Friday, September 01, 2006

The Mighty "Jumbo' #3


This side view is interesting. Elephant howdahs are miserable to deal with at best, on the road they take up a lot of room since they won't fit inside each other and hang up on most everything when being loaded and unloaded.
Just how they saddled up "Jumbo" must have been quite a feat. I imagine these riders are Zoo Officials who have come down to have their picture taken, looks like a thrill ride to me.
I wonder if Lester Kalmanson would insure this.

Posted by Buckles at 9/01/2006 06:17:00 AM

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Enormous mature male African elephant. But in the photos he's giving rides and you never see much in the wzy of heavy chains. Was Scoot that good? Was the bull that docile? Or was it all just smoke and mirrors for the camera? I always wondered, when Jumbo was killed was he loaded down with chain?

01 September, 2006 08:41
Buckles said...

I never saw a picture with any hardware on him. From what I read, Scott and "Jumbo" had a relationship similar to an old married couple. They compromised on most things, a philosophy that eventually led to "Jumbo's" demise.
Scott's entire career involved just one elephant and in later B&L Route Books, we see Matthew Scott listed as tending the performing dogs.

01 September, 2006 09:30

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