Friday, November 19, 2010
Crystal Palace--London, England
Part front (lh) and part rear (rh) view and overview of London's Crystal Palace by John Paxton 1851
Crystal Palace--London, England
Aerial view above 1934 and below burning in 1936
The Crystal Palace was originally built for the Great Exhibition of 1851- an event held to show off technology from around the world due to the recent Industrial Revolution. At its peak, it stood 135 ft. tall, it stretched 1,848 long, at times there were 2,000 people working to build it, and it cost the equivalent of over 13 million dollars to build. The two towers seen in the picture were to store water that fueled water features and fountains. The building was made of cast-iron and glass, and it was designed by Joseph Paxton.
What is so amazing is not that they were able to built this beautiful structure, but that they then dismantled it and moved it, and built it again.Crystal Palace - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zoo History
For any folks interested in zoo history, and are as die hard and obsessed with it as I am, I highly recommend joining Zoo History UK, formerly the Bartlett Society, founded by Cline Keeling in 1984, and now manned by Paul Murphy. Below is a link to the site, as well as the most recent received email.
Zoo History
Dear All
1) Dreamland Margate Project
The Cinema, Scenic Railway and the Gothic wall
and animal cages are now listed.
A Conservation Management Plan has been produced.
This will be refined
at a site meeting and consultation on the 24th
November 2010. The plan
is scheduled for submission early December.
Please can someone
volunteer as a contact for the project
co-ordinator. I am very busy
and live on the opposite side of England.
The contact would not have
to attend the site visit but should have
30 minutes available to read
and comment upon the planning document.
The Prince's Regeneration Trust is eager
to retain our involvement
with this fascinating project.
2) Breslau Zoo
Leszek says "I am looking for material
(old letters, photos, articles
etc.) related to Breslau Zoo ... 2015 Wroclaw
Zoo will celebrate its
150th anniversary ... we want to write and
print a commemorative
book".
He provides a couple of examples as to UK
relationships: -
a. a male Indian elephant bought at London Zoo
in 1873 known as Peter
then Theodor - Leszek has already found the
letters from Sclater to
Schlegel but not from Schlegel to Sclater
b. Mr. Hans Honigman was director of Breslau
Zoo from 1929 to 1934 but
he had to escaped as he was Jew. He then helped
Huxley at London
before becoming involved with establishing Dudley
Zoo - Leszek has
already obtained some newspaper pictures of the
gentlemen.
Can we elaborate on these examples and or provide
new leads for the
forthcoming publication.
3) Charles Penrose
Baldur asks "Would anyone know what kind
of family relationship, if
any, was between Charles Penrose, founder
of the Penrose Research
Laboratory at the Philadelphia Zoo, and
Spencer Penrose, Colorado
philanthropist and founder of the Cheyenne
Mountain Zoo. I was in
Colorado Springs recently. While walking in
the city after seeing the
zoo, I came across a statue of Spencer
Penrose, the sign of which said
that he was originally from Philadelphia,
so I find it likely that
they were related; what just remains is how".
4) Website
A quick acknowledgement of everyone's support.
Thank you. The
specification and site map have been approved
by Society members. The
chosen Google based solution has received
support from both Society
members and this wider circulation list.
So the consultant has been
contacted and site replacement project has momentum.
Regards, Paul M.
The 1840’s Dress Carriage formerly owned by Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria
Does anyone know how this incredible work of art came to be on American shores? Is it privately owned, or did the Museum buy it? I can't seem to find anything about it's history.
The 1840’s Dress Carriage formerly owned by Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria
Note, under the carriage, even the whip has been retained.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Accident at the Cincinnati Zoo
I don't know when this accident occurred, but I think Bill Hoff was the Director of the Cincinnati Zoo from 1960-1964, so it had to have happened in those years. Jim Alexander, correct me if I am wrong.
Dead Elephant Ale
A new offering from the Railway City Brewing Company, St. Thomas, Ontario (just south of London). St. Thomas is infamous for being the city where Jumbo, the famed elephant in P.T. Barnum's circus, was killed after being hit by a train. This event put St. Thomas on the map, and this beer commemorates that event.
