Friday, April 10, 2009

Circus Pagel



Above is Lady Pagel with what appears to be a lion/leopard hybrid cub.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

from Jim Stockley: The compliment slip is addressed to the 'Town Clerk' P.M.Burg = Pietermaritzburg (my home town for the past 30 years).

Regarding Madame Pagel [1865/1939], was infamous for her violence, bad temper and reluctance to give any change to customers buying tickets. Even today we still hear stories of her and meet people who were terrified by her all those years ago.

In his book "The Pagel Story", Carel Birkby says of her:

"To see Madame kick a recalcitrant circus hand was to feel that the fellow would have been luckier tangling with an angry army mule. To hear her restrained description of a circus clown was to realise the limitations of even an irate army sergeant. For years she kept a revolver ostentatiously close to hand at the circus box-office. Grey haired men today still talk of their terror as boys facing her at the ticket desk and asking vainly for their rightful change".

Wade G. Burck said...

Jim,
Set's me to mind of "Great Britain's Greatest Female Wild Animal Trainer", during her Colony Tour. The working men on Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. still describe "Linda Blair Exorcist" type episodes, complete with red flashing eyes, snake tongue, corkscrewing head, and a fish monger wives mouth. I personally can verify in a court of law to that fact. I would suggest you blokes get the lass's in shock collars before they reach the age of two. You'd be ahead of the game in the future.
Wade

Don said...

That doesn't look like a hybrid to me, looks more like a young lion which still has his baby spots... stop winding us up, you knew that and wanted to see who would spot it

Steve said...

See who would "spot" it!

Jeez Don - who's winding us up now? LOL

Wade G. Burck said...

Steve,
I think Don is just a little "ouchy" now that those graphics from the London Zoo have been posted, and we can really see what those Brit Zoologist have been up to, for the past 50 years(don't forget who coined the phrase "dirty weekend"). They sure made a great contribution to the scientific community with that great piece of research.
Wade

Don said...

Aaaw boys gimme a break, I had nothing to do with that crap, but now I'm getting the heat for it!!! Actually I might suggest to the Authorities a ZooPorn exhibit...

Wade G. Burck said...

Don,
I am the last person in the world to stereotype, but I have to consider the Zoo graphic's together with your mate's from the Dudley Zoo with their knickers hanging on the fence post, posing with their animal of choice, and I have to even wonder what old Lord Solly Zuckerman was up to. His work with Cotswold sheep, St. Kilda sheep, and the Norfolk Horn sheep is particularly suspect. Individually things might be explained away, but together, something isn't kosher.
Wade