Quick viewing(Text Mode)

Wild West.” – the Omaha Daily Bee, May 21, 1883

Wild West.” – the Omaha Daily Bee, May 21, 1883

The Wild West Keeping the American Legend Alive

By Elizabeth Mack For a month past the great event to which all our citizens were looking forward was the appearance of the Cody and Carver combination, with their original and novel show, entitled the “Wild West.” – The Omaha Daily Bee, May 21, 1883

he newspaper excerpt above public’s imagination. What was, and way to satisfy the public’s fascination describes the first ever Wild continues to be, the attraction to these with the West. Even as early as the West exhibition of William shows and the Wild West? late 1880s, Cody and others believed F. “” Cody, Cody’s “The Wild West, Rocky the West was dying, and that his performed in Omaha to an Mountain, exhibitions were a way to keep it alive. Tenthusiastic crowd. Along with Codyody andand AccordingAccord to Sarah Blackstone, author was his one-time partner, Doc Carver,ver, ofof ,Buck Bullets and Business, and their large troupe of performers,rs, by the timet Cody’s shows were at the including Capt. A.H. Bogardus (U.S..S. heightheight ofo their popularity in the early champion trap shooter), as well as 1890s,1890s “all but four of the numerous riders territoriesterri had become states, the and , Omaha and Pawnee lastlast Indian uprising had been Indians (Chief and quelled,qu and there were four would later join transcontinentaltr railroads.” the troupe) and even a small SettlersS were coming west by herd of buffalo. The newspaper the thousands, and for Buffalo reported “no less than 8,000 Bill, these exhibitions served persons were present to witness to not only entertain, but to the opening” of Cody’s quell what was becoming extravaganza, a substantial known as “frontier anxiety.” number even by today’s Many Americans became standards. concerned, believing the free Buffalo Bill’s re-enactments land was nearly gone, and were the first in a long line feared its disappearance would COURTESY OF NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY of Wild West exhibitions that change society. The belief that served to keep the legend of the thet frontier had ended created outlaws and gunslingers alive; a nostalgia that spurred many more than 80 companies have beenn AmericansAm to wonder what they documented to operate in the late had missed by not going west. 19th and early 20th centuries, and TheThe WildW West shows satisfied their these re-enactments continue to thriverive cravingcraving for adventure. today. On any given weekend acrossoss Cody’sCody exhibitions, which thrilled PHOTO BY PASQUALE MINGARELLI the country, re-enactment troupes audiencesaudienc with displays of shootouts, depict the era of the rough-and-tumblemble stagecoachstageco robberies and Indians on hero. Though America’s PrairiePii footft racing against horses, glamorized history boasts many interesting and Exhibition” (he was careful not to use the West. According to Paul Reddin, In Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show posters, the Congress of were always highlighted as great hunters, expert unique periods, it is the era of wild, the word “show” in the title, as he author of , these equestrians and skilled sharpshooters. The posters – and word of mouth – were the primary forms of advertisement at the time. western cowboys – roughly 1860 argued the performances were “reality elaborate “re-enactments” satisfied Even today, modern reenactors often try to keep the legends of the Wild West alive by dressing in period dress (left) and using to 1890 – that seems to capture the itself”) and others like them served as a a cultural need for Americans who replicas of period weaponry as they recreate famous gunfights or popular heroes of the time.

