“The Cowboy And The Lady”

Northern Advocate, 18 February 1939, Page 4 (Supplement)

“The Cowboy And The Lady”

Since the inception of movies cowboys have been “tops - ’ in popularity, and they have maintained this position without serious challenge from any other source.

The first narrative film produced in the United States, “The Great Train Robbery,” included cowboys as important characters, and now in one of United Artists’ latest releases. “The Cowboy and the Lady,” Gary Cooper as the Cowboy co-stars with Merle Oberon as the Lady.

The early Westerns, with such stars as Eddie Polo, Pearl White and Ruth Rowland, and the Saturday serials became almost an institution, with thousands of wide-eyed children making regular visits to the theatres to see their hero escape from yet another death-ti’ap.

William S. Hart became the firstidealised cowboy, and other two-gun heroes of the day were Harry Carey, Bull Montana, Jack Hoxtie, Buck Jones (he’s still a star), Tom Mix and Tony the Wonder Horse, William and Dustin Farnum, and Art Russell.

“The Old Homestead.”

They were usually heavily made-up hearties, who fought moustachioed halfbreeds and villainous rustlers, and were adept at rescuing stage coaches and saving old homesteads. These antics were,* of course, something of a parody of the lives led by true cowhands, but as the years went by the cowboy was depicted with a closer 1 regard to truth. Less value is attached to-day to a mans dexterity with a sixshooter than to his ability at roping a /bleating calf.

Big business methods are now a feature of modern western films, and the speed of the blood-and-thunder epics has been tempered. New profiles are seen under the same old tengallon hats, and such names as Ken Maynard, Gene Autry; William Boyd and Dick.Foran are the attractions of the day. As most modem cowboys seem to indulge in singing when headin’ for the round-up and roamin’ the range, it is not very startling to know that even (“Deeds”) Cooper will' render a song of the west in this film.

Cowboy Before Actor.

Gary Cooper, a cowboy before he came to Hollywood, is a splendid choice for “Stretch” Willoughby, the rodeo star who falls in love with the' unconventional society debutante (Merle Oberon) in the new film. Merle

is Mary Smith, daughter of a Senator with presidential aspirations (Henry Kolker). She goes ’to Florida with her cook and. maid (Patsy Kelly and Mabel Todd) to escape boredom in the city, and falls in love with the handsome cowboy, who is appearing in the rodeo show. When “Stretch” proposes, Mary (who is masquerading as a servant) puts him off with gay chatter, but she follows him to Galveston and they arc married eventually by the ship’s captain. Unfortunately the “lady” does not like the heat and shabbiness of the West, and her husband sends her back to Florida with the understanding that she shall join him later at his Montana Ranch. They have not reckoned with the Senator, who was relying on Mary to influence the powerful Mr. Henderson (Berton Churchill), Maker of Presidents. How the Senator is eventually appeased through the medium of Mary’s cheery uncle, Hannibal Smith (Harry Davenport), and how the cowboy and the lady rescue their shattered romance provides an amusing finale to the story. Others in the cast: Mabel Todd, Fuzzy Knight, Emma Dunn, Charles Richman, Frederick Vogeding, Arthur I Hoyt and Mabel Colcord.