Pat Anthony--One of America's Greatest Wild Animal Trainer's

For any of the young European cage act fans who we are pleased to have contributing to this blog how have never heard of this man, his name was Anthony Patrick Vitanza who's stage name was Pat Anthony. He was one of Americas greatest wild animal trainers, and in my opinion was only overshadowed by Clyde Beatty. Pat learned how to train cat's because of what was called the GI Bill. After the war, all American soldiers were given a choice of what they wanted for a job and where they wanted to go to school and the American Government paid for it. Pat wanted to be an animal trainer, and the Government paid for him to go to JungleLand, which was a large zoo/animal training compound in Thousand Oaks California. They trained animals for movies and circus's at Jungle Land and some of America's best animal trainers/animal handlers of that generation worked there.
Pat was a very good friend of mine, who I first met when I was a groom taking care of the animals. He was the only Animal Trainer besides Tony Smaha who treated me with respect and kindness and didn't call me a shit shovler. I have a whip lash that Pat gave me in 1975 before I even knew how to use a whip. He made them himself and they were flat and not round like a normal whip lash. I still have it today and have never used it. I was very proud to have Pat come to the Ringling show as my guest the first year I we opened in Venice. Imagine if you can the thrill and excitement of having Pat Anthony, Gunther Gebel Williams, Charley Bauman, Axel Gautier and Daniel Suskow all watching you on one night!!!!!!!!!

Pat had a lion and tiger barrel roll, a tiger rolling a ball, a lioness named Rita that did a roll over so fast and furious she went from her stomach straight to her stomach without without touching her side. He had some of the best bouncing/ charging lions you would ever see. Mama, the lioness would charge from the left and knock the chair out of his hand and Big Boy a male lion would charge him from the opposite or right side, and he would fight two lions, a male and a female together. He had special pedestals built and the animals stretched instead of sitting like you see in most cage acts. You can see them in the pictures above. His tigers were male tigers and the tiger on the ball above's name was Billy.
If you are interested in a few more pictures of Pat go to Ivan Henry's blog www.thecircusblog.com look around and you will find more wonderful Pat Anthony stuff.

Pat Anthony

Why isn't Pat Anthony in the Ring of Fame? There are a number of wonderful circus museums all over Europe(I am not sure about Mexico), complete with costumes, exhibits, history, etc. So far I haven't seen any featuring American circus greats. I wonder why? I also wonder why the Ring of Fame honors folks from other countries? Not people who came here and became citizens as well as achieved fame. I am wondering more about folks like the Atayde Bros. and a number of other folks? Pat was an American soldier, left the Army, and under the GI Bill, became the first wild animal trainer. That's an incredible story, and true circus history, yet he is over looked. Go figure how that works?

The black, blue, and white boots that Pat Anthony had made for me in Mexico City

Black Boots, which I spray painted silver, to match the costume, with silver spray paint(called Mexican chrome in the circus.) Pretty stupid, as the paint dried the leather out, and there was no way to oil them. They eventually cracked up and tore, and were thrown away.

White Boots, which I gave to my brother Michael when he left for Europe with the White Tiger act in 1988 when it went on Circus Knie. He gave them to a fan in Switzerland, and I understand he still has them in his collection. This is the Clyde Bros. tiger act, my first tiger act, and this was my first "tiger publicity photo." Note the horrendous cages in the back ground that the animals were kept in, which was standard for the time. They had solid wood backsides, and they were loaded in the truck 4 on one side, and 3 on the other side, back to back with the mesh side facing the open doors on the trailer. That way the animals, which lived alone and did not get along, could not see each other and fight during trips.


Blue Boots, which were gashed up when I was "downed and browned" by a tiger named Sultan. That's him, third from the left, sitting up on the pyramid. I gave the boots to a fan in Niagara Falls, New York. This was my first "Hawthorn tiger publicity photo." Note the address, as it was a year before the Richmond facilties were built.

