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Wednesday, October 04, 2006
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22 comments:
Joe Arcaris wrote me that he had worked for Clyde Beatty twice. He was working at Beatty's Jungle Zoo in Ft Lauderdale during February 1940, when the famous incident happened which resulted in his being awarded the Carnegie Hero Medal for saving another employee's life.
Then when Harriet Beatty died late in the 1950 season Mr Beatty, whose first response was to close the show, was persuaded into having Arcaris flown in to handle the act for the remaining dates. The show soon closed and went into Shreveport quarters. There is not much in this picture to identify the location; the Beatty show didn't go into Deming until after the 1953 season and I wonder if this might have been taken at Shreveport the winter of 1950-1951.
Arcaris also stated that Beatty had bought from him two lions
(1 male:1 female) and four tigers, all trained by Arcaris; and that he had trained both lions and tigers for Beatty.
Several years ago there popped up on eBay a nice oil portrait of Joe Arcaris that had hung in the office of John Benson. I was surprised to see that it got not one bid. I later wrote the seller, made an offer and bought it. I was going to send a photo of the painting to Buckles but the image I thought I had stored on this machine has vanished. Will try to think of this next time I have film in the camera.
Ree-gards, Whitey
Friends of mine from years ago who were on the Clyde Beatty circus at the Arcaris period said that Beatty an avid fisherman, when he found a good fishing hole was happy that he could duck out of the matinee as he had someone that could work the act. Inregard to trainers Beatty had around him were John Helliot, a mentor from the early years, Joe Walsh, [alfred court man] Arcaris and then Red Hartman. Certainly Beatty could train himself but it was not bad to relieve him of the time consuming task and he had the skill of stepping in the cage with stock trained by another person and going on with act. He was quite a guy.
I tried looking at this shot as being in Deming, also. My attention was drawn to the barrel. Anyone know what it is? A converted cable spool, very common in the well-drilling operations in New Mexico. My uncles drilled there for years, and you could get a spool for the asking. I also looked at the buildings in the background as possibly the hangars at the Winterquarters airport location. I went there thinking the ones there now remained of the show's time there, only to learn later the Beatty show hangars had burned down. Most of the remaining (old) Deming Airport hangars and the few satellite buildings are used by the Luna County Juvenile Detention Center.
There was an employee of Beatty's who knew even those around the show couldn't tell the animals apart, nor which were previously trained and which were green. He took them through established routines and claimed the accomplishments of others as his own. His claims were false. Mr. Beatty held him to account more than once,as I bear witness.
Joe Arcaris is given scant history on the net, but his award on the Carnegie Hero Medal site is worth looking up. As they do with other recipients, they give him quite a tribute.
It is easy to notice in these photos the close resemblance between Arcaris and Beatty. Joe didn't try to copy the Beatty style. His manner of working came naturally to him, and it comes through in photos like these.
My question now is: Can someone relate the origins, family history, education, breaking in, and career development of this man? I would be among those grateful for more of his personal history.
There are so many unsung trainers out there. Just a few names made the papers and were permoted by the circus. This was a good thing at the time. Some trainers were more flamboint[?] and had a presents in the ring. A show bis personalty. This blog has given credit to some trainers that we very seldom heard about. There are many trainers who were not performers in the circus ring.
While researching Peter Taylor, Fred Dahlinger suggested I get a book titled "wild animal trainers in america". author a Mrs. Joy. It is great and she did fantastic research. I do not have it handy now, but I am sure reference will be made to Arcaris and in the back she has cross reference to circuses from turn of the century and who the trainers were.
In visiting the Beatty quarters in Deming I recall Beatty's cage being set up in the building and not outdoors.
I have John's book on loan and I checked the A's in the Index from "Grizzly" Adams to Eva Aureden and could find no reference to Mr. Arcaris.
