1962 RBBB #4

The band was set up by the performers’ entrance into the arena and while Merle was autographing my record album, Trevor Bale (whose tiger act opened the performance) walked up and I was able to get his autograph. (At that particular performance, as the tigers were making their exit from the steel arena, one of them bumped against the lion’s pedestal, knocking it over and spilling him onto the floor. Without waiting for its cue, the lion followed the tiger out of big cage and then started fighting with it inside the chute. The big cat crew had to use long poles to separate them. This was the only time that I ever saw a lion-tiger brouhaha during a performance.)