Social Victorians/1887 American Exhibition/Opening

Logistics

 * 9 May 1887

Related Events

 * The American Exhibition, which opened on 6 May 1887

The Luncheon
First there was a "huge luncheon," as Ronald Gower describes it: Cardinal Manning came to a huge luncheon, which preceded the ceremony of the opening of the Exhibition, in the Trophy Room, and Archdeacon Farrar was also there. (55)

Then the opening ceremony occurred; as Furlough put it,
The proceedings were of a simple and unostentatious character. Lord Ronald Gower read an address on behalf of the Committee of Welcome, which was replied to by the President of the Exhibition, Colonel Henry L. Russell. (Furlough 201; Gower 55)

Then there was music
Madame Nordica sang the Star Spangled Banner and "Rule Britannia," and then a cornet player played "Yankee Doodle" as the crowd was allowed to cross the bridge to the Wild West (Furlough 201). George Bernard Shaw recalled some of the music like this: "Two cornet performances have left an abiding memory with [75/76] me. One was M. Lévy's variation on Yankee Doodle, taken prestissimo, with each note repeated three times by 'triple tonguing.' This was in the open air, at the inauguration of Buffalo Bill; and it was preceded by a spirited attempt on the part of Mdme. Nordica to sing The Star Spangled Banner to an entirely independent accompaniment by the band of Grenadier Guards. (Shaw 75–76)"

Gower's Description of "The Official Opening"
In his Old Diaries, Ronald Gower says, on the 9th of May the official opening of the "Yankeries," as it is sometimes called, or the "Buffalo Billeries," as Punch christened the American Exhibition, took place.

Some twenty thousand persons had been invited to this opening day, and the grand stand in the arena looked quite imposing, crammed full of humanity, such a crowd as probably had never before been brought together even in this huge town. (Gower 55)

Attendance
While Gower says that 20,000 people had been invited to the opening, according to the 12 May 1887 American weekly The Nation,

"The American Exhibition in London was formally opened May 9 with an attendance of about 7,000 persons. 'Buffalo Bill's' Wild West show proved to be the most attractive feature to a great many visitors. ('Summary' 399)"

And Humphry says that 40,000 attended; she seems to be referring to the opening day rather than the opening ceremony, although she clearly was present at the opening ceremony (685–686). In his Buffalo Bill and Sitting Bull: Inventing the Wild West Bobby Bridger says, “Two and a half million people saw the show in London during the summer of 1887” (Bridger 342).

Gower's welcome address
Gower's welcome address included the hortatory hope that the American Exhibition would bring, as he put it,

"a new bond of amity between England and America; may it cement the friendship and good feeling between the two great Anglo-Saxon peoples; may it increase the unity between them, that unity of which Mr. Canning so eloquently wrote when he said that the two nations were 'United by a common language, a common spirit of commercial enterprise, and a common regard for all well-regulated liberty.' (Flint 228)"

William F. Cody's description
Cody's description, as always, is dramatic and not trustworthy in any detail that cannot be confirmed. The longest part of this is a cutting from a newspaper, which he quotes at length after introducing it. The moment the doors were opened there was a great rush of the populace, and our money-takers had all their work cut out, "with both hands," to relieve the bustling perspiring Crowd of the harmless necessary shillings that flowed in silver streams into our coffers. It was a thoroughly representative audience, fashionable and otherwise, in which all ranks were included; and if I had felt slightly nervous in the presence of royalty, I experienced a sensation of real stage fright on gazing at the vast sea of faces that confronted us from every available quarter when we made our first bow to the British public. A cutting from an influential London paper may be allowed to describe the scene:

THE WILD WEST SHOW.

