Traveling shows have been a part of our entertainment history for thousands of years from the early traveling actors who went from tribe to tribe and later city to city acting out stories and sharing history, culture and religion, to the traveling minstrels who earned their keep by sharing tales and songs from place to place. These travelers were more than just performers, they often shared knowledge, information and were the keepers of our myths.
Through the years the traveling shows changed, many were thought little more than thieves and treated with disdain like the gypsies who traded horses and handcrafts as well as give performances, to the more respected thespians who brought culture and refinement to a city with their much sought after plays or the talented opera singers whose voices were legendary. Yet, still there were some who considered these people as less than despite their talents or acclaims.
Today we have singers and musicians who travel from city to city to bring their music to their fans and sports teams and other entertainers who go on tours. Even a few authors will go on tour and put on a show, okay that might be stretching it, but they do a talk to help sell their books and entertain their fans. The traveling show has a long and vast history.
During the 1800s when America was young and we were spreading out across the land from one ocean to another, talented people figured out that they could take their shows to the people. Musicians and performers from the east made fortunes out west bringing a taste of home to the farmers, settlers, soldiers and miners who were hungry for a little culture and entertainment. In the same vein, western culture went east bringing cowboys and Indians to people hungry for more information of the west. Penny paperback novels made many cowboys legends in their own time. Their tall tales of exploits and adventures gripped the nation and even peaked the interests of folks across the ocean. Suddenly everyone wanted to know all about life on the vast prairie and how to be a cowboy. Before moving pictures, only books, newspapers and traveling shows gave people a taste of the old west.
Buffalo Bill Cody cashed in on his fame as an adventurer, soldier, and cowboy to start his own wild west show. He is still the most well-known of the wild west traveling shows. His show traveled all over the United States, England and Europe. He had many star performers in his troupe, among them were Annie Oakly and the great chief Sitting Bull. While the most famous, many other troupes popped up over the years, some where competing for the same audiences. From the 1870s to the 1920s there were many shows that depicted the romanticized version of the wild west. Some of the other more famous ones were Texas Jack’s Wild West show with Will Rogers that toured South Africa, the Cummin’s Indian Congress and Wild West show with Chief Red Star most famous for their stint at the Chicago World’s Fair. There were also several ranch wild west shows featuring African Americans such as the famous bulldogger, Bill Pickett and his brother Voter Hall who was billed as a “Feejee” Indian from Africa.
When I was doing my research for my own wild west extravaganza I researched not only wild west shows, but other traveling shows like Vaudeville acts, circuses, carnivals and even snake oil salesman. All of these shows influenced the wild west shows which were filled with buffalo, elk, and other animals only found in the western United States, as well as cowboys, scouts, Indians, military, Mexicans, and men for other heritages. Women were also a part of the shows and not just sharp shooters like Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane, there were a few Indian women, and other ethnic groups, especially Mexican were also represented.
The shows could be several hours long to even several days long with sharp shooting contests, horse races, Indian races, mock Indian battles, music, and more. These shows packed everything they could into each town they visited. People often attended more than one show so they wouldn’t miss anything. The coming of these shows was heralded in advance exciting the townsfolk and getting them ready for the big event. There was a lot of preparation for a large show to come to town. Where would they perform was only have of the logistical problem. Where do you corral fifty buffalo and a hundred horses? Where do your performers stay?
Many of these shows traveled over land by wagon, others had the luxury of traveling by train or in some cases by ship, but regardless, there were many perils and hardships between shows and in many towns, the performers were not welcome due to racial tensions and bigotry. This was not an easy life, but it was definitely an adventurous one.
If you are interested in reading more about the history of the wild west show or other traveling shows, here are a couple of books I enjoyed while doing my research:
Buffalo Bill’s America by Louis S. Warren
Battle for the Big Top by Les Standiford
The American West: History, Myth, and Legend by Patrick N. Allitt, The Great Courses
Check out showmensmuseum.org
If you’d like to check out my fictional story of life in a wild west show, How to Sabotage a Wild West Show the first book in the Applegate Mysteries.
EBooks:
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW32917M?ref=KC_GS_GB_US
Apple books https://books.apple.com/us/book/how-to-sabotage-a-wild-west-show/id6478191160
Google Books https://books.google.com/books/about/How_to_Sabotage_a_Wild_West_Show.html?id=ig-X0AEACAAJ
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/how-to-sabotage-a-wild-west-show
Paperback Books
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/How-Sabotage-Wild-West-Show/dp/1963661028
Barnes and Nobel https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-sabotage-a-wild-west-show-sherri-l-hollister/1144898589
Walmart https://www.walmart.com/ip/How-to-Sabotage-a-Wild-West-Show-Paperback-9781963661026/5321441936
Sherri Lupton Hollister, author 
You must be logged in to post a comment.