ECCENTRIC LIFE
Calamity Jane
Dieses Mal ist unsere große Exzentrikerin auch eine große Schwindlerin:
Wir beleuchten das Leben einer Heldin des Wilden Westens.
C
ross-dressin’, gun-totin’,
and all-singing, there’s
never been a “cowgirl”
quite like Calamity
Jane — or so the much-
loved portrayal in the
loud and colorful 1953
film Calamity Jane, star-
ring Doris Day, would
have us believe. But like most stories asso-
ciated with her, it’s mainly fantasy, packed
with myth and legend.
It’s easy to see the attraction of a Ca-
lamity Jane figure, whose life has inspired
films, cartoons, poems, books, documen-
taries, and theater plays. She was also a
central character in the 2019 Hollywood
film Deadwood, a spin-off from the popular
HBO TV series of the same name.
Few people could have known better
how true to life the story of this exciting
cowgirl was than the real Calamity Jane:
Martha Jane Canary.
Thought to have been born in Prince-
ton, Missouri, in 1852 or 1856, she was
likely the oldest of five or six children. By
the time she was in her mid-teens, both
her parents had died and she was head of
the family. She traveled to “frontier coun-
try” — Wyoming — where she made a
name for herself by working and playing
hard in a world dominated by men.
There are so many stories about Calam-
ity Jane that separating truth from fiction
has been giving biographers headaches
for more than a century. It’s true that she
occasionally dressed as a man and that
she swore and drank alcohol “like a man,”
76 Spotlight 6/2020
Von PAUL WHEATLEY
MEDIUM US
but stories she told in her autobiography
of fighting “Indians” and working for the
military are almost certainly lies. She may,
however, have been friendly, generous,
and caring — and someone who went out
of her way to help the sick. She did meet
(but probably didn’t marry or have a re-
lationship with) the legendary Wild Bill
Hickok, another so-called frontier person-
ality who didn’t mind telling tall stories to
improve his reputation.
Her appearance in many dime novels
from 1875 on earned her national fame.
Born: The sensational stories in these cheap
May 1, 1852 or 1856, but highly readable novels were nowhere
Princeton, Missouri
near reality. In fact, the truth was a lot
Died: less attractive than the legend. Martha
August 1, 1903, Jane Canary was an alcoholic, she had no
Terry, near Deadwood,
South Dakota regular work and it’s possible she some-
times worked as a prostitute. She had two
Nationality:
American children and married twice. Despite her
celebrity as an adventurous frontiers-
woman, she had a tough life right up until
her death in Deadwood in 1903.
Nevertheless, Canary’s fame as Calam-
ity Jane allowed her to appear with the
calamity [kE(lÄmEti] gun-toting [(gVn )toUtIN]
popular Buffalo Bill stage show in 1891
, Katastrophe , bewaffnet
and go on tour from the early 1890s. An
caring [(kerIN] portrayal [pɔːrˈtreɪəl]
, fürsorglich , Darstellung
advertisement for her act perfectly played
up to her reputation. The drawing shows
cross-dress [)krO:s (dres] reputation
, sich als Transvestit [)repju(teIS&n] her dressed in men’s clothes, a gun in her
Foto: mauritius images/Science Source
kleiden; hier: Männer­ , Ruf hand and a knife in her mouth, next to the
kleider tragen words: “Pioneer New Woman Calamity
slayer [(sleI&r]
dime novel , Killer(in), Mörder(in) Jane … Scout, Trapper, and Indian Slayer.”
[(daIm )nA:v&l] N. Am. Like Doris Day’s romanticized cross-
spin-off [(spIn O:f]
, Groschenroman
, Ableger dressin’, gun-totin’, and all-singing por-
generous [(dZen&rEs] trayal of her, this, too, was pure make-
swear [swe&r]
, großzügig
, fluchen believe.
ECCENTRIC LIFE