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Cody, William Frederick
Cody, William Frederick (1846–1917), actor. Better known as “Buffalo Bill,” the Iowan served as a pony‐express rider and as a Civil War and Indian scout. A play called Buffalo Bill, recounting his exploits, appeared in 1871. To capitalize on his renown, he himself began to act in dramas purporting to recount his adventures, such as The Scouts of the Prairie, The Knight of the Plains, and Buffalo Bill at Bay. Cody toured in these for nearly a decade before founding his Wild West Show in 1883. Played in the open air, these entertainments allowed him to re‐create vividly the old Indian skirmishes and show off his shooting and riding skills. The Wild West Show took on a major attraction when the great sharpshooter Annie Oakley joined the company in 1885. The show prospered for many years as it toured the entire country, but eventually competition, the need to outspend that competition, and dwindling returns from a public tired of his style of entertainment forced him to merge with his major rival, Pawnee Bill's Historic Far West and Great Far East Show, in 1909. But the combined show continued to run up debts and was closed by bankruptcy in 1915.
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Cite this article
Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Cody, William Frederick." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Cody, William Frederick." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-CodyWilliamFrederick.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Cody, William Frederick." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-CodyWilliamFrederick.html |
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Cody, William Frederick
Cody, William Frederick (1846–1917), American showman, better known as Buffalo Bill. Born on a farm in Iowa, he was at the Colorado gold-mines as a boy, and then became a Pony Express rider and a Civil War scout. He appeared between 1872 and 1883 in more than a dozen plays written for him, the theatrical equivalent of Western dime novels. In 1883 he embarked on the Wild West show which made him famous all over the world. For 18 years the show starred the sharpshooter Annie Oakley (1860–1926), and the pair provided the basis for Irving Berlin's musical Annie Get Your Gun (1946).
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Cite this article
PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Cody, William Frederick." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Cody, William Frederick." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-CodyWilliamFrederick.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Cody, William Frederick." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-CodyWilliamFrederick.html |
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Cody, William Frederick
Cody, William Frederick (1846–1917), known by his sobriquet Buffalo Bill, served as a frontier scout during the Civil War, and again from 1868 to 1872, as well as in the battles against the Sioux. In 1883 he started his famous “Wild West” show, the prototype of many later ones, and he had previously acted in Western melodramas. The dime novels of Ned Buntline and Prentiss Ingraham are partially responsible for his popular reputation. He acted for two years in Buntline's play The Scouts of the Plains (1873). His autobiography (1904) is unreliable.
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Cite this article
James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Cody, William Frederick." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Cody, William Frederick." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-CodyWilliamFrederick.html James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Cody, William Frederick." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-CodyWilliamFrederick.html |
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William Frederick Cody
William Frederick Cody see Buffalo Bill . |
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Cite this article
"William Frederick Cody." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "William Frederick Cody." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-Cody-Wil.html "William Frederick Cody." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-Cody-Wil.html |
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