Tom Packs Elephants #1

06-24-2012 09;50;04PM, a photo by bucklesw1 on Flickr. Thanksgiving of 1948 my mother and I took a bus from Hot Springs to New Orleans to visit my dad who had just taken over the Bailey Bros. elephants "Christy", "Carrie", "Babe" and "Shirley" and was appearing at the Tom Packs Shrine date. While there a ship docked bearing the five young elephants that show had purchased and Jack Leontini asked my dad if he could help get them down to the building. Once there Leontini asked if he knew of a good trainer and my dad immediately suggested MacDonald who was operating a Wild Life Show at the time After much difficulty, Mack was found and flown into New Orleans but after looking at them he nearly walked out. They were skin and bones and one "Mary" had one leg slightly shorter than the others. They finally made a deal with the stipulation they be trained in Florida and they decided on Capt. Hyer's place in Sarasota. The rest is history, the act was a sensation and in two years was leased to Polack Bros. where this picture was taken, for twice the price it took to replace them. "Alice", "Jean", "Penny", "Mary" and "Tommy" seen above.