This made me want to repeat an American Icons suggestion I made before: Little House on the Prairie, the books and the TV series. Dean Butler, who played Almanzo on TV, has recently made two documentaries about the original Laura and Almanzo, though if you're going to do it right, you must include Rose Wilder Lane. A good bio is THE GHOST IN THE LITTLE HOUSE, which argues that Rose ghostwrote the series. It has political implications because she was almost on par with Ayn Rand as a proponent of libertarianism.

Here are Dean Butler's documentaries: http://www.legacydocsshop.com/shop.html

It is an incredible museum which is worth to see. Last year I visited this beautiful museum which gave me an unexpected experience for me. I just loves the Cody Firearms Museum. Read more stories about Buffalo Bill Historical Center at http://www.etraveldestinations.com/buffalo-bill-historical-center-a-ravishing-aggregation-of-historical-museums/.

My great, great grandparents were said to have been part of the Buffalo Bill Wild West, however, I have been unable to authenticate this claim. We believe they were with the production sometime after 1897, and may have traveled to Europe with the production starting late 1902. His name was Herbert B. Williams, aka "Wild Burt". Her name was Sarah F Williams, aka "Little Sure Shot". I know this is the nickname used by Annie Oakley, but this nickname shows up on printed material from other shows she was in. They were career exhibition shooters who retired to Baintree, MA. He normally used a pistol, and she primarily used a Marlin lever action .22. She was also accomplished on a horse. The mention of ship records, or other cast lists sounds interesting to me. Any help you guys could provide would be GREATLY appreciated.

MY GRANDMOTHER WAS SUPPOSED TO HAV BEEN A SHARPSHOOTER ON TH SHOW AND MY FATHER PLAYED AN INDIAN WHEN HE WAS YOUNG COVERED IN WALNUT STAIN AND MY GRANDFATHER WAS A COW POKE HER NAME WAS GOLDIE ST CLAIRE OR GOLDIE HARRIS. AND MY GRANDDAD WAS SAM HARRIS OR SAM SCOVEL IF ANY ONE HAS ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THIS LONG AGO TIME I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT IT THANK YOU

@ Patty.. Chief Rocky Bear was our Great Great Grand Father. you must be from Manderson..Thayers use to live in Manderson....

The Buffalo Bill story reminded me of an homage to the ideal typical cowboy written by e.e. cummings (my favorite American poet):
"Buffalo Bill's
defunct"
(I won't write the whole thing since I might run afoul of copyright laws, and you have to see it composed on the page anyway). It would be very satisfying if Kurt would mention it next week.

I incredibly enjoyed this program - I grew up on John Wayne and Roy Rodgers movies in the early 1990's. However, I have two comments/points of contention. Firstly, I felt that Lonesome Dove, one of the most highly rated and critically acclaimed mini-series of all time, should have been mentioned. In some ways it contradicts the sentiments that people desired a different kind of western. Secondly, I feel that Deadwood, which I absolutely loved, is not as far removed from the westerns of the past, nor of Cody's Wild West Show, as this program relentlessly suggested.
Thank you for this wonderful presentation of another piece of our heritage that is slipping away.

I have neen researching and writing extensively about the Imaginary Wild West in Europe and elsewhere for some years -- I keep a website/blog on the subject - see http://sauerkraut cowboys.blogspot.com. It recounts some of my adventures and also provides info, etc

I viewed the slide show and noted the picture of a young Kurt in the Black Hills. He is posing with Ben Black Elk, the son of an American Icon Nick Black Elk of the great book Black Elk Speaks.

I thoroughly enjoyed this program! I grew up in Cody, WY in the 70's and 80's. I loved walking through the museum and the ghost town mentioned in your show when I was a child. In the early elementary school years, discussions of Buffalo Bill focused more on the myth than the man. As we got older we learned more about the man, including the parts the tourists (who all seemed like twits to us kids) never seemed interested in. We'd watch the tourists come into the Irma Hotel and be wowed by the huge bar. We'd watch them at the rodeo and wonder why they paid for a ticket if they were going to sit there with their hands over their eyes! We laugh as tourists would head to the east entrance of Yellowstone wearing shorts - because we knew there was still SNOW up there - and watch them come back completely frozen and commenting on the "unusual" winter weather in April and May!

