Tompkins' WILD WEST - Poster

Charles Tompkins (1875-1957) was a champion cowboy performer and Wild West promoter, friend and colleague of Will Rogers. Began working cattle-ranch hand at twelve. Drove cattle on the Abilene, Texas to Dodge City, Kansas, participated in the XIT Ranch’s last huge cattle drive to Montana. Like Will Rogers, began entertainment career in 1890s, entering roping contests, outstanding as roper and rider. In 1904 he directed Congress of Champion Ropers and Riders at St. Louis World’s Fair. From 1913 to 1917 Tompkins and his wife operated Real Wild West and Frontier Exhibition in combination with the Cooper-Whitby circus. The show included Dixie DeVere (a “great cowgirl rider”) Milt Hinkle (the South American Kid”), Chief Running Deer, Augie Ontevares Gomez (who worked as an extra in Tom Mix films), bulldogger Lafe Lewman, African American trick rider Hank Drake, and Chick Varnell, who had a Roman rings slack wire act. Tompkins’ productions had a special quality and excellence that inspired strong loyalty among his performers. The show included aerial wire and acrobatic acts, trick bicycle riding and contortion, and trained animal acts, mixing Wild West with the European circus. It worked in an open-air arena with plank seating and a canvas cover, moved from town to town, relocating ten to fifteen miles per night. The show closed with the onset of World War I. Pub domain poster for TheAttic 2011.