From Jim Alexander

The chimps on today's Blog are from Leon Smith's chimp show at the St. Louis Zoo somewhere between the mid-1930s and 1942. The enclosed stage was in the area of the current Lakeside Inn, about the center of the Zoo. The chimps were kept in cages in the basement of the Reptile House. The show had begun in 1925 on a stage in the Primate House. Its popularity required a larger area and the show was moved outside about 1932. For sea lion fans (both of us), the first sea lion show, trained by Richard Havermann, was also presented on this stage in 1933 and then canceled. The show was moved again to the Chimpanzee Arena in 1942. Leon Smith followed Cash Ferguson as trainer. Leon had quite a show, usually 7 or 8 chimps, ponies, and great dane dogs.It's interesting for me to see all the tricks that were popular in the shows of the 60s and 70s presented in Leon's show, especially the pony riding chimps. Chimps changing riders as the ponies ran under tables began with Leon and closed the show for decades. Leon must of had a major disagreement with Director Vierheller because he was terminated before the end of the (I think) 1944 season. His assistant, Henry Ternes, got leave from Basic Training to present the show the last few weeks. Ben Fridrich would follow as trainer until Mike Kostial got out of the service. Mike was trainer most people know, a great trainer and presentor. Few people today know of Leon Smith but his chimp show helped make the St. Louis Zoo world famous.