Tom Packs Elephans #1

This is Mac's third act, trained for the Tom Packs Circus the winter of 1948-49. By chance these elephants arrived by ship into New Orleans during Thanksgiving week of the 1948 Shrine Circus which was on the Tom Packs route. By now my father was working Mac's second act, the Bailey Bros. Elephants (later belonging to Caren Cristiani) and was appearing on the bill at the date. One day Jack Leontini comes to my dad explaining that the elephants had arrived and they had to be brought to the building, along with him was an Indian gentleman with a crisp British accent named Shondu-randivan who had been overseeing their voyage from India (my father later made the mistake of introducing him as a mahout and was immediately corrected with the explanation that he had received a College education and was by no means a "mahout" meaning someone who lived in the jungle with the elephants). The elephants unloading and movement to the building by real mahouts, is another involved story but in short, it was done and now Mr. Leontini was looking for a trainer. Right away my dad recommended Mac but for some reason he had gotten away from elephants and was now operating a Wild Life Show. After considerable effort Mac was finally located and flown into New Orleans but after seeing the punks he almost turned around and went back, they were skin and bones, infested with lice and internal parasites and to make matters worse, the one later named "Mary" had one leg slightly shorter than the other three, managed to navigate OK but had a noticable limp. Leontini and Mac finally made a deal but it was with the undersanding that the training be done in Florida. They ultimately decided on Capt. Hyer's place in Sarasota.