Buffalo Bill

A Life In Three Reels

Abstract

When I was growing up, the most famous and popular building in my hometown of Sheridan, Wyoming, was the Sheridan Inn because it was once owned by William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Nearly everything he was associated with became as well known as he. "Perhaps no popular idol ever lived who is so well known as "Buffalo Bill" reads the document featured in this article, an advertisement for Buffalo Bill's three-reel film biography that appeared in the 1912 issue of The Moving Picture World magazine. With the announcement of the film in May of 1912, The Moving Picture World stated," ... no doubt with the great popularity of Wm. F. Cody, who is retiring to private life after having toured the world for thirty years as America's representative frontiersman and Wild West hero, these pictures, depicting actual happenings in the life of the Last of the Great Scouts, should prove to be one of the most successful features yet offered to the showmen of America." According to the magazine's January 4, 1913, issue, "the 'Life of Buffalo Bill' has re-awakened great interest in the western productions of a historical nature ... playing to record breaking houses .... shown after school hours, the picture seems to appeal chiefly to school children." This document advertised not only Buffalo Bill Cody's film biography but his life as well for Cody embodied the West for millions of Americans. He helped create an image of the West that was part of a national myth about frontier life. Elements of that myth still exist today.