WILD WEST SHOW

WILD WEST SHOW. The Wild West show was a popular, uniquely American form of entertainment that

promoted the image of a romantic and dangerous western frontier from its beginning in 1883 until the 1930s.

William "Buffalo Bill" Cody staged the first Wild West show in 1883. Cody's experiences as a performer as well as a Pony Express rider, army scout, buffalo hunter, and participant in Indian wars preceded his first show. In 1872, while serving as a hunting guide for the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, Cody recruited the Brulé Sioux Spotted Tail and members of his tribe to entertain the duke with war dances and participate in a buffalo hunt. Dime novelist Ned Buntline wrote four novels and a magazine serial featuring "Buffalo Bill," a hero based on Cody. Cody played himself in Buntline's play The Scouts of the Prairie (1872) and continued to appear in plays until he began his Wild West shows.

In 1882, Cody held the "Old Glory Blow Out," a Fourth of July celebration and predecessor of the Wild West show in North Platte, Nebraska, featuring riding and roping competitions. The first show billed as "Wild West" was Cody's "Wild West, Mountain, and Prairie Exhibition" on the Omaha, Nebraska, fairgrounds opening 19 May 1883. It included a demonstration of Pony Express riding, an Indian attack on a Deadwood stagecoach, a glass ball shooting competition, and buffalo roping. Sharpshooter Annie Oakley joined Cody's "Wild West" in 1884, and the Sioux chief Sitting Bull joined the following year. Cody hired hundreds of "Show Indians" to perform in his exhibitions, despite charges by social reformers and Bureau of Indian Affairs officials that the show exploited the Indians and emphasized savagery.

Wild West shows remained popular through the 1890s. Two other popular shows were "Pawnee Bill's Historic Wild West," which opened in 1888, and the "101 Ranch Real Wild West," beginning in 1907. Cody's "Wild West" toured Europe in 1887, 1889, and 1902, and performed for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. In 1891, Cody's show became "Buffalo Bill's Wild Westand Congress of Rough Riders of the World," expanding to include Russian, Mexican, Argentine, and Arab horsemen as well as American cowboys and Indians. The show reached the height of its popularity in 1893 with performances in conjunction with the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. To the exposition performances, Cody added a reenactment of "Custer's Last Charge," which became a standard feature of the Wild West show.

As life on the frontier became more settled, Cody and other Wild West showmen began to dramatize contemporary events, including the Spanish-American War and the Boxer Rebellion in China. The shows declined in popularity during World War I. The "101 Ranch" made a comeback in 1925, and Wild West performances continued into the 1930s as circus acts. The last major show was "Colonel Tim McCoy's Real Wild Westand Rough Riders of the World," which ran for only one month in 1938.

Wild West shows sustained the romantic image of frontier life in well into the twentieth century. Although few Wild West shows survived World War I and the Great Depression, their influence continues in rodeos and television and film westerns.

WILD WEST SHOW

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