Annie Oakley - the girl "with the rain drops in her eyes"

So a new adventure in theatre has begun for me as an actress. I have been cast as Annie Oakley in the musical "Annie Get Your Gun." So as a result I have begun the journey of research into the lives of Annie Oakley and Frank Butler

What has been most captivating though is not the sharp shooting, and Wild West Show stories, but the story of their love.

Frank Butler met Annie Oakley for the first time as Annie walked out for a shooting match against him in Cincinnati Ohio.

Some say that she was merely 15 years old while others claim she was 20. In either case Frank was ten years her elder and was shocked when she appeared.
"I was a beaten man the moment she appeared for I was taken off guard... Never were the birds so hard for two shooters as they flew from us, but never did a person make more impossible shots than did that little girl. She killed 23 and I killed 21. It was her first big match-my first defeat." said Frank Butler

After the match Frank invited Annie to see one of his shows and she went. Frank performed a trick where he shot an apple off his poodles head. The poodles name was George. After the act George picked up a piece of apple and laid it at Annie's feet. It then so happened that George became the easiest way for Frank to court Annie. George would send Annie letters and boxes of candy. One of the letters Frank sent via George was called "Little Raindrops"

There's a charming little girl

She's many miles from here

She's a loving little fairy

You'd fall in love to see her

Her presence would remind you

Of an Angel in the skies,

And you bet I love this little girl

with the rain drops in her eyes.

I love this story. The poem especially I cannot get out of my head. I think what appeals to me the most about it is the love and beauty that is expressed in his idea of who she is.