As we took our places in one of the little boxes which edge the arena in the grounds of the American Exhibition where Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show is given, we could not help being struck with the effectiveness of the scene before us. The size of the enclosure was one element of the impressiveness of the coup d'oeil and this was cleverly increased by the picturesque scenery which inclosed half of the circle. At the edge of the ash-covered circle in the center were drawn up on parade the whole strength of the Wild West company. There were the various tribes of Indians in their war-paint and feathers, the Mexicans, the ladies, and the cowboys, and a fine array they made, with the chiefs of each tribe, the renowned Sergeant Bates, the equally celebrated Buffalo Bill, the stalwart Buck Taylor, and others who were introduced by Mr. Frank Richmond who, from the top of an elevated platform, described the show as it proceeded. The post of lecturer is no sinecure when such a vast area has to be filled by the voice of the speaker; but Mr. Richmond made every sentence distinctly heard, and the interesting information conveyed by him in a mellow and decidedly audible voice was one of the most agreeable features of the performance. Few, perhaps, of the audience would have remembered, without the notification of the lecturer, the history of the pony express, one of the most romantic in the annals of intercommunication, or have enjoyed fully the exposition by one of the leading cow-boys of the way in which the mails were carried. The emigrant train, which next wended its way across the arena with its teams of oxen and mules, its ancient wagons, and their burden of families and household goods, to be attacked by a tribe of redskins, who were soon repulsed by the ever ready cow-boys, was an equally interesting resurrection of a method of peopling the soil practiced even now in the remoter regions of the West, though the redskins, we believe, are pretty well confined nowadays to the Indian territory, and are reduced to, at least, an outward "friendliness." The next sensation was created by Miss Lillian Smith, "the California girl," whose forte is shooting at a swinging [731/732] target. She complicates her feats by adding all kinds of difficulties to her aim, and her crowning achievements of smashing a glass ball made to revolve horizontally at great speed and clearing off ball after ball on the target just mentioned to the number of twenty were really marvelous. The part of the entertainment most novel to Londoners was undoubtedly the riding of the "bucking" horses. As Mr. Richmond explained, no cruelty is used to make [732/733] these animals "buck." It is simply "a way they've got." The horses are saddled coram publico, and the ingenious manoeuvres by means of which this is accomplished were extremely interesting to observe. Some escaped altogether from their masters, and had to be pursued and lassoed; others had to be thrown down in order that they might be mounted. When the cowboys were in the saddle came the tug of war. There were various degrees of violence in the leaps and springs of the animals, but the mildest of them would have thrown even a moderately good rider to the ground in a moment. The "ugliest" of the lot seemed to be that bestridden at the conclusion of this part of the show by Antonio Esquival, but those mounted by Jim Eldd, Buck Taylor, Dick Johnson, Mitchell, and Webb were all "customers" of the "awkwardest" description, and showed what a rebellious demon there is in a half-broken horse who has lost his fear of man. There was enmity, savage or sullen, in every attitude and in every movement of these creatures. The bucking horses should be seen by everyone in London who takes an interest in the "noble animal." The attack on the Deadwood stage coach, which is a celebrated item of the show, was a very effective spectacle, and in this, as in an attack on a settler's homestead, there was a great amount of powder burnt. Mustang Jack performed the startling feat of clearing a horse sixteen hands high, having previously covered thirteen feet with a standing leap. He is, without doubt, an extraordinary jumper. Buffalo Bill's specialty is shooting whilst riding at full gallop, and he does this to wonderful perfection. He is accompanied by an Indian, bearing a basket full of glass balls, which he throws high into the air, and Mr. Cody smashes each with unerring aim whilst both horses are going at a hard gallop. The buffalo hunt was immensely realistic. There was also some interesting feats, riding by two ladies and several short races between them, and also between Indian boys mounted on mustang ponies. Summing up the Wild West show from an English and theatrical point of view, we should say that it is certain to draw thousands from its remarkably novel nature. We would also suggest for consideration the advantage of the introduction of a little scalping. Why should not the Indians overcome a party of scouts, and "raise their hair ?" Wigs and scalps are not very expensive, and carmine is decidedly cheap. But it will be a long time before public curiosity will be glutted, and until then "Buffalo Bill" may be content to "let her rip," and regard with complacency the golden stream that, is flowing with such a mighty current into the treasury of the Wild West Show. 

