Sunday, July 07, 2013

1965 RBBB TV Special #52


Is this John?

 "No this is "Roma".
"John" was purchased the next year from Rhue Bros. who was holding him at the Oakland Zoo Petting Zoo."
Buckles

Posted by Buckles at 7/07/2013 05:41:00 AM

6 comments:

Dick Flint said...

Do you or anyone know anything about the Ruhe brothers? Where thye were headquartered, who was there representative in the US, and whatever became of them? They were an old animal dealership, going back to the 1880s and possibly further as employees to the Reiche brothers of New York and Germany. I was told one of them (a later generation) was a photographer who did work for the National Geographic.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

07 July, 2013 08:19
Roger Smith said...

In 1960-1961, Heinz and Lutz Ruhe tried to operate Louis Goebel's compound, by then named Jungleland. They were a disaster, and lost money like running water, day by day. Goebel, as always, took the place back, ran it himself again until 1965, when he "sold" it to the regime of the Kabats and Scarbroughs who never made a payment to Goebel, and brought the Compound to its demise.

08 July, 2013 00:48
Ryan Easley said...

Roger,
Through all the "transfers of ownership" that the Thousand Oaks property went through, I always note that the relevant elephant imports from the 1950s to 60s still record Goebel as the importer. Did he still operate through the property for these animals ? I will be the first to admit I have a miniscule understanding of this location and the man who played a large part in the animal industry during the time period.

Dick,
The Ruhe Bros. have too interested me in their history. I have found they had locations all over the world, including America, Europe and South Africa. Wayne Jackson told me they used the Catskill Game Farm as a holding facility and were related to the Schulz family. You can see his full comment here:
>> http://www.showmeelephants.com/2011/02/studbook-mysteries-firma-ruhe.html

Buckles,
Can you expand more on the Ruhe family and Catskill Game Farm connection?

08 July, 2013 17:59
Ryan Easley said...

Buckles and Roger,
Regarding "John," I have seen mention that his name prior to Ringling was "Bung-Noi." Chang Reynolds lists the following for him, but listed as a female ?

Came from Siam
1959 to 1961 - Ruhe Baby Zoo in Lynwood, CA.
1962 - went to Jungleland sometime in 1962
1963 - Jungleland

Is this the same animal and does the age match ? One last question - where did the name "John" come from ? Very dissimilar from Hugo Schmitt's other choices, such as Tagu, Mudu, Roma, Putsie, etc.

Thank you guys for your help. I was born a few decades too late.

08 July, 2013 18:04
John Herriott said...

Obviously he was named after show owner-producer John Ringling North. This was shortly before the Felds. johnny

09 July, 2013 06:59
Ryan Easley said...

Obviously :) Thank you, Mr. Herriott

09 July, 2013 11:34

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