William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody was the entertainment industry’s first international celebrity, achieving worldwide stardom with his traveling Wild West show. For three decades he operated and ...appeared in various incarnations of “the western world’s greatest traveling attraction,” enthralling audiences around the globe. When the show reached Europe it was a sensation, igniting “Wild West fever” by offering what purported to be a genuine experience of the American frontier. By any standard Charles Eldridge Griffin (1859–1914), manager of the Wild West’s European tour, was a remarkable man. Known by the stage names of Monsieur F. Le Costro, Professor Griffin, and the Yankee Yogi, he was an author, comedian, conjurer, contortionist, dancer, fire-eater, hypnotist, illusionist, lecturer, magician, newspaper owner, publisher, sword swallower, and yogi. His account of life on the road with the Wild West show, published here for the first time since its release in 1908, opens a window on a vanished world. In addition to line drawings and photographs from the original book, Chris Dixon provides an introduction and annotations for historical context. Griffin’s story of traveling with Buffalo Bill in Europe from 1903 to 1906 presents a fascinating picture of a quintessentially American character. At the same time it offers a vision of the nation on the verge of nationalism, imperialism, and an emerging global mass culture.
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4.
You Can Call Me Ishi Denzin, Norman K.
Qualitative inquiry,
09/2020, Volume:
26, Issue:
7
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The anthropologist Alfred Kroeber named me Ishi, the last man of the stone age. This performance text criticizes that formulation, locating it within the framework of colonial anthropology.
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In this article, the authors address the presence and societal impact of Romani people in the public spaces of the circus. The focus is on the French circus family Bouglione, originally Sinti from ...Italy, and their Wild West show performed in France and abroad from 1925 to 1934. As well as forming arenas for cultural transfer, circuses and similar exhibitions made entryways to exotic otherness. The remarkably successful exhibition brought the family both status and wealth, enabling the Bougliones to operate the Cirque d’Hiver (Winter Circus) in Paris, which continues to enjoy renown for having one of the most prestigious circus venues in the world. The authors’ contribution examines how the Romani family carefully followed social phenomena and used their Wild West show not only to respond to a general interest in exotic exhibits but also to satisfy a contemporary desire for an anti-bourgeois lifestyle. Although the Wild West Show represented a financial undertaking for the Bougliones, it also strengthened the family's societal security.
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Between 1872 and 1886, before he achieved acclaim for his Wild West show, "Buffalo Bill" led a troupe of traveling actors known as a Combination across the country performing in frontier melodramas. ...Biographies of William Frederick Cody rarely address these fourteen rather obscure years when Cody honed the skills that would make him the world-renowned entertainer as he is now remembered. In this revision of her earlier book, Buffalo Bill, Actor, Sandra Sagala chronicles the decade and a half of Cody's life as he crisscrossed the country entertaining millions. She analyzes how the lessons he learned during those theatrical years helped shape his Wild West program, as well as Cody, the performer.