Mrs. Humphry's description
One of the challenges of documenting this event is the racism that seems to emanate from every account and perspective. Mrs. Humphry, a British woman, writing for London Society: A Monthly Magazine of Light and Amusing Literature for Hours of Relaxation, is no exc exception with her description of Japanese people in the audience. One of the fashionable entertainments of the season is the American Exhibition, which is so utterly novel to Londoners that it attracts all classes, high and low. The opening day was well attended, such a crowd of carriages filing up West Brompton as must have astonished that not very aristocratic vicinage. The opening ceremony was inaudible and invisible to the great majority of those present, only a favoured few being near enough to hear and to see. Among the crowd I noticed Cardinal Manning, looking on with curiosity at phases of a life so different from his own. "Buffalo Bill" was the centre of attraction. For an hour or so during the afternoon he stood at the entrance, receiving those whom he knew, while a group of immense stuffed buffaloes behind him looked as though they had formed themselves into a reception committee. His garments have much picturesqueness, partly arising from their perfect suitability to his mode of life. On horseback, and especially from a back view, he looks like a mediaeval knight, his long hair aiding the resemblance. But when he puts his hat on, the likeness ceases. It is a large felt sombrero, not without a picturesqueness of its own, especially when he doffs it with a free sweep of the arm that recalls the liberal courtesy of a former age. A group of Japanese regarded him with much interest, chattering and laughing like children. They are a cheerful nation and seem to love amusement.

When all were assembled and seated round the immense arena, the effect of so many thousands massed together in the amphitheatre was a marvellous one. The eye looked along a vast mosaic of faces, those at a distance appearing to be so close together as to admit of being walked upon. It was a curious thing, [685/686] when cries of "Sit down!" were heard, to see thousands of distant small black specks suddenly sink to a level with the thousands of coloured specks that represented far-away bonnets and dresses. The spectators were, in a sense, quite as interesting as the spectacle. At every turn one saw a well-known face. Celebrities came so fast on one another's footsteps that those who looked had scarcely time to mark each off on memory's note-book. In one group were collected the delightful authoress of a charming book, an actress who draws tears and smiles at will from her crowded audiences, a dignitary of the Church, a great legal luminary, the latest fashionable beauty, and a dramatist well known to fame. This group seemed to act as a sort of magnetic attractor, growing larger and larger, until at last it became a dense, impenetrable crowd. And further on the aesthete [she must mean Oscar Wilde here?] watched the athlete. Nature has given the aesthete a splendid physique, and he, too, would excel in feats of "derring do," had not circumstances ordained that the electric current which directs the brain's power into different channels should guide his through his fingers to his pen. There, too, the aesthete's mother, magnificent in grey brocade, and more intent on her beloved theme of woman's exaltation than on the scene around. Why should titles and decorations, not to say emoluments and comforts in the Three per Cents., be awarded exclusively to men? Probably because men have the awarding of them; but perhaps some day we shall hear of an order to which women may contribute glory as well as men. Should ever such exist its initiation will mark a red-letter day for the world and civilization.

No country cousin must miss seeing the sports of the wild west. The war-dance of the Red Indian is like a chapter out of one of Fenimore Cooper's novels acted before our eyes. The race across the grounds of the tribes in their brilliant colours suggests a rainbow fallen and broken to pieces in the fall, then swept by the wind from east to west.

It suggested curious thoughts when a girl, who handled a gun with inimitable skill, stood forth alone, the centre on which were fixed forty thousand eyes at least. The applause that followed her successful efforts must have been heard a mile away, while she stood there quietly re-loading her guns to begin a fresh attempt at some most difficult feat, such as shooting five traps in as many seconds, with three different guns, the first mark being taken with the rifle resting on her head.

London becomes more interesting every year. In addition to its being the intellectual, artistic, scientific and social centre of the universe, as it has been for so many years, it now gathers to itself such varied expositions of different countries that one may almost feel that one has visited the very ends of the earth without having gone further from one's own door than the very limited orbit of the Underground Railway will carry one. (Humphry 685–686)

From an account printed in the Army and Navy Magazine
Writing for The Army and Navy Magazine "Furlough" writes in "On Leave," Hail Columbia! On Monday, the 9th May, the American Exhibition was opened without any important ceremony. The proceedings were of a simple and unostentatious character. Lord Ronald Gower read an address on behalf of the Committee of Welcome, which was replied to by the President of the Exhibition, Colonel Henry L. Russell. The "Star Spangled Banner" and "Rule Britannia " were charmingly sung by Mdlle. Lilian Nordica, both of which national airs were received with the utmost enthusiasm, and, to the strains of "Yankee Doodle," the crowd passed over the bridge into the arena, to witness the "Wild West" entertainment. The vast amphitheatre was packed, and it was computed that not less than 20,000 persons were present.

