"Buffalo Bill's British Wild West" by Alan Gallop, published in 2001 in Great Britain by Sutton Publishing in hardback with dustjacket, 273pp, ISBN 075092702x
Condition Notes: new, unread copies with mild creasing and wrinkling to the top edge of the dustjacket, particularly at the head of the spine
Synopsis: Buffalo Bill, the flamboyant American showman, was legendary in his time for his brilliant recreation of life and scenes from the US frontier. His Wild West show played to millions of people in America and Europe for over thirty years and included four barnstorming tours of Victorian and Edwardian Britain. This is the highly entertaining story of how William F. Cody, army scout, Indian fighter, stagecoach driver and buffalo hunter, became a 'dime novel' hero and acting sensation in the United States and then followed it up with fame and fortune in Britain.
Encouraged to take his successful Wild West show to Britain by no lesser persons than Mark Twain and Henry Irving, Buffalo Bill and his company of cowboys, Indians, western girls, sharpshooters and 'rough riders of the world' makes its first appearance in London, during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. It is a huge success: vast crowds flock to the show, the media fall in love with them, Gladstone and the Prince and Princess of Wales visit, and Queen Victoria herself requests a private 'royal command' performance. As the show tours the length and breadth of Britain, Buffalo Bill becomes a household name and his exploits continue. He meets and falls in love with a young American actress visiting London, an Indian is killed in a riding accident in front of an audience in Sheffield; in Brighton, severe gales nearly blow the Wild West into the sea, and the show's Indian chief, Long Wolf, dies and is buried in a London cemetery. Three more visits follow, but although the British tours make Cody a rich man, he eventually faces bankruptcy and is forced to work for the remainder of his life in second- and third-rate circuses.
Richly illustrated with over 100 image - photographs, cartoons, posters, programme covers, newspaper stories, documents and maps - many previously unpublished, this is a fast-moving thoroughly entertaining insight into the life of one of the world's greatest showmen.
Contents:
Preface; Acknowledgements
Overture: A Very British Affair
Act One
Scene One: Enter Buffalo Bill
Scene Two: Dime Novel Hero, Actor and 'The First Scalp for Custer'
Scene Three: The Wild West, The Partners & 'Little Sure Shot'
Act Two
Scene One: Eastward Ho!
Scene Two: 'The Yankeeries', 'Buffalo Billeries' & 'The Scalperies'
Scene Three: 'By Royal Command'
Scene Four: Heading North
Act Three
Scene One: Doing Europe
Scene Two: The Buffalo Bill Express
Act Four
Scene One: Positively, Definitely and Perhaps the Final Farewell
Act Five
Scene One: The Last Round-up
Scene Two: Postscripts and Curtain Call
Round-up of Buffalo Bill's British Wild West Tours 1887-1904
Further Reading/Index
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