From Cheyenne to Pendleton, The Rise and Fall of the Rodeo Cowgirl

Description

Product Description As seen on Idaho Public Television Our new film explores the 25-year rise and fall of the western rodeo cowgirl through the lives of Idaho s Bonnie McCarroll, Colorado s Bertha Blancett and Washington s Mabel Strickland. The two-hour film follows their lives and achievements while it goes outside of the rodeo to answers the question of where did these talented women come from and what led to their eventual removal from the rodeo arena. The film opens in 1904 as 21-year-old Bertha, arrives in Cheyenne, Wyoming for 8th annual Frontier Days Rodeo the first year women were allowed to compete in the bucking bronc competition. The film ends with the tragic and avoidable death of Bonnie McCarroll at the 1929 Pendleton Round-Up. While it was the environment of the west that allowed young girls to escape the restrictive urban culture to develop the skills to be called cowgirls and eventually popular fixtures on the rodeo circuit. It was also the changing environment of the west that would remove women from the rodeo arena in favor of the cowboy. Since there are no records of why rodeo committeemen made their decisions on women s competition, the film explores a variety of issues: urban vs rural, changing social mores, the Hollywood film industry and, of all things, the price of wheat and cattle. Odd as it may seem, commodity prices reveal a great deal about the level of women s participation in the rodeo. The reason I made the film was to answer the simple question why? says Wursta. Why were women allowed to compete in the rodeo and why were they removed from the arena? Many historians point to the death of Idaho s beloved cowgirl Bonnie McCarroll at the 1929 Pendleton Round-Up as the reason for the expulsion of women from the rodeo arena, but in reality, the tide had turned against the cowgirls many years earlier. Both the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo and the Pendleton Round-Up had difficulties with Mabel Strickland, a 98-pound steer roper who set the world s record at Frontier Days in 1924 an accomplishment that was written up in newspapers and magazines across the country. Both rodeos barred this petite woman from competing against the cowboys. Throughout the 1920s the rodeo cowgirl was losing ground to the Rodeo Queen, an invention of the Pendleton Round-Up, which was viewed as the more appropriate role for women. You can t begin to understand the history of women s rodeo unless you understand the current events of the early 20th century, says Wursta. By the spring of 1929, the Rodeo Association of America had already announced that 1929 would be the last year for women in the rodeo. It is sad that Bonnie McCarroll s tragic and avoidable death at the Pendleton Round-Up was used as the excuse to remove women from western rodeo. Review From Cheyenne to Pendleton: The Rise and Fall of the Rodeo Cowgirl World famous Boisean cowgirl Bonnie McCarroll died doing what she loved: busting broncos. Idaho State Historical Museum hosts Steve Wursta s documentary film From Cheyenne to Pendleton: The Rise and Fall of the Rodeo Cowgirl, The film explores the lives of three rodeo pioneers: McCarroll, Colorado s Bertha Blancett and Washington s Mabel Strickland and what forced females out of the sport in 1929. Steve Wursta of Bend, Ore., documents the 25-year legacy of women in rodeo in his fourth film. --The Boise Weekly, March 5th, 2010