An inclusion in the May l950 program (below) for the musical comedy Annie Get Your Gun , music and lyrics by Irving Berlin , starring Evie Hayes , in Adelaide's Theatre Royal , clearly indicates that it made a big impression .
Pasted on the inside of the front cover (below ) was a typed note ,dated Saturday afternoon, May 27,1950, which said a considerable number of youngsters ( no doubt it would have been regarded as a super cowboys and Indians show by the children ) were taken to see it , Walter and Jock greatly impressed by Annie plugging a bird on an old lady's hat .
The real Annie Oakley could : Hit tiny flying balls by taking sight in the shiny surface of a bowie blade ; shoot cigarettes from her husband's mouth with a .22 rifle ; shoot a dime from between her husband's thumb and forefinger at 30 paces.
Evie Hayes, born at Seattle, Washington, USA, began acting at the age of six . She came to Australia on her honeymoon in l942 . During the war years she starred with her husband in revue and variety in Australia and New Zealand .
Each Christmas she played principal boy in Melbourne, Sydney , Adelaide ,Brisbane and Tasmania in pantomimes such as Cinderella and Dick Whittington. It seems Evie was handy with a gun like Oakley as she had won prizes in competitions out on the Marboro Country range .
