A few weeks ago, Buckles posted some scans taken from an educational film dating from the late 1940s about the Bronx Zoo. Included were a few frame enlargements showing Helen Martini, a housewife who acted as foster mother to a number of big cat cubs, caring for them in her Bronx apartment. (Her husband Fred was the head keeper of the Bronx Zoo’s lion house.) Someone posted the title of her book MY ZOO FAMILY. Here are a few of its photos. |
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Helen Martini #1 (From Eric Beheim)
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2 comments:
Dacca lived to a ripe old age and was a terrific mother , producing during her life, I believe, around 19 cubs (the book's upstairs and I'm too tired to go up and check exact figures. Got home 3AM this morning to avoid driving home in predicted "blizzard").
Paul Gutheil
PS Some may recall Stan Laurel's definition of a blizzard as "...the inside of a buzzard...".
Remember reading Helen's book when I was a teenager and thinking that it was fun. First time I read read about liger crosses and such. What she didn't really write about, but is well worth recalling is the heavily Italian neighborhood around Arther Ave next to the zoo, where sop many great keepers grew up and lived. Many years later when I worked in the park it was still the home to some of the older staff -- and a great place for lunch on payday!
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