I believe I am on the right track and believe there will be reference to Joe Otaris or even more likely Joe Okaris in the general media, etc. Obiously he is significant in a number of ways and it could be the spelling of his name.I lean toward Joe Okaris, or Joe Ocaris. Something like that.
He signed his name as Joe Arcaris. Inexplicably, he is not mentioned in the Joanne Carol Joys book, THE WILD ANIMAL TRAINER IN AMERICA (1983, Pruett Publishing, Boulder, CO.), for which I wrote the Epilogue.
I realize this thread is several years old, but I was so delighted when I discovered this blog a few years ago, and saw people expressing interest in Joe Arcaris. So when I found the audio "interview" I did with Joe in 1995, when I was only 14 and he was 86, I immediately thought of sharing some of it here. I have been searching for this tape for a decade and was so thrilled to have finally found it.
Basically I pestered him to record his life story, especially all the amazing stories he would tell me before bedtime when I was growing up.
I remember that getting him to do this recording was no easy task as he was inexplicably humble (given his lifetime dedication to spectacle and showmanship) and squeamish about being in front of any kind of recording devices.
What I thought would interest people here was his discussion of how he developed his training style.
It makes perfect sense to hear that it stood out as being unique and did not appear to ape Clyde Beatty or anyone else's form. He was a self-taught savant at whatever he put his mind to, piano, wrestling, mandelin, lion taming, you name it. I could probably do a transcript if anyone is interested but the gist of what he said was this:
He basically said he learned everything he needed to get started by observing the animals themselves and their behavior, and by watching the trainers interactions with the animals and especially by noticing everything they did that seemed wrong to him, which prompted him to develop his own methods. When he was quite young he was turned down for a trainer position at Benson's Animal Farm, (he had zero experience, but he pursued it anyway), so he settled for doing odd jobs at Benson's for a few years, and he would observe the head trainer whenever he had the time. He did not hold the man in high esteem, and the reason he gave was that the trainer would often become quite frustrated due to his poor control over the animals and would resort to some pretty horrendous abuse. He told me of one (very graphic) incident he witnessed where the trainer pierced a stick with a nail and would force it into the animals mouths. Even over 60 years after the incident you can hear the pain in his voice as he relates this story (one he had never told me before). His take was not that the man was necessarily evil, but that he so poorly understood the animals that he had to resort to inflicting extreme pain to exert control, which upset him greatly.
I was unfortunately too young to have ever seen him at work, but from what I knew of him growing up, his skill with animals was nearly magical. He had seemingly endless patience, whether he was dealing with our dogs or cats or with me, hyperactive kid that I was.
His love and dedication to his work was unparalleled and he was without a doubt the most fascinating person I've ever met. He truly is my hero and I am thrilled to know that there are people out there who remember him and who are curious about his amazing life.
Graziella -
Thank you for digging this one up! I didn't know, nor have I ever seen, Joe Arcaris - but now I think I have a feel for who this man was.
Buckles -
Thank you for this amazing blog and more importantly for its archives. I often find myself doing a random search to find something that was discussed years ago - and still interesting, too!
