Journal Notes

Clarion Review Stands Up for Straight Lady

“Straight Lady is the untold story of an iconic, underappreciated talent who helped to shape early Hollywood comedies.

Chris Enss and Howard Kazanjian’s Straight Lady is the biography of Margaret Dumont, best known for playing opposite the Marx Brothers.

Dumont spent most of her life performing onstage and on-screen, yet she was best known—then and now—for her role in various Marx Brothers pictures. Born Daisy Baker, she began her career in vaudeville, left the stage to marry a wealthy man with whom she stayed until his premature death, and returned to acting just in time to join the Marx Brothers in their career-launching play The Cocoanuts. Though her name is not as familiar as those of Groucho, Chico, and Harpo, critics have long recognized how indispensable she was to their longevity and success.

Enss and Kazanjian cover Dumont’s career as a study in contrasts. She performed in both vaudeville and regular theater productions at the turn of the century. She made her name as a singer, dancer, and comedian, but she didn’t achieve widespread fame until she assumed the role of the ever-dignified straight woman, smoothing out the Marx Brothers’ signature madcap humor. The Marxes subjected her to a series of outrageous, sometimes cruel pranks off-screen and on, yet Dumont remained loyal and professional, even stating that they were her closest friends.

But the book notes that Dumont performed the role of haughty society lady so well that she became typecast. She expressed mixed feelings about this to the press but maintained her poise both on- and off-screen. Dumont was, as ever, a fixed point in a world of chaos. It all makes for a tantalizing story.”

Straight Lady:  The Life and Times of Margaret Dumont “The Fifth Marx Brother” arrives in bookstores everywhere on October 1.  Visit www.chrisenss.com for details.

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Along Came a Cowgirl:

Daring and Heroic Women of the Rodeo and Wild West Shows

On Saturday, July 1, 1916, at the Passing of the West rodeo in Butte, Montana, it appeared all the wild, outlaw horses had been saved for the lady riders.  It took cowboys ten minutes to corral and saddle the cantankerous animal cowgirl Peggy Warren was to ride.  The horse reared and bucked, kicked and plunged, and fought against the harness and the blind.  When Peggy finally climbed onto his back and raced out of the chute, the horse threw himself backwards in a vicious lunge.  In a masterful display of grit and determination, Peggy held on and stayed in the saddle despite the horse’s extraordinary exhibition of bucking.  It was that kind of bold riding that earned Peggy the reputation for being one of the most daring equestriennes of the West.

Born Hazel Agnes Wedderien in California in September 1889, Peggy learned to ride at an early age, and, by the time she was in her late teens, she was recognized as an expert hobbled stirrup rider.  She was fearless on the back of a horse.  She could ride standing in the saddle, a trick known as the hippodrome; and balance on one foot and perform death defying tricks such as the Death Drag, a trick where the rider hangs upside down from her horse.

Between 1912 and 1916, Peggy participated in the Pendleton Roundup, the Calgary Stampede, the Winnipeg Stampede, and the Los Angeles Rodeo.  In addition to bronco busting, she competed in relay and pony races.  From atop her horse Babe Lee, Peggy dazzled audiences with her fast riding and trick roping.

She was married twice and began her career using her first husband’s name.  Billed as Hazel Walker, she performed alongside other celebrated female rodeo stars such as Fanny Sperry Steele, Lucille Mulhall, and Vera McGinnis.  Her second husband was first-class bulldogger Frank Warren.  After the pair wed, Hazel changed her name to Peggy Warren.

Peggy won numerous rodeo championships, sustaining more than a few injuries along the way.  She was the victim of many sprained ankles, fractured ribs, and broken wrists.  One of her most serious injuries occurred in October 1916 at a rodeo in Great Falls, Montana, while participating in an event called the “race for a bride.”  Peggy was in the lead, but, in no time, other riders caught up to her.  As the riders flanked her on either side her horse spooked, stumbled, fell, and rolled on top of her.  She was left unconscious on the ground.  “Any ride can end badly,” Peggy later remarked to a reporter at the Great Falls Tribune.  “If nothing is broken, you shake it off and get back in the race as fast as you can.”

Peggy Warren retired from rodeo riding in the early 1920s and lived out the rest of her life with her family in Garfield County, Washington.