The performance of Buffalo Bill and his companions was well received, and, no doubt, will become one of the sights of London, for many months to come. This exhibition gives us an insight into the life of the Far West, which none of us here in England know much, if anything, about. The Cowboys, the Indians, and the Mexican vacqueros all form portions of that composite Republic which it is our wont to extol. The physique of the Cowboys is magnificent, their agility in all feats of riding and of a sportsman-like character is unrivalled, and their powers of endurance remarkable. And there is about one and all of them a quiet air of self-confidence which betokens the man who, from early age, has learned to shift for himself. The Indians, gaunt and silent, wrapped in their blankets, should be seen stalking among the tents and wigwams of the village, and then mark the contrast when they are excited by the mimic frays in the circus. The "Great Red Chief" [Should be "Red Shirt."] is well worth interviewing, and, while smoking a cigarette with him, you will find him to be a man of considerable feeling and intelligence. To appreciate and understand fully Life in the Far West, Buffalo Bill's camp should be visited and studied. (Furlough 201)

Rydell and Kroes say,
"During the Wild West's run at the American Exhibition, Cody's managers rarely missed a beat. They organized twice-a-day performances that played to crowds that averaged around 30,000. This meant that, since the grandstand could seat about 20,000, the show played to standing-room only crowds who thrilled to the performances based on 'The Drama of Civilization' and to the [108/109] stage effects, which included sweeping painted backdrops of the American West illuminated by electricity. They also kept careful track of the distinguished guests who visited the show and published their portraits around Buffalo Bill to serve as endorsements of the production. (Rydell and Kroes 108–109)"

Shirl Kasper says,
For all its flash and glitter, the American Exhibition did not catch the fancy of Londoners. They were tired of trade fairs, especially since the Colonial and Indian Exhibition had played in London just the year before. The American Exhibition, in fact, probably would have fallen flat on its face if Buffalo Bill's Wild West had not been secured as a side attraction. The London papers made no bones about that.

The papers were there when the exhibition opened on Monday, May 9, with a short prayer by Cannon Farrar, a welcome by Lord Roland Gower, and the singing of the "Star Spangled Banner" and "Rule Britannia." A band struck up "Dixie," and with that, the crowd made a mad stampede — not for the main exhibition, but for the covered bridge that led over the railroad tracks to the Wild West camp. "Not a soul stayed behind to look at the false teeth, or linger over the 'ironclad bran-duster,'" reported the Daily Telegraph. The Wild West show was all the talk, and Londoners, who soon dubbed it "The Yankeeries," flocked to its circular grandstands from the first moment. "The crush, and fight, and struggle amongst both quadrupeds and bipeds to reach the gates of the Yankeeries, was, for some hours, something terrific," the Evening News reported. A mass of carriages "of every description" crawled along the Old Brompton Road, and the sidewalk was "just as bad for pedestrians." Ten thousand people were smart enough to show up early and take the best seats in the grandstand a full hour before the show was to begin ....

"All the world and his wife were there," wrote the reporter from the Evening News. It was a fashionable and distinguished throng, indeed, the cream of London society. The actor Henry Irving was there, as were Irish writer Oscar Wilde, evangelical writer Hughie Drummond, Lady Randolph Churchill (wife of the British statesman), playwright William Gilbert, and composer Arthur Sullivan. Cardinal Henry Manning was there, as well as actor Charles Wyndham, "and indeed everyone who is known in London’s innermost literary and dramatic circles." (Kasper 71–72)

