Who Was Buffalo Bill?

          William Cody -- aka "Buffalo Bill" -- was a late-19th century
impresario and presenter of Wild West shows.

          Cody was born in 1846 in the Midwest U.S. state of Iowa. His family
moved to Kansas in the 1850s, where, after his father was killed
          after being knifed by a pro-slavery proponent, Cody had to support
the family at age 11.

          He learned to handle horses and mules then later served briefly in
the Civil War. A railway company hired him to supply buffalo meat for
its crews, and after he killed as many as 3,000 of the animals, he
began being called "Buffalo Bill."

          After performing in a road show with horsemanship acts and a staged
buffalo hunt, Cody created the "Buffalo Bill's Wild West, America's
National Entertainment" extravaganza. He had also been influenced by
the frontier shows of his mentor, "Wild Bill" Hickok.

          The show combined shooting, riding, real Indians (including Sioux
chief Sitting Bull), and the sharpshooting expertise of Annie Oakley.
It was an international sensation, and Cody took Europe by storm,
including command performances for royalty.

          The tall, handsome Cody, with his flowing locks, buckskin clothes,
and long mustache embodied the romantic West. He was a notorious
womanizer, claiming even to have seduced the aged Queen Victoria and
her daughter-in-law, Queen Alexandra. In 1904, Cody's wife of 38
years sued him for divorce, and during the ensuing trial, he was
lampooned in the press and censured by the clergy as immoral.

          Cody died in relative obscurity in 1917. But he is credited with
introducing the concept of mass entertainment and extravaganzas..