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What would Bill Cody do? This cowboy has guess

By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 17, 2009 at 12:05 a.m.

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In a darkened arena, Bob Krouse rehearses late Thursday for the Great American Wild West Show at the National Western Events Center.

Photo by Joshua Duplechian / Special To The Rocky

In a darkened arena, Bob Krouse rehearses late Thursday for the Great American Wild West Show at the National Western Events Center.

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If Buffalo Bill Cody were alive today and still doing Wild West shows, Don Endsley thinks he has a good idea of what they would look like.

They would be something, like, well, his show: the Great American Wild West Show, which pulls into the National Western Stock Show tonight for the first of two shows this weekend.

As a kid in Drasco, Ark., Endsley remembers reading about Cody, the former Pony Express rider, scout and Indian fighter turned showman.

"He started all this stuff," Endsley said. "He started this whole cowboy world that we have here."

Cody first staged his show in 1883. It featured a buffalo hunt, an Indian attack on a stagecoach, a Pony Express ride and, for the grand finale, a reenactment of Custer's Last Stand.

Endsley's show - now in its 12th year - features longhorn cattle rather than buffalo and celebrates Native American culture and dances. But it has all the stagecoaches, chuck wagons, fancy roping and trick riding that trace their origin to Cody's show.

A former bull rider, Endsley got the idea for reviving a Wild West show during his career as a rodeo announcer. He noticed audiences seemed to get the biggest kick out of entertainment interspersed throughout the rodeo.

In 1996, he staged a small version of the show in Houston and then did his first 90-minute production at the Ohio State Fair. He's been at it ever since.

The show is a family affair. Endsley's wife of 42 years, Sharon, serves as co-producer and music director. Their son Tim and his wife, Mandy, serve as the production managers.

This will be their 11th year at the National Western Stock Show, where their shows have been popular.

"We're sold out most every year except for one year when the Broncos were in the playoffs," Endsley said.

This year's show also will feature a fair amount of cowboy music. Endsley and his wife have added singers Curley Musgrave and Belinda Gail to the program. The two won the Western Music Association's Traditional Duo of the Year three times since 2005.

The Endsleys also have added "Johnny Lonestar," a trick roper who grew up in the unlikely cowboy outpost of Long Island, N.Y.

The family uses the stock show as a showcase to try out new acts and line up booking for the rest of the year. Endsley said they have booked shows in as many as 25 cities in a year.

This year, they will be cutting back a bit as they work on a projected spring 2010 opening of a Wild West Coliseum in Branson, Mo.

Endsley thinks Buffalo Bill would have approved.

"I think if Buffalo Bill Cody were doing shows now, he'd be doing these things that we do with lights and sound," Endsley said. "We just want to take it to a higher level."

SHOWTIMES

The Great American Wild West Show will perform at the National Western Stock Show at 5 tonight and 4 p.m. Sunday. For tickets, which are $14, go to the box office or visit nationalwestern.com.