Thursday, July 30, 2009

Prince El Kigordo (From Buckles)


Scan11919, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Buckles, Who was Prince El Kigordo, the lion tamer?
Lane Talburt


"He was probably the most unassuming lion trainer I ever knew. We were together on the Polack Show for a season and he was a lot of fun to be around. He knew all the latest jokes, always upbeat and I don't recall him ever having a beef with anyone.
The act wasn't bad considering that he was self taught but he had the misfortune of following the likes of Pat Anthony.
The Prince seemed to enjoy driving his truck more than anything. He took great delight in beating me and Joe Zoppe to the next town. Being unencumbered with wife and family he could travel almost non stop.
He narrated a tape, done as tho he was a race track announcer, something like Spike Jones would do, "Around the curve comes Buckles driving the big diesel elephant truck! (lots of roaring sound effects).
"Down the back stretch comes Joe with the screaming diesel horse truck! (more sound effects).
"And bringing up the rear is the little lion truck!" (which of course sounded like a coffee percolator.)
Needless to say who won the race but whenever the Prince spotted either Joe or I approaching, he would quickly turn on the tape player and crank it up as loud as it would go.
Buckles

Posted by Buckles at 7/30/2009 01:46:00 PM

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Buckles, for this entertaining profile on another show-biz character. As a writer, these are the folks I enjoy interviewing. They add a certain class to any back lot.
Lane Talburt

31 July, 2009 10:59
Anonymous said...

I met Prince when he was hauling freight out of Clarion, PA in the late 60's and early 70's. He had a number of "plum craze" metallic purple (the new color rage at the time) GMC Astro semi-trucks and was one of the funnier guys I had ever met. I guess he was probably almost 40 years older than I, and one of his more popular sayings was "You can take the lion out of the jungle but you can't take the jungle out of the lion". Seemed like he would apply that saying to any issue of the moment. He had many interesting perspectives on just about any topic. I just discovered that he passed away in 2000 at age 90. Not too bad for a fun-lovin', flirtin' with danger kind of guy.
~John Pasko

09 February, 2010 18:50
Anonymous said...

In 1959 Prince El Kigordo was mauled by one of his cats during a show. My mother was his nurse at Springfield Hospital in Spfld, MA. During his recovery, his troupe put on a show on the lawn of the hospital for the pediatric patients there. They also bought several lion cubs that we got to pet. My mother got me his autograph on May 2, 1959.
Christine in Massachusetts

30 June, 2011 11:57
Pam Thompson said...

His birth name was Jared William Reaser. Although his gravestone says he was born in 1910, his baptism record (Methodist Church) lists his birth date as 30 Oct 1916, and the censuses for 1920 (age 3) and 1930 (age 13) confirm this. His parents were John Peter Reaser and Margaret Mae Mecum.

10 February, 2012 10:05

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