AMERICA'S FIRST SUPERSTAR - It's High Noon, Boyo!

Buffalo Bill Cody largely invented the American West as we think of it today.

Over 70 million people worldwide saw his Wild West Show which presented an idealised view of the West that has endured to this day. Indeed by the dawn of the 20th century already over a million words had been written about him. Many have sought to debunk his myth, saying he was nothing but a showman, a charlatan - True, he was all of these things but the facts are that he was also a true Westerner, a frontiersman and he really had faced grave danger in his younger years.

"Presently the moon rose, dead ahead of me; and painted boldly across its face was the figure of an Indian. He wore the war-bonnet of the Sioux, at his shoulder was a rifle pointed at someone in the river-bottom 30 feet below; in another second he would drop one of my friends. I raised my old muzzle-loader and fired. The figure collapsed, tumbled down the bank and landed with a splash in the water. 'What is it?' called McCarthy, as he hurried back. 'It's over there in the water,' I answered. McCarthy ran over to the dark figure. 'Hi!' he cried. 'Little Billy's killed an Indian all by himself!' So began my career as an Indian fighter."

Buffalo Bill Cody

Author Larry McMurtry in his excellent book The Colonel and Little Missie looks at The Buffalo Bill legend from the angle of his superstardom. Indeed the book is subtitled: Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley and the Beginnings of superstardom in America. And I'd highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about the legendary Wild West Show.

In 1903 The WIld West Circus visited South Wales - I find this incredible. Here I am living as far away from the West as you can imagine, surrounding by coal scarred mountains that are a constant reminder of the once thriving coal industry - indeed in 1904 over 57 million tons of coal were sent out from the Rhondda Valleys to be shipped out around the world. And once, long ago, a true legend of the American West walked on this Welsh ground - I find that incredible. What must it have been like to suddenly have this colourful exhibition playing amongst the greyness of early 20th century Wales?

Here is a list of the Welsh towns that hosted the Wild West shows:

Aberdare - July 4th 1903 Aberystwyth - May 7th 1904 Bangor - May 29th 1903 Barry Dock - May 19th 1904 Bridgend - May 18th 1904 Builth Wells - May 12th 1904 Cardiff - September 20th-26th 1891, July 6th-11th 1903 and May 20th-21st 1904 Carmarthen - May 13th 1904 Caernarfon - May 4th 1904 Dolgellau - May 6th 1904 Ebbw Vale - 1903 Holyhead - May 3rd 1904 Llandudno - May 2nd 1904 Llanelli - July 13th 1903 and May 16th 1904 Neath - May 17th 1904 Oswestry - May 11th 1904 Pembroke Dock - May 14th 1904 Porthmadoc - May 5th 1904 Rhyl - May 27th 1903 Ruabon - May 29th 1903 Swansea - July 14th-15th 1903

But Cody took his Show around the world - he was friends of Royality - Queen Victoria was especially taken by this handsome man who seemed to respresent all the virtues of manhood - courage, strength and integrity. And a lot of it was down to image building and his presentation of himself and his show to an audience that lapped up the spectacle.

But despite all the showmanship and the exaggeration of true events the fact remains that Buffalo Bill was a genuine American Hero. He'd scouted for Custer, lived with Indians and sent more than one bad man to the grave. He was also highly thought of by his friend General Sheridan. Now these men couldn't be fooled so no matter what the critics say about Cody it is worth remembering that he'd actually lived the events depicted in his Outlandish Wild West Show.