72
Popular Culture Review
To make his film historically convincing, DeMille built three acres of
carefully researched sets, and hired residents of the Rosebud Reservation in
Montana to make all the Indian costumes for the film.^^ He cast Gary Cooper as
plainsman Bill Hickok, and Jean Arthur as Calamity Jane.
In a gender analysis of Hollywood icons, Rebecca Bell-Metereau
touches on the cultural expectations of the 1930s and suggests that Arthur’s
Calamity is ‘‘thoroughly representative of the industry’s standard treatment of
the masculine heroine of the thirties—a mixture of tomboy features and
stereotypically feminine attributes.” Bell Metereau identifies the gender aspect
of DeMille’s calamity, saying “. . . \\Jiether she is attacked or defended, it is on
the grounds that she is a woman”^"^Bell Metereau may be right. Tomboyishness
was not new to Arthur. She played tough working girl in John Ford’s The Whole
Town's Talking two years before The Plainsman. A year later, she played a
reporter alongside Gary Cooper in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town}^
Some claim DeMille’s modifications in Jean Arthur’s Calamity fi-om
the historical Martha was the “. . . easiest way to make her life conform to the
moral values of the thirties”^^ Actually DeMille goes much farther than cleaning
up a rowdy Calamity to suit a rather conservative audience. He consciously used
Calamity in the person of Jean Arthur to demonstrate a monstrous side of
womanhood.
Consider the difference between Lucille Ball’s comedic television
persona and her sinister secretary in The Dark Comer (1946). Now, imagine
Ball playing a serious dramatic role using her comedic demeanor and voice. The
result would be grotesque - a disturbing mix of haphazard buffoonery amid dire
circumstances. This is the way Jean Arthur plays Calamity Jane. The portrayal
was, no doubt, a conscious effort on Arthur’s part, and especially DeMille’s. Far
fi-om a casting error, DeMille’s decision to use Arthur, and to play her as a
whining clown oblivious to the suffering she imparts, was a shot at the strong,
pants-wearing women popularized by actresses such as Joan Crawford and
Loretta Young during the 1930s.'^
The film’s narrative revolves around Hickok’s efforts to prevent a
greedy firearm salesman named John Lattimer (Charles Bickford) fi-om selling
his wares to the dangerous Cheyenne. Arthur’s Calamity is Hickok’s femme
fatale. She loves him but refuses to surrender her independence, choosing selfdetermination and promiscuity to devoted loyalty. When questioned about her
infidelity, she wiiines a nasal, “Awww Beeeel, them fellows didn’t mean
anything to me.” Later she divulges critical information to the Cheyenne to
prevent them fiom torturing her beloved Bill. Her betrayal causes the slaughter
of Custer’s (John Miljan) cavalry troops and ultimately leads to Bill’s death at
the hands of gambler Jack McCall (Porter Hall). The end of the film leaves
Calamity Jane heartbroken, holding her dying lover.'®
DeMille’s Calamity works as a stagecoach driver and later as a
bartender, both masculine professions. She rides and shoots like a man.