SYNOPSIS:  The plot of Annie Get Your Gun concerns the spectacular career of sharpshooter Annie Oakley and her romance with Frank Butler, whom she ousts as the star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

When they first meet, Butler finds his position as Champion challenged by this young backwards girl whose shooting prowess is incredible. In a contest with Butler conceived as a publicity stunt for his act, Annie turns the tables on the star: she beats him and at the same time falls hopelessly in love with him. In order to be near him, Annie accepts a job as Frank’s assistant in the Wild West Show. Frank recognizes her talent and, in short, gives her a small spot in the show of her own.

Meanwhile, Buffalo Bill has discovered that his show is going broke because of competition from Pawnee Bill’s vastly popular Far East show. To bolster the show and recoup his losses, Buffalo Bill and his manager Charlie Davenport persuade Annie to do a sensational act which overshadows that of her partner and beloved. Frank leaves the show in a fury, and joins rival Pawnee Bill as his star attraction.

Annie is heartbroken but Sitting Bull, the famous Sioux Warrior, tries to console her by adopting her as his daughter and putting up the money to enable the show to continue. The European tour that follows results in a personal triumph for Annie, who returns to the United States with many valuable medals. The show, however, is in financial trouble and when Pawnee Bill invites Buffalo Bill’s troupe to a reception welcoming them home, they gladly accept and plan to suggest a merger of the two shows when they meet at the party. Pawnee Bill’s show is playing Madison Square Garden with apparent success, but actually he owes money and he too is anxious to combine the two shows.

When Annie and Frank meet again, they declare their love for each other and Frank presents Annie with his medals inscribed “to the sharpshooter of the world!” Annie cannot accept his superiority, and challenges him to a shooting match to decide the title once and for all, pitting her valuable medals against his modest three. Sitting Bull and Charlie are determined that she will not lose the match — and thus win Frank. They twist the sights on her guns and she misses each shot. Eventually Annie becomes aware of their scheme and, taking the first step towards reconciliation, concedes the match to him. Frank, realizing that Annie has thrown the match, swallows his own pride and offers Annie a partnership, with her as the star. Frank donates his “victory prize”, the medals, to the two Bills to financially start off the combined shows. Annie is happy at last having finally discovered that you can get a man with a gun!

HISTORY:  During the 1970s Debbie and her Unsinkable Molly Brown costar Harve Presnell were re-teamed in a sparkling new production of Annie Get Your Gun in Los Angeles, under the able direction of Gower Champion. Though the production never moved to Broadway, it was nonetheless highly successful, boasting a tremendous cast and having specially updated lyrics written by the 87 year old Irving Berlin.

Anne Get Your Gun is a "highly fictionalized" chapter in the life of Annie Oakley, sharp-shooter supreme of the late nineteenth century who gained world renown as the star of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. The musical touches on Oakley's romance not only with bullets and clay pigeons, but also with the love of her life. Born Phoebe Anne Oakley Moses in Darke County, Ohio, 1866, "Mozee" demonstrated her double-barreled prowess by the age of seven, culling all manner of game from the Buckeye back-country. By the ripe old age of twelve, her talents provided the means to pay off the family mortgage. Young Mozee gained notice when she defeated Frank Butler, noted marksman of the vaudeville circuit, in a shooting contest aimed at promoting his act. By the following year, she had dropped her first and last names and joined forces with Butler as his co-star and, in short time, his wife. Butler soon gave up his performing career to manage his young bride's rising star.

With the Buffalo Bill Show, Oakley toured throughout the United States and Europe, performing for commoners and crowded heads alike. She once shot a cigarette from young Kaiser Wilhelm II's lips, prompting one to speculate that with a mere inch off her mark, Annie could have changed the course history. Oakley formally retired from show-biz in 1901, though she often made appearances over the next fifteen years promoting the merits of marksmanship for the fairer sex. She died in Dayton, Ohio, in 1926. Her beloved husband passed on just eighteen days later.

Hundreds of actresses have played Annie, among them Ethel Merman, Patti Page, Ginger Rogers, Gretchen Wyler, Phyllis McGuire (of the McGuire Sisters), Carol Bruce, Martha Raye, Mary McCarty, Chiemi Eri (Tokyo), Brenda Lewis (Vienna), and Evi Hayes (Melbourne). Annie's popularity has remained constant with record sales of over 40 million and an average of over 100 productions, amateur and professional, each year. She has been seen in productions in Sweden, Denmark, South Africa, Rhodesia, Venezuela, and Kuala Lampur, Malaysia.