To learn more about iconic cowgirls like Peggy Warren read Along Came a Cowgirl

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Along Came a Cowgirl:

Daring and Heroic Women of the Wild West Shows and Rodeos

World’s Champion Roper, America’s Greatest Horsewoman, Queen of the Range, and the first woman whoever roped steers competitively with men, Lucille Mulhall held the top spot in contests and vaudeville for twenty years.  Cowboy, actor, and humorist Will Rogers, Lucille’s friend and teacher, called her the world’s greatest rider.

“Born in the saddle,” her family claimed, Lucille was the spirited daughter of Colonel Zach Mulhall, an Oklahoma ranch owner.  When she was only seven Colonel Mulhall offered her all the yearlings she could rope and brand herself on the large Mulhall ranch.  It was not long before he withdrew his bargain, however.  Too many calves, including twenty of the wildest steers on the ranch were wearing the initials “L H” – the Lucille’s personal brand.  Extremely feminine, soft-spoken and well educated, she seemed a paradox, for she was so steel-muscled she could break a bronco and shoot a coyote at five hundred yards.

Lucille’s show career began in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1899.  Born in October 1885, she was fourteen-years old and participated in a myriad of roping and riding contests at a rodeo in which her father sponsored.  Not only did her career begin that day but it was the direct start of what has since come to be known as the cowgirl.

Lucille became an expert roper and was the first woman that could rope and tie a steer.  She never dressed like the cowgirls of the 40s and 50s – she did wear loud colors, short leather skirts, or great big hats.  Her skirts were divided and extended over her patent leather boot tops.  The skirts were whipcord grey and grey broadcloth, and she always wore a small, stiff brim hat and a white silk shirt.  She could have been a society belle, but she loved the rough, dangerous life and cowboying was in her blood.

At the age of sixteen, Lucille met Theodore Roosevelt when she appeared as a roper and rider in a Wild West Show staged in Oklahoma City for the first annual rough rider’s reunion.  She won a bet with Roosevelt at that time by running down a lobo wolf, roping it from the saddle, and killing it with a stirrup iron.

Lucille captured audiences across the globe with her feats of skill with horse, gun, and lariat.  In 1905, Colonel Mulhall handpicked a group of the finest rodeo riders in the country to perform at Madison Square Garden.  Lucille was one of the top performers at the venue.  She went on to play before kings and queens in Europe at command performances.  Her name was blazed across more papers than most of her male counterparts.

Lucille was married twice.  Her first husband was Martin VanBergen, a noted baritone.  They had one child, a son, Logan.  Her second husband was Tom Burnett, a wealthy Texas rancher and oil man.  Lucille retired from the stage in 1917, after divorcing Burnett.

On December 21, 1940, Lucille was killed in a car accident a short distance from her ranch home in Mulhall, a town named for her father.  The “original cowgirl” was fifty-five when she passed away.

To learn more about iconic women of the wild west shows and rodeos read

Along Came a Cowgirl

This is going to come as no surprise to any full-time author, but writing has rarely been a lucrative career choice. According to the Author’s Guild, the median pay for full-time writers in 2019 was $14,300. Most writers need to supplement their income with speaking engagements or teaching. I learned this lesson years ago writing jokes for various comedians. Any notion I had of getting rich writing material for fellow University of Arizona comics performing at the Wild Cat House, was quickly dispelled.

So, I took a job with an office maintenance company. I was cleaning toilets for a living (on the night shift, for crying out loud).  I didn’t even rate cleaning bathrooms during the day. My bosses actually thought to themselves, “Yeah, Enss is good, she’s real good.  She’s just not ready for The Show yet.”  Thirty-five years and more than fifty published books later, I’m still holding down other jobs to supplement my writing income.

Holding onto a less-than-inspiring day job to pay the bills while pursuing your passion as a writer is not a new phenomenon. It’s worth recalling that many famous authors throughout history have kept their day jobs, whether for the financial security, or because they wanted to pursue different passions.

Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird in her free time while working as a ticket agent for Eastern Airlines and British Overseas Airways Corporation. She had dropped out of law school and moved to New York to pursue her writing career but realized quickly she’d need to do something else to boost her income besides writing articles and short stories for various magazines.

Zane Grey’s day job was as a dentist, and he hated it. After marrying his wife Dolly in 1905, he closed the practice he’d been running for nine years to focus on his literary career. The couple then lived off Dolly’s inheritance.

Agatha Christie was employed as a pharmacist assistant for several years. She parlayed her knowledge of pharmaceuticals in many of her novels, the first of which, Hercule Poirot’s Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published in 1920.

