Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Lords of the Lions #1 (From the Jim Cole Collection)


Chet Juszyk

Posted by Buckles at 10/24/2006 06:12:00 AM

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

As far as I know, Chet and his wife are living in Arizona. I have never met him, but we have had many pleasant conversations on the phone. I understand that he had recently had a stroke.

He spent a lot of time at Jungleland in Thousand Oaks, CA., and eventualy took his own act on the road. He once wintered in St. Cloud, FL, just a short distance from where I live now. In 1965, he was severly injured by a male lion in his act, and I'm sure that ended his career.

Notice the gun reversed in the holster. A few TV cowboys did that in the 50's.

24 October, 2006 08:40
Buckles said...

When I was a kid playing Cowboy, my father always admonished me to wear my gun in this fashion. This forced the Native Americans to approach me from the front should they attempt to disarm me.

24 October, 2006 09:04
Anonymous said...

He was great friends with Bert Pettus for quite a few years. After his injury he became an animal dealer-importer.He was one of those guys similar to Pat Anthony that took the thousand Oaks female act on dates until he got his own act. Hedid a good fighting act. Maybe too good.

24 October, 2006 10:05
Anonymous said...

Great energy in this picture.

Mexico's clown conference is featured, nine pictures with some good close-ups(BBC news online, a sub-menu click from "In Pictures" today).

24 October, 2006 11:16
Anonymous said...

Just called Chet in Arizona, he sounds great and said to say hello to all his circus friends !

He does not have a computer, but after I told him about Buckles daily site and all the other circus sites on the net, he may just have to get one !

24 October, 2006 12:08
Anonymous said...

Jules Jacot spoke highly of Chet. I think he knew him from Tom Packs dates and Chet may have laid off in Collinsville, IL across the river.

I only saw him work a few times in 1963 in Dayton, OH (Woodcock elephants were also on the bill.) It was a small building and Chet worked five males, not the whole act. The act was good but perhaps not as exciting as the feeding. Chet fed cow heads that he split in half. He said he learn about them from Louie Roth (does that sound right Roger?). Anyway, he would have to raise the door halfway up to toss in the heads. It looked like any cat could make a break with little effort. They didn't -- guess it worked.

24 October, 2006 15:13
Anonymous said...

Right, Chet and Jo are enjoying retirement in Arizona, and Chet did have a mild stroke. He is walking, did not lose his speech, and is recovering. For those of you who go back a little, you recall Jo was close friends with Harriett Beatty.

Chet was attacked by that lion on February 15, 1965. Dick McGraw went in and fought this lion off Chet, and held the others on seats as Lou Regan came in and dragged Chet out. When I arrived a few months later, everyone was still badly shaken, and it took time before they wanted to start breaking in anyone new.

Chet was Head Trainer then, and you knew he was well-respected when he was highly spoken of by Mabel Stark.

For Jimmy Cole: I also just talked to Jo, and she and Chet went to the library to see his photo on today's blog.

For Jim A: Louis Roth taught Uncle Ben to split heads for feeds. Cattle heads are placed foreheads down since their faces are flat. Horse heads are placed looking at you. Down comes your 24" cleaver, and you have two terrific feeds, featuring a variety of meats. We had whole carcasses come in on the old Stiff Truck, and Uncle Ben wised us up about feeding guts. You can restore an ailing cat, and maintain him perfectly with heads and guts. Try getting latter day trainers to feed like this. Zookeepers, forget about it. Red meat on the bone is fine, but insufficient by itself. Via Louis Roth, Uncle Ben taught us all how to feed properly, right up in that old Slaughterhouse.

24 October, 2006 17:24
Anonymous said...

The first year Gene and I had our own animals, we worked at the packing house in Hugo to feed them. He butchered and I helped wrap meat that the deer hunters brought in to be dressed. The business also had freezers to store the meat. Not a pleasent sight to see, but when you love animals you do what it takes to care for them. I do have a very strong stomach, but I could not watch as the animals were killed for food.

25 October, 2006 09:24

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)