In a lot of ways, looking back, I can see that the town of Cody adopted Buffalo Bill's approach to providing what the public wanted in order to survive and thrive. When I moved east to Ohio as a teen, I was completely stunned by the number of people I met who still believed in the mythology of the Wild West (including my history teacher). I lived in town, most of my friends and family lived on ranches - it came as a huge surprise to them that we had electricity and indoor plumbing! It was as if what they saw in the Saturday afternoon westerns never changed, as if time had stopped in that moment and never moved on.

Greeting Jordi

You are welcome. I found the ship lists at Ancestry.com. You can get an online subscription for a month for about $20.00 US. In response to your question,

Red Shirt DOES NOT appear on the Belgenland ship list

Rocky Bear DOES appear on the Belgenland ship list

Ship Lists:

Ship: Belgenland
Port of Departure Antwerp, Belgium
Port of Arrival Port of Philadelphia
Date of Arrival: 13 Nov 1890

Name Mr. Rocky Bear
Age 45 years (about 1845)
Sex M
Native Country USA
Occupation “Indian”
Destination Dakota

Source: Ancestry.com. Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1945 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

Original data: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1883-1945. Micropublication T840. RG085. Rolls 1-181. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1800-1882. Micropublication M425. RG036. Rolls # 1-108. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Red Shirt DOES appear on the Persian Monarch ship list

Ship: Persian Monarch
Port of departure: Hull, England,
Port of arrival New York
Date: 21 May 1888

Red Shirt 41 (b. abt. 1847)

“Artist of the Wild West Show”.

Hope that helps. . If you ever come across anything about a drummer in the Cowboy Band of Buffalo Bill's Wild West, by the name of Ed Snyder I would be so happy if you could pass it along.

Thanks. Have a great day.

CG

FOR CG FROM US
Thanks a lot for your comments. I wrote a book about the stay of BBWW in Barcelona in 1889-1890. It is true that Red Shirt was replaced as a leading indian but he remained in BBWW. I have a list from the central archives with the BBWW indians returning to Pine Ridge and Red Shirt and Rockey Bear appear in the list. Please, could you inform me if Red Shirt appears in the passenger list you mention. Is that list available ?

I grew up in Minneapolis in an anti-war family of conscientious objectors. We left the US for Canada in the 1970s.

Back in the mid-1980's when I was in my late 20's, I met my father, Alan Jacob, and travelled for 6 months with his European travelling rodeo to such cities as Nuremberg, Berlin, Dordrecht, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Metz.

My father - an American whose Jewish grandfather immigrated to Kentucky in the late 1880s, my father who would claim he grew up on a ranch in Montana but who had grown up in San Francisco - would chat up generals who ran US army bases across Germany and Holland, persuading them to hold the rodeo on their army bases. Generals agreed for it would help raise morale of their rodeo-savvy soldiers who rode horses and bulls for a pot of money. Who attended? The mostly German and Dutch populace enamoured of Karl May.

On one occasion, my father announced to the crowd the retirement of a bull named Nightmare. Moved by the eulogy for this particularly brave bull, the crowd cheered. The next rodeo, Nightmare was retired again. And perhaps again, and again.

It all comes back to me. All the contradictions and myth-making. Thanks for this episode...

The narrator of this program described the Battle at Wounded Knee as "the last great battle in the Indian wars." How frustrating this must be for Native Americans. In fact, it wasn't great. It was a massacre of a small group of basically defenseless, starving, freezing, old men, women, and children who faced gatling guns and the U.S. Army. Just about all the Indians were killed and I don't believe even one soldier was wounded. It wasn't even a battle. It was ruthless slaughter that didn't have to happen. Too bad the folks who put this program together didn't get this event right. The program is jaunty similar to the image portrayed by Buffalo Bill so perhaps dreary historical facts might have changed the rhythm of the show but the Battle of Wounded knee was a travesty.

I've actually been to the Cody Ranch on my drive through Nebraska. Even though it was closed, it was still quite the site to see!!

For: Patricia Thayer Muno

Rocky Bear age 45, born about 1845, is found on the passenger list for the ship
Belgenland sailing from Antwerp arriving 13 Nov 1890 at the Port of Philadelphia. His occupation is listed as "Indian", his destination "Dakota".

