I saw a brief clip of this act about 20 years ago as part of a TV commercial from some brand of rum. I wrote the company to see if I could could get a video copy, but never heard back from them. But I did enjoy their rum.
Back during Ringling's 113th Edition, Gunther made his first entrance during the opening riding with an uncaged African lion on the back of a horse while the band played Sousa's EL CAPITAN March. (According to photos in the souvenir program, there had originally been a lion and a lioness and two horses. By the time the Circus reached San Diego, only the lion was appearing. Keith Greene told me that, at a performance later in the tour, the lion unexpectedly jumped down off the horse and bounded up into the stands, dragging Gunther along with him. Fortunately, the audience thought it was all part of the show and applauded. Later, after the lion was safely back in his cage, Gunther nixed any further presentations of this feature.
If memory serves me right, the reason for the lion jumping off the horse was because he looked behind and saw a guy dressed in a pink panther costume. According to Gunther that was the first time the lion had looked in that direction. Was there a guy in a pink panther suit on the 113th? Graham
Yes, that was the year that they had a costumed Pink Panther who appeared during the spec and at various times during the show. (Need I mention the name of the piece we played for him?)
This is an impressive piece of animal training. One has to admire the accomplishment of gathering four horses for one act which will accept riding lions, and four fine-looking cats to mount in this display.
6 comments:
I saw a brief clip of this act about 20 years ago as part of a TV commercial from some brand of rum. I wrote the company to see if I could could get a video copy, but never heard back from them. But I did enjoy their rum.
From Eric:
Back during Ringling's 113th Edition, Gunther made his first entrance during the opening riding with an uncaged African lion on the back of a horse while the band played Sousa's EL CAPITAN March. (According to photos in the souvenir program, there had originally been a lion and a lioness and two horses. By the time the Circus reached San Diego, only the lion was appearing. Keith Greene told me that, at a performance later in the tour, the lion unexpectedly jumped down off the horse and bounded up into the stands, dragging Gunther along with him. Fortunately, the audience thought it was all part of the show and applauded. Later, after the lion was safely back in his cage, Gunther nixed any further presentations of this feature.
If memory serves me right, the reason for the lion jumping off the horse was because he looked behind and saw a guy dressed in a pink panther costume. According to Gunther that was the first time the lion had looked in that direction. Was there a guy in a pink panther suit on the 113th?
Graham
From Eric:
Yes, that was the year that they had a costumed Pink Panther who appeared during the spec and at various times during the show. (Need I mention the name of the piece we played for him?)
Dead ant, dead ant, deadant deadant deadant
Gunther did not do well with lions. Daniel Suskow also tried to break some lions to ride horses that never worked out for the show either.
This is an impressive piece of animal training. One has to admire the accomplishment of gathering four horses for one act which will accept riding lions, and four fine-looking cats to mount in this display.
Post a Comment