Sala reports on his visit to the opening of the American Exhibition
According to Sala, Lord Ronald Gower rode in the Deadwood stagecoach during the performance. I went to the opening ceremony on Monday, May 9, of the American Exhibition; and I subsequently witnessed a portion of the astounding entertainment knows as "Buffalo Bill's Wild West." I must confess that, in the outset, the name of "Buffalo Bill" presented to me only a very vague and shadowy purport and significance. About eight years since, happening to be at huge hotel in Atlanta, in the State of Georgia, I saw in the office two very tall men sitting on two very tall stools, mute and impassible, like the giants who in Flaxman's wonderful drawing are holding Mars captive. The hair of each of these tall men curled over his shoulders; they were abundantly bearded; they wore slouched hats; in their coats, vests, and "pants," as well as in their boots, there seemed to be a great deal of leather; each Colossus was armed with a tall stick, surmounted by a gilt knob, and each was vigorously chewing and puffing at a large and moist cigar. I asked the hotel clerk who these strange beings might be? "Well," replied the courteous functionary, "they claim to be Buffalo Bills." So densely ignorant was I of the ways of the Wild West that, for aught I knew, Buffalo Billism might have been a generic name for some Occidental institution, even as some recent Greek scholars have maintained that Phidias, or Pheidias, was not the name of a particular sculptor, but of a local Board of Works.

But now, I rejoice to say, have these dim eyes beheld the real, the only Buffalo Bill — namely, the Hon. W. F. Cody, Colonel in Western armies, and a member of a Western Legislature; champion shooter and rider, scout and guide for explorers; killer of five thousand buffaloes, besides deer and antelope, in one season; terror of "Injuns" (who are mainly "p'ison)"; modest, unassuming, a natural gentleman in his manners and character, and with nothing of the roughness of the typical frontiersman. Io! Buffalo Bill! Evoë, Hon. Cody! All hail to the cow-boys, the "greasers," the Indians on ponies, the rescuers of the Deadwood stage-coach, with Lord Ronald Gower among the passengers! all honour to the American frontier girls who ride so fearlessly! Buffalo Bill's entertainment is assuredly the most remarkable series of scenes in the Wild Western circus that has ever been seen in this country. It is to be hoped that the triumph of Buffalo Bill, his Indians, and his cow-boys, and his immense stock of "bronco" (not "broncho") horses will not make Barnum "feel bad," nor cause that patriarch of showmen to take a back seat.

The opening ceremony was a "little mixed"; and for a while, gazing on Canon Farrar, his Eminence Cardinal Manning, Sir Henry De Bathe, Colonel Hughes-Hallett, Mr. Charles Wyndham, Lord Ronad Gower, and the American promoters of the Exhibition gathered together on the platform (with Sir John Bennett beneath, "to see fair") — to say nothing of Mademoiselle Nordica, who, in sweet tones and with splendid effect, sang first "The Star Spangled Banner," and next "Rule, Britannia," to the accompanying strains of Mr. Dan Godfrey's band — one could not help thinking of so many flies in amber. However, the function, helped by a graceful Address of Welcome, eloquently delivered by Lord Ronald Gower, was got through with satisfactory smoothness. In a few days the varied contents of the Exhibition itself will shake themselves into their proper places; and the public at large will have every facility for studying the beauties of the false teeth trophy, the grandiose proportions of the beef-tea castle, the imposing aspect of the St. Jacobs Oil monument, and such equally diverting and instructive exhibits as atmospheric churns, zig-zag cockle-separators, bran-dusters, type-writers [lb at hyphen], drill-chucks, fabric-tufters, duplex shoe-trimmers, Eureka ice-machines, fire-extinguishers, egg-beaters, cold handle sad-irons, and alligator-tooth jewellery. The machinery will be in motion; the pictures and statues in the art-galleries will be arranged, and the American Exhibition will be in "full blast." But should even its fires show signs of waning, "Buffalo Bill" is strong enough to carry the whole show on his shoulders. (Sala 536, Col. A)

