The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1936-05-01


leo, the Beattys' lion cub, is a great
pal of "Daffy," dog in the circus.
of positions and formations. Menelik,
a new cat with the act this year, sits
on his launches and waves his paws
around in the air like a prize fighter
entering the ring. A tiger rolls over
and over and then chases his tail at
Clyde's command. With such goings-on
amid a horde of wild beasts, it is not
an infrequent happening for one or
two of the cats to rebel.
Clyde's closest shave came in win
ter quarters when he was rehearsing
his act preparatory to opening the 1882
season. Samson, one of the older and
larger lions, attacked him and put him
in the hospital, lowering between life
and death for sixteen weeks. Had not a
tiger then attacked the lion and d.
verted Its attention, Clyde must have
been a goner.
Lion Kills Cage Boy.
Samson, incidentally, is one beast you
would not like to be meeting some
night down dark alley. The writer
personally saw him sink his teeth into
the shoulder of another trainer, Allen
King, one night, and King. too. would
be dead man today If tiger had not
come to his rescue ut must not be
supposed that the tiger in either case
was trying to save the trainers life
he was merely after a nice, juicy bite
of lion meat on the hoOf). Last winter
Sammy succeeded in killing cage boy
who carelessly left the "chute" door
open while working.
The two cats have natural hatred
for each other. and when this hatred
works up to a certain pitch fight
sometimes results in the cage. with dis
astrous results. In Muskegon, Michigan,
last season a fight almost broke up
the show and resulted In the death of
a cat or two. Across the state in Bay
City the season before rumpus in
the cage caused a pistol in Beatty's
holster to discharge, wounding him Sc
verely in the leg. He went on with the
act, however, and 1t was not until some
time later that the slug was removed
by a doctor. He loads his gun with
nothing but blanks now.
Clyde Beatty has never seen an Afri-
can jungle, but then Edgar Rice Bur-
roughs wrote the whole "Tarzan" Sc
ries Of savage jungle lore and he
hasn't seen one either. Clyde buys his
cats from ZOOS and animal dealers. He
looks for lions and tigers with spirit,
cats who will fight back when he en-
courages them. That's one of the rea-
sons that his every appearance In the
cage Is nearly mortal ordeal, one that
leaves him soping wet with perspira-
ton and with nerves so unstrung that
he will talk to no one. even his wife,
for 20 minutes after the act
Prefers Cats to Cameras.
Even so, Clyde says he Is more
afraid of Hollywood than his cage of
cats. He has made three pictures. "The
Big Cage" 1.-THE Lost Jungle" and
Darkest Africa" The latter is thrill
er serial which he completed this win
ter. and it's Hollywood at its daffiest.
It's full of Bat Men. wild hairbreadth
escapes, volcanic eruptions and heroic
feats.
In making the picture. Clyde was
badly bruised by some Of the Bat Men,
did not succeed In effecting couple
of the hairbreadth escapes. was rath-
er painfully blown up in one of the
synthetic volcanoes and had to rest
up for a week after performing the
final heroic feat.
The last named incident occurred
when the director casually asked Clyde
If he would mind "rassling" a tiger
bare-handed, on the plea that it would
be "sure-fire picture stuff" Clyde was
finally talked into it. but only on con.
dition that the match take place after
the rest of the picture was finished
so there would still be picture, even
II there was not any more Beatty.
The match was long and furious
and Clyde got pushed around plenty
before winning the deciding fall.
"Pretty good" conceded the director
"pretty good. Now let's try it just once
more with a little more Of the old
pep!"
Clyde's reply has been deleted SO
that this newspaper can be sent
through the United States mails.
Oo-oo-ool 1t ees not very sweet
Q western Newspaper Union. s.s