| Critics pointed out that the fight between the python and the tiger in BRING ‘EM BACK ALIVE was most likely staged, since it had been filmed from three different camera angles. Modern Mechanix magazine interviewed Buck and cameraman Nick Cavaliere about the filming and incorporated their explanation into a cover story that appeared in the November 1932 issue. This article also talked about a proposed big game trap (pictured on the cover) that would use non-lethal charges of electricity to temporarily stun an animal so that it could be safely and humanly captured. (There is no record of such a device ever being used by Frank Buck or anyone else!) |
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Bring 'Em Back Alive: Modern Mechanix #1
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1 comments:
Eric,
I think the below statement along with a picture in the referenced article, which Buck authorized and is 8 pages of Buck and staff quotes, may suggest that he "did" have this trap along and "did" use it. But I guess it is in the interpretation:
"Designed especially for the use in the Malay Jungles where Frank Buck carries the most modern methods of animal trapping, this ingenious device may soon come into widespread us as a tiger trap. The illustration shows the parts exposed, though in actual practice, the mechanism is camouflaged under foliage. A 1500-volt current of 1/20th ampere is sufficient to prostate beasts stepping on the plates, disabling but not killing them. A circuit breaker shuts off the juice when it's work is done, to avoid danger of fatal shock. A bell signal warns the hunter when the trap is sprung so he can recover the victim immediately."
I suggest this "ingenious device" may also have been the predecessor to the Happy Dancing Chickens of IQ Zoo fame?
Wade Burck
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