Tuesday, March 17, 2009
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A Blog designed for discussion of topics related to, but not limited to, Circus, Zoos, Animal Training, and Animal Welfare/Husbandry. Sometimes opening up the dialog is the best starting point of all. And if for nothing else when people who agree and don't agree, get together and start discussing it, it will open up a lot of peoples minds. Debate and discussion even amongst themselves opens a window where there wasn't one before.
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4 comments:
This is Negrus from Alex Kerr's lions. I believe this act was on Fossets, from what I remember of his book.
Alex Kerr is usually associated with Bertram Mills' Circus - which doesn't mean he never worked for any other show. He married Olga Poliakov, which name may be familiar within American circus as it's the given name of "Mike Coco". Olga is his sister.
This is Negus, one of Betram Mills' lions, presented by Alex Kerr. I think it was taken in about 1952, but I would have to check my records to be exact. The act only worked on Mills' - never Fossett's.
Alex started at Wilson's Menagerie in Glasgow and was taught by Eddie Campbell, the amateur lion trainer and professional journalist. The original Mills lions were bought from Court and were presented by Pat Bourne and handed over to Precilla Kayes, pre-war. They were then taken over by Nicoli, the ex-Court trainer. When he left in 1947 they were taken over by Togare. He had a disagreement with the Mills brothers and Alex took them over half way through the season on a recommendation from Eddie Campbell.
Alex trained the wire walking lion, Negus, because he and the Mills brothers were inspired by the American trainer, Bob Matthews, who appeared at Olympia just before the war with his single lion, King Tuffy.
Why Mills would bring a single lion all the way from America baffles me to this day. Incidentally the Mills lion act with Precilla Kayes was also appearing the same programme.
I never think it's a good trick for a lion or tiger to do, but is excellent for leopards, black panthers and pumas. I featured it in my leopard act as did Gunther, David Tetzlaaf and Alfred Beautur. Kerr went on to train a tiger to do it later on.
That's all for the history lesson today.
Jim,
Thank you. Any lesson is a god lesson, short or otherwise. I too can not understand bringing over one animal. Unless of course, King Tuffy sang "Rule, Britannia while waving the Union Jack in tempo to the music. Jules Jacot had a "King Tuffy" who was supposedly a unique single animal. I wonder if there is any connection?
I agree about the wire walking for a lion or tiger. If you set up the "wire" and tear it down, it takes too much time, and one animal is very seldom worth that. In the case of the leopards that you mentioned there was a number of animals performing the behavior at the same time, as well as the "jump over" which greatly enhanced the "wire" walk, into a more spectacular trick.
Wade
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