WOULD YOU LIKE TO BUY A DUCK?
“COLONELS” WHO WERE GREAT SALESMEN
William Frederick Cody and Harland David Sanders were kinsmen. No, they weren’t related. But they spent their lives involved in similar activities. How? Don’t jump the gun. We’ll get there.
Bill Cody was born in Iowa in1846. When he was 10 years old, his father died, and his mother moved the family to Kansas. Kids had to go to work early on the frontier, and Bill worked as a horseman messenger, wagon driver, and other jobs. According to legend, he rode for the Pony Express. In any event, he became an expert horseman and became a died-in-the-wool prairie frontiersman. During the War of Northern Aggression (the Civil War for you Yankees), he served as a scout and later served as a soldier, for a short time. But ultimately the Yankees’ invasion of the South was successful, and the war ended. That left Bill once again available for prairie work. Intermittently, he served as a mounted messenger, scout, guide for the Army, hunted buffalo, and was engaged in a few skirmishes with Indians, some of which he used to create the legend of Buffalo Bill. Sure, he exaggerated his feats a bit to create a life that would be interesting to his later audiences, but that wasn’t unusual, then or later by Hollywood. Bill never claimed to have killed lots of Indians, but he undoubtedly was an Indian fighter and undoubtedly shot some, although he usually shot their horses instead. Maybe he did that because he didn’t hate Indians, and maybe because the horse was a bigger target. During his life on the plains, he worked with or encountered Lieutenant Colonel / General George Custer, General Phil Sheridan, Ned Buntline, James B. “Wild Bill” Hickok and other historical characters.
Colonel William F Cody
But in the grand scheme of things, Bill was just another frontiersman who scouted a bit, fought a few Indians, and shot a few buffalo. Bill’s prominence came from his interest in money, knowledge of the frontier, recognition of the public’s thirst for entertainment and interest in the Wild West. So, with his flair for dramatic personal appearance, his reputation as Buffalo Bill that Buntline and other novelists had created and fostered, he went East and became a theatrical player for about 11 years. And during that time, he periodically returned to the West to scout for the Army and look for or fight Indians. That did 2 things: (1) it allowed his public to know that he was a real-live-continuing hero of the West and (2) it gave him a few other situations that he could enhance into larger than life situations on the stage.
But if Bill had been content to stay on stage as a nifty looking but not very talented actor, we’d probably never heard of him, at least not in any major way. Bill joined the ranks of folks who organized Wild West Shows. No, he wasn’t the first to do so, but he was the best. He brought the Eastern paying customers real buffalos and simulated buffalo hunts from horseback. And he brought them the Deadwood Stage, and simulated hold-ups by mounted bandits. And real Indians. And simulations of Custer’s defeat by the Sioux and Cheyenne. And cowboys. And most notably, he brought them Colonel Buffalo Bill Cody, a title he gave himself, mounted on a white horse, shooting glass balls with his Winchester, and chasing Indians and buffalo, and rescuing the Deadwood Stage from the bandits, and avenging Custer by shooting and scalping (make believe) an Indian. He was so successful, that he ultimately took his touring group to Europe, where he played before Queens and rulers of foreign nations. And during his Wild West Show days, he was smart enough to hire teenage sharpshooter Annie Oakley, who became the sweetheart of all who saw her shoot: she was every bit the showman that Bill was, she was just quieter about it.
Bill created Buffalo Bill as a larger than life person by showing a flair for how he dressed, even when he went back West for his scouting adventures. Buckskins and velvet and high topped boots and bandanas and wide brimmed hats were his trademark. The dress bespoke the man: he wanted attention and he got it. He sold the Mythical Legend of the Cowboy and The West, and he sold it so well, that it still lingers, even if mostly with those aging SASS shooters who grew up in the golden age of TV Westerns. Bill died in 1917, penniless. He was a showman without peer, but he couldn’t manage his personal finances for squat. But with pockets full of cash or lint, he’ll always be Buffalo Bill Cody, frontiersman and father of the Romantic Mythical West and its favorite son, The Cowboy.
Colonel Harland D Sanders
Wait a minute. How does Harland Sanders fit in here? Well, Harland was born in 1890, while Buffalo Bill was roving with his Wild West Show, in Indiana: flat country. And when he was 6 years old, his father died, leaving Harland’s mother with 5 young’uns to feed. So she had to go out and work, leaving Harland, the oldest of the off-spring to do the home cooking. And he learned to cook. During his teen years, he did various jobs, and he joined the Army in 1918, serving his entire enlistment in Cuba. Over the years afterward, he did lots of jobs, including operating a service station in Corbin, KY. Then he began serving meals, and he developed a way to pressure fry chicken very quickly and to make it finger lickin’ good. And when he was 65 years old, he started his Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise with his 1st social security check. Now Harlan, like Bill, cultivated an image to draw attention to himself and to his product. He wore a mustache and chin whiskers. And he always wore a white shirt, white suit, black string tie, and carried a cane. And with his celebrity, the Governor of KY commissioned him an honorary Kentucky Colonel. With his title and image, Colonel Sanders is still recognized worldwide as the best durn chicken salesman that ever lived: folks didn’t have to catch his chickens, they were already cooked. And they tasted finger lickin’ good. Colonel Sanders died in 1980. Unlike Colonel Buffalo Bill, he was a very wealthy man.
In the final analysis, Colonel Cody and Colonel Sanders were a lot alike. Both were consummate salesmen. Both created a personal image that they used to promote what they were selling. Both took their product to the world and sold it. In the hey-day for their products, both products were very well recognized. And if you show the average SASS Cowboy Shooter a photo of either of the 2 Colonels and ask, “Do you know who this is?” Folks will answer in a heartbeat with the correct answer.
This Article was prompted by Sudden Sam, who loaned Deadman his copy of THE COLONEL AND LITTLE MISSY by Larry McMurtry.
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