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Show Buffalo Bill a treasured syntbol Buffalo Bill Cody was universally recognized as the one man whose name was synonymous with the rough and rugged glamour of the Western American frontier. As the flamboyant impresario of his big Wild West show, he took the exciting story of earlier days to millions of people in both the United States and Europe. Tomorrow's Convocation speaker, University of New Mexico History Professor Richard Etulain, will discuss such topics as the glamorization of the Old West, and the lives of Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley in his presentation entitled "Inventing the Wild West. " Buffalo Bill led a spectacular life in the forefront of events and probably did more than anyone else to create the image of rugged Americanism. N early SO books have recounted the life of the famous scout, buffalo hunter and showman-some accurately, others less so. For his first Wild West Show, Cody gathered together hard-riding cowboys, numerous bucking broncos and saddle horses, stage coaches, and a selection of animals, both domestic and wild. Indians were secured with the approval of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and a group of Mexican riders and ropers were employed. With "Doc" Carver, the shooting expert, as Cody's partner, the show was launched in the Omaha fairground on May 19, 1883. An area considerably larger than two football fields, with seating capacity for 25,000, was soon needed. By the time the performance reached Connecticut in July, the Hartford Courant had called it the "best open air show ever seen," ind Buffalo Bill had become the star of the cast. Annie Oakley, or "Little Sure Shot," as she was called by the Sioux leader Sitting Bull, joined the Wild West Show in 1884. Oakley became the best known woman in outdoor show business. A fantastic marksman and an accomplished actress with an appealing personality, Oakley became a great star of the show, receiving prominent billing and appearing early in all performances. The season of 1885, during which the show appeared before its first million people, netted a handsome profit. The Wild West Show was beginning a 25 year tenure as a major attraction in this country and Europe. Buffalo Bill shooting at glass balls from his galloping horse became a treasured symbol. In his lecture, Etulain will discuss the myths and reality of the West, including the Wild West show and Buffalo Bill. Are the Wild West and the legends of Buffalo Bill Cody and Annie Oakley myth or reality? Find out at tomorrow's Convocation at 11 a.m. in the Auditorium. Richard Etulain, a history professor at the University of New Mexico will discuss 'Inventing the American Wild West.' 'Invented' West celebrat~s courage, hard work However, those who lived sensational lives beyond the law are even more celebrated (continued from page 20) the most popular cinematic genre by the 1920s, also characterized the West as a lively and free frontier brimming with adventure and danger. At the onset of the depression, then, a Wild West was embedded in the minds of millions of Americans. Even though most Old Westerners were farmers or lived in cities or small towns, they were pictured in these novels, films, paintings and other popular recreations as Indians, cowboys, outlaws or other protagonists beyond civilization. Why and how did these mythic (mis) representations of the West fasten themselves on the minds of so many Americans? What insights should scholars in the history and humanities fields try to communicate to general audiences on this topic? Should a speaker or professor try to separate "myth" from " reality," or are there more fruitful and significant approaches one might utilize in examining this 'Wild West' so popular with millions of Americans? In answering this question, Etulain says he uses a middle-of-the-road approach. Building on the interest of so many New Mexicans in the Old West, Etulain tries to point out that "myth" is not the opposite of "reality" but a belief system we accept and act upon, whether true or not. Etulain also says that all cultures .have needed their myths that other regions, like the American South and New England, have embraced their "Gone with the Wind" and Robert Frost good fences make good neighbors" myths. II I In regards to the West, throughout the first centuries of this country's existence, we Americans have thought we needed physical and psychological Wests, as arenas for expansion, as safety values from mushrooming pressures. Thus, it is not surprising that our "invented" West has celebrated the courage, daring, and hard work of those who entered these frontiers, subdued the lands and peoples there, and established farms, organized communities and built towns and cities according to their dreams. Yet, interestingly, we celebrate even more often those who challenged these traditions, moved beyond the law, or otherwise lived sensational lives. Our imagined West has always seemed the ideal abode for heroic and semi-legendary characters. In his Convocation presentation tomorrow, Etulain will use slides of movie stills, book covers, art works and other representations of the Old West to illustrate how, over time, we Americans both adhere to and break from earlier images of the American Wild West. He will note how the films of John Wayne, the fiction of Louis L'Amour, and the paintings of Remington and Russell continue to play on Wild West themes; but he'll also demonstrate how movies like The Wild Bunch, Dances With Wolves, and Unforgiven; novels by Joan Didion, Native American and Hispanic writers, and others such as Larry McMurtry and Barbara Kingsolver; and the artwork of the Abstract Expressionists, Georgia O'Keefe, and ethnic painters challenge the major themes of an invented Old West. In the end, Etulain's presentation aims at three goals: • First, giving the audience a larger understanding of a central myth in American culture- the Wild West. • Second, providing information as to how and why that myth arose in the latter part of the nineteenth century. • And third, describing the continuities and changes the Old West myth has experienced in the twentieth century. "Judging from two decades of treating these ideas in such performances, I'll predict that audiences will quickly and easily become involved in this presentation," Etulain said. 'Inventing the American Wild West' |