Evening star., 1951-05-13
The Beasts
Keep Film
Doc Busy
By Jack Quiee
HOLLYWOOD.

Trimming tigers claws. Pre-.
scribing a diet for Lassie or sooth-
ing the nerves Of a movie queens
pampered poodle are all In the
days work for DR.. Charles H. Reid.
In % years Of caring for movie
animals, the Hollywood veteri-
marian has done everything from
clipping canaries to operating on
an elephant.
doc" Reid, a braWny ex-co~-
boy, lumberjack and hobo. looks
amazingly like Ezio PIMA. He
says people who stare at him in
restaurants sometimes walk up
and ask for his autograph. Doc
obligingly signs the singers name.
DR.. Reid can afford to frequent
the better places for he has a
lucrative practice. He is physician
to many of the top animal per-
formers, including Lassie, Roy
Rogers horse Trigger and Silver.
the Lone Rangers nag. He is
often called in by ZOOS or stable
operators and administers to the
pets Of many movie stars.
He spends a good deal of time
on movie sets. Besides seeing to
the health of his charges, he works
with a humane association rep
resentative to see that animals are
not handled cruelty.
ST have to know picture making
as well as medicine" DR.. Reid
says. "I tell the director what
he can do with an animal and
what he can't do. II ! say NO.
That is final"
Most acting animals are 80
we