(The Buffalo Bill's Wild West show cast are on this ship including my relative, a drummer with the Cowboy Band and I noticed the Rocky Bear name and thought I would pass it along.) (((Smile)))

Also from my notes, but I can't find source:

"Red Shirt was one of the leading Indians with Cody's Wild West Show, but he left them in Barcelona in 1889 following a quarrel with Rocky Bear in France. Rocky Bear then took over as the leading Indian. One reason suggested for the quarrel was jealousy. Apparently, Red Shirt had more luck with the French women than Rocky Bear."

I am trying to find some historical information on one of the players in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. He was a Native American called "Chief Rocky Bear." He posed for a painting by the artist Albert Rufus Thayer probably in about 1930 - 1940. I can find no other information on Chief Rocky Bear. Patricia Thayer Muno, Thayer Family Historian, Thayer Families Association.

Loved the program. Wish you had mentioned Cody's march down 5th ave filmed by Edison, and the buffalo/ Indian head nickel!

One of my earliest memories is visiting his grave on Lookout Mountain in Colorado. What a view of the Great Plains. Here is a link to a book Auburn Correctional Facility by Eileen McHugh. there are great photographs of Cody, Chief Black Hawk and the whole troop, surrounded by inmates in the yard inside Auburn Prison in New York. If the link does not work just google Buffalo Bill at Auburn Correctional.

http://books.google.com/books?id=3cRf7VNDEr4C&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=buffalo+bill+at+auburn+correction&source=bl&ots=jTmnEUirQp&sig=VIZVnV8PgXllHrevu5PPtKa8SLk&hl=en&ei=iojVTI6lO8Pflgegm-X9CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

To those who pointed out the cavalry/calvary error: you are correct; it was a verbal slip on our part. Thanks for listening so closely!

"Secret Agent"

Well, perhaps, a British / American Icon

Still, the truth is never told.

Oh, yeah ~
& one of my favorite cowboy films -
Clint Eastwood's, BRONCO BILLY
Real life, & how you want to live it.

Remember on T.V. in the mid-60's...
WILD WILD WEST
Besides all the gadgets & fight scenes ~
I loved the show's intro. art work
the music, & graffics on the commercial brakes...
The WILD WILD WEST was Cool

Secret Agent - An American Icon

Oh, yeah...
My favorite bad guy ~
"Doctor Loveless"
A Giant

Buffalo Bill ~ buffalo hunter... (?)
Send 'em thundering over the mesa
Stamped 'em over a cliff...
Skin 'em, & cut out their tongues
Rotting corpses under the sun

Big, big difference between "cavalry" and "calvary"! As a child, I had a horse that, when younger, was in cavalry -- even tho' the cavalry was by then tanks, not horses. To my knowledge, the horse wasn't very religious.

The changing attitude towards Native Americans in the late 1960s/early 1970s had less to do with Vietnam than:

1) The IAT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Alcatraz) and AIM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Movement) and the conflicts over Alcatraz and Wounded Knee and

2) In U.S. culture, 1970 releases of the book "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" and the film "Little Big Man" (which while comic, challenged the prevailing heroic view of cowboys & U.S. military in the West). I remember both this book and film were very influential in my family.

I think both these political & armed standoffs and these powerful cultural artifacts had more of an influence on the changing view toward Native Americans than the conflict of the Vietnam War.

My uncle was the parish priest in Cody for 35 years, so I've visited many times, and in fact got married in Cody. Uncle Frank was a friend of the Cody family, and when the new museum was being built, the family gave him his gambling table, which was installed in the parish rectory of the new church he was building. That became his spot to count the collection baskets from Mass. Today's show was fabulous and I loved hearing about the cowboys, the Irma Hotel, and all the rest. Thank you for such a vivid and realistic view of the Old West.

Calvary?

Cavalry!

Origin of cavalry: Italian cavalleria cavalry, chivalry, from cavaliere <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cavalry>

This was an extraordinary program. It felt like a Ken Burn's documentary in audio! Perhaps the material could be turned into video!!

I enjoyed the piece on Buffalo Bill, but since I, like just about everybody, enjoy being right when others are wrong, I'd like to point out what may be an error: You implied or said that Sitting Bull was killed on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He was actually killed on the Standing Rock reservation.