Thursday, August 30, 2012

Mem Koontz #13



Posted by Buckles at 8/30/2012 05:40:00 AM

2 comments:

Chic Silber said...


Was Jackie ever known to have had

an incident (accident) of record

30 August, 2012 08:42
Roger Smith said...

Yes. In one wrestling bout for a film, Jackie bit Mel in the thigh. It came when Mel's eyesight was beginning to fail, and he couldn't judge his movements and distances as needed. Mel healed up, but the day came again when he couldn't see well enough to avoid Jackie's fangs, and they sank back in the same injuries as before. Mel told me he knew then he had to retire, and never again tried to work animals. Cat trainers know such contact animals as Mel's 3 Jackie lions are one-man lions, and it would be suicide for anyone else to try to cue them. The era of Mel and the highly reliable Jackie lions had ended. But, thankfully for me, I visited Mel regularly when he served his Moose Lodge 1919, in Thousand Oaks, as manager and bartender, and there, on many a fine, long afternoon, Mel Koontz gave me generously the benefit of his knowledge.

30 August, 2012 19:14

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