Sunday, April 17, 2011

Press Book #5


04-15-2011 03;15;36PM, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Posted by Buckles at 4/17/2011 06:05:00 AM

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man of a Thousand Scars?
What a claim to fame. Why in the world would you want to advertise your screw ups?

17 April, 2011 08:34
Ole Whitey said...

Actually Seils-Sterling used that "Man of a Thousand Scars" this line to advertise two of their wild animal trainers: Joe J Nelson and Ervin Klauder. Go figure.

Mr Beatty always thought it was unprofessional to show off your scars. Maybe Roger will elaborate on this point.

17 April, 2011 10:33
Roger Smith said...

Well, it was this way. Mr. Beatty had responded to my letters of application and I was to join him in DeLand, in March of '64. The night he was to call, I was in surgery after an attack by my first male lion, Duke. Once I was healed and on the show, Beatty had related my delay to several visitors around his trailer, among them newspaperman Don Hayman. Don made a beeline to ask to see my scars, and went running back to Beatty all excited about them. That night, with just me and him in the Cadillac, he expressed his displeasure. "Boy, you don't go around showing your scars to anyone. These old trainers, they all resent it. Stay around this business long enough, and you'll get more of them, and boy, you'll say I don't want any more of that!" It didn't help that I accommodated a request from a friend of his--you didn't explain such things to Mr. Beatty. The interesting dichotomy here is, his worst injuries badly scarred both his legs. All who knew him will remember seeing them, as he sat around his Airstream in sandals and shorts.

17 April, 2011 17:10
Eric said...

This billing might have been inspired by Lon Chaney, Sr. who was known as "the man of a thousand faces."

18 April, 2011 22:07

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