A large Wild West show was an enormous undertaking. Buffalo Bill's production often encompassed six or seven hundred people, including cast members, crew, and support personnel. One or two other shows reached a number closer to a thousand. Even the smaller shows included people of very different backgrounds, outlooks, and reasons for performing. Moreover, the experiences of white American performers were different from the experiences of the foreign riders and marksmen who joined the bigger shows, and both groups differed even more from the Indians.

For this reason, it is difficult to make generalizations about the people who joined Wild West shows. Some performers were genuine Westerners; others were not. Some had extensive backgrounds in theater or circuses; others did not. A few joined the Wild West because it was the best available job, others signed on because they had loved the real West, and still...