Saturday, March 10, 2007

"Jambo" 5 year old Orangutan.


My dad wrote on the back, "1956 World Jungle Compound, Thousand Oaks, Calif."
Maybe Roger Smith could elaborate.
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Posted by Buckles at 3/10/2007 05:58:00 AM

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

At long last, a picture of Wade Burck in action. No disrespect to the monkey.

10 March, 2007 11:37
Buckles said...

This link goes to a page about Jungleland, at the bottom are two short news videos of the auction of the animals when the park closed, including a woman from Texas that bought a Orangutan for 20,000 dollars. The sound is not great. http://www.junglelandskates.com/website/html/history-decline.

10 March, 2007 12:25
Buckles said...

The above message came from BJ.

10 March, 2007 12:27
Anonymous said...

This orangutan looks alot older than five years old. He is already starting to develop cheek pouches.

10 March, 2007 12:50
Anonymous said...

It is the potato chips.

10 March, 2007 14:07
Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, everyone. Returning to the auction of Jungleland is like returning to the same funeral. Give me a moment to try to see this video, and I'll try to post a comment. The Jungleland auction was under federal court order and was conducted over October 8 and 9, 1969. I sat there broke and helpless, to see my lion act, my tiger act, and the entire Compound sold away to the highest bidder. On October 9th, the Old Place was padlocked for the last time.

I can tell you the $20,000 orangutan went, so we heard, to the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas.

11 March, 2007 06:47
Anonymous said...

Yes, they mention in the video that the orangutan went to that zoo. I think the link I sent is not working, but if you search for the Jungleland Skates site the videos are at the bottom of the History/decline page. It'also has a photo of Mable Stark, and some history of the park. I came across this site when I was searching for info about Big John Strong, who had his winter quarters just outside Jungleland, so I'm told. By the time I worked for him he had moved to Yucaipa, CA.- BJ

11 March, 2007 07:31
Anonymous said...

This news coverage is new to me. I never realized we had the networks with us those two days. I was totally distracted by the auction. Distracted is another word for destroyed. Many of us were. A fellow sitting next to me turned to ask if I were all right. I couldn't answer him. He asked if I worked there, and I finally said yes. He was about to summon help for me, but I told him no, it was all right. When I turned to thank him, it was Bob Eubanks, then the star and host of The Newlywed Game. Another man became a little alarmed and turned to be of help, and it was Billy Barty, an old friend of Jungleland, who had watched me work those lions for 5 years. I had to straighten up from realizing what a wreck I was.

If you review this footage, you'll see the trucks heading off along the Ventura Freeway, taking away the remnants from successful bidders. I watched them depart over the following week. Then, the last of the physical demolishing ended, and the Old Place became quiet. Dick McGraw and I felt our souls draining away. To this day, he and I agree we have never been the same.

What was hallowed ground built by the dedication of Louis and Kathleen Goebel had been turned to ruin by Roy Kabat and Thurston M. "Tex" and Ina Scarbrough, no matter what is being said now by Roy's widow. The direct cause of Louis Goebel's foreclosure was the fact that the partners raked all the money off DR. DOLITTLE, and never paid Goebel even a payment on the interest of the agreement, much less a single payment on the principal. Not a dime. They lined their pockets and kept putting Louis off. After this film, Jungleland's last major project, on which I had 12 weeks work out of 20th Century-Fox, was completed in April of 1967, no payment to Goebel was forthcoming. Goebel said that was it. We went into receivership under A.J. Bumb, Inc., and then into bankruptcy with the auction conducted by Milton J. Werschow.

After DOLITTLE, Jungleland held on for roughly another 19 months. In spite of what is said now, a specific purpose arose to get rid of Mabel Stark. Ina Scarbrough, a carny concessionaire, told me face-to-face, "I'm the one who railroaded Mabel Stark out of Jungleland." On a woman-to-woman spite, Ina seized the chance as a common carny to hurt a world-renowned woman of the circus, and her labors prevailed, bringing Mabel to suicide. But Ina had signified to the wrong guy.

Dear Readers, you will be spared my response to Ina Scarbrough.

Suffice it to say, I almost went to jail that day, and later that night a Ventura County Sheriff's deputy knocked on my door to make sure I was at home. Such was the outrage.

Over these 38 years, many friends have counseled that I've lived in bitterness since the Compound closed. I cannot protest them.

12 March, 2007 00:07
Anonymous said...

Thank You Mr. Smith for giving this true account of Jungleland.-BJ

12 March, 2007 09:39

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