The William F. Cody Archive: Documenting the life and times of Buffalo Bill

 

SUGARED POPCORN.

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Buffalo Bill Claims the Honor of Introducing it in England

Buffalo Bill and his cowboys introduced many novelties in England which at first astonished the sturdy Britons and then made them feel ashamed of themselves for letting American ingenuity get ahead of them.

The small sons of the Britons thank their stars that such a person as Buffalo Bill visited their shores. The cowboys showed them how to play several new games, and, best of all, how to throw the lasso. But there was one thing which the Wild West troupe took into the country that the young people and hundreds of old thank them for, and that is the ball of sugared popcorn.

Buffalo Bill claims the sole honor of introducing this toothsome dainty to the English public, for such a thing was never known in that country, it is averred, before the advent of his purely American show.

When the first stand for the sale of popcorn was erected on the Exposition grounds the small boys of London and vicinity surrounded it and devoured ball after ball of the corn. It must have pleased their palate, for the demand was so great that Buffalo Bill deemed it expedient to hastily erect a dozen or more stands on the grounds. Even this number did not prove enough, and before the exhibition ended more than thirty popcorn stands were doing a flourishing business on the grounds.

At every exhibition given by the Wild West company the audience feasted their eyes on the performances while devouring the balls of sugared popcorn.

Banner image: Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming, U.S.A.; Original Buffalo Bill Museum Collection, P.69.118