A Glorious Disaster: When Buffalo Bill’s Stage Debut Was a Hilarious Mess
(Image of Ned Buntline, Buffalo Bill Cody, Giuseppina Morlacchi, Texas Jack Omohundro in "The Scouts of the Prairie" 1872.)
So, picture this: Chicago, just a year or so after the Great Fire. The city’s still getting back on its feet, and what does it need? A good laugh, maybe a bit of Wild West excitement. Enter Scouts of the Prairie, a play that opened in December 1872 at Nixon’s Amphitheatre. It was… well, let’s just say it wasn’t exactly Shakespeare.
We’re talking Buffalo Bill Cody and Texas Jack Omohundro playing themselves (because who else could?), a script by the king of dime novels, Ned Buntline, who also took to the stage as a trapper, and the dazzling Giuseppina Morlacchi as an Indian maiden. Buntline apparently adapted the script from one of his own dime novels. Now, the Chicago Times wasn’t exactly blown away:
"On the whole it is not probable that Chicago will ever look upon the like again. Such a combination of incongruous drama, execrable acting, renowned performers, mixed audience, intolerable stench, scalping, blood and thunder is not likely to be vouchsafed to a city for a second time – even Chicago."
Ouch. But here’s the kicker: despite the savage reviews, people loved it! Why? Because who wouldn’t want to see Buffalo Bill and Texas Jack in the flesh, plus the gorgeous Morlacchi? Artistic merit be darned, the show was a financial smash, touring other cities to equally enthusiastic (if not exactly highbrow) audiences.
Ned Buntline: The Wild Man Behind the Wild West Show
(Image of Ned Buntline)
This whole shebang was the brainchild of Edward Zane Carroll Judson, better known as Ned Buntline. This guy was a walking tall tale. Born in the 1820s, he was a seaman, a war veteran (sort of), a political agitator, a temperance lecturer (when sober!), and a writer. He had more marriages than you’ve had hot dinners, and once almost got hanged for winning a duel. Basically, Buntline was a force of nature.
While he fancied himself a serious writer, he made bank churning out those dime novels that everyone secretly loved. And that’s where Buffalo Bill came in.
Buffalo Bill: From Buffalo Hunter to Stage Star (Reluctantly)
(Image of Buffalo Bill)
Buntline had to twist Cody’s arm to get him on stage. At 27, Cody was already a legend as a buffalo hunter, guide, and scout, thanks in no small part to Buntline’s novels. But Cody had stage fright. He’d been invited to a play based on Buntline’s novel Buffalo Bill, the King of Border Men in New York. When the crowd realized the real Buffalo Bill was there, they demanded a speech. His response? "I made a desperate effort, and a few words escaped me, but what they were I could not for the life of me tell, nor could any one else in the house."
But Buntline knew a star when he saw one, and he appealed to Cody’s ego (and his wallet): "There’s money in it… and you will prove a big card, as your character is a novelty on the stage."
Texas Jack: The Other Half of the Dynamic Duo
(Image of Texas Jack)
Texas Jack Omohundro was cut from the same cloth as Buffalo Bill. A Virginian by birth, he’d gone west, worked cattle, and made a name for himself as a guide and scout. He was known as "Texas Jack" after leading a cattle drive to Tennessee. He became friends with other famous scouts like California Joe Milner, Wild Bill Hickok, and Buffalo Bill. When Cody signed on for Buntline’s play, Texas Jack was right there with him.
Giuseppina Morlacchi: The Ballerina in the Wild West
(Image of Giuseppina Morlacchi)
Giuseppina Morlacchi was a star in her own right. Born in Milan, she was a trained dancer who’d wowed audiences across Europe and America. She’s even credited with introducing the cancan to America! So why would she join this Wild West circus? Maybe Buntline was incredibly persuasive, or maybe the money was good. But here’s a romantic twist: she and Texas Jack fell in love and married the next year!
The Show Must Go On (Even if It’s a Train Wreck)
Even before opening night, Scouts of the Prairie was a disaster waiting to happen. The theater owner almost backed out, Buntline hadn’t written the script, and he hadn’t even found the "ten Sioux and Pawnee chiefs" he’d promised in the ads.
Cody said Buntline wrote the play in four hours, using hotel clerks as his assistants. There wasn’t much time for rehearsals, and it showed. Cody stumbled over his lines, had to be prompted, and mostly ad-libbed his way through the show. But the audience ate it up!
The script is lost to history (probably for the best), but we know it involved evil white guys, damsels in distress, treacherous Indians, a temperance lecture, and plenty of gunfights. Think a B-western with a heavy dose of Victorian melodrama.
Wild Bill’s Wild Exit
The next season, Buntline was out, and Wild Bill Hickok was in. They renamed the show Scouts of the Plains. But Hickok wasn’t cut out for acting. He complained about the props, shot too close to the other actors, got arrested for assaulting a taxi driver, and brawled in bars. Eventually, everyone (including Hickok) had enough, and he left with a severance package.
The Legacy of a Glorious Mess
Cody then juggled his time between being a plainsman and being a thespian before starting Buffalo Bill’s Wild West in 1883.
Texas Jack and Giuseppina Morelacchi got married and continued their careers until their untimely deaths. Jack died of pneumonia and Giuseppina died of cancer.
Buntline continued writing until his death from heart disease.
So, why does all this matter? Because Scouts of the Prairie, as terrible as it might have been, was a turning point. It helped launch Buffalo Bill’s career, which led to the Wild West show that brought the American West to the world. And it was a crucial step in the evolution of the Western genre, from dime novels to the stage and, eventually, to the silver screen.
Not bad for a hastily thrown-together, amateurish production in a city still recovering from a fire. It just goes to show, sometimes the biggest disasters can lead to the most glorious results.