Wild West shows facts for kids
Wild West shows were popular traveling performances in the United States and Europe from about 1870 to 1920. These shows started as plays on a stage. Later, they became big outdoor events. They showed exciting, but sometimes made-up, stories about the American West. You would see cowboys, Plains Indians, army scouts, and even wild animals.
While some parts of the shows were based on real events, many were just for fun or made to seem more exciting. Native Americans, in particular, were often shown in ways that were not always accurate. These shows helped introduce many famous Western performers and made the American frontier seem very exciting to lots of people.
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History of Wild West Shows
After the American Civil War in the 1800s, stories about the American West became very popular. People loved reading inexpensive books called dime novels about frontier life.
In 1869, a writer named Ned Buntline met William F. Buffalo Bill Cody. Cody was a famous buffalo hunter and army scout. Buntline wrote a book about him called Buffalo Bill, the King of Border Men.
In 1872, Buntline's book became a play called The Scouts of the Prairie. It opened in Chicago. The show starred Buntline, Cody, Texas Jack Omohundro, and a dancer named Giuseppina Morlacchi. They toured theaters across America for two years.
Buntline later left the show. In 1874, Cody started his own group called the Buffalo Bill Combination. He performed part of the year and worked as a scout the rest of the time.
Wild Bill Hickok joined the group for a new play, Scouts of the Plains. But Hickok didn't like acting. He was let go after one show when he shot out a spotlight!
Texas Jack left Cody's group in 1877. He started his own acting company in St. Louis called the 'Texas Jack Combination'. His first show was Texas Jack in the Black Hills. They also performed plays like The Trapper's Daughter.
In 1883, Cody started something new: Buffalo Bill's Wild West. This was a huge outdoor show that traveled every year. It had lots of action, including wild animals, amazing tricks, and reenactments of famous events. All sorts of characters from the frontier were part of the show. There were also incredible shooting displays and trick shots. Rodeo events, with cowboys doing rough and dangerous acts with animals, were also featured. This was the first and most famous Wild West show. It ran until 1915.
Buffalo Bill's Wild West
In 1883, Buffalo Bill's Wild West began in North Platte, Nebraska. Buffalo Bill Cody turned his real-life adventures into the very first outdoor Western show.
The show's publicist, Arizona John Burke, used new ways to promote it. He got famous people to say good things about the show. He also sent out press kits, created publicity stunts, and used billboards. These ideas helped the show become very popular.
Buffalo Bill's Wild West toured Europe eight times. The first four tours were from 1887 to 1892. The last four were from 1902 to 1906. The first tour in 1887 was part of a big American event in London. It happened at the same time as Queen Victoria's 50th year as queen.
The Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII, asked for a special show. He was so impressed that he arranged for Queen Victoria to see it. The Queen loved the show and meeting the performers. She even asked for another show on June 20, 1887, for her Jubilee guests. Kings and queens from all over Europe came to see it. This included the future Kaiser Wilhelm II and King George V.
Buffalo Bill's Wild West was a huge success in London. It ran for over 300 shows and sold more than 2.5 million tickets. The show then visited Birmingham and Manchester before returning to the United States in 1888.
In 1893, Cody changed the show's name to Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World. It performed at the Chicago World's Fair for 18,000 people. This made the show even more famous.
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Buffalo Bill's Wild West returned to Europe in 1902. It had a long run in London, and King Edward VII visited again. The show toured Great Britain in 1902, 1903, and 1904. It performed in almost every big city. The 1905 tour started in Paris, then traveled around France. The final tour in 1906 began in France and went to Italy, Austria, Hungary, and other countries.
By 1894, it became harder for people to afford tickets because of money problems. Buffalo Bill lost a lot of money and faced financial trouble. He signed a contract that tricked him into selling the show. He became just an employee of the Sells-Floto Circus. From then on, the show started to fail. Finally, in 1913, the show went bankrupt.
What Was in the Show?
The shows mixed reenactments of history with amazing displays of skill. There were sharpshooting acts, hunts, races, and rodeo-style events. Each show lasted 3 to 4 hours and attracted thousands of people every day.
The show started with a big parade on horseback. This parade was a huge event with many performers, including the Congress of Rough Riders.
Events included acts like the Bison Hunt and the Train Robbery. There was also an Indian War Battle Reenactment. The grand finale was usually the Attack on the Burning Cabin. In this act, Native Americans attacked a settler's cabin. Buffalo Bill, cowboys, and Mexicans would then fight them off.
