OVERTURE, DIM THE LIGHTS! WESTERN MUSICALS - Meg Mims

Who doesn't love a great musical, on stage or at the cinema? And a Western musical is even BETTER! Sure, it might not show the real wild and woolly west, and today it might be considered old fashioned and silly. But for pure fun and some sweet (and heart-tugging) romance, check these classic Western musicals that made their way to film.

As a kid, I always woke up in the summer sunshine streaming in the bedroom window, stretched and thought, "Oh, what a beautiful morning..." So naturally I loved this musical's songs.

Gordon Macrae and Shirley Jones head up a fabulous cast. Rogers & Hammerstein first teamed up for the musical score - and what songs they were! Had I ever been to Oklahoma? Nope. I'd never seen the prairie, only read about it in the Little House series. But there's something about "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" that makes you feel glorious. My husband had lived in Texas during part of his Army career, and also loved the play. We still tease each other whenever one of us says, "Oh--" with "OOOOOOOOOOOOKLAHOMA where the wind comes sweeping 'cross the plains..."

There are plenty of fabulous Western musicals to consider -- and remain classics to this day.

One of my favorites (and my daughter's too) is SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS. The handsome actors, the dancing, the music, the romantic story -- it may be quaint now, of course, but we still love it. The costumes are colorful, if not accurate to the times, but who's noticing anyway? Howard Keel and Jane Powell! The dancing, and the acrobatics by the brothers in the spectacular Barn Dance! The musical is just marvelous. Fun for the whole family.

CALAMITY JANE -- "America's Sweetheart" Doris Day gets a chance to "rough it" - ha! - in this musical, also starring Howard Keel. Doris doesn't seem to fit the authenticity of the real Calamity Jane, but neither does Howard Keel act like Wild Bill! Some of the songs are plenty of good fun, though. Keel seemed to be the go-to guy when it came to the hero in these musicals. Really disliked how he called Doris "Calam" which seemed silly. Oh well.

SHOWBOAT -- Talk about a real showboat!! This musical is another true favorite of mine because it has *everything.* Great costumes (not always accurate, of course), a wonderful setting, an in-depth complex story, great actors who can sing their hearts out! Joe E. Brown provided both a comedic and sympathetic air, and Agnes Moorhead was also great as a harridan with heart. Ava Gardner was gorgeous, and this time Oscar Hammerstein teamed up with Jerome Kern to give us such fabulous numbers. William Warfield singing Ol' Man River! Marge and Gower Champion, dancing! Kathryn Grayson, trained for the opera since she was 12 years old! And of course, Howard Keel. Yes, some may claim the 1936 film is more authentic, showing the true poverty on the river, the dockworkers, the issue of miscegenation, but I loved this film and still shed a tear while watching it.

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN -- Betty Hutton and Howard Keel team up as Annie Oakley and her husband Frank. Urp. There's something about Hutton I never liked -- quite possibly her gravelly voice, along with her attitude as shown in her performance here and in other films. Not a favorite. But here it is if it's one of yours. Keel comes through once again as the hero.

PAINT YOUR WAGON -- Clint Eastwood? in a MUSICAL? Yup. Along with Lee Marvin, who is hilarious. A fun film, based on the Lerner & Lowe theatrical musical, that rips and roars its way through a Gold-Rush era California mining camp (No-Name City). I confess I've only seen bits and pieces, but I do know that many friends love this film. And really, Clint Eastwood? Singing?? Gotta admit, he was good compared to Lee Marvin. But this song sums up the film best.

THE HARVEY GIRLS -- Judy Garland, John Hodiak and Angela Lansbury! Virginia O'Brien and Ray Bolger! Chill Wills and Marjorie Main! And accurate costumes when the girls come to town in Arizona on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, at least! It faces off the Harvey Girls, waitresses who come for a job and a husband, if they meet one in a wild western town, against the local "soiled doves" working at the local saloon. If you've researched the real Harvey Girls, the women did bring a touch of civilization to wherever they went. And petite Judy is fun to watch in this film, squaring off against the conniving gambler-owner who stole the restaurant's meat.

Sure, there are other musicals we could revisit, but that's enough for now. Hope you enjoyed some of the videos and songs!