34 NEBRASKALAND • JUNE 2012 JUNE 2012 • NEBRASKALAND 35 Wild West Re-Enactments – Cody’s Wild West show performed to a crowd of 18,000 at Chicago’s Nebraska to Arizona World’s Fair in 1893. At the same Nebraska fair, a scholar declared in a speech • Rock Creek Trail Days – Fairbury, Nebraska. First weekend in that “The frontier has gone.” This was June. the beginning of the end of the Wild • Railroad Days – Railroad heritage at Durham Western Heritage West shows. Cody’s exhibition closed Museum, Lauritzen Gardens, Union Pacific Railroad Museum, The up for good in 1913, partly due to Historic General Dodge House and RailsWest Railroad Museum in the advent of the motion picture. The Omaha, Nebraska. July. first narrative film ever in 1903, The • Grand Duke Alexis Rendezvous – Russian Czar, Alexander II, the Great , was inspired by Grand Duke Alexis visited Nebraska in 1872 for a buffalo hunt led the robbing of a Union Pacific train by Buffalo Bill Cody, General George Custer, and General Phil by ’s Hole in the Wall Sheridan. This celebration includes storytelling from the “actual” Gang. Other exhibitions continued with characters and other events at Camp Hayes Lake, Hayes Center, mixed success for another decade, but Nebraska. September. the characters lived on. Even though • NEBRASKAland DAYS – Buffalo Bill , The Frontier Revue, the Wild West shows were dying Heritage Festival and more. North Platte, Nebraska. June. off, the shaping of the mythological The Archway – Kearney, daily. COURTESY OF NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY American hero continued in paintings, • dime-novels and film. Buffalo Bill Outside Nebraska became the most often-portrayed • Gathering of the – Yuma, Arizona. January. western hero in re-enactments and on • Custer’s Last Stand Re-enactment & Little Bighorn Days – Hardin & screen. Crow Agency, Montana. June. “It’s embedded in Americans’ • Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Days – Sheridan, . June. psyche. When we see those characters • Wild West Shakespeare – Much Ado About Nothing or . . . A Whole riding the range, taming the horses, Lotta Fussin’ over Nothin’ – American West Heritage Center, Logan saving the farm or ranch, it touches on Utah. Weekends in July. our basic emotions of not only survival, but that we can make a difference,” said J. B. Tyson, Nebraska filmmaker and film studies specialist. “It comes came out of Buffalo Bill’s “Old Glory other period-specific demonstrations,” Many Wild West exhibition posters often depicted heroic riders coming to the rescue of white settlers from the “savage Indians,” as shown here. The show’s depiction of Indians reinforced inaccurate stereotypes that followed Native Americans into 20th century down to the basics of good versus evil. Blowout,” which celebrated the Fourth said Judy Weers with the Rock Creek films. Even though the idea of the Wild West of July in 1882 and is argued to have Station Visitors Center and Museum, and its heroes is based in legend and been the first rodeo in the country. “but the shootouts with the re-enactors wanted to see the conquest of the music in the 1840s. During this period, surrounded by myth, the desire to be Frontier Days is another are always the most popular.” country as a grand accomplishment American showman P. T. Barnum that hero is real.” immensely popular example, going Harlin Krueger, along with his filled with drama and excitement: exhibited Indian chiefs, dances and Even though these shows slowly strong since 1897. wife Carol and a band of about 15 “Characterizing the winning of the an array of Wild West displays in his came to an end, they created a passion Another legend that lives on in volunteers, form the Old West Theater Plains frontier as easy and peaceful museums before he became known for western-style entertainment, and the re-enactments is . Group, a band of re-enactors who would have minimized something that for his circus. The myths grew bigger contemporary rodeo is a direct result , located on the perform the famed McCanles shootout Americans wanted to see as heroic.” and more exaggerated when the dime of Cody’s Wild West exhibitions. outskirts of Fairbury and established that set Wild Bill Hickok’s reputation It would have been difficult (and novel took off in the late-1850s. These Though informal existed in the along the as a stage and in motion, at Fairbury’s Trail Days: boring) to show a farming family novels captured the public’s fascination 1820s and 1830s, competitive rodeo Pony Express stop, is where Hickok “We not only recreate the actual raising a cabin and planting crops – with sensational tales of violence and emerged after the Civil War, and often began his gunslinging career in what is shootout that took place here, but we Americans needed a larger-than-life heroics – cowboys versus Indians, Wild West shows introduced rodeo known as the “McCanles Massacre.” also reenact the Pony Express changing hero to represent the epic “conquering” lawmen versus outlaws, settlers versus exhibitions into their acts. The only In 1980, the Nebraska Game and of the mochila.” These mochilas (from of the Plains, and the dashing and predatory cattlemen. One of the most difference is Buffalo Bill’s and other Parks Commission began to develop the Spanish word for “knapsack”) adventurous Buffalo Bill Cody fit the successful of these dime novels was shows hired performers instead of Rock Creek Station as a state historical were thrown over the saddle and held bill. Cody’s “National Entertainment” ’s series on William prize-money contestants. Professional park. Today, the park hosts “Rock in place by the weight of the rider, advertised “Object Lessons” and Cody. Buffalo Bill Cody - King of the rodeo had an explosion of popularity Creek Trail Days” the first weekend of and the mail pockets (cantinas) were “Educational Exhibitions” but Buffalo Bordermen was the first of 550 titles in the decade after World War I, and June, an event that boasts living history padlocked. Only two minutes were Bill’s realistic portrayals of the West featuring the hero. Bill Cody decided to in many cases, “rodeo” seemed to demonstrations, rides, allowed at a station, so changing of the

COURTESY OF UN-O CRISS LIBRARY were often so mingled with myth, it promote his own now widely popular be substituted for “Wild West” as a demonstrations, a buffalo Pony Express’s mochila became an art became impossible to differentiate legend, and after a brief stint in the more popular drawing card. Today’s stew cookout and re-enactments of the unto itself. This Omaha Daily Bee clipping reports between the two. theater began to form his traveling rodeos often intermingle western- McCanles-Hickok shootout. “I got started in cowboy action Buffalo Bill’s 1883 opening exhibition a “sensation.” The show was over three These myths of the Wild West began Wild West exhibitions. style re-enactments with competition. “We do basket weaving, shooting and that got us started doing hours long and thousands attended. with the minstrel shows and popular At the height of its popularity, North Platte’s NEBRASKAland Days blacksmithing, loom weaving and the re-enactments,” said Krueger.