John Steinbeck was a tour guide and caretaker at a fish hatchery in Lake Tahoe. Not long after he wed Carol Henning in 1928, he started a business manufacturing plaster mannequins. When that endeavor failed, his parents agreed to support him until his writing took off.

And then there’s Mark Twain. He didn’t find financial success until late in his career. In 1895, the great American writer and humorist – steamboat man and creator of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn – was way down on his luck. In his late 50s, Twain was deep in debt after a series of disastrous investments.  So, he decided to embark on a worldwide standup comedy tour to recoup some of his losses. It paid off. That tour, along with his travel book Following the Equator released shortly after the tour ended, got Twain out of debt and then some.

I think you’d have to have the kind of books to your credit Twain did to pull off a successful comedy tour. I did standup for years to supplement my income as a writer, but never broke into the big money. But Twain was performing at posh venues such as the Stillman Theater in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Marquam Grand Opera House in Portland, Oregon. I played only the finest strip clubs from Tucson to Albuquerque. Not a night went by I didn’t hear the crowd yell, “Hey, get those naked women off the stage. Bring us a comedian.”

To do what you absolutely love and have a crazy passion for requires sacrifice. For many authors, nothing makes us happier than knowing someone is getting lost in the details of something we’ve written. To make that happen we’ll take on whatever extra jobs we need. “To survive, you must tell stories,” Umberto Eco, author of The Island of the Day Before once told a classroom full of aspiring writer. I’ll get to that in couple of hours. Just as soon as I’m done performing the next standup routine.

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Along Came a Cowgirl:

Daring and Iconic Women of Rodeos and Wild West Shows

Professional bronc rider Kitty Canutt grabbed a stick of wood lying next to a horse stall at the rodeo grounds in Spokane, Washington, and smacked champion relay racer Donna Card in the mouth with it. The incident occurred in early September 1918 and was the start of a feud between the cowgirls that would continue until their passings.

Kitty, wife of famed Hollywood movie stuntman Yakima Canutt, was upset with Donna over the way she behaved in the women’s relay race at the Spokane Rodeo. She claimed Donna fouled her in the third lap by crowding her into the fence. She complained to the judges, and, after investigating the charge, they determined Donna had run a clean race. Kitty was furious over the ruling and confronted Donna about the perceived indiscretion.  Kitty was disqualified from riding in any other events at the rodeo and was fined $25 for her violent outburst.  Donna went on to win the trophy as top relay racer.

Missoula, Montana, born Donna Card was a horseback riding phenomenon. She was an expert trick roper and fancy rider who won numerous championships, but her expertise was the women’s relay. Often associated with the Drumheller Company, a respected ranching firm that raised thoroughbred horses used in relay races, Donna was considered by rodeo enthusiasts to be one of the best women riders in the field.

The relay race required riders to make three laps around the track, changing horses at the end of the first and second laps. It was compulsory for riders to touch the ground with both feet when making horse changes. Early on, the relay race was considered a man’s game because of the danger and physical effort necessary in changing mounts. Donna was one of a few who proved women could become as good in the ranch sport as the men.

Donna frequently competed against accomplished relay racers Vera McGinnis and Mary Harsh. The women’s relay was considered by most rodeo attendees as the most spectacular of the events. Vera and Donna generally finished first and second in the contest, with Donna beating Vera for the top spot most of the time.

In 1918, Donna’s big win at the Spokane Rodeo made headlines. “Among the most interesting races of the day was the women’s relay, in which three strings were entered,” an article in the September 3, 1918, edition of the Spokesman Review read. “Miss Donna Card, clad in blue and white silk, was the winner, negotiating the two miles in three minutes forty-seven seconds.”

Donna defeated the world’s champion relay racer, Mabel Strickland, at the Spokane fair in September 1922. She took a commanding lead in the first lap and held it throughout the race. So outrode both Mable and Kitty Canutt.

In addition to being recognized for her efforts in relay racing, Donna was also a fashion trendsetter. The blue satin riding skirt, white jersey, and patent leather slippers worn at the Yankee Stadium Rodeo in New York in 1923 was duplicated by clothing designers in attendance and sold to the public.

To learn more about rides like Donna Card read Along Came a Cowgirl

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Along Came a Cowgirl:

Daring and Iconic Women of Rodeos and Wild West Shows

A mammoth crowd of westerners gathered at the Black Hills Roundup in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, in early July 1927.  Among the spectators present at the prestigious rodeo were President Calvin Coolidge and South Dakota Senator Peter Norbeck.  The politicians, their wives, and staff members applauded the cowboys and cowgirls who rode into the arena to tackle rowdy steers and untamed broncos.  When Mattie Goff, the All-Around Cowgirl and World Champion Trick Rider, and her horse charged out of a chute and raced around the grounds, the president leapt to his feet cheering.

