Page 1
Volume 3, Issue No. 4 April, 2005
April winds, a chilly shoot & 65 shooters
The April shoot was chilly: Whiskey River Nelson would say, “No it wasn’t! It was cold.” But according to the Rev. Adam Jones, who’s in charge of weather, he did his part, and it didn’t rain. And that’s true. When it’s dry, it’s good. Good enough that 9 shooters shot clean matches: Festus D. Deputy, Tennessee Ted, Limp Along Charlie, Anvil, Wildcat Wilkey, Hombre Sin Nombre, Sheriff Jack Cooley, Tarheel, and Honest Charlie. The Dennis family returned with a bang: Diamondback Dennis was the Top Gun of the day and daughter Dandy Diamond was the Top Cowgirl Shooter.
Hombre Sin Nombre shoots, John Wayne fashion, as Last Kiss times.
Festus D. Deputy placed 1st in the 49ers. T-Bone Angus was the top Black Powder shooter. Lightning McCoy was 1st in the Classic category. Horseshoe John was the top Duelist. That varmint Pleasant, once again, was the top Gunfighter. S.A. Pondwater outshot the other Modern shooters, while brother Tabasco JOT placed 1st in the Senior category. Diamondback Dennis was the top Traditional shooter, and as said above, Dandy Diamond placed 1st among the cowgirls.
The scenarios had a variety of stuff: movement, target arrangement and props. Shucks, shooters even performed surgery and removed a bullet from their saddle pal. The patient apparently lived. No one was served medical malpractice subpoenas on the way out. But then all the temporary doctors were armed with six shooters, a rifle and a shotgun. Maybe that’s the real way to hold down medical suits in modern times. Recon?
Shooting results are continued on page 3.
Out on the Range – Lightning McCoy’s Posse
Kneeling L-R: Cactus Red, Fiddleback, Keystone, Dandy Diamond.
Standing L-R: Kenesaw Kid, El Carrera, Calibre .45, Dustin Clays, Lightning McCoy, Diamondback Dennis, Big, Tennessee Tombstone & J. B. Hemlock
Range Officer I Class Saturday, April 30 at 10:00 am – Range Officer II Class Sunday, May 15 Some time after noon. To take the ROII Class, please contact Ocoee Red by phone or email at least 2 weeks in advance. By SASS rules, Cherokee Maddog (the instructor) has to contact SASS in advance to insure that participants have had the ROI course. Ocoee Red’s contact info is as follows:
Cell phone 423- 595-3819 Home phone 423-476-5303 e-mail ocoeered@charter.net
NEXT OCOEE RANGER SHOOT – 28 MAY
The Buffalo Shoot begins 8:00 am. Registration 8:30 am – Tabasco JOT’s Side Match 8:30 am – Posse Leader walk-through 9:15 am – Safety meeting 9:45 am – Shooting follows ! All times are Eastern Time.
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The Ocoee Ranger Page 2 April 23, 2005
The Reel West, The Real West & The West Of Our Imagination
THE REEL WEST – AMANDA BLAKE
( 1929 – 1989 )
Would you believe that Amanda Blake, GUNSMOKE’S Miss Kitty Russell, operated a cathouse in real life? It’s true.
Amanda began life in Buffalo, NY, where she worked as a telephone operator. But bitten with the movie bug, red headed Amanda headed for Hollywood. However, she wasn’t Amanda then. She was Beverly Neill. Once in Hollywood, she became Amanda Blake, got a few roles, then had a sizeable role in A STAR IS BORN, one of the early versions of the movie. When the movie was edited, most of her part was left on the cutting room floor. But so what. She was soon selected to become Miss Kitty Russell of GUNSMOKE.
Amanda Blake as Kitty Russell
There were and still are a lot of actresses in Hollywood and elsewhere, but there was only 1 Kitty Russell, and she was it. The radio gal doesn’t count.
Amanda ran the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas, for 19 years and gave a lot of free beer to Matt Dillon, Doc Adams, Chester Good and Festus Haggen. And that was just the series. She was also in a made for TV GUNSMOKE movie. Portraying Miss Kitty, Amanda was nominated for an Emmy in 1958 and for Golden Globe awards in 1970, ’71 & ’72. She was a real presence on GUNSMOKE. She had looks, showed grit and sometimes a temper, and held her own playing Miss Kitty as a tough, friendly, frontier business woman, who complemented an excellent ensemble cast of characters.
After she left GUNSMOKE, Amanda became very active in the Arizona Animal Welfare League, an organization that cared for abandoned animals. At her Arizona home, she operated a cathouse …. where she kept a lion and 10 cheetahs. She died in 1989.
Deadeye Daisy
THE WEST OF OUR IMAGINATION – DEADEYE DAISY
Deadeye Daisy started shooting regularly in January 2004. Before that, she had a little annoyance that kept interfering with Saturday shoots: her job. So being a resourceful cowgirl, she solved the problem: she retired.
