Explore "The Life of Buffalo Bill" by William F. Cody on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Texas Jack and I spent several weeks in hunting in the western part of Nebraska, and at the end of our vacation we felt greatly reinvigorated and ready for another theatrical campaign. We accordingly proceeded to New York and organized a company for the season of 1873–74. Thinking that Wild Bill would be quite an acquisition to the troupe, we wrote to him at Springfield, Missouri, offering him a large salary if he would play with us that winter. He was doing nothing at the time, and we thought that he would like to take a trip through the States, as he had never been East.
Wild Bill accepted our offer, and came on to New York; though he told us from the start that we could never make an actor out of him. Although he had a fine stage appearance and was a handsome fellow, and possessed a good strong voice, yet when he went upon the stage before an audience, it was almost impossible for him to utter a word. He insisted that we were making a set of fools of ourselves, and that we were the laughingstock of the people. I replied that I did not care for that, as long as they came and bought tickets to see us.