b'The crowd was mesmerized by the event, encouraging Cody to set things in motion for a much larger and ongoing production that would spread from the plains of America to the cities and capitals of America and the World.As he would later note:"I tried it on my neighbors, and they lived through it and liked it, so I made up my mind right then I\'d take the show East" (Henry Blackman Sell and Victor Weybright, Buffalo Bill and the Wild West, Oxford University Press, New York, 1955, p. 133).Encouraged by the success of the "Old Glory Blow-Out," Cody and the troupe he had built up rehearsed and fine-tuned their act throughout the winter of 1882 until by spring they were ready to take it out on the road - and if successful, then on to select parts of the United States. The first official show of what was then called "The Wild West, Rocky Mountain and Prairie Exhibition" made its debut in what was practically Cody\'s own "backyard", the fairgrounds at Omaha on May 19, 1883. While the show was well-received, it was pretty evident from the get-go that while Cody himself may have had somewhat of a thespian background, the vast majority of the participants did not. Most of the hired Cowboys spent more time in the saloons than on the stage. Nate169 E Wickenburg WayBuffalo Bill (right) knew thatSalsbury wanted nothing to do with the show as long as multitudes of eastern folk, whoDoc Carver was involved, and Carver himself provedWickenburg, AZ 85390had never gone west, wereearly on how unsuited emotionally and otherwise he928-684-6123was. A bit of a peacock, Carver began quarreling with thrilled by stories of SittingCody for top billing almost at the start. Open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. DAILYBull (left) and other frontier heroes, and would flock to anBuoyed by the success of the Omaha Fairgrounds extravaganze centered aroundperformance, Cody, the eternal optimist was as the Wild West experience. enthusiastic as ever in regards to the concept and implementation of the shows. He predicted he would be able to pull it off of and eventually make the shows a Thus, by the spring of 1883, the stage was set for theworldwide success. Together with Salsbury he contacted beginnings of the first Buffalo Bill Wild West shows. venues, set dates, and took his embryonic show out on the road to selection locations in the United States. His belief BUFFALO BILL\'S WILD WEST SHOWin the shows and sunny optimism shone through in a THE FIRST YEARS: letter he wrote to one of his sisters, Julie Cody Goodman, "The Wigwam village, the Indian war-dance; the chantfrom Coney Island, New York, dated August 16, 1883 - at of the Great Spirit as it was sung over the plains; the risethe very height of his troubles with Doc Carver:and fall of the famous tribes; the "Forward, march!" of the soldiers, and the building of frontier posts; the life of"Darling Sister, It has been so long since I heard from you scouts and trappers; the hunt of the buffalo; the comingI thought I would just drop you a line to let you know of the first settlers; their slow, perilous progress in thewhere I am and got a letter from you. I am now located at prairie schooners over the vast and desolate plains; thethis place (Coney Island), have went in to a big expense period of the Deadwood Stage and the Pony Express; thefitting up a place here - and as the watering season is making of homes in the face of fire and Indian massacres;about over it won\'t be worth much this year, but will be United States cavalry on the firing-line, "Death to thegood for next. I am not much ahead on the summer in Sioux!" - these are the great historic pictures of the Wildcash but I have my show all clear, and a fine place built West, stirring, genuine, heroic. It was a magnificent planhere. I have over a hundred head of stock here, have ten on a magnificent scale, and it achieved instant success. Thehead of fine race horses, the finest six mule coach train in adventurous phases of Western life never fail to quickenthe world and seventy head of good saddle horses - and the pulse of the East. An exhibition which embodied sothe foundation laid for a fortune before long. The papers much of the historic and picturesque, which resurrectedsay I am the coming Barnum - I wish you could see this a whole half-century of dead and dying events, eventsshow. I am improving wonderfully in shooting; don\'t the most thrilling and dramatic in American History,take a back seat to (Doc) Carver or Roger. Tell Al I broke naturally stirred up the interest of the entire country. The87 glass balls out of one hundred thrown from a trap 21 actors too were historic characters - no weakling imitators,yards rise with a shot gun riding a horse at full speed. Our but men of sand and grit, who had lived every inch of theCleveland suit didn\'t come off yet but it will. I have faith life they pictured" (Helen Cody Wetmore,Buffalo Bill:in it and we will eventually win. Tell Al I have bought all Last of the Great Scouts, Longmeadow Press, Stamford,of Lanchers Ranch, his milk ranch and all which gives CT, 1994, pp. 241-242). me 800 acres more pasture and hay land. Write me, Hotel Brighton, Coney Island, N.Y. Love to all, Brother The first Buffalo Bill Wild West show was a dry-run, aWill" (Letters from Buffalo Bill, Museum Edition, Foote small-scale exhibition of what would ultimately becomePublishing Co., Billings, Montana, 1954, p. 20).his world-famous shows. Cody, already a well-known citizen of North Platte Nebraska, was approached byThis would only be the first instance of Cody\'s positive the community fathers to put on an "Old Glory Blow- spins and his sunny disposition in regards to his Western Out" celebration of America on July 4, 1882. Alreadyextravaganza even when the cards dealt him a losing having a much larger scale exhibition in mind, Codyhand - and that, unfortunately, would come up as often brought in Cowboys and Indians, that Deadwood Stageas all of the good things did, especially in the last decade he had already accumulated, a small herd of buffalo,of the Buffalo Bill Wild West show. and arranged for horse races, shooting contests, and the culmination of the event, a realistic stagecoach hold-up.Part 2 continues next month.ArizonaRealCountry.com May 2021 47'