The show also had scenes like a settler's view of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. This reenactment, also called "Custer's Last Stand," featured Buck Taylor as General George Armstrong Custer. In the real battle, Custer and his men were killed. In the show, Buffalo Bill would ride in as the hero, but too late. He would then "avenge" Custer.
Shooting competitions and displays of marksmanship were a big part of the program. Performers showed off incredible skills with rifles, shotguns, and revolvers. Many people in the show were good shooters, but some were true experts.
Animals also played a role in the rodeo entertainment. Cowboys like Lee Martin would try to rope and ride broncos. Broncos are wild horses that try to throw their riders off. Other animals they would work with included mules, buffalo, and Texas steers. The show also had staged hunts, which looked like real frontier hunts. They even used one of the few remaining buffalo herds in the world.
Races were another fun part of the Wild West show. There were races between cowboys, Mexicans, and Native Americans. There was a foot race between a Native American and a pony. Sioux boys raced on bareback ponies. Mexican thoroughbreds raced, and even Lady Riders had their own races.
Other Wild West Shows
Over time, many other Wild West shows started up. Some of these included Bee Ho Gray's Wild West, Texas Jack's Wild West, and Pawnee Bill's Wild West. There was also the Jones Bros.' Buffalo Ranch Wild West and Cummin's Indian Congress and Wild West Show.
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The 101 Ranch Wild West Show featured African American performers. These included Bill Pickett, who was famous for "bulldogging" (wrestling steers).
Performers in the Shows
Wild West shows could have as many as 1,200 performers at once. These included cowboys, scouts, Native Americans, military members, and Mexicans. They also had many animals like buffalo and Texas Longhorns.
Some very famous people who performed in these shows were Will Rogers, Tom Mix, and Pawnee Bill. Other notable performers included Bill Pickett, Jess Willard, and Mexican Joe. Johnny Baker was called the "Cowboy Kid" and was like a boy version of Annie Oakley.
Some famous cowboys were Buck Taylor, known as "The First Cowboy King," and James Lawson, "The Roper."
Women were also a big part of Wild West shows and drew many fans. One such performer was Annie Oakley. She became famous as a sharpshooter when she was just 15. She beat Frank Butler, a professional marksman, in a shooting contest. Annie Oakley was a star in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show for 16 years. She was known as "Miss Annie Oakley, the Peerless Lady Wing-Shot."
Calamity Jane was another well-known woman performer. She was a famous frontierswoman with many wild stories about her life. In the show, she was a skilled horsewoman and an expert with rifles and revolvers. Calamity Jane performed in Wild West shows until 1902.
Other important women in the shows included Tillie Baldwin, May Lillie, and Lillian Smith.
"Show Indians" were Native American actors, mostly from the Plains Nations like the Lakota people. They were hired to take part in staged "Indian Races" and pretend battles. They often appeared in attack scenes where they were encouraged to act "wild." The shows often presented Native people as "exotic" and sometimes showed them doing strange rituals. Native women were sometimes dressed in clothing that wasn't traditional, like men's headdresses with short leather outfits. They also performed what was called "the Sioux Ghost Dance."
Chief Sitting Bull joined Cody's Wild West show for a short time. He was a big star alongside Annie Oakley. While with the show, Sitting Bull met President Grover Cleveland. He thought this meeting showed how important he was as a chief. He was friends with Buffalo Bill and really valued the horse he was given when he left the show.
Other famous Native Americans who performed included Red Cloud, Chief Joseph, and Geronimo.
Influence and Legacy
Wild West shows made people very interested in Western entertainment. You can still see this interest today in Western films, modern rodeos, and circuses. Western films in the early 1900s filled the space left by Wild West shows. The first real Western movie, The Great Train Robbery, was made in 1903. Thousands more followed. In the 1960s, "Spaghetti Westerns," which were movies about the American Old West made in Europe, were very popular.
Today, rodeos are still held, using the same events and skills that cowboys showed in Wild West shows. People who perform in the style of the Wild West, sometimes called Wild Westers, still appear in movies, pow-wows, and rodeos.
There is still a lot of interest in Native peoples across the United States and Europe. This includes interest in the pow-wow culture of Native people. Some pow-wows are open to visitors. Here, you can see traditional Native American skills like horse culture, ceremonial dancing, food, art, and music. Other pow-wows are private events just for members of the Native community.
Several projects celebrate Wild Westers and their history. The National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution has many photographs. These include pictures by Gertrude Käsebier that show Wild Westing performances.
The Carlisle Indian School Resource Center in Pennsylvania has many old materials and photos from the Carlisle Indian School. In 2000, a committee worked with Native Americans from many tribes to hold a pow-wow. This event honored the Carlisle Indian School, its students, and their stories.
