page_title: Frank Buck (animal collector)
section_title: Writing, acting, and celebrity
hierarchical_section_title: Frank Buck (animal collector) / Writing, acting, and celebrity
caption_attribution_description: English: rationale for Ringling Bros. and Barnum &amp; Bailey Circus This image is being used to illustrate the article on the Ringling Bros. and Barnum &amp; Bailey Circus and is used for informational or educational purposes only. This image is of low resolution. It is believed that this image will not devalue the ability of anyone to profit from the original work. The copyright on this image was never renewed, and it is now in the public domain. Source: New York Public Library Use Ringling Bros. and Barnum &amp; Bailey Circus
context_page_description: Frank Howard Buck was an American hunter, animal collector, and author, as well as a film actor, director, and producer. Beginning in the 1910s he made many expeditions into Asia for the purpose of hunting and collecting exotic animals, bringing over 100,000 live specimens back to the United States and elsewhere for zoos and circuses and earning a reputation as an adventurer. He co-authored seven books chronicling or based on his expeditions, beginning with 1930's Bring 'Em Back Alive, which became a bestseller. Between 1932 and 1943 he starred in seven adventure films based on his exploits, most of which featured staged "fights to the death" with various wild beasts. He was also briefly a director of the San Diego Zoo, displayed wild animals at the 1933–34 Century of Progress exhibition and 1939 New York World's Fair, toured with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and co-authored an autobiography, 1941's All in a Lifetime. The Frank Buck Zoo in Buck's hometown of Gainesville, Texas is named after him.
context_section_description: Buck and Boardman divorced in 1927; when she later married a California packing company official, she told reporters "As long as I live, I don't want to see any animals wilder or bigger than a kitten." Buck subsequently married Muriel Reilly in 1928, and the two had a daughter, Barbara. By the end of the 1920s Buck was the world's leading supplier of wild animals. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 left him penniless, but friends lent him $6,000 and he was soon doing profitable work again.
  When Chicago radio and newsreel personality Floyd Gibbons suggested that Buck write about his animal collecting adventures, he collaborated with journalist Edward Anthony to co-author Bring 'Em Back Alive (1930), which became a bestseller and earned him the nickname Frank "Bring 'Em Back Alive" Buck. He arranged for a film crew to accompany him on his next collecting expedition to Asia in order to create a film of the same title, which was released in 1932 and starred Buck as himself. He was also the main feature of Bring 'Em Back Alive, an NBC radio program promoting the film which aired October 30–December 18, 1932 and July 16–November 16, 1934. The follow-up book, Wild Cargo (1932), again co-authored with Anthony, also became a bestseller and was adapted into a 1934 film of the same title in which Buck once again portrayed himself and also served as producer. During this time he was represented by George T. Bye, a New York literary agent.
  Buck furnished a wild animal exhibit, Frank Buck's Jungle Camp, for Chicago's Century of Progress exhibition in 1933. More than two million people visited Buck's reproduction of the camp he and his native assistants lived in while collecting animals in British Malaya. After the fair closed, he relocated the camp to a compound he created in Amityville, New York. Buck's third book, Fang and Claw (1935), was co-authored with Ferrin Fraser; for the film adaptation, Buck directed and once again starred. Tim Thompson in the Jungle (1935), also co-authored with Fraser, was a work of fiction but was based on Buck's experiences.
  While these books and films made Buck world-famous, he later remarked that he was prouder of his 1936 elementary school reader, On Jungle Trails, saying "Wherever I go, children mention this book to me and tell me how much they learned about animals and the jungle from it." Buck next starred as Jack Hardy in 1937's Jungle Menace (1937), a 15-part serial film that was the only picture in which he did not play himself. That same year he and Reilly bought their first home, at 5035 Louise Avenue in Encino, California, next door to the home of actor Charles Winninger. Prior to and during the making of Jungle Menace, Buck was represented by Hollywood literary agent H.N. Swanson.
  During 1938, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus made Buck a lucrative offer to tour as their main attraction, and to enter the show astride an elephant. He refused to join the American Federation of Actors, stating that he was "a scientist, not an actor". Though there was a threat of a strike if he did not join the union, he maintained that it would compromise his principles, saying "Don't get me wrong. I'm with the working man. I worked like a dog once myself. And my heart is with the fellow who works. But I don't want some union delegate telling me when to get on and off an elephant." Eventually the union gave Buck a special dispensation to introduce Gargantua the gorilla without registering as an actor.
  The following year, Buck brought his jungle camp to the 1939 New York World's Fair. "Frank Buck's Jungleland" displayed rare birds, reptiles, and wild animals, along with a five-year-old trained orangutan named Jiggs. In addition, Buck provided a trio of performing Asian elephants, an 80-foot "monkey mountain" with 600 monkeys, and camel rides. His sixth book, Animals Are Like That, co-authored with Carol Weld, came out later that year.
  World War II temporarily halted Buck's expeditions to Asia, but his popularity kept him busy on the lecture circuit and making guest appearances on radio. During the war years 
caption: Buck advertised as a main circus attraction, 1938
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