Word of the Day
Oater (O-ter)
Common clue: Shoot-‘em-up; horse opera
An oater is a movie or television show, usually from the mid-20th century, about cowboys and frontier life in the Old West. The term comes from the prominence of horses and their staple food in these films.
Roy
Rogers mural in hometown Portsmouth, Ohio – photo by the
Pollinator.
"Ann Doran played in a number of B Westerns at Columbia. She enjoyed the congeniality of the wranglers, but never considered herself much of a horsewoman. She appeared in one of the Durango Kid pictures with Charles Srarrett, a Dartmouth graduate who disliked making Westerns despite having been featured in dozens of successful B 'oaters.' In the movie Doran made with Starrett they were to come out of a bank, jump over the rumps of their horses, and take off at a full gallop. Ann doubted that she could do it, but the wranglers showed her how and, throwing caution to the wind, she somehow made it. As the horses raced down the studio street, Ann sensed something was wrong. She looked around to see Starrett still on the ground. The Durango Kid hadn't made the leap onto his horse!"
Trivia: Between 1850 and 1890, the most common cause of death among cowboys in the American West was being dragged by a horse while caught in the stirrups.
[Source: http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=9787]
|
|