This French-American animated co-production presented Calamity Jane in a distinctly different light from the 1953 Doris Day characterisation.
This cowgirl with an attitude had zero tolerance for thieves, male chauvinists or white folk who looked down on their Native American neighbours (when a soldier refers to “Injuns”, Jane snaps, “Don’t call them that. They got real names of their own. They’re Comanche”).
The series, produced in France, was based on the adventures of an actual character, Martha Jane Canary, who scandalised polite society during the Dakotas gold rush of the 1870s. A runaway at 14, she hitched a ride west on a stagecoach that was ambushed by Comanches.
The only survivor, she was raised by an Indian chief and his white wife as their own. She was accepted among the Comanche as “Little Fire Rock” and defended Indian rights all her life.
In the cartoon, Calamity Jane (voiced by Barbara Scaff) – with her ghoulishly white skin, pointed chin and unruly mane of red hair – was a renegade law enforcer who rescued innocent men moments before they were about to be hanged and tracked down outlaws by hijacking a locomotive or pulling a Houdini escape from the bottom of a well.
Yet, despite her super-hero strength, Jane usually saved the day using her brains, her whip when needed (usually for rescue, not violence) and her gun only as a last resort.
With the help of her partner, Joe Presto (Frank Welker) and occasional aid from her old friend, Wild Bill Hickok (voiced by Clancy Brown from Shawshank Redemption) and cavalry officer Captain John O’Rourke (Tim Matheson), Jane took on all comers. Her main adversaries were the Doolin Gang, led by Bill Doolin (Mark Rolston).
The French version featured different voice actors, headed up by Catherine Le Henan as Jane.
Jennifer Jason Leigh was initially cast as the voice of Jane in the US version, but the producers re-cast the role two weeks before the show was to premiere, with Scaff taking over.
Calamity Jane
Barbara Scaff Joe Presto
Frank Welker Wild Bill Hickok
Clancy Brown Capt. John O’Rourke
Tim Matheson Bill Doolin
Mark Rolston Lonely Sue
Miriam Flynn Quanna Parker
Michael Horse Leilani
Julia Kato Additional Voices
Mae Whitman
Mark Hamill
Jim Cummings
Gil Birmingham
Luke Perry
Jeff Bennett
Richard Moll
Larry Drake
Sherman Howard
Don Harvey
Georg Stanford Brown
Shannon Kenny
Townsend Coleman
Richard Doyle
Philip Maurice Hayes
Philip L. Clarke
Joe Lala
John Rubano
Episodes
Slip of the Whip | An Army of Rogues | Like Father, Like Daughter | As Easy as One, Two, Three | Train Kept a’ Rollin’ | The Final Curtain | The Way of the Buffalo | Troubled Waters | Waiting for the Cavalry | Dead or Alive | Protege | I’d Rather Be in Philadelphia | Without a Vengeance
The series, produced in France, was based on the adventures of an actual character, Martha Jane Canary, who scandalised polite society during the Dakotas gold rush of the 1870s. A runaway at 14, she hitched a ride west on a stagecoach that was ambushed by Comanches.
With the help of her partner, Joe Presto (Frank Welker) and occasional aid from her old friend, Wild Bill Hickok (voiced by Clancy Brown from Shawshank Redemption) and cavalry officer Captain John O’Rourke (Tim Matheson), Jane took on all comers. Her main adversaries were the Doolin Gang, led by Bill Doolin (Mark Rolston).
