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4.0 out of 5 stars
the beginnings of Buffalo Bill's career as a showman, June 11, 2008
This review is from: Buffalo Bill on Stage (Hardcover)
Sagala is the author of previous books on Buffalo Bill and popular-culture subjects of his era in which he figures strongly. In this book, she fills in the period between his last years as a scout and Indian fighter in the early 1870s and when he became a world-famous star of his own traveling show named Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
By the 1870s, William Cody had already gained famed as a cavalry scout and Indian fighter helping to tame the "wild west." Yet he had no thoughts of performing on stage or of forming a Wild West Show to capitalize on his fame. Eventually though the combination of personality, circumstances, and opportunities were like a siren call for him to take up public performances.
In the latter 1800s, dime novels about the West and the cavalry and adventurous frontiersmen were a leading area of popular culture. Cody's exploits and traits were often the basis for the heroes of such novels. There were even a few performers who portrayed Buffalo Bill in vaudeville-like skits before large, enthusiastic crowds. The first time Cody appeared on stage was in 1872 when the actor J. B. Studley, who was portraying him, called him up at the urging of the audience after it learned that the real Buffalo Bill was sitting among them. It was not long after this when the dime novelist Ned Buntline persuaded Buffalo Bill to take up acting.
Buffalo Bill threw himself into acting with as much intelligence, energy, and commitment as he did with his work as a cavalry scout. Though his early efforts in shows put on by "theatrical association[s] of roving troupers who supported a star for the run of a single performance" were amateurish to the point of often being comically inept and usually panned by the critics, audiences nevertheless responded to Cody's authenticity and the true-life dramas he and his changing troupes performed. "The fact that Cody was [in italics in original] a brave Indian fighter, scout, and estimable man and that he could project his personality to the audience solidified his heroic status. Buffalo Bill of the dime novels and stage gelled with Buffalo Bill of the real West...He spent the theater's off-season actually doing the brave deeds, the shooting, and the scouting he was famous for, then returned to portray them on the stage."
Sagala does a good job of following how Buffalo Bill's true self and stage character and image recurrently blended and separated as he became the consummate showman. She sees Cody as the original star of the embryonic star system which would be implemented throughout Hollywood starting just about the time Buffalo Bill died in 1917.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In-depth coverage suitable for any college-level library, August 17, 2008
This review is from: Buffalo Bill on Stage (Hardcover)
Before he became famous as a performer in his Wild West Show, Buffalo Bill was a household name just from leading a troupe of traveling actors across the country performing frontier melodramas. Biographies of Cody and his career often gloss over the fourteen years he spent producing his Combination Show melodramas, so it's refreshing to see an in-depth coverage suitable for any college-level library strong in American history and biography, or even stage history. Chapters survey his early years with a newfound attention to the rise of melodrama in general, following his trail across the country. College-level collections will find it an excellent survey.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Buffalo Bill on Stage, October 10, 2011
This review is from: Buffalo Bill on Stage (Hardcover)
The sending of this book, the promptness of the sending, and the condition of the book when it arrived were excellent. I would recommend this dealer highly.
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