have time to close her eyes, and because of the strong impact on the water surface, she had a detached retina. She was blinded forever, but did not give up the jumps, which she continued to practice for another 11 years, until she turned 38.
About this bordering on insanity decision her sister Arnett told:
"The film speaks of the great courage that prompted her not to give up jumping, but the truth is that horse riding was the most fun entertainment, and we simply adored her."
©Depositphotos / Monument of Mamie Francis at the National Cowgirl Museum
- In 1908, Lillian Smith and Frank Hafley divorced. A year later, Mamie Francis became Mamie Francis Hafley, marrying Frank Hafley.
- In 1914, Mamie Francis Hafley gave up jumping at the age of 29.
- In 1915, Mamie and Frank Hafley bought a ranch in Colorado. Edmund James, the former employer of Mamie’s mother, moved there to help the couple.
- In 1927, one of the Miller brothers died.
- During the Great Depression, the Mamie and Frank Hafley shows were no longer so popular, and they moved to live on a ranch.
- In 1940, Frank died; Mamie sold the ranch and moved to the farm of her daughter and her husband.
- In 1950, Mamie Francis Hafley died of cancer.
- In 1981, Mamie Francis Hafley hit the Hall of Fame of the National Cowgirl Museum.
- In 1983, the daughter of Mamie Francis, who also performed on horseback, got there.
- In 1991, "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken" was released, telling about the life of Sonora Carver.
- September 21, 2003 Sonora Carver died at the age of 99.
Wow that was really informative.