36 NEBRASKALAND • JUNE 2012 JUNE 2012 • NEBRASKALAND 37 Myth of the Savage Indian history to younger kids. “Kids will come up to us after a Scholars believe that negative stereotypes of Native Americans grew out of the same dime novels and Wild West shows that glamorized the cowboy performance and ask if we’re ‘real’ and gunfighters. William Cody is said to have greatly respected and admired cowboys. We get a chance to educate a the great Indian chiefs, featuring them prominently in his shows as noble new generation,” he said. warriors, though in many of his exhibitions, Cody featured Native Americans The era portrayed by Wild West as wild savages attacking whites – with Cody and his Rough Riders riding Creations’ cowboys is the lawless era in to save the day. Some of the re-enactments included the Lewis and Clark after the end of the Civil War, which Expedition, Battle of Little Bighorn and many battles from the Plains wars. according to the troupe, was dominated Other performances depicted were “Attack on Setter’s Cabin” and “Attack by diverse personalities of law abiding on the Emigrant Train,” where natives were defeated by the brave settlers. and lawless men and women settling Custer’s Last Stand was staged with actual survivors of the melee. All were the untamed land. paid for their performances and also made side money signing autographs “Part of the charm of the old west, as and photographs after the show. Native Americans taking part in Cody’s show included: viewed through our eyes, has always been the colorful characters of those Sitting Bull (who never actually performed in any re-enactments) days,” says Deb Skinner, director of marketing for Wild West Creations. “We find that live performances of the Rains in the Face (reported as the man who killed Custer) old west history are the best way to Standing Bear

COURTESY OF NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY bring the west alive.” Americans are not the only audience Most of the Native Americans used in the shows came from the Pine hungry for a taste of our rough and Ridge Reservation and were Oglala Sioux, but had to represent themselves rowdy history. Wild West re-enactment from multiple tribes. Many of the Native Americans used the shows as a way to advance recognition of Indian lives, as well as an avenue to be “useful groups are widely popular in England and productive” citizens. Both Standing Bear and Black Elk discuss their and other European countries. One experiences in the Wild West shows in their respective autobiographies, “My large troupe meets every weekend in People the Sioux” and “Black Elk Speaks.” their own “Western” town in England. Nestled in the Kent countryside outside of London is the town of Laredo, an “authentic” Wild West town complete Wild West exhibitions have created a with twenty-six period-correct lasting image of the American West. buildings lit by oil lamp, cowboys and Although the shows are based largely Many Oglala Sioux tribe members traveled with Cody’s Wild West troupe, but often wore costumes from tribes other than their own saloon girls, and hitching on myth, they have helped in some during the shows’ performances. posts. Colin Winter, Laredo’s resident ways to preserve part of the history spokesperson, believes the popularity of the , including the “We’re getting older so we don’t of the Wild West for outsiders is colorful characters of the legendary do as much as we used to, but the rooted in childhood nostalgia: “I think time. As the public continues to remain Annie Oakley and the re-enactments are extremely popular.” it goes back to when we were young enthralled with the long-vanished Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickok were – we were always playing cowboys rugged frontier and its inhabitants, Role of Women both famed Pony Express riders before and Indians. I always watched the old re-enactments live on to capture the they became famous gunslingers. films with Roy Rogers, Lone Ranger strength and spirit of the wild, wild Though arguably the first female superstar, Another popular troupe of and Cisco Kid – we had some great West. ■ sharpshooter Annie Oakley’s (nicknamed “Watanya re-enactors is Wild West Creations out adventures.” Cicilla” or “Little Sure Shot” by fellow performer Sitting of Omaha. Frank Murcek, a.k.a. Wyatt J.B. Tyson believes America’s Historical information was taken Bull) presence in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows was Earp, along with his brother, Steve, vibrant history not only crosses cultural from Wild West Shows by Paul not the result of Cody or other management wanting to and a band of outlaws, stage shootouts, boundaries, but geographic boundaries Reddin; The Wild West: A History of recognize the role of frontier women. After auditioning bank and train robberies, and will even as well: “A rich history has the ability the Wild West Shows by Don Russell; in 1884, they decided the show had no position for her perform a shotgun wedding if needed. to intertwine geography and capture the Buckskins, Bullets and Business by until sharpshooter A. H. Bogardus left unexpectedly. “When I was young, I grew up with imagination of any generation.” Sarah Blackstone; Outside American; Oakley auditioned again and was hired, so having the western on TV, so I’ve always The old West conjures up images of Race, Ethnicity, and the Role of the her was more a result of an unplanned hiring than had a love for cowboys like John cowboys and Indians, six-shooters and American West in National Belonging any inclination of Cody or management to include a Wayne, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry,” spurs, John Wayne and Roy Rogers. by Dan Moos. white woman in the show. Cody’s later autobiography says Murcek. “In 1958, of the top 10 Who hasn’t, at some time in their For more information on Wild West included little mention of any contributions of women programs on TV, seven of them were childhood, slung a holster over their Creations, go to wildwestcreations.net. – the “winning of the West” was still believed to be a westerns. Now there are none. So for hips and challenged the neighbor kid Visitors to England can find the town strictly male accomplishment. COURTESY OF NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY us, it’s the nostalgia, and what we do in Ned Buntline, Buffalo Bill and to a quick draw? Even though the Wild of Laredo 25 miles outside of London, the re-enactments is bring this part of Texas Jack; 1872. West is now only a faint memory, the or visit their web site at laredo.org.uk.

38 NEBRASKALAND • JUNE 2012 JUNE 2012 • NEBRASKALAND 39

Top View