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.
Monday, November 8, 2010
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.
Is Pat still with us?
ReplyDeleteI had a visit with him back in the early 80's at his compound in Florida. I remember his living room was festooned with animal pelts. Yup, lions n' taggers.
A graceous host he was. Dennis
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteHe and Bill Johnson, with their animal supplier connections had access to most any pelt they wanted. If you see a picture of Barbara Mandrell's massive fireplace in her living room, there are two tiger skins hanging above it. They were gift's from her friend, GGW.
Wade