Vintage MarineWorld Africa USA
This map is from around 1977 because that is a caricature of David McMillan, in the upper left with the tiger around his neck.
For PK--Anthony DeCaprio????
PK, this quote at the end of this story caught my eye, "Of Anthony DeCaprio, however, there is no further news," and got me thinking. If you took of the ball cap, removed the sunglasses, and added a Paladin mustache to the Curator, is it possible he might be Anthony Decaprio from New Castle, Penn?
The Harvard sandwich bar in Cleveland was easy pickings. Workers from the nearby Fisher Body plant could cash their payroll cheques there, so it had thousands of dollars on the premises every Friday, but the only security measure that had been taken was the hiring of a special policeman to watch over the cash. It was nothing that a few young men with a couple of guns between them couldn’t handle.
On April 16, 1937, Anthony DeCaprio drove Joseph Taylor and Theodore Slapik to the sandwich bar and sat outside with the engine running while they went in. Minutes later, he heard shots -- the sound of what witnesses would later describe as a gun battle between the stick-up men and Special Policeman Lawrence Krull -- and then the sandwich bar’s doors opened and Taylor and Slapik came out, their bags bulging.
They got away without a hitch, richer by $1,700 -- a steelworker’s yearly wage, at that time.
Behind them, they left Krull lying on the floor of the sandwich bar with three bullets in him. When they checked the papers the next day, they’d have seen that the 27-year-old was in a critical condition in hospital. The Sunday papers would have told them that he had died.
The boys agreed to split up and leave the state. Joseph Taylor went west to Illinois, where he got a job as a layout man with Ringling Brothers circus; Theodore Slapik went north to Michigan; and Anthony DeCaprio went east to Pennsylvania, ending up in a rooming house on South Walnut street in New Castle.
In October, six months after the shooting, two Cleveland detectives travelled to New Castle, having “received information” that DeCaprio was in the town. The information probably came either from Taylor, who had been arrested in August in Chicago and connected to the murder of Krull by his fingerprints, or from Slapik, who had been picked up later that same month in Detroit.
Anthony had just walked into a saloon on Neshannock avenue when Ray Showalter, New Castle’s chief of detectives, who had been waiting there with one of the Cleveland cops, shoved a revolver into his side and took him into custody. At city hall, Anthony admitted driving the car in the robbery and waived extradition papers. He was taken back to Ohio the next morning to stand trial for murder.
Three of the robbers’ accomplices were also arrested that year, and all six young men were found guilty of murder, receiving life sentences in Ohio penitentiary.
Theodore Slapik was released in 1955, when the governor of Ohio decided he was eligible for parole (after he’d been working as the governor’s driver for some years) and, in 1957, Joseph Taylor escaped from his job in the prison’s sewage disposal plant but was caught two hours later. Of Anthony DeCaprio, however, there is no further news.
Unknown Presenter--Circus Berolina--2009
Courtesy of Vincent Manero
Here's a net arena, who's diamond pattern is made with the nic press sleeves, as we have discussed in past threads. Recall me pointing out that it leaves "silver dot's" in any photo? As far as I know, and correct me if I am wrong, Hawthorn and Ringling are the only ones who had their net cages done by Carlos Farfan in the woven pattern, without the need for nic press sleeves. Carlos would do one with the sleeves, if it was insisted on, as it was much cheaper, but he would not recommend it, as it became a terror to repair. The split at the side is unusual, and how it is laced is very unattractive. Normally a net cage is one piece, with the split attaching at the back of the arena, to the three sections with ring's that slide up and down. Ringling's cage used to be split like this, when the animal were let in through the side of the cage, instead of the back, where the door's were, so as not to block the view of the public, with the rolling cages. Now that they are one ring, the cage is turned to the long end of the building and the animals come in through the back, and they no longer use the split in the side.