If you go to the search bar above and type in Pat Anthony in the search bar, there are some additional nice pictures of Pat with his cats.

Pat Anthony on The Hollywood Palace

Unfortunately there is only about 3 seconds worth of Pat Anthony's mixed act on this video starting at :24.   If anyone knows of a full video of this Hollywood Palace segment show, we would sure appreciate seeing it.

Courtesy of Inky Finklestein

One of the greats from the prior generation

Photos provided by Margaret

This is Pat Anthony, one of the only one's who ever combined tricks with the fighting style. The tigers did the bulk of the tricks, and were on low seats in the middle of the arena. They went out, and the act finished with the lions coming off the high seats and doing some of the most exciting fighting tricks you would ever see. He came after the Clyde Beatty era and carried on the fighting style better and with more style then anybody since. If he and Clyde had been working at the same time I promise, it would have been a heated race for the best of that generation. I first had the honor of meeting Pat in 1975 at the start of my journey, and he treated me with the greatest respect as if I were an equal with my small 7 tiger act. That's what each generation needs to do with the next generation(if there is one) not scorn their efforts, and yes the training knowledge has changed and improved greatly. And yes, I do get upset at crap like the video that Ian posted, because that is my generation, and if that is the best that can be produced with our knowledge, we are in a real sorry state. Was his husbandry deplorable. Yes it was as everybody's was, as mine was at the time. It was just the way it was done, and it hadn't been "suggested" yet that it should be done differently. Some accepted willingly and some were drug kicking and screaming. The below photo is from the old Hamid Circus were Pat was featured for many years. Pat learned to become an animal trainer under the GI bill which payed for the education of soldiers returning from service. In an unusual and unheard of move, Pat chose to go to Thousand Oaks, and learn to train felines.

Pat Anthony

Pat was one of America's finest "home grown" wild animal trainers. When you watched Pat, if you had never seen Clyde Beatty, you got a pretty good idea of what it would have been like watching a Beatty performance. Like many lion and tiger act's of that era, the tigers sat down low, and did the majority of the behaviors to open the act. Two tigers rolled two balls, roll overs etc. When the tigers were finished, although Pat had a lioness and tiger that rolled the barrel together, they went out, and the act was concluded with the lions doing laydowns, etc. with a lot of fighting and charging. I think that is where the "fan" myth started that lions were more dangerous then tigers.

My second ever Tiger Trainer Publicity photo--12 months after meeting John and Herta

Pat Anthony made blue boots(Pat was a really neat man), brand spanking new costume only this time it was made by Ice Capades. John usually had costumes made at Nudies, but Nudies was out of business at this time. I was pretty excited when John and I went into Los Angles to pick this costume up. There was my name under Elvis Prestly and above Michael Jackson.

Censored response to Paul Macarthy #1--3/30/08

Casey said...

Zych,
These boots are definitely Krylon #1024 Metallic finish (good ol' mexican chrome) I use the same brand on my 1950's Walt King Lion props. Looks like the Tiger whisperer went "el cheapo" on the hair color though, thats not the same nice n easy 99 my wife uses.
29 March, 2008 19:11
Wade G. Burck said...

Capt. or what every your rank is now,
Be respectful. Those boots were one of three pair that Pat Anthony had made for me in Mexico when he and I were there in 1975. Silver, White, and Blue. Pat's the first trainer I know that had the stones to wear white boot's, and more then enough machismo to make them look great. Each pair, custom measured, zipper in the side, made out of bullhide for just over 50.00 a pair. Less then you pay for your rubber Wellington's now. Tell me it wasn't better in the old day's, youngster!!!!
Wade Burck
29 March, 2008 23:27
Jim Zajicek said...

Casey....Are those Zippers on those Boots???...Wade, if those are Zippers...I'm switchin to Acorns and sittin on the otherside!...Jim Zajicek P.s. And forget the Mahan...I'm wearin a Ballcap....
30 March, 2008 01:33
Petula Clark -- going DOWNTOWN said...

