Calamity Jane, the Sad Realities of the Legend of the West (2/2)

2024-01-16T04:16:55.893Z

Highlights: The name Calamity Jane is associated with the legend of the American West. The press portrayed her as a mythical adventurer who dressed as a man while living in Deadwood, South Dakota. But there's a woman behind the legend: Martha Jane Cannary. In fact, lonely, alcoholic and subsisting on a multitude of precarious jobs, she leads a life of homelessness. Martha Jane sinks into misery as the conquest of the West becomes a memory, and a lucrative imagination. Her legend never ceases to eclipse the lonely woman she once was.

The name Calamity Jane is associated with the legend of the American West. The press portrayed her as a mythical adventurer who dressed as a man while living in Deadwood, South Dakota. But there's a woman behind the legend: Martha Jane Cannary. In fact, lonely, alcoholic and subsisting on a multitude of precarious jobs, she leads a life of homelessness. Listen to the rest of the story about Calamity Jane's real life as told by Virginie Girod. Calamity Jane often dresses as a woman and dreams of a family. Married to a railway worker, she has a young daughter, Jessie. But her husband beats her, and Calamity Jane is back on the road. Everywhere she arrives, she's a star. People perceive, however, the disconnect between Western heroine Calamity Jane and Martha, who is grappling with her demons and alcohol. Martha Jane sinks into misery as the conquest of the West becomes a memory, and a lucrative imagination. When she is offered a contract with a traveling circus, she has no choice but to accept. His job is to find his bucket pants, take promotional photos with his rifle and tell his stories. But the money she earns is immediately spent on alcohol. Calamity Jane even spent frequent time in prison for "disturbing public order"! In 1901, while holed up in the far reaches of the Midwest, journalist Josephine Brake tracked him down and offered him a deal. She took him to work at the Pan-American Exposition in New York State and found him a role in another show about the West. In the big cities of the American East, Calamity Jane is like a fish out of water. With the financial help of Buffalo Bill, she soon returned west and settled in a small mining town near Deadwood, where she died in 1903. At a time when Hollywood was adorning itself with its first studios, Calamity Jane became a movie character. Her legend never ceases to eclipse the lonely woman she once was.