"The Opening of the American Exhibition" in the Illustrated London News, 14 May 1887
"The Exhibition of the Arts, Inventions, Manufactures, Products, and Resources of the United States, at West Brompton, was opened on Monday afternoon in the presence of a large number of persons. The opening proceedings were begun at half-past three o'clock by a performance of 'Hail! Columbia' by the Grenadier Guards' Band, after which Archdeacon Farrar, of Westminster, led the company in prayer that the Almighty would bless this undertaking and make it tend to the larger distribution among men of Heaven's gifts for the use of this life; so that man's discoveries and inventions, arts and sciences, might minister to His service, and that the time might be hastened when war should be no more and all nations clasp hands in His faith and fear. The band then played 'God Save the Queen,' after which Lord Ronald Gower, on behalf of the English council, delivered an address of welcome to the American guests. This council, he said, consisted of about 1000 leading Englishmen in all walks of life, animated by the common purpose of showing a strong regard and affection for America and Americans. He expressed the hope that this Exhibition might be a new bond of amity between England and America. The president of the Exhibition, Colonel Henry Russell, returned thanks for this welcome and for the encouragement given to the Americans in their efforts to make a fair show of Yankee industries. Mr. John R. Whitley, director-general of the Exhibition, explained that it had been organised and developed solely by private initiative. It illustrated, he said, the aims and conditions of that bright and active, that incalculably wealthy and varied section of human life which develops its resistless energies and practically inexhaustible resources from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. He believed that both nations would gain by fuller insight into the character and products of each other. The 'Star-Spangled Banner' and 'Rule, Britannia,' having been sung by Mdlle. Lilian Nordica amid great enthusiasm, Colonel Russell started the machinery, proclaimed the Exhibition open, and expressed a hope that it might prove another strong link in that chain, sometimes strained but never to be broken, which bound the United States to Old England. 'Yankee Doodle' was next performed by the band; after which the assembly proceeded to witness the performance of Buffalo Bill's 'Wild West,' the branch of the Exhibition which will probably have most attraction to the public. ('Opening of the American Exhibition')"

F. F. M.'s "The Ladies' Column" in the Illustrated London News, 14 May 1887
F. F. M. describes the clothing of a few of the fashionable women; their description of the performance by the Indigenous People sounds in some ways like Queen Victoria's. If "well enough is half done," as our nurses used to tell us in our childhood, then the American Exhibition is half assured of success, so far as "The Wild West" Show is concerned. The vast amphitheatre of seats surrounding, gallery-fashion, the enormous tan-covered area, was completely filled on Monday at the opening performance; probably twenty thousand persons were present. The London-American colony mustered strongly, and the "American language" was to be heard, spoken with native fluency and inflection, on all sides.

Lady Randolph Churchill has become one of us, but her charming Ladyship never forgets the land of her birth, and the box of honour was very suitably assigned to her at the opening ceremony of the American Exhibition. Lady Randolph's slight, elegant figure, and vivacious, unaffected countenance, are always pleasant to behold; but I hope I may be forgiven for saying that on this occasion she had not chosen her colors well. Being a pronounced brunette, she should eschew the tint sacred to blondes, but blue of the bluest was her entire costume on this occasion. The gown was in tailor-made style, the material being a blue cloth, patterned all over in a sort of Greek key design with narrow threads of white. The bodice was made with a series of folds from neck to bust, and thence fastened by straps of the material crossing over to the left side, meeting others coming from under the arm, and joining with pretty jet and gold clasps, which also trimmed the cuffs. Lady Randolph's bonnet was a capote of dark blue coarse straw, trimmed with a high bunch of cornflowers; and she wore a blue tulle veil. In the same box was Lady Sarah Spencer-Churchill, in a charming gown of dove-coloured cashmere, with a folded pink ribbon, just showing, by way of tucker. Lady Sarah's dress was severely plain, the fastening of the bodice in this gown being concealed somewhere down the side, in the way which is the highest art of the dress-maker [lb at hypen] at the moment; and the trimming being only a few knots of grey cord near the throat. Later on, Lady Sarah assumed an elegant little covert coat of the lightest grey cloth, with collar, revers, cuffs, and tailpieces all of red-brown velvet, heavily beaded; while her hat was a tall one of grey straw, trimmed at the back and top with feathers and ribbon.

