American Icons: Buffalo Bill Cody

Post date: Feb 26, 2016 8:44:00 PM

Portrait of William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) taken in Brooklyn, 1894

PODCAST: Studio 360 on the legacy of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. (Podcasts are great to listen to when cleaning, traveling, and cooking. Enjoy!)

"He was the most famous American in the world — a showman and spin artist who parlayed a buffalo-hunting gig into an entertainment empire. William F. Cody’s stage show presented a new creation myth for America, bringing cowboys, Indians, settlers, and sharpshooters to audiences who had only read about the West in dime novels. He offered Indians a life off the reservation — reenacting their own defeats. Deadwood producer David Milch explains why the myth of the West still resonates; a Sioux actor at a Paris theme park loves playing Sitting Bull; and a financial executive impersonates Buffalo Bill, with his wife as Annie Oakley." (Studio 360)