“WILD WEST” SHOW

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28630, 5 July 1958, Page 10

“WILD WEST” SHOW

U.S. Troupe Goes To Brussels

NEW YORK

For the first time since Buffalo Bill Cody took Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull “across the wide water,’’ Europeans are seeing an authentic American Wild West show at the Brussels World’s Fair.

A chartered Pan American Clipper took off from Denver for Brussels recently. Aboard were world’s champion cowboy Casey Tibbs, plus 76 rough riders, cowgirls and Sioux Indians from Gene Autry’s Cramer Rodeo. Two weeks ago another plane flew a huge inflatable tent and 19 Indian tepees to Brussels. Earlier, bucking' broncos, roping horses, steers, calves and heavy equipment for the show were dispatched by sea. Buffalo Bill took his- show to Europe twice—in 1887 and 1839. The trip took 11 days by ship. This time the rough riders reached Brussels in 11 hours. The Brussels programme includes a re-enactment of Custer’s . Last Stand at the Little Big Horn as well as the usual rodeo events. With the Wild West close upon them, European editors are digging into their files for background on Buffalo Bill’s triumphs there more than 70 years ago. In London, after a command performance for Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales and four visiting members of European Royalty asked to ride in the Deadwood stage coach. In Paris, Buffalo Bill climbed the Eiffel Tower and from it saw a sight strange to the city of light—a camp of Sioux and Pawnee wigwams spread out on the edge of the Parc de Neuilly. In both England and France Annie Oakley, the famous markswoman, received many proposals of marriage. One of them came from a Welshman who enclosed his photograph. Annie set the picture on a corral post, put six bullets between the eyes, wrote “Respectfully Declined’’ on the card, and mailed it back. In Paris, the King of Senegal offered Buffalo Bill 1000 francs fo* “Little Missie.” He thought Annie would enjoy shooting the animals in the African jungles In Rome, the troupe visited the Vatican, and the Sioux and Pawnee Indians received a blessing from the man they called the “Great Medicine.”