Mrs. Ronalds was another well-known Anglo-American present. She wore a high green velvet bonnet, trimmed at the back with large pink magnolia flowers; and a black velvet mantle braided with gold to form cuffs, epaulettes, and other adornments. Madame Antoinette Sterling (who was born an American) was present in a long green velvet mantle, with sides and waistcoat of black moiré, and a black lace hat with green ribbon velvet bows. Mrs. Brown-Potter, superbly unaffected by the impending withdrawal from the Haymarket stage of "Man and Wife," was dressed completely in black, relieved only by a bow of heliotrope ribbon at the throat; she wore a black jetted grenadine and velvet cape, and a tall transparent hat covered with loose-looking fold above fold of black lace, and not otherwise trimmed. A pretty dress worn by a young American in Mrs. Brown-Potter's box was of Ophelia heliotrope soft silk, made with a loose "Garibaldi" bodice, with a quantity of real white lace gathered so as to fall downwards over the collar, and with long trails of heliotrope ribbon hanging from the throat to the feet; over this was worn a tan-coloured covert coat, the back fitting close, the front loose and falling open from a single button high on the breast.

Viscountess Sherbrooke, in a sage-green plush and cashmere gown and mantle, and a bonnet of iridescent beads trimmed with bows of green plush and satin ribbon, was piloting her lord through a crowd which it was surprising he should think it worth while to encounter. Lady "Charlie" Beresford had a lovely costume of black silk with heliotrope panel and waistcoat edged with passementerie in many shades of heliotrope beads. In Mr. Wyndham's box was the majestic and striking figure of Lady Wilde, in a light grey satin and broché trained gown, with many great gold brooches about the bosom, a chapeau all grey plumes, with the relief of one pink feather, and a plentiful veil of grey gossamer; Mr. Oscar Wilde being his mother's escort. Mrs. John Wood was in Mr. Toole's box, and was very soberly dressed in a black brocaded silk gown, black velvet mantle, with jet trimmings, and black and white check straw bonnet, trimmed only with high bows of black velvet and white ribbon, and white ribbon strings. More plain still was Miss Ellen Terry, in a blue-and-white plaid cotton gown, under a brown ulster, and worn with a little brown plush hat. Mrs. Weldon, however, made even black robes conspicuous; her straight-down coat of black surah being hardly less wonderful than her infantile "granny" bonnet of black lace, with alternate white and black ribbon loops along inside the brim.

It will be seen that the opening day of the American Exhibition attracted such a gathering as is commonly spoken of as "everybody being there." The whole performance was received with high favour, except one item, when an unfortunate cow (described in the programme as a "wild bull") was lassoed, and tied around the body, and dragged by a rope which passed between the hind legs, in a manner that is probably very mild as compared to the realisms of the prairies of the Wild West, but that the British public (to its credit) declined to consider amusing. The girls who shoot and the girls who ride are extremely skilful. As to the Indians, they are too naturally dreadful! Their yells, their savage gestures, their impassively cruel countenances, their stealthy steps in creeping from ambush, the way in which they spread out like a cloud of destruction when they are charging the foe, and vanish when repulsed like a passing typhoon — it all made me understand for the first time why they have ever been regarded with such horror when they have been engaged in warfare with civilised whites, and how it was that the employment of Indians by the Government of George III. to fight against the American rebels was considered an act so infamous as to be in effect a main cause of the stern resolution with which the youthful States fought on till they achieved their independence. (F. F. M. 540, Col. C)

Kasson says
Kasson describes the way the Wild West performed the "Drama of Civilization." For the London engagement, held in an outdoor arena, Cody and Salsbury moved MacKaye's structuring narrative to the program text, keeping its implied historical claims while presenting the show itself in a form closer to its earlier structure, a loose aggregation of individual acts. Following the grand processional and entrance of the performers, the show featured several horseback races; marksmanship by Johnny Baker, the cowboy kid, and the two women trick-shooters, Annie Oakley and Lilian Smith; demonstration of cowboy skills such as riding bucking broncos and roping steers; and enactments of frontier experiences, including a demonstration of pony-express riding techniques, scenes from Indian life, a buffalo hunt, and two dramas of conflict between Indians and settlers, the attack on the emigrant train and the journey of the Deadwood stagecoach. A grant [sic; grand?] salute ended the performance. Many of the acts had been in the show from the start, and their [75/76] descriptions were among the items copyrighted by Cody and Salsbury. But unlike the earlier shows, the London performance presented Buffalo Bill as not just another marksman but the central figure, the show's chief symbol. With his newly minted military title, Buffalo Bill seemed to gain stature and personal authority, which only added to his show's credibility as an educational American spectacle.

