DIVERSIONS : Home, Home off the Range : Gun-Twirling, Knife-Hurling Cowboys Strut Their Stuff at Old West Roundup

Sylvester Braun has made a career out of throwing knives at his wife.

Barbara Braun, 62, holds flowers in her mouth; Sylvester, 77, cuts them with a one-pound blade. She holds a balloon, he pops it.

Whatever makes a marriage work. . . .

But what originally drew the Brauns together--and continues to be their passion after 40 years of marriage--is their careers as professional trick ropers.

Next weekend, the Brauns will join those Western-garbed men and women who often spin a yarn as well as a rope at the annual Wild West Arts Club Convention at Will Rogers Ranch. They will be joined by gun twirlers and lovers of other Old West arena arts in exhibitions and training sessions Saturday and again on Sunday when club members will put on a Wild West Show.

The convention arrives at a time when there’s a fascination with all things Western: rodeos air regularly on ESPN; the Western-themed Wild Bill’s Dinner Theatre is thriving in Buena Park; country & Western singer Garth Brooks dominates the pop music charts; and movies like “Dances With Wolves” and “City Slickers” are enjoying financial success.

Growing interest has given a leg up to the Wild West club, says Mark Allen of New York, the club’s national director. And it makes their job easier--which is to keep a bit of the vanishing Old West alive.

“It’s part of American history,” Allen says. “How it all started was with cowboys at the end of trail rides. The cowboys would compete, show what they could do--roping and riding, using tools of the cowboy trade.”

Montie Montana and Lash LaRue, a couple of the better-known old-time cowboys who’ve kept the cowboy image alive even in times when country wasn’t cool, will attend the convention.

“There’s a lot of old-timers,” says Montana, who will attend with his son, Montie Jr., and grandson, Jess.

“It’s fun to visit and reminisce and watch the kids coming up.”

The Texas Skip, the popover and the wedding ring might never reach Olympic levels, but the trick ropers who do them--many of whom performed during the glut of B Westerns and Wild West shows--need a certain amount of athletic skill and coordination just the same.

But, Allen assures, anyone can learn to rope, and at the convention members will assist newcomers who want to learn.

“It’s great exercise and something anyone can do. One of our oldest members is 85 years old,” Allen says. “It’s something you can master quickly . . . and it’s great for self-esteem.”

The members come from as far away as England, and from all walks of life. Many, like the Brauns, are professionals, who have made a living out of traveling the country and the world, performing at rodeos, vaudeville and in Western films.

Braun was a stunt double for Jimmy Stewart in “How the West Was Won.” He had to throw an ax into a man’s back (a stuntman wearing a protective apparatus) as the man crossed a river.

Hanging upside-down on a galloping horse, cracking a whip or spinning a rope are not just fun skills to master, says Jim Rogers, son of Will Rogers and a guest at past Wild West conventions at his family’s former home (now part of the state park).

“People are sort of enamored with that thinking (of the West),” says Rogers, a cattle rancher most of his life. “It’s part of their heritage, their past in the West--and it’s a lot of fun.”

Though Rogers never took to trick roping the way his famous father and brother, Will Jr., did, he “did a little trick riding,” and “used to rodeo a little.”

“Dad was a very good trick roper. . . . I don’t know if he was a poor teacher or I was a lousy student,” he says, revealing he at least inherited the Rogers wit.

Rogers says his family is pleased to see the event staged at the ranch, which his mother deeded to the state in 1944. Though he holds no official position, he is “always interested” in what goes on there, “because of my family’s interest and what my mother’s wishes were.”

There are still 180 acres of the original ranch included in the park in the Santa Monica Mountains, along with the Rogers home, barns and polo field, where the Wild West convention will take place.

To most spectators, a Wild West show is a lot of stomping horses and fancy clothes, but there are some tricks to the trade. The horses, for example, must have the right temperament, explains Sylvester Braun as he climbs aboard Kelly, his 16-year-old roping horse. Kelly doesn’t budge a hoof as the roper rises to a standing position on his rump.

The type of rope used is important too. A rope of pure, softer cotton is preferred for spinning, Braun says, and the maguey, a stiffer, tightly wound rope from Mexico, is used for catching horses.

It’s easy to tell the difference, says Barbara Braun, “especially if it hits you.”

Luckily, says Barbara, in more than 50 years in the business, the Brauns haven’t had any serious injuries, though there have been a few close calls. A few years back she was riding with her leg through a cossack (a leather strap that allows the rider to hang nearly upside-down against the saddle). It broke--and she broke a rib.

The best things about the Wild West conventions is catching up on what the others are doing, showing off skills and even learning different techniques, say the Brauns.

“Sometimes they have new things,” Barbara says, “and there are still things I would like to know better.”

But it’s also crucial, she adds, to pass on their knowledge. “Us older people teach the young people so this doesn’t die out.”

The Brauns, who do rope-spinning routines together, are officially retired, but the couple still appear about twice a month at dinner clubs, circuses and at rodeos. They no longer spend 6 to 8 months on the road, nor do they trick ride, though they still ride horses around their Mira Loma home. Most of their work is in stage shows, occasionally doing the knife act when they feel up to hauling the board with them.

“(The knives) don’t bother me at all,” Barbara insists. “We’ve been doing it so long.”

Has he ever missed?

“I never miss,” Sylvester Braun says confidently. “When I miss, I’ll quit.”

Will Rogers State Park, 14253 Sunset Blvd. Pacific Palisades. Wild West Convention free. Parking: $5. Information: (213) 454-8212.

Saturday: seminars, exhibitions, contests 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday: Wild West Show, noon; lunch, more exhibitions.