Mystery author Meg Mims lives in Southeastern Michigan with her husband and a 'Make My Day' Malti-poo dog.Meg loves writing novels, short novellas and short stories, both contemporary and historical. Her Spur and Laramie Award winning Double series is now among the Prairie Rose Publications book list. Meg is also one-half of the D.E. Ireland team writing the Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins Mystery series for St. Martin's Minotaur. WOULDN'T IT BE DEADLY is out now! It's based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, play and film, with a nod to Lerner & Lowe's My Fair Lady -- so Meg does love musicals! Book 2, MOVE YOUR BLOOMING CORPSE, will be out in 2015. You can find Meg (and D.E. Ireland) on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. 

Hollywood Hi-Jinks with Western History

Hollywood sure has done some major hi-jinks over the years with western history. After all, isn't movie-making all about raking in the dough? They're not making dry as dust documentaries. Who would go see a film without rough and tumble saloon fights, Indians on the warpath, circled wagons, high noon street shoot-outs?

The heck with true history! Right? Ahem.

Here are a few examples of Hollywood movies that played fast and loose with the Old West. I'm not putting down these movies. Take it all with a grain of salt - but Doris Day as Calamity Jane?  Even if Martha Jane was supposedly considered "attractive" in her youth, by the time she met Wild Bill, that semblance was long gone. Leathery skin from the wind and sun, muscular with rarely washed hair - I mean, Doris Day? REALLY? Here's a side-by-side view of the two. See for yourself. I'll even throw out photos of Howard Keel and the real Wild Bill Hickok too.

Howard could have slapped on a mustache and wig, for heaven's sake. Even though some of the scenes show Doris sans makeup - well, she was no plain Jane no matter what! Oh well. Here's a trailer for the movie - and it plays fast and loose with the romance between Wild Bill and Martha Jane too. No clear historical record existed of a marriage (or child born to them), but Calamity was clearly obsessedwith Wild Bill. Even though he'd married Agnes Lake Thatcher, a successful circus owner.

Let's examine an older movie - They Died With Their Boots On from 1941. (Let's not even go to that shadowy place where Anthony Quinn plays Chief Sitting Bull! But for the era, at least there was some sympathy shown the Native Americans.)

The dashing (and Australian, although he was actually born in Tasmania) Errol Flynn portrays Colonel George Armstrong Custer. Uh-hum. And the lovely Olivia deHavilland plays his wife, Elizabeth Bacon Custer - not much of a stretch there. But Errol Flynn? REALLY? Here's the photos. Along with the trailer, too. Can we say cliche'? Custer in real life had zero sympathy for the Indians, never touched liquor after the Civil War and was quite the arrogant bastard. Considered to be "highly fictionalized", movie goers of the day made They Died With Their Boots On one of the top-grossing films of the year. 

Hmm. There might be a touch of similarity in those craggy features, but Flynn couldn't grow a mustache to save his soul. Plus he couldn't erase the hint of a British accent (he attended school in England.) No matter, since Olivia deHavilland was born in Tokyo to British parents. Olivia's mother divorced her husband and moved to California, but taught both her daughters elocution. (Joan Fontaine was Olivia's sister.) Olivia and Errol seemed well-matched and were very popular, having made eight films together. They certainly share on-screen chemistry (Olivia swears she never had an affair with him, despite Errol's desire - plus he was married at the time). Whatever the historical inaccuracy of George and Libby Custers' official first meeting, we'll forgive them.

We could name several more Hollywood hi-jinks at the movies, but I'll leave readers to add their favorite mash-ups in the comments section. And let's face it, westerns aren't the only movies Hollywood goofed up. Consider the six-foot Peter O'Toole playing Lawrence of Arabia, who was actually shorter than Napoleon at five-foot-one! Nicholas Meyers has a great article about movie inaccuracies - click here to read it. 

As Hollywood often says, THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT. No questions answered.

Click here to check out Meg's Amazon Author page for her award-winning western mysteries!

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Meg also writes under the pseudonym D.E. Ireland with a friend - Eliza Doolittle and Professor Henry Higgins are getting mixed up with murderers in London's post-Edwardian era.

Check out their page and their cozy mystery series. Here's the cover of

Book 1, debuting September 23rd from St. Martin's Minotaur books.