All of Salsbury's instincts were correct…. All accounts agreed that spectators rushed as quickly as possible from the Exhibition's formal opening ceremonies to the stadium where the Wild West was performed. The Wild West soon surpassed its sponsoring framework and took its place as a spectacle that needed no introduction and no apology. (Kasson 75–76)

Kasson goes on to mention the way celebrity audience members were included in the publicity of the show: The publicity agent Lew Parker kept a daily record of "distinguished personages" who visited the Wild West, proclaiming that "the annals of show business have no record approximating in any degree such a marvelous success." (81)

Special Performers for the Opening Performance on 9 May 1887

 * Sergeant Gilbert Bates, flag bearer (Leepson 130; Cody 731)
 * Mdme. Nordica, Mrs Gower (born in the U.S.) (Patrick Groome 699; Shaw 76)
 * the band of Grenadier Guards (Shaw 76)

Who Was Present

 * Cardinal Manning
 * Archdeacon Farrar
 * Lord Ronald Gower
 * Colonel Henry L. Russell
 * George Bernard Shaw
 * Humphry
 * Albert Edward, Prince of Wales
 * Alexandra, the Princess of Wales
 * Lady Alice Bective, "whom the Indians presently named 'The sunshine of the camp,'" came by before the opening. Burke says "Lady *Alice Beckie," but otherwise exactly the same description (Cody 717; Burke 203).
 * Lord Charles Beresford came by before the opening; "Then I remember riding in great style with Lord Chas. Beresford in the Coaching Club parade" (Cody 717, 725).
 * Mrs. Brown-Potter [Canonical name: Cora Urquhart?] came by before the opening (Cody 717).
 * Lady Randolph Churchill
 * Colonel Clark came by before the opening (Cody 717).
 * Sir Cunliffe Owen came by before the opening (Cody 717).
 * Hughie Drummond
 * William S. Gilbert
 * Mr. Dan. Godfrey "and the band of the Grenadier Guards" ("The American Exhibition." Illustrated London News (London, England), Saturday, April 16, 1887; pg. 440; Issue 2504, Col. B)
 * Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower, "honorary chair of the American Exhibition," came by before the opening and accompanied Gladstone on 25 April 1887; at the performance Victoria attended (SellWeybright 194; Cody 717, 722, 735).
 * Irving: Henry Irving came by before the opening (Cody 716).
 * Sir Francis Knollys, "private secretary to the Prince of Wales," came by before the opening (Cody 717).
 * Mr. Henry Labouchere, M.P., came by before the opening (Cody 717).
 * Cardinal Henry Manning
 * Mr. Justin McCarthy, M. P., came by before the opening (Cody 716).
 * American "Deputy Consul Moffat (to whom we are greatly indebted for assistance rendered us in landing)" came by before the opening (Cody 716–717).
 * Lady Monckton came by before the opening (Cody 717).
 * Colonel Montague came by before the opening (Cody 717).
 * Lord Henry Pagett, came by before the opening [Paget?] (Cody 717).
 * U.S. Minister Phelps came by before the opening (Cody 716).
 * Shaw: George Bernard Shaw (by his own account, Shaw 76)
 * Lord Strathmore came by before the opening (Cody 717).
 * Arthur Sullivan
 * Wilde: Oscar Wilde was at the opening; Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Wilde, dinner for Cody (Cody 725)
 * Charles Wyndham, came by before the opening, was at the opening, and met Cody at the Criterion Club (Cody 717, 724)
 * Yeats: Jack R. Yeats; the Yeats family lived in Earl's Court in the Summer of 1887 and had a season ticket as compensation for the inconvenience; Jack Yeats went every day (Pyle 24)
 * "and indeed everyone who is known in London’s innermost literary and dramatic circles" (Kasper 71)