Radio Digest (June 1932-Mar 1933)

24 That Broadcastin ' w EST Sj/ ^hCarie-cQouise \)an J\lyke WHEN Margaret West, or "The Texas Cowgirl" as she's known to you dial-twisters, sings her cowboy songs, or plaintive Mexican love tunes she knows whereof she sings. Because if ever anyone ever had a right to the title of "Texas Cowgirl," Margaret West has that right. She's not the drug store variety of cowgirl like so many alleged sons and daughters of the West who have visited New York, in their ten gallon hats and chaps and who have never been on a horse, and rarely been farther West than the west bank of the Hudson. For these "professional" cowboys she has nothing but disdain, and rightly. Because she was born on a ranch, lived there all her life, and is truly a daughter of the plains. The famous Rafter "S" Ranch, owned by her father, George W. West, one of Texas' most prominent ranchmen, was her birthplace. By the time she had cut her first tooth, and, incidently she did her teething on the handle of her grandfather's pistol (no pink celluloid teething rings for her, thank you) she could ride a horse. From that time on she's been as much at home on a horse as New Yorkers are in a subway. She's grown up with the legends and stories of early Texas, told to her at an age when most children were learning Mother Goose stories. The famous legends of the old Texas cattle trails, used by the early ranchmen to drive their herds to the markets have been handed down to her by her grandfather, Sol West, who was an early settler, and one of the most famous trail-drivers. Margaret has punched cattle, branded them, roped them, herded them, like a true cowboy. At times, when her father was called away, she has managed the ranch for him, and once, put over a big cattle sale, that he had been trying in vain to negotiate. Despite his chagrin at being bettered by his daughter, in his own business, he was justly and duly proud of her. Going out to camp on the ranch, away from the ranch house for days, is one of Margaret's chief joys, when she's in Texas. Hunting, fishing and rounding up the. cattle with the rest of the men, is life as it should be lived, to her. Al though they carry a cook on these trips, Margaret is chief supervisor of the "chuck wagon," or kitchen, to you. She describes it as a covered wagon, the door in back folding down, to form a table when meals are being prepared. The inside is lined with shelves, carrying all the cooking utensils and supplies. And when the day's work is over, and the evening meal has been dispensed with, which doesn't take long for a lot of hungry men of the open to accomplish, then they all gather round the campfire and Margaret, to the accompaniment of a guitar, sings her cowboy songs and the men exchange anecdotes of prairie life and the Lone Star State. On one of these trips, she had one of the most thrilling experiences of her life. It was just sundown, and as she was heading toward the chuck wagon, she saw a rattler, coiled not more than a foot back of one of the men, poised to strike. Without saying a word to him, out came her revolver, she sighted, and fired, and when the smoke cleared, the snake lay writhing, minus his head. It was a close call, she admitted. But she knew she would hit either the rattler or the man's foot, and luckily for him, she was a good shot. Once a week, on Friday, at 12 :45 she broadcasts over station WINS, in a program of cowboy songs and stories. She wants to bring the true picture of the West to Easterners, because she feels they have no idea of the real West, as she knows it. And when she sings her songs and tells her stories the West is truly brought East, in an enjoyable and unusual program. She sings with a dash and spirit that is inimitable. She enjoys singing the songs of the range because it takes her back to Texas, just as surely as it brings Texas to her listeners. THEM'S not just stage clothes you see on Margaret West. She wears 'em every day like that back home on the big ranch where she was brought up. Her dad owns the famous Rafter "S" Ranch in Texas, she's herded on the range, loaded cattle and sold 'em to the market. Now she sings for New York broadcasting stations.