Daisy started cowboy shooting because her husband, Sheriff Donald, was having so much fun that she thought she might as well have fun too. So, she rode down to the general store and bought a pair of Ruger Vaqueros, in .38 cal, a Winchester ’94, and a shotgun. Armed and deadly, she needed an alias. Her other half was big on Donald Duck … ala Sheriff Donald, so she
decided to become Deadeye Daisy. But there was a problem. She called SASS, and they told her that there already was a Deadeye Daisy. Shucks! But all was not lost, SASS called back later and told her that the other Daisy hadn’t renewed her membership. So, the name Deadeye Daisy was hers, if she still wanted it. She did! So, Donald and Daisy became regulars at cowboy shoots.
Daisy shoots several cowboy matches each month: 3. She shoots with the River Bend Rough Riders (her base club), the Mule Camp Cowboys and the Ocoee Rangers. When interviewed by Mesquite Millie, Daisy said that the best thing about cowboy shooting is the people. She likes going to the various shoots, and the people at all of them are very friendly, and no one picks on her for not shooting fast.
Who’s her favorite Western movie hero? Tom Mix. She said that she grew up playing cowboys, and she just loved watching Tom Mix’s movies.
There’s one other thing about Deadeye Daisy: she’s a humdinger of a scorekeeper.
THE REAL WEST – PEARL HART (About 1871 – ?)
Pearl Hart helped usher out the old West by conducting the last stagecoach holdup. Of course she had help from her pardner, Joe Boot. 5 foot 2 inches of petite female, armed with a pistol, Pearl robbed the passengers on a stagecoach headed from Florence to Globe, AZ of a little over $400. Then, she and Joe fired a few shots in the air and rode away … just like bandits do in Western movies. But neither was experienced either as a robber or as an off the road traveler. So, they got lost. 2 days later, they were rescued … by a posse that took them to the local lockup. Pearl was quite a sensation. Shucks, it wasn’t just an everyday occurrence for a community to have a female stagecoach robber locked up in their jail. So, Pearl got a lot of attention. But feisty little Pearl didn’t tarry long in jail. A few weeks later, she and another prisoner (not Joe) escaped. Imagine the headlines, Bandit Queen Escapes, or at least something like that was printed. Of course she was quickly recaptured. Remember, she wasn’t too good at getting away.
Pearl Hart
Stagecoach Bandit
Pearl and Joe were tried, convicted, and sentenced: he got 35 years and she got 5 years. So, off they went to prison. Housed at Yuma Prison, the warden had to provide separate cell accommodations for Pearl. She was the only female prisoner there. While there, the warden allowed photographers to take Pearl’s picture in an outlaw garb with unloaded guns and as a well dressed young lady, after all she was only in her 20’s. Released about 18 months later, she went on the road to perform as “The Lady Bandit”, in a play written by her sister. But her 15 minutes of fame soon ran out, and Pearl disappeared, later married and began another life. In any event, she finally managed a clean get away.
Pearl Hart
Petite Young Lady
Page 3
The Ocoee Ranger Page 3 April, 2005
SHOOT RESULTS (Continued from page 1)
|
Traditional 1. Diamondback Dennis 2. Unpleasant 3. Slater |
Cowgirl 1. Dandy Diamond 2. Last Kiss |
Modern 1. S. A. Pondwater 2. Limp Along Charlie 3. Anvil |
|
Senior 1. Tabasco JOT 2. Sheriff Donald 3. Linc |
Gunfighter 1. Pleasant 2. Keystone 3. Pyro |
49er 1. Festus D. Deputy 2. Marshal Too Tall 3. Double Eagle |
|
Black Powder 1. T-Bone Angus 2. the Catoosa Kid 3. Coffee Joe |
Duelist 1. Horseshoe John 2. Ricochet Richard 3. Tennessee Tombstone |
Classic 1. Lightning McCoy 2. Fast Harley |
OCOEE RANGERS WRANGLERS – APRIL
|
Last Kiss |
Johnny Meanstreets |
Tin Pot |
|
Tennessee Ted |
HONORARY WRANGLER Per the rules of the game, Wranglers are cowboy or cowgirl shooters or folks who accompany them who are dressed Western and who demonstrate extra initiative and work more than the average in helping conduct a posse shoot. Had she been dressed Western, Kristi, Fiddleback’s lady friend, would |
Kristi |
have been recognized as an Ocoee Wrangler. In that this was her 1st visit with us and she didn’t know the “rules” but demonstrated the “Spirit of the Game”, she is recognized as an honorary Ocoee Ranger Wrangler for April.
In the picture above, Kristi is wearing Fiddleback’s 10 gallon hat. Of course, it look’s much better on her than it does on Fiddleback.
THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY …. OR MAYBE, A ROSE AMONGST THE THORNS?
Can you remember back in 1967 when Clint Eastwood’s Western movie THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY was playing for the 1st time? Whiskey River Nelson will say, “Are you kidding?” But even if you didn’t see it the 1st time around, you’ve probably seen it several times since its release in the good old US of A.
Now what does this have to do with the picture at the left? Beats me. As page 1 says, it was windy at the shoot. The Editor’s windy too, or is it also? Owlhoot Hardin wasn’t there to settle the question.
L-R: Rev. Adam Jones, Tellico and Sundance McNeyman. We can assume that the Rev. is the good. The rest is up for grabs.
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