The Academy of Music in Pittsfield. Image courtesy 'Gem City in the Gilded Age' by Carole Owens

CONNECTIONS: Wild West Show began on the streets of Pittsfield

Quackenbush furnished the capital for Buffalo Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickok to appear at the Academy — actually outside the Academy on the streets of Berkshire County.

About Connections: Love it or hate it, history is a map. Those who hate history think it irrelevant; many who love history think it escapism. In truth, history is the clearest map to how we got here: America in the 21st century.

Berkshire is replete with theaters. From Williamstown to the Colonial and Barrington Stage in Pittsfield, the Unicorn and Main Stage in Stockbridge, the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington and more, it is a burst of culture in the country. It all started in 1872 with the opening of the Academy of Music in Pittsfield.

Cebra Quackenbush

When Cebra Quackenbush dedicated his theater on December 16, 1872, the Academy of Music was indeed a source of civic pride and high hopes. It was reported that, “Quackenbush has added significantly to the advantages of the town.”

Quackenbush hired the Boston architect Louis Weissbein to design the theater. Prior to designing the theater, Weissbein designed the Pittsfield jail, the county courthouse and the Berkshire Life Insurance building — perhaps not the most logical precursors of a theater, but the result was well received. It was a three-story brick building located on North Street with a seating capacity of 1,200. Impressively, it was equipped with steam heat and gas lighting.

The Academy opened with a production of “Leah, the Forsaken.” Sounds old-fashioned, yes? Interestingly, the play was revived in New York in 2017. A review read in part: “There’s a little dust on the dialogue, but a rare revival … shines up this 1862 play just fine.” Actually it deals with very timely subjects of prejudice and immigration laws. Congratulations, Mr. Quackenbush.

Quackenbush was a very modern showman. In the next 19 years, at the Academy, audiences were treated to everything from animal acts to opera. A broadside for the 1885 production of “Ten Nights in a Bar Room” enthuses: “a correct picture of intemperance … sobs and tears from auditors of both sexes … a play that has everywhere proven a sensation unparalleled in the history of drama.” Step aside, Shakespeare and the Globe: Make way for T. S. Arthur and his temperance drama in five acts at the Academy.

Quackenbush was what they used to call a “warm” man: not crooked, certainly, just “too clever by half” and “too pushing” with a “sharp eye for the main chance.” Those combined characteristics, however, resulted in Quackenbush’s greatest theatrical coup. His triumph took place not inside the building, but outside in the middle of North Street, Pittsfield. It was Quackenbush who envisioned the Wild West Show.

Buffalo Bill Cody, circa 1875

Quackenbush knew William Cody. He knew Cody was a real cowboy. He knew Cody was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1872 for his services to the U.S. Army in the West. Ned Buntline (pen name of the writer E.Z.C. Judson) transformed the real-life cowboy into an American myth. Beginning in 1869, Buntline mixed fact and fiction in his dime novels to create “Buffalo Bill.” At Buntline’s urging, Cody agreed to play a cowboy on stage. Enter Cebra Quackenbush.

Quackenbush furnished the capital for Buffalo Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickok to appear at the Academy — actually outside the Academy on the streets of Berkshire County. Quackenbush differed from Buntline. He did not want them to act in a play but rather to create their own show — part demonstration, part circus. It was the first performance of what would become “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show” and that first performance was in Pittsfield.

That’s right — the very first Wild West Show took place here in Berkshire County. The show was a great success and toured for three decades. The outdoor extravaganza grew to dramatize a buffalo hunt, an Indian attack and a Pony Express ride. In later years, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show starred Annie Oakley and, for one season, Sitting Bull. Cody earned an international reputation. The Wild West Show formed an enduring image of the American West. To the end of his days, Cody credited Quackenbush with starting his career.

Neither Buffalo Bill nor “Ten Days in a Bar Room” were Quackenbush’s only contribution — not even “Leah the Forsaken.” His contribution was the building itself. Quackenbush created the largest space for social gatherings in the town. The Academy was the site of many historic events. In 1877, a crowd of 300 gathered at the Academy to watch the first local demonstration of the telephone. In 1891 it was the scene of the inauguration of Pittsfield as the first city in Berkshire County.

Construction of the theater was at once a great asset and a cause for concern. From the outset, Quackenbush wanted to rent retail space to bring in additional income and underwrite the theatrical productions. Therefore, the theater was on the second and third floors with shops on the street level. The design struck fear into the hearts of city officials. The climb to the second floor for performances was up a single narrow stairway. The fear of fire conjured up visions of 1,200 people trapped on the upper floors. Those fears haunted city officials and, in 1891, the theater’s license was suspended. The final production was December 12, 1891, almost 19 years to the day from the opening.

The restored Colonial Theater in Pittsfield. Image courtesy ‘Gem City in the Gilded Age’ by Carole Owens

Eight years later, the Academy reopened under new management. The interior was redesigned. Seating was reduced to 1,100 to allow for two staircases; the stage was 80 feet wide and 37 feet deep, and boasted 35 complete sets of scenery, two drop-curtains and two rows of footlights. Electric lights replaced gas. Local papers applauded theater in Berkshire: “no other class of people does more to advertise a city than what are commonly termed ‘show people.’”

For centuries, literally, people have been drawn to the Berkshires. People argue: Some say it is the theaters and museums — in short, the culture; others say it is unspoiled nature. In the end, it is not one or the other but the rich mix of both — culture in the country.