Thursday, September 15, 2011

From Buckles

Dick McGraw, St. Louis Zoo 1960.
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Posted by Buckles at 9/15/2011 05:23:00 AM

3 comments:

Jim A. said...

Dick McGraw was at the St. Louis Zoo from 1957 to 1961. When he left the Zoo his act had 6 tigers and 3 lions. The background was painted by Mike Kostial Jr., the Zoo's chimp trainer. Mike's dad, "Big Mike", was the first cat trainer from 1933 until his death in 1942.

15 September, 2011 08:35
Anonymous said...

I seem to recall Dick walking or moving with a distinct crouch in his lower body. Was this natural or had he sustained an injury of some type.

15 September, 2011 08:55
Roger Smith said...

Dick was my mentor chiefly on male lions, and I worked with him for my 5 years in Thousand Oaks. He broke me in on the Jungleland Fighting Lions, by then tough 14-year veterans who didn't make it easy on an apprentice.

Dick sustained a knee injury in the Navy that showed up on him from time to time, but in the cage he worked with an almost balletic masculine grace that combined with performance projection that insiders compared to Clyde Beatty.

Along with Mabel Stark, my other lasting influence came from Charles Bennett, our Uncle Ben. I named my son Richard Bennett for these two masters at the Compound.

15 September, 2011 17:34

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