Golden – A century ago, Buffalo Bill debuted his “Wild West Show” in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
The “Congress of Rough Riders” opened April 2, 1905, on the Champs de Mars, enthralling more than 3 million spectators during its run with sharpshooting, fierce Indians and trick roping.
To mark the centenary, Disneyland Resort Paris has retooled its “Wild West Show,” a dinner-theater extravaganza that has been part of the amusement park since it opened in 1992 as Euro Disney, north of Paris.
Disney mined the Buffalo Bill Museum on Lookout Mountain for about 70 reproductions of historic photos and posters of the legendary scout and showman to dress up the show.
Big blowups of period pieces adorn “Colonel Cody’s Saloon,” an area that showgoers pass through on the way to the arena for entertainment and dinner.
“All of the reproductions mention the museum,” said Steve Friesen, director of the museum, which opened its doors four years after William F. Cody died in 1917.
Friesen said the request wasn’t a huge stretch since the museum had just completed making digital images of its vast collections using a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
“It took a little time to get things together, but it was worth it,” Friesen said. “We really are getting a lot of bang out of it.”
About 1,000 people can be seated at each of the twice-daily shows in Disney Village, which Friesen said provides publicity.
The exposure is expected to boost the numbers of international tourists who visit the museum, which overlooks Golden.
Friesen and Bill Carle, whose family operates the gift shop near Buffalo Bill’s grave, attended the show’s grand reopening in the Disney Village in February.
The two enjoyed seeing the vintage items from the Buffalo Bill museum and chuckled over some written translations, such as the word “Yeah” instead of “Yee-haw” plastered on the walls.
Friesen also got a kick out of the dinner-theater menu, which included “pain du campement,” or camping bread. “It was cornbread,” he said with a laugh.
The show’s program touts “les cavaliers de l’Ouest” and “indiens d’Amerique,” and these cowboys and Indians put on a sharpshooting and trick-riding show that rivals the one Buffalo Bill offered in 1905, Friesen said.
The show’s participants are recruited from throughout North America, with the star “being some guy from Montana,” Friesen said.
But most important, Carle said, the museum’s contributions allow “Buffalo Bill to live on in an even-bigger way.”
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
