Friday, May 29, 2020

LIONS #6


Posted by Chic Silber at 5/29/2020 01:19:00 PM

5 comments:

Roger Smith said...

Eugene Gay, whose famed Gay's Lion Farm, in El Monte, California, later became Winterquarters for Clyde Beatty. As happened with the Beatty Jungle Zoo, in Fort Lauderdale, in 1945, the El Monte facility got zoned out for circus use. Beatty's next winter stop was the former Army Air Corps base in Deming, New Mexico. The actual hangars Beatty used burned down, but as of 2003, I went out to see those remaining. Even the very convenient railroad tracks are there, as they were taking the show home, right up to the ideal airport buildings. Those years were 1953 to 1956.

29 May, 2020 21:11
Roger Smith said...

PS: There is footage of Gay and his Lion Farm on YouTube. For those years, he had a hell of an operation going for him.

29 May, 2020 21:13
Roger Smith said...

Gay is holding a twisted whipstock, and under the glass, it looks like he is using the Old School traditional flat-plaited lash. I last cut this lash for Ivan Henry. I hope I'm not alone in retaining this skill, but where are we going to crack a whip these days?

29 May, 2020 21:29
Chic Silber said...


I learned to braid tapered bees waxed

flax thread crackers (or poppers) of

different lengths from Red Hartmann

I've cut many long teardrop lashes

I've provided whips & instructions

on quite a few Broadway productions

Still have a large whip collection

29 May, 2020 23:09
Chic Silber said...


Either he is a VERY big guy

or it's a rather small lion

It looks out of proportion

30 May, 2020 17:02

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)