Mattie waved to the congregation as she hurried by them, preparing to perform her signature trick known as the back drag.  In the back drag, Mattie would place a foot in a loop on either side of the saddle, bend backwards over the rear of the horse until her hands touched the ground, and then pull herself upright.  The daring stunt was perfectly executed, and the onlookers cheered and clapped.  Mattie went on to dazzle fans with additional entertaining and dangerous tricks.  The celebrated cowgirl was treated to a standing ovation as she rode out of the arena.

Mattie Eugenia Goff was born on December 21, 1906, in Meade County, South Dakota.  She was one of seven children born to homesteaders George and Grace Goff.  She began riding at age three, and by the time she was fifteen was performing at rodeos.  In addition to trick riding, Mattie participated in bronc riding and relay racing events.  Her talent for trick riding was noticed by Wild West showman Leonard Stroud who hired her to work in his show.  Stroud, recognized as the greatest trick rider and roper of all time, taught Mattie such stunts as the Roman stand, under the neck, and the slick saddle stand.

In the summer of 1926, Mattie participated in the Bell Fourche Roundup and, using all she had learned from Leonard Stroud, won first place in the trick and fancy roping and riding competitions earning her the title of World Champion Trick Rider.  In August of that same year, Mattie gave a fine exhibition of Roman riding in a half mile race at the Mississippi Valley Fair in Davenport, Iowa.  She finished the race in fifty-eight seconds and won the top prize.  From there she competed at the Gardner’s Elkhorn Ranch Rodeo in Lexington, Kentucky, winning the trick riding and roping contest.  By the time Mattie performed for the president at the Black Hills Roundup the title of Champion Women Relay Rider of the World had been added to her list of titles.

Mattie Goff married cowboy Maynard Newcombe on December 15, 1927.  She retired from the rodeo world shortly thereafter to help her husband work their ranch on the Cheyenne River in eastern Meade County in South Dakota.

Mattie was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City in 1961 and inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Texas in 1994.  The former All-Around Cowgirl was ninety-eight years old when she passed away on July 26, 2005.

To learn more about the daring women like Mattie read

Along Came a Cowgirl

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Along Came a Cowgirl: 

Daring and Iconic Women of the Rodeos and Wild West Shows

Skillful and graceful trick rider Faye Blesing and her Palomino horse Flash raced by excited fans at the Butte’s Buckaroo and Homecoming Days Rodeo in Butte, Montana, on July 6, 1951. Faye smiled at the spectators while demonstrating one of her most popular stunts, the Cossack, or Russian Drag. Pulling her feet out of the stirrups she flipped herself around in the saddle, looped one foot through a slot in the seat jockey, and hung upside down with her other foot hanging over her head, her head and hands dangling inches from the ground. With Flash running at breakneck speed, Faye twisted, spun, leaped, and swung around on the animal’s back. She ended her routine with a shoulder stand on Flash’s withers. The mesmerized crowd cheered the amazing tricks performed by the talented woman fans called the “sweetheart of the rodeo circuit.”  She’d made every trick look effortless.

Born on Christmas Day 1920 in Craig, Colorado, Faye was a teenager when her family relocated to southern California. Her father established the Lazy 3 Riding Stables in Burbank, where he rented saddles horses and provided wild horses for the movie studios. It was through her father’s business she perfected her riding technique, and at the age of sixteen, got her start in films. Prior to being a trick rider, Faye was a stunt woman. She doubled in numerous westerns performing feats considered too dangerous for Hollywood stars. Betty Grable and Rhonda Fleming were among the many actresses for whom she was a double.

The transition from film to the rodeo circuit was a natural for Faye. She would attend rodeos and watch the trick riders work and then go home and practice what she’d seen. For more than seven years, she rode in shows with various rodeos at Madison Square Garden in New York City. She even spent a month in Paris and Rome performing in historical venues.

Some of Faye’s friends and family considered trick riding a dangerous business. But in all the years she rode, she was injured only twice. Both accidents occurred when it was raining. The arenas where she and Flash were performing were muddy and slick. Flash slipped and fell, and Faye broke her leg one the first occasion and in her foot in the second. She credited her talented horse for keeping her safe through most of their career.

