Thursday, May 02, 2019

GRAVES #11


Posted by Chic Silber at 5/02/2019 12:23:00 AM

1 comments:

Roger Smith said...

My great friend out here at Jungleland. He came up broke from Circo Bell, and was living in his car on our parking lot, trying to sell his boots for food. He got on with us, and we used to swap cat acts. His wife at the time was Karen. Their first-born daughter, Andrea, was a toddler, and Dawn Marie came along as the newborn. When it became the last day of Mabel Stark's career, I assisted her caretaking of her tigers, and Okie stood by out of sight as back-up, since Mabel had threatened to let the tigers kill her. We got through the morning with no incident, and we helped her move out of her dressing room and took her home. Not long after this, Okie returned to Carson & Barnes. He was attacked by a lioness in Fort Morgan, Colorado, in 1968, and almost died. Following a long recovery, he returned to the show, and when I saw him last, in 1980, he was Elephant Boss over there. Okie died after a series of strokes and heart attacks. I was calling to find him when he passed, on April 15, 1999.

02 May, 2019 05:22

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