Friday, November 03, 2006

Titans of the Tigers #2


Josip Marcan 1984

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful animals

Anonymous said...

Josip Marcan reminded me of my high school science teacher, ....presenting a tiger act.

He was not much for showmanship in the ring, but man could he train tigers!

I saw his act on the Texas dates about 25 years ago. The tigers did every trick in the book....and then some. I recall there being two huge male lions in the act also.

Anonymous said...

Josip may not be the best showman, but he commands an authority in the ring that demands you attention. Then as so well previously stated, his animals are extremely well trained and taken care of. The pace of his is constant with a great variety to enjoy. One never got tired of watching his cats perform. How unfortunate he is not a certer ring star in a show today!

Carl

Anonymous said...

Jim, what tigers were these? Can't remember their names, or the female that did the hop across the ring into a shoulder stand.

Anonymous said...

Darryl, These two hind leg walking tigers are Tito and Tibett, who were brothers. Josip's hind leg forward "hopping" tiger was Kismett. He has had others since then, but none did it better than Kismett.

GaryHill said...

If memory serves me, Charlie Baumanns hopping Tiger was named Kismet also?

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed your comment comparing Josip with your science teacher, but if you heard Josip's dialouge while in the cage training I am sure you would agree that it wouldn't be acceptable in the class room. But what a great trainer he has been.

Anonymous said...

thanks Jim, knew it was something starting with T. Had a complete mental block. Charles Kismet was the one he did contact with during the act. She really loved his hair oil and would do anything to lick his head.

Anonymous said...

Been there , done that

Anonymous said...

Josip is an incredible trainer and cares for his cats as if they were his own kids. You can see on his web site for the new tiger compound he has in Ponce de Leon in the Florida Panhandle.(www.marcantigers.org) He's also got a GREAT sense of humor! The first year he was on the Beatty show he came in the office wagon one morning asking Willie Storey if it was OK for his
female "training intern" (can't remember her name - before Kathleen) could get paid on Saturdays with the performers instead of having to wait in line with the working men on Mondays. Willie, little perplexed wondered why? Marcan motioned to his chest with both of his hands...as if to say the working men oggler her "well endowment" in line. At this point I chimed in and said "I was paid in that line all year [when I was a cage-hand for Hoover]and didn't have any problem!" Marcan said "Yeah, but you got no tits"!
AAHHH...Those were the days!
:-)
Cindy Potter