In 1942 she met Wag Blesing, a rodeo rider traveling in the same circuit, and the two married in 1944. Wag was the world champion bull-rider in 1947 and parlayed his love for horses and riding into film work. He was a stuntman and actor, and he and Faye occasionally worked together performing stunts in television shows such as F Troop and Wanted Dead or Alive.

Faye retired from trick riding in 1978. She and her husband then moved to Ramona, California, and opened a bar called the Wag Inn. Faye was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1987. She passed away on April 7, 1999, at the age of seventy-eight.

To learn more about the women who made rodeo history read Along Came a Cowgirl.

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Along Came a Cowgirl: 

Daring and Iconic Women of Rodeos and Wild West Shows

Bronc busting champion Kitty Wilkes won her first title at the Wild West Celebration Rodeo in Miles City, Montana, in 1916. The seventeen-year-old, New York native’s straightforwardness and untamed physical daring gave fans the impression she was born and bred into the rugged life of a Wyoming ranch. Few would have guessed she was new to the sport or that winning the top prize would inspire her to excel in other rodeos. From that exciting moment in Miles City she was determined to show the world that one need not be “born in the saddle” to be a crack rider.

Katherine Derre, whose stage name was Kitty Wilkes, was born on July 15, 1899. She had a natural talent for breaking horses and parlayed that skill into bronc riding in public showings. Not only did she have a way with wild horses, but she was also an exceptional trick and fancy rider. Owners of relay strings were eager to gain her services.

Between the rodeo in Montana in the summer of 1916 and the Pendleton Roundup in Pendleton, Oregon, in early fall of 1916, Kitty honed her bronc riding talent at ranches and rodeos throughout the West. She insisted on using the orneriest animals for training. Outlaw horses were blindfolded and saddled for her to ride. One encounter resulted in the horse bucking Kitty off and bruising her ribs. She wouldn’t allow the horse to beat her, however. She swung back into the saddle, refusing to leave it until the animal finally broke.

Kitty’s nickname was Diamond Girl because she had a diamond set in her front tooth. When needed, she would remove the diamond and pawn it for the entry fees to rodeo contests.

Her performance at the Pendleton Roundup in 1916 resulted in her being named the All-Around Champion Cowgirl. Among the many people she met during the roundup was Yakima Canutt. Canutt, who also competed at the rodeo, would go on to become one of Hollywood’s leading stuntmen. Kitty and Yakima fell in love and were married in Kalispell, Montana, in 1917.

Kitty was a fierce athlete who hated to lose. It was not uncommon for her to challenge women who outrode her, and she believed cheated, to a fistfight. In September 1918, she was disqualified from participating in a rodeo in Washington because she hit a rider in the mouth with a piece of wood.

Not content with being the top female bronc rider in the country, she aspired to be the top female relay racer as well. Rodeo fans loved to watch the petite woman fly past the grandstands on her horse, hurrying to meet the next mount waiting to be saddled and ridden to the next point. More than once Kitty would be finishing part of the race standing on the stirrups trying to get into the saddle. Her grit and resolve often paid off with a win.

The rodeo stars Kitty often competed against were Mabel Strickland, Bonnie McCarroll, and Prairie Rose Henderson.

Kitty Wilkes was eighty-eight years old when she died on June 3, 1988.

To learn more about the women of the rodeo read the new book

Along Came A Cowgirl

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Along Came a Cowgirl:

Daring and Iconic Women of Rodeos and Wild West Shows

Spain.  September 1932.  Alice Greenough, a seasoned cowgirl, sits astride an angry steer.  In the place of a saddle a surcingle, a sort of plastic girdle has been fashioned around the animal’s back and cinched to his stomach.  He doesn’t like it.  Alice’s attractive face is focused as she secures a good grip on the flat braided rope tied to the steer’s flank.  When she was ready the bucking chute opened, and the angry beast stormed into the arena.  The spectators were on their feet, cheering.  Alice was quickly thrown from the steer’s back, but not off the animal entirely.  He wouldn’t stop kicking and jumping long enough for the rider to drop safely to the ground.  Matadors dressed in traditional garb raced to the scene and threw their capes over the steer’s head to slow him.  Finally, the cowgirl leapt off.

Thirty-year-old Alice was one of only six people in history, and the only woman, to avoid injury riding a steer with a surcingle.  Bullfighting fans erupted with applause at the achievement.  Alice bowed and waved at the enthusiastic onlookers.