~frank
Joe Acaris was a friend of my wife and I when we lived in Nashua NH. We met him at a house party of a neighbor of ours who was Joe's insurance agent. Za and I were basically newly weds and prior to meeting Joe; she and I almost bought a male 3 month old male lion, "Ediphus ReX" while I was serving in the Coast Guard. No place to keep lion so gave up that idea. I was heavily into the martial arts and very adventurous. I thought I was bullet proof. With that short background it is easy to see how Joe attracted my attention. We quickly became close friends. He would come to our house once or twice a month for dinner. He always brought my wife, Za a small gift. Joe was always a soft spoken, gentle person, trustworthy and never into bragging. You had to slowly prod him to get information on his life. He did love his cats. I remember he telling how he would sometimes make a slingshot and kill a few pigeons to feed his cats. He didn't like the zoo food that they were being fed. He always stressed kindness in his training methods, saying, "Training a lion is like slowly trying to get a squirrel to eat out of the palm of your hand." "The squirrel comes forward ever so slowly and then quickly backs away until it has trust in you." "Patience, patience, patience." Za and I would go to Bensons almost every week-end, often after hours as Joe's guest. We used go into the back area where the lions and tigers were kept. I would use a broom handle to pet Tarzan and ? I could get the two tigers to stand upright by holding the boom handle and mimicking Joe's body movement. Joe had a huge tiger that he could ride on. Joe let me pet that big boy with my hand on its head. Another time and this I'll never forget, Joe hands me a rake and a shovel and walks me into the ring with Tarzan and ?, I look at Joe, he being all of 5'1" with a hoe in his hand and I'm ready to kiss my backside goodby. Each cats head weighed more than I did, both were moving around, snarling, showing teeth, every now and then swiping out with a paw. My feet became lead. What a humbling experience. I'm led out of the big top and Joe takes Za in with him. she and Joe weigh in at about 105 pounds each and are about the same height. Joe had a huge, huge collection of 8 mm movies of he and his animals which I seamed together to make larger reels. I assume that he left these to his nephew on his passing. Those videos would be invaluable and so enjoyable to watch today. He also had a scrap book. He was quite the dapper dan in his day. "Joe I know you are smiling as you are reading this." "Thanks for being our friend." Peter and Zalia pike, Cape Coral, Fl.
It's so incredible to see this picture here and to hear people talking about it. I'm Joe Arcaris' great-great-niece, and one of my biggest regrets is that I was never able to meet him while he was alive. He's a bit of a role model of mine; I've always wanted to be an animal handler, especially for lions (though who knows if that's possible nowadays!). I know loads about his training and his Carnegie Award, but I know so little about who he was as a person. Peter, your comment especially was incredible to read; what a great insight! If anyone else has information they would like to share about him, (or if you'd like to ask me something I might know about him) I will be extremely happy to hear from you!
He was incredibly sweet, kind and industrious. He was gentle, and he was modest to a fault, but was an amazing storyteller. He spoke with the most soothing combination of precision and timbre, occasionally the sound of Scottish or Italian would creep in. I would make him tell me the same stories over and over because they never got old, I still miss his voice. I check back here once in a while but if you want to know more about him, we have a lot of stories and pictures, if you're interested. He stayed with our family in Windham over the weekends since before I was born until he was too old to drive. When he was in his 70s he told me about how he used to walk on his hands and even though I begged him not to, he still gave it a shot. He got a few hand-paces in and then pretty gracefully let himself down. Completely unbelievable, I know.
That last one was from me, Graziella. Sorry, didn't realize I wasn't logged in. I also realized he must have been in his 80s when he did the handstand trick. Couldn't have been before 1993 or so...
Graziella: that really is incredible! I wish that gracefulness was genetic; I can barely walk across a room without tripping and I'm a quarter of his age! Your descriptions of his really make me wish I'd met him...what an incredible man! I would love nothing more than to share stories and pictures with you; I would love to communicate over email: tayjohnson1122@gmail.com
Joe Arcaris was my God Father. I wish that I had more than a paper clipping of him. There are some photos of he and when he visited me, I think it was 1979? I'm not sure... I was staying with my Grandmother Mary D. Farrell at that time.
Happy to send you pictures or even the recordings I have of him if you're interested. He was an amazing human being and I loved him dearly.
Joe Arcaris was my great uncle. His sister Dorothy (Arcaris) Farrell is my grandmother. Try telling people at work your great uncle was a lion tamer... yeah I had to pull up block article to prove it! I'm wondering which of my cousins "adelighfuljewelrycollection" is. I think he had like 9 or 10 siblings.
There is a picture of Joe Arcaris in Joanne Carol Joys book, THE WILD ANIMAL TRAINER IN AMERICA (1983, Pruett Publishing, Boulder, CO.), on page 239 on the top of the page. He is named in the caption.
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