White Tiger Hisory
Washington Post
Thursday, September 9, 2010
John W. Kluge, 95, a self-made billionaire who became one of the leading entrepreneurs of his generation and a major benefactor of the Library of Congress and Columbia University, died Tuesday at his home near Charlottesville.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=s5YeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gMwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=672,1106247&dq=ike+and+white+tiger&hl=en
Courtesy of Paul McCarthy
____________________________________________________________________
Paul,
Do me a favor as you seen to be "attorned up" all the time. This quote from Mr. Kluge's obituary caught my eye: "He also underwrote the John W. Kluge Prize for lifetime achievement in the human sciences, a $1 million award given periodically to those distinguishing themselves in areas not covered by the Nobel prizes"
Can you check and see if there is a "John W. Kluge Mohini Prize for lifetime achievement in the captive White Tiger field, with a $1 million award given geriodically to those distinguishing themselves in areas other then the zoo field"
Let me know, because I would like to submit my name as soon as possible. I could sure use a periodic $1 million award. I know for a fact the Cuneo Foundation doesn't have one, and this looks like my next best option.
Thank you,
Wade
What is the ball park figure for a "Panda Photo Op", and who foot's the bill?
A September 2009 report proposed charging an extra $2.40 to visit the panda enclosure at the zoo, which Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti said could be hiked to $3.50 or $4(who is paying for the ticket hike? Surly not the taxpayers, whom the Mayor doesn't want to have to foot the bill.)
Zoo gears up for panda-monium
The Toronto Zoo board and China have reached a deal to bring two pandas to Toronto.They could cost as much as $20 million for the five years they will be here — not including all the bamboo shoots that they like to eat.
However, the deal is designed so that city taxpayers won’t foot the bill, according to Toronto Zoo board member Giorgio Mammoliti.
“We are trying to find a partner to fund the costs because we don’t want to see tax dollars used,” said Mammoliti, who was re-elected to city council last week.
The zoo board will begin searching for a private partner and Mammoliti said the federal government will be approached as well for funding.
Once the board approves the project, the deal will have to be approved by city council once the budget is approved next spring.
The bears will also spend five years at the Calgary Zoo and five at the Granby Zoo in Quebec, giving Canadians 15 years to see them.
Pandas are popular because of their docile, cuddly qualities and the fact that they are very visible in their zoo habitats.
“It’s been an exciting ride for me,” said Mammoliti, who has come under fire over the years for making expensive trips to China to negotiate the loan of the pandas.
“I received a lot of criticism, but I believed in the project back then,” Mammoliti said.
Vintage Longfellow Gardens
Robert(Fish) Jones, Director and owner of Longfellow Gardens. For more Longfellow Gardens type Longfellow Zoo in the search bar on the left, and click on here.
Photo gallery can be viewed here.
"They never did find the sea lion mentioned in the story below:"
July 10, 1907 StarTribune
Paupukeewis, the sea lion which R.F. Jones thought was tame enough to stand without being hitched, has neglected to wire its master since it left its beautiful suburban home in Longfellow Gardens and went splashing down the Mississippi. Thinking it might have decided to spend a few days at that delightful down-the-river bathing place, Harriet Island, Mr. Jones has forwarded its description that it may be apprehended, but thus far no one seems to have seen the animal there.
Mr. Jones is afraid Paupukeewis is intending to make his way to the gulf and then wait around until the completion of the Panama canal, when it will cross to the Pacific to visit relatives at its former home, Santa Barbara, Cal.
The sea lion is said to have made a friendly overture to one John Knutson, a sorter on the St. Paul boom, to the extent of biting a piece out of his trousers and to have paddled away with the sample. Another report of the missing animal described him loitering lazily at the mouth of the Minnesota river, but plain-clothes men sent out from Longfellow Gardens failed to locate Paupukeewis.
Mr. Jones is afraid the animal will be the target of some sportsman who will mistake him for a great river monster, and to hasten the return of the pet he has offered rewards.
When it left home the sea lion wore a plain suit of shiny black, and it answers readily to the name of Paupukeewis.
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