Alice was born daring.  Her parents, Benjamin and Myrtle Greenough, were residents of Red Lodge, Montana.  They welcomed their daughter to the world on March 17, 1902.  Benjamin was a rancher, and his seven children helped him work the property.  Alice learned to rope and ride at a young age.  By the time she was fourteen she was delivering the U. S. mail on horseback to friends and neighbors along a thirty-seven-mile route around Billings.  She was still in grammar school when she began riding saddle broncs at local rodeos, and a few years later, she and her sister Marge were hired by the Jack King Wild West Show to be trick riding performers.

Alice won the World’s Championship in women’s bronc riding in Boston in 1933, 35, and 36, and again in 1940 in New York.  Her professional career spanned more than twenty-four years.  She was one of the stars of the Madison Square Garden rodeo for eighteen straight seasons.  She traveled throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada competing for titles in relay racing, trick roping and riding.  Alice toured England and Australia and in 1934 won the women’s bronc riding event in Melbourne.  During her travels, she met with British royalty including King George V and the Duke of Windsor.

Not content with performing solely in Wild West Shows, Alice was eventually hired as a stunt woman for motion pictures and provided riding lessons to the King of the Cowboys and the Queen of the West, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

Alice was married twice, to Roy Cabill and then to Joe Orr.  She and Joe created their own show, the Greenough-Orr Rodeo.  Their rodeo featured the first woman’s barrel racing event.  Not only did Alice help produce the various shows, but she also participated in the acts as well.

Alice Greenough-Orr was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1985.  She passed away at the age of ninety-three at her home in Tucson, Arizona, in 1995.

To learn more about iconic cowgirls who made rodeo history read Along Came a Cowgirl. 

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Along Came a Cowgirl:

Daring and Iconic Women of Rodeos and Wild West Shows

Rodeo fans at the Round-Up in Pendleton, Oregon, in 1928 were thrilled by the prospect of meeting the cowgirl actress chosen to reign over the prestigious event.  Queen Mary Duncan had entertained motion picture audiences with her horseback riding skills in the popular silent films Four Devils and The River.  Audience members hoped she would demonstrate some of the roping and riding techniques she performed on screen at the event, maybe even participate in a relay race or two.  Champion trick rider Mabel Strickland, who had ruled as queen over the prior year’s program, had dazzled ticket buyers with an exhibition of her talent.  Queen Mary’s contribution to the festivities would not be as daring.

Born on August 13, 1894, in Luttrellville, Virginia, Mary learned to ride at a young age and could have gone on to work in Wild West shows but decided to attend Cornell University instead.  She left college after two years to go on the stage.  She made a phenomenal success in the Broadway plays Poppy and Shanghai Gesture.  On the merits of those performances, she was signed by Fox Film Corporation to appear in a series of films portraying a feisty rancher’s daughter who helped fight off cattle thieves.  The vivacious, auburn-haired beauty’s talent for the screen equaled her talent on stage.

Mary Duncan had been in Pendleton a month prior to the Round-Up.  She arrived with director Edward Sedgwick and other cast and crew members to film a movie entitled Our Daily Bread.  Sedgwick wanted to use the rodeo as a backdrop for the setting.  It was the first time in motion picture history that the Round-Up would be both heard and seen on the screen.  The director had filmed the rodeo in 1924 when his then wife, Josie Sedgwick had been the queen of the event.  Unlike Josie’s court, Mary’s did not feature cowboy attendants.  The Round-Up board of directors appointed a traditional court: two princesses from Pendleton and two from the surrounding area.  Queen Mary and her attendants appeared in the parade dressed in white leather costumes trimmed in black.  Mary rode in a stagecoach and her attendants followed her on horseback.

When the Round-Up concluded, Mary, Edward Sedgwick, and the others associated with the production of Our Daily Bread remained in the area.  Local newspaper reporters followed Mary’s every move, referring to her as “Queen” in the articles written about her and the film being made in the wheatfields and hills of Umatilla County.  “The people out here are perfectly marvelous,” she told a reporter for the La Grande Observer. “I wish you would convey for me how glorious my time in Oregon has been.”

Pendleton residents who spent time with the actress during her visit praised her for her charm and kindness.  Some claimed she was one of the “most talented Round-Up Queens who never rode a horse.” The community invited Mary back to the rodeo to serve again as the queen of the event years after she returned to Hollywood, but she declined the offer, insisting the honor should go to a working cowgirl.

Queen Mary Duncan died on May 9, 1993, at the age of ninety-eight.

Learn more about iconic cowgirls like Queen Mary when you read Along Came a Cowgirl