Buffalo Bill's Wild West Posters

In 1883, Buffalo Bill's Wild West began its thirty- year run of touring the United States and Europe, playing at exhibition grounds to enormous crowds. The show poster was the principal means of advertising, of creating the excitement prior to the show's arrival to a town or city, and then sustaining that anticipation until the box office opened.

A large scale bill board poster was intended for the side of a barn or other building, or for one of the tall fences (called "hoardings") which were rented to advertisers in cities. A one-sheet poster was usually 28 inches by 42 inches. The Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders poster is made up of 24 separate sheets, each printed at least four times to get the necessary colors, and then glued together to make two big sections for the bill poster. Bill posting contests were held - resulting in a 28-sheet image being put up in about ten minutes' time, but it typically took one worker about 20 to 30 minutes to unfold, paste-up, and post such a billboard.

The Wild West show purchased one thousand or more of the large-scale Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders poster for the 1898 season at approximately $4.00 each. The total lithography budget for the season - to buy posters ranging in size from a half-sheet to 32-sheet posters - could be as high as $100,000 (equivalent to well over $2,000,000 today).

As the Wild West toured the country, two train cars of advance men travelled one and two weeks ahead of the show to arrange permits and licenses to buy provisions for the staff and feed for the livestock, to publicize and rent advertising space, and to paste up thousands of posters.

In the poster Je Viens Buffalo Bill announces, "I'm Coming!" to the French public on his 1889 tour. Buffalo Bill's Wild West was wildly popular in France. The show appeared for seven months at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. A grandstand, campground and even an electric plant were built to support the show for its extended stay. Following Paris, the Wild West played other French cities including Lyon and Marseilles, and then set sail for Barcelona and several Italian cities.

When Buffalo Bill overran England in 1887 with over 200 people and 200 animals, he also brought with him an arsenal of lithographs. The sight of these colorful posters was as noticeable as the very American-looking members of the Wild West troupe.

The image of The White Eagle "Col. W.F. Cody - Buffalo Bill" would be considered a print rather than a poster, it was printed in nine colors, including a metallic gold, and on heavy stock. It was most likely meant to be a souvenir during the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where the Wild West played the entire season to record crowds.

All Roads Lead to Buffalo Bill's Wild West was created for the 1894 Ambrose Park, South Brooklyn show. The poster was unique in its routing of potential visitors to the venue by following the directive text and dotted lines to "Where we are" at the bottom. The show played Ambrose Park for the entire 1894 season, and although attendance was good, it was not consistent throughout the long run. Trying to meet $4,000 a day in expenses (today this is equivalent to over $75,000 per day) during the long Ambrose Park stand created great financial strains for Cody, who said it was "the tightest squeeze of my life."(1) It would lead to a change in the show's production - numerous short term venues traversing the country. In 1894, the Wild West played one city - New York; 1895 saw the Wild West in 131 towns across the United States.

Buffalo Bill, his show, and his posters helped dramatize the American West. Through actual performances and widespread postings, the Wild West show embodied the action, romance and drama of the West for millions in the United States and Europe. As W.F. Cody was well aware, these posters manifested a spectacle of a passing age.

Resources

(1) Letter from W.F. Cody to his sister Julia Cody Goodman, July 18, 1894.

Images

1. Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World, c. 1898. The Enquirer Job Printing Co., Cincinnati. Original color lithograph, 109 x 202.75". Gift of Robert L. Parkinson. 1.69.1813
2. Billboard workers at Bordeaux, France, c. 1905. MS6.6.F.OS1.B
3. Je Viens, c. 1889. JMP & Lithography. Original colored lithograph poster. Paper and ink stamp, 29.5 x 39.5 in. 1.69.442
4. "The White Eagle" Col. W. F. Cody, ca. 1890. A.Hoen & Co., Baltimore. Original colored lithograph, 28.5 x 22 in. Gift of The Coe Foundation. 1.69.172
5. All Roads Lead To Buffalo Bill's Wild West, ca. 1894. The Springer Litho Co., NY. Four color lithograph, 24.25 x 41.25 in. 1.69.20