Buckles Blog: "Sheba"

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Jungleland 1000 Oaks, Calif. presented by Ray Rodman.

Someone wrote on the back "sold to Mexico City Zoo"

Ryan Easley said...: I assume this is the cat arena? Were the elephants often presented in this area?; 06 June, 2012 10:45
Roger Smith said...: This is the Big Stage Arena. The screen is WW II surplus landing mat--the matting used for airstrips on the Pacific islands during the war. The specs were 2" x 2" fused fabric of 1/4" wire. When the planes landed, the connected sections were mashed down into the sands, and the Seabees simply added more on top to maintain the runways. Louis Goebel bought 10,000 sheets at a dollar a sheet and most of the Compound was constructed with it--pens, corrals, fencing, and particularly the tunnels and cage fronts for the cats. As for Ryan's question, in my era, we had two performance areas--here, and Mabel Stark's Tiger Arena. All acts worked in these cages, be they animals or variety acts. Small acts, such as birds, could work on the stage apron.; 06 June, 2012 18:31
Ryan Easley said...: Thanks Roger ! I would sure like to get my hands on some of that material, especially for that price :) Is this Sheba the same that was at Auction City in Norwalk, California ? A Bandwagon elephant census from 1960 lists Sheba at that location, from Louis Goebel, from 1952 to 1959.; 09 July, 2013 11:30

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