Wednesday, March 20, 2019

TRUCKS #9


Posted by Chic Silber at 3/20/2019 12:05:00 AM

1 comments:

Roger Smith said...

This wagon toured the world in 1929, with the first MGM Leo trainer, Volney Phifer, and Captain Frank Phillips. Buckles has posted shots of Phillips in a splendid formal uniform. (Phifer has an array of spellings.)

Leo, of course, is Latin for lion, thus not terribly imaginative for a name. MGM's websites list all the logo lions in order, some of them with their correct names. Mel Koontz's 3 Jackie lions were among them, but were not the first, as one entry claims. That was Volney's Slats, a native of Ireland, who migrated to film fame for the MGM silents.

My mentors at Jungleland had been on several logo lion shoots, and among the best looking of them was Tanner. He was also used in jungle scenes on MGM Backlot #3. The Compound men knew never to go into these Hollywood jungle sets after Tanner if he didn't respond to the call box, baited with meat, to come home. Tanner reverted to his heritage and had lain in wait for the one foolish trainer who ventured in to chase him out. The man survived a terrible mauling, and the lesson was learned about Tanner.

20 March, 2019 20:08

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)