When you're alone
and life is making you lonely
you can always go downtown.




***There is something very downtown about this photo and I just can't put my finger on it.*** or anything else.
30 March, 2008 09:00

Post a C


The censored response:
Petula,
Looking at the Cute name, I can only assume that your idea of lonely and downtown, are very different from most people. I hope you wern't being "cute and charming", because that is a charectoristic that socialologists have attributed to schitsophrenia/manipulative personalities.
You need to get in touch with Cute, Charming, and Cunning too. They are looking for somebody to write to something called a Corinthian. This poste only took 1 1/2 minutes, not 45 minutes as they may suggest.

Billy Rose's Jumbo

Does anyone know who this is, doing the stunt work? Those are Pat Anthony's cat's in the arena, but no way would Pat wear those candy tights. LOL

Jules Jacot

Jim Alexander, do you know if these "Court looking" seats were made out of wood or were they some type of metal? They have an odd curvature to the sides. The round stretch boards above the back seats, look very similar to the stretch seats on the front of Pat Anthony tiger seats. As round is not a common shape, I wonder if Pat got the idea here?

Pat Anthony

1977

Polack Bros. 1967

Would this be the 'one and only' Pat Anthony on the front cover?

Circus Vargas--1975

This was just after Miller Johnson Circus became Circus Vargas, the first time I was on the show with the small Clyde Bros. tiger act, filling in for Pat Anthony until he arrived later in the season.

The Tetzlaff's

This was Jungle Larry's beautiful male lion act with Numa, Rama, Solimon, and Bakuba. This picture was taken at Cedar Point where there was a chute/tunnel built that the presenter also walked through, chasing the lions into the performance cage. The act was trained by Sonny Marine, who had worked with Pat Anthony and Bill Johnson before going to work for Jungle Larry. Sonny taught the "Cowboy" below how the work the act when he left. Does anyone know who this "Cowboy" is, excluding Bob or Dennis? Back in the day, he looked like Cat Stevens and scored with more babe's then you can imagine. Frye boot's with your jeans tucked in with either leopard or tiger print shirt with a black safari hat and print band was the "uniform 0 the day" at Jungle Larry's African Safari.

One of America's great ones, Pat Anthony

Circus Vargas--Skokie, Illinois 1975

Circus Krone's "Col. Joe" in the lead, ridden by now Jan Biggerstaff. The girl who presented "General Vargas" is riding on the second elephant. I wonder where Wally Ross is at? 1975 was the year I did the California run, filling in for Pat Anthony.

1975 Very first Tiger Trainer Publicity Photo--Subjugating as best I could

Brand spanking new costume made in Mexico. Sharp white boots, made for me by a respected colleague and friend, who gave a warm welcome, Mr. Pat Anthony. I am thrilled that we have some public on this site, as I feel they can offer insight, as long as they don't attack. That's no good for nothing, defend yes, attack no. I am not ashamed of my roots as may be suggested, I learned and improved, as all should, and I have demanded that Adam improve on what is done today. Public compare this to the later White tiger photos. What will get you in the seats. As AR has apparently got the ball rolling, lets try to start it unrolling.
Wade Burck

Ghost Zoo--Crandon Park, North Miami, Fla.

Bill Johnson, Pat Anthony's right hand man told me years ago that when he worked for the Miami animal dealer Bill Chase, they oftentimes used the facility's at Crandon Park as a temp holding area for surplus animals awaiting shipment out. I don't think the water tub and hose left with the baby elephants, above, was a wish decision. :)


1975

Circus Vargas--Early 70's

A young Col. Joe on the left with Wally Ross

This is General Vargas, whom has been mentioned in the past. The girl who presented him at this time was Christina. Does anyone recall her last name?

Billy Baker with the Vargas Andalusian liberty act. As far as I know it was the only Andalusian liberty act ever created in the American Circus

This is what Vargas was when I first performed there covering for Pat Anthony. Not the one ring shadow of it's former self seen today.

Pat Anthony