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

BUFFALO BILL PICTURES COMING.

The Two Bills Company, of New York, which was recently incorporated to produce a series of real Wild West plays in conjunction with the Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill troupe, will soon be heard from. A competent photographer and stage director have been traveling with the company for a month or more and have already secured a number of negatives which are now in the hands of the printer. We are informed that the pictures will be the greatest of their kind ever shown to the moving picture public. Colonel Cody (Buffalo Bill) and Major Lillie (Pawnee Bill) would not at first consent to appear in any of the pictures, but they have become very much interested in the work and both are personally appearing in all of the plays. The scenarios are being written by a gentleman who has been a lifelong companion of Colonel Cody and Major Lillie, and as the stories are based upon the early frontier days in the West in which the above mentioned gentlemen both took such an active part, it will make them not only realistic but of historical value. When you stop to consider that all the talent used in these pictures are men and women who have had actual experience on the plains, we look forward to some great horsemanship, feats of daring and thrilling escapades. Numerous exhibitors and exchanges have already inquired when the company expects making their first release, and we are answering them that we will inform them about the 15th of September.

The laboratory work is being done at the plant of The Powers Company, and independent exhibitors who are accustomed to the excellent photographic quality of Powers Picture Plays can expect the Buffalo Bill series to be equally clear. We are not so informed, but we would not be surprised if these pictures should cost the exchange more than the ordinary. But if so they will be a profitable investment. The fame and popularity of the two great men of the plains will make this series of films a splendid drawing card for the exhibitor. Due announcement will be given in these pages of the date of the first issue.