"Oh, You Cowgirl!" A Documentary Film

The Cowgirl, Rose Henderson & The Showgirl,Prairie Rose

For those of you who follow the women of the Golden Era of Rodeo, Prairie Rose Henderson is a familiar name. Much has been written about her masterful rides on broncs such as Gin Fizz at Cheyenne Frontier Days. She was always welcomed as a featured cowgirl in Doubleday's photo's of cowgirl lineups dressed in wild, feminine, homemade costumes.

The giant man of rodeo, C.B. Irwin once exclaimed to photographers after she won the saddle bronc contest, "Here boys! C'mon over here if you want to meet the greatest cowgirl of them all - Prairie Rose."

All the men with their camera's in tow would rush over to find the beautiful, feminine girl, "Prairie Rose" with Maribou feathers blowing in the wind, spangles, beads, sequins glimmering in the sunlight and Mink lining her wonderful costumes. "Prairie Rose" was exactly what the people of America needed to see to insure a certain comfort and level of safety that it was indeed acceptable for women to be participating in this harsh, masculine spectacle of the plains.

Prairie Rose, like C.B. Irwin, knew and understood the importance of the press.

Prairie Rose was an intelligent and talented young woman who had immigrated with her grandparents to America from Germany at the age of nine and grew up outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, far from the prairies and cattle ranches in the west.

Photo courtesy Keith Walters

 Photo courtesy Keith Walters

 Photo courtesy Keith Walters

Rose Henderson, on the other hand, was a daughter of the plains. Born in Nebraska in 1875, and after a loveless marriage to a Swedish immigrant, a cowboy stole her heart. She ran away with the cowboy knowing she could never return because her father would never accept her sinful behavior.As many young women did at this time, she changed her name to protect her family from embarrassment.

Rose Henderson was the typical "cowgirl" that much of America was reeling against; plain, crude, drank alcohol and chewed tobacco. 

C.B. Irwin loved to win and the cowgirls who rode with Irwin Brothers were the best to be found. C.B. also knew what to do about bad publicity. He would nip it in the bud. "Prairie Rose" and Rose Henderson were each others "ringers" and the press went along with the shill most willingly. Rose Henderson was the great cowgirl and Prairie Rose was the great soubrette and showgirl.

 Photo courtesy Dan Katz