Sunday, August 05, 2007

No. 144- Rudolph Matthies at Sarasota Fla. 1947


Scan10171, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Posted by Buckles at 8/05/2007 06:06:00 AM

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love performers who dress with class. You can't beat class!
Carl

05 August, 2007 08:02
Anonymous said...

As a kid, I first learned about Rudolph Matthies in J.Y. Henderson's wonderful book, "Circus Doctor." As time passed, I went on to learn that Rudolph Matthies was Hagenbeck trained and that he had presented tigers all around the world on behalf of the Hagenbecks. I also learned how he happened to come to Ringling Bros from Sweden in 1947.
But then I was surprised to learn he had been in America earlier. He was one of the first wild animal trainers hired to appear in the combined Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1921.
Several years ago, I found myself in Hamburg with a free day. So I went to the Hagenbeck Tierpark. It was a cold winter's day. But the park was fully operational. It was so cold, I think I was the only tourist there. The animal keepers seemed to be looking for someone to talk with. So in my broken German, I asked if they knew Rudolph Matthies. One smiled warmly, pointed to the residential area beyond the zoo gates, and in his broken German said Rudolph Matthies was retired and was living in the area. A few years later, I read Rudolph Matthies passed away. I know I am getting long-winded here --- but the point is: what an amazing and interesting career this man had.
---ToddP

05 August, 2007 11:45
Anonymous said...

Regarding Matthies' first time with RBBB: I believe the Atwell photo of the man with the tigers shown on page 497 of the October 1931 National Geographic is Matthies from his first time over.

05 August, 2007 15:15

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