Keighley Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society’s production of “Annie Get Your Gun” played at the Hippodrome Theatre in Keighley for six nights (and a Saturday matinee) from Monday 13th October 1952. The musical had lyrics and music by Irving Berlin, with book by Herbert and Dorothy Fields. The audience were probably familiar with the musical as the MGM film version had only come out in the UK almost exactly two years earlier. The KAODS production was produced and directed by Douglas T. Bailey, with musical director R. Lewis Scargill.
The story is loosely based on the life of real-life sharpshooter Annie Oakley. Annie (played by Marian Walker) and her brother Jake (Dennis Crocker) meet up with ‘Buffalo Bill’ (Frederic W. Pye) and his Wild West Show when it visits Cincinnati. Annie’s sharpshooting skills attract Bill’s attention and he signs her up for the show. Annie falls in love with fellow performer Frank Butler (Edwin Smith), whose position in the show she is inadvertently usurping, leading Frank to leave the show. Indian Chief Sitting Bull (Leonard M. Stockdale) finances the show on a European tour (which, in the real world, included Keighley in its itinerary!) which is a financial disaster. Ultimately Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show combines with the show of Pawnee Bill (John H. Crabtree), which has recruited Frank. Annie and Frank settle their professional rivalry and reunite.
The show also starred Alan Shuttleworth, Frank Hopkinson, Norman Raistrick, Geoffrey Rundle, Marjorie J. Riley, Elsie Greenwell, Keith Marsden, Jean Sellars, Jesse G. Hamshaw, Anne Irving, Mary Wade, F. Bottomley, J. Street, L. Waite, J. D. Lee, A. Ridding, Janet Ogden, Eric S. Butterfield, Arthur Hague, N. Moulding, J. Derek Lee and Gwenda Binns. The dancing mistress was Irene Ogden.
The programme was part of an anonymous donation given in 2022. The cast portraits within the programme were taken by N. K. (Keith) Howarth of K. C. P. Studio on East Parade. This collage was created from images in the programme by Tim Neal in 2022.
