Wild West Shows
As the United States of America grew, more and more land was purchased or taken, giving settlers a place to go. During the time of westward expansion the life of explorers and settlers was harsh. They experienced animals and native peoples they had never seen. There were open prairies and mountains to be crossed and battles were fought. After the Civil War, novels were written about the wild lives lived by cowboys, bandits and “the savage Indians”. The people in the Eastern part of the United States loved these stories and they were turned into plays. The plays were so successful people decided they could make a lot of money if they gathered real characters from the west and put on outdoor shows. These outdoor shows were known as Wild West shows and they became very popular both in the U.S. and in Europe. People wanted to see “real Indians” and cowboys, outlaws and lawmen fight before their eyes.
When you went to one of these shows, you would see riders performing horseback stunts. The stunt riders were men but there were some women. They would be dressed in bright colored clothes to get the audience's attention. They would stand up on the horses and ride around the arena, and some were good enough to do a headstand while riding. These riders would jump from one horse to another and they would shoot at targets as they rode.
In 1908, a girl named Mamie Francis and her horse Babe gave audiences the most thrilling performance they had ever seen. Mamie and Babe would climb a 50 foot tower. At the bottom of the tower was a ten foot wide tub of water. Bravely Mamie would get Babe to go to the edge of the platform. The horse would dive off the tower into the pool of water. The two made this jump over 600 times by 1914.
Battle scenes were staged with “Wild Indians”, criminals and stagecoach robberies taking place right in front of the audience. The most popular of these were Native American captives who were paraded around the arena. The Native Americans were the bad guys and the cowboys and soldiers in the shows always won. The shows had posters that were hung around towns to advertise that savages would be there. Sitting Bull and Geronimo became household names. The Indians would perform horseback riding tricks and show how good they were at shooting bows and arrows. There would also be staged battles like The Battle of Little Bighorn. The Native performers were very popular in Europe where no one had seen an “American Indian” before.
At one time there were more than 30 Wild West Shows touring the United States and around the world. Some were very successful like the 101 Ranch show which was in Europe at the outbreak of WWI. The English confiscated much of their equipment and the Germans arrested all of the Native Americans as spies. The motion picture industry eventually caused the end to the wild west outdoor shows.
Many movie stars were born from the shows. Movie actors like Tom Mix and Will Rogers began their careers on tour. Pawnee Bill, Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane became household names and their pictures were on thousands of posters. Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, Geronimo and Red Cloud were all part of the Native American starring attraction list. Many of these performed before European royalty and American Presidents. They have gone down in history as the shows that kept the American west lifestyle alive even after the industrial revolution.