Playing Cowboy
Shelburne, VT
The myth of the Old West was certainly solidified into the American psyche thanks to Western art and Western movies. But a third source of the West’s enduring appeal can also be traced back to the Wild West shows of the late-18th and early-19th centuries. It was these large open-air shows, starring iconic figures such as William “Buffalo Bill” Cody and Annie Oakley, that helped lay the foundation for the romantic fascination with the West, particularly from those in the East and Europe.
Wild West performances are the subject of a new exhibition, Playing Cowboy, at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. The exhibition, which opened June 23, will present posters, advertising and marketing materials, film footage and artwork that relate to the shows, the time period and America’s growing attraction to the Old West.
Kory Rogers, the curator of Playing Cowboy, says the exhibition has evolved over recent months, from first concentrating solely on cowboys and then later adding elements that focused on the early portrayals of Native American figures. The exhibition will include more than 50 objects, with highlights being original posters from some of the most famous shows, including Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show that started in 1883 and continued in both the United States and in Europe in various forms through the early 1900s.
“We tell the story mostly chronologically, and Buffalo Bill is highlighted for his seminal role in creating the Wild West shows,” Rogers says. “He had done something in 1882, but it was in 1883, on the occasion of the Fourth of July, that Buffalo Bill put on this big blowout in Nebraska. The big performance had cowboys showing off their herding, roping and shooting skills. The show was a hit and he quickly realized that it was something the public was interested. He later got some partners together and took Europe by storm, played in front of Queen Victoria and was instrumental in inspiring a number of copycats. The Wild West show became a distinct form of entertainment.”
Posters for Buffalo Bill’s shows, as well as similar shows staged by the 101 Ranch, are some of the standout objects from the exhibition. The posters, many of them created by unknown artists, were the product of a well-oiled marketing machine that sent out advance teams to show cities so they could “paper
the town” in posters, handbills and other materials. By the time the show arrived a week or two layer by train, the city and its population were ready to buy tickets.
“For Buffalo Bill, everything was about promoting himself and the show. He patterned this after the circus. Bill didn’t like the circus and found it to be immoral that they used animals, but he utilized the same idea by taking a core group of bill posters and press agents and plastering a city,” Rogers says. “The posters were often very sensational, with Buffalo Bill shown as being this masculine and powerful figure. Even Annie Oakley was shown as a demure and young figure. But they worked because they generated buzz.”
Works in the exhibition include several Buffalo Bill posters, including two variations from his Great Wild West Exhibition, each one featuring scenes of cowboys, Native Americans and buffalo hunts. Many of these posters, some from the late 1800s, have survived simply because so many were created and it was common for people looking at the posters to peel them from the walls where they were plastered. “There were so many that some of them were never even used, or they would be carried over from season to season. And people would collect them because they had some striking imagery,” the curator says.
The 101 Ranch is another traveling show that is featured in the exhibition. Its posters, like Buffalo Bill’s, featured exaggerated and stylized scenes from the shows. In one of the 101 Ranch posters, a large buffalo skull frames the text, with a bevy of smaller imagery appearing all around the skull. Others shows that are featured prominently are playwright James H. Wallick’s Bandit King and New Bandit King. After the exploits of Jesse James became folklore, numerous stage shows popped up that depicted James’ Robin Hood-like story. When Wallick—whose name is abbreviated as “Jas H. Wallick” on the posters—took the show north, Union states felt less sympathy for a figure like James.
“Northerners weren’t so keen on him and it didn’t take with audiences, so they
would change the name of the show. It was essentially the same plot, but he was able to parlay that into a fairly long run,” the curator says. In one of Wallick’s New Bandit King shows, a roaring water rapids effect was created to show the scene “Rescuing the Downing Girl from the Rapids.” The poster, which features a hero on horseback watching as a young girl is swept down a violent debris-filled river, suggests the scene is the “greatest water effect ever produced on any stage.” “In 1885, this would have been state-of-the-art special effects and very dramatic,” Rogers says.
The exhibition also tackles the problematic portrayal of Native American figures. “It was always problematic, but with Buffalo Bill it was a very complicated situation. He had built his career as an Indian fighter and scout and relished in the fact he had murdered Indians for Manifest Destiny or whatever else, but he had a great deal of respect for the Indians in his show, including Sitting Bull,” Rogers says. “The Native Americans at the time didn’t feel exploited because it was an opportunity for them to leave the reservation, wear their cultural attire and get paid for it.”
And even though they were paid, Native Americans were still being depicted as savages standing in the way of the white man’s advancement across the continent. This attitude is shown clearly in Charles Deas famous painting The Death Struggle, which presents a life-or-death fight that spills perilously over a cliff.
Cultural issues aside, the Wild West shows had a lasting effect on audiences and helped bridge the gap between the actual Old West, then starting to fade in the late 1800s, with the Hollywood Western, which was directly inspired by the action and drama of the live shows organized by Buffalo Bill and others.
Playing Cowboy continues at the Shelburne Museum through October 21.