Ducking another slow-motion swipe. (When the show was in, I believe, Oakland, Pablo was clawed during a performance. A wire service photo was published showing him finishing the act with blood streaming down his face.) |
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Pablo Noel #8
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4 comments:
Indeed, and as I recall this or a similar photo of his bloodied face also appeared in LIFE.
Rumor had it at the time that Pablo's assistant, I think his name was Pancho, carried a pistol loaded with live rounds. His instructions were not to shoot an attacking lion, but to shoot Pablo, to take him out quick before he was torn to pieces. I was told Pancho was nuts and would have done it. Anyone else remember this tale?
I recall a similar story during the Castle Show years about shooting the Lion trainer however Mr.Joseph Hartman had never really requested it.
P.S.IT had something to do with running over a V.W.Bug.
Roger,
I recall that being a common "tale", I even used it a time or two, if asked why did the "lion tamer" used to carry a gun. I think it is "urban legend."
Wade Burck
Among the nails in Joseph Walter "Red" Hartman's Castle show coffin was indeed the running over a Volkswagen, on Vancouver Island, in 1971. As you approach the building in Victoria, there is a left turn leading to the gate of the parking lot. There, another left turn is made and one drives up a slight grade into the lot. Hartman drove the cat wagon over the VW, and the man inside was pinned in the car for 45 minutes before rescuers could free him. When I made these same two left turns and came to my spot in 1972, the VW victim was on my running board in a flash, looking for Red. I explained the last time we saw Red was in Seagoville, Texas, that he wasn't on the show, and that I was the current cat man. The guy took a long time to cool down and believe me. But it was very lucky that it was me in the truck in Victoria that year. This victim was there with blood in his eye.
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