Buffalo Bill Doll

Handmade cloth art doll of Buffalo Bill from the Wild West Show, made with authentic period clothing. Bill has real human hair, hand-painted and needle sculpted features, and stands 23” tall without his hat. His foot is placed on a rock that says “courage.” Character dolls are researched for authenticity, and are made in a smoke-free environment in the heart of America by Lynne-the-dollmaker. Learn more about Buffalo Bill and see larger images of doll below.

The late 19th century was the age of great showmen and traveling entertainers, like the Barnum and Bailey Circus, the Vaudeville circuits, and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. In 1883, Cody founded his production in Omaha, Nebraska, a show that would run, in one form or another, for the next three decades, charming crowds throughout the United States and Europe.

Over the years, the troupe, which included as many as 1,200 performers, included many authentic personalities such as James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok, Texas Jack Omohundro, Annie Oakley, prominent Native Americans, including Sitting Bull and Geronimo, as well as “real” cowboys recruited from the West.

The show itself consisted of a series of historical scenes interspersed with feats of showmanship, sharp shooting, staged races, rodeo style events, and sideshows.

Native Americans figured prominently in many of the scenes, often shown attacking wagon trains with Buffalo Bill or one of his colleagues riding in and saving the day. The show also re-enacted the riding of the Pony Express, stagecoach robberies, and buffalo-hunting, with the production ending with a melodramatic re-enactment of Custer’s Last Stand in which Cody himself portrayed General Custer.

By the turn of the 20th century, William F. Cody was probably the most famous American in the world. No one symbolized the West for Americans and Europeans better than Buffalo Bill. His shows were billed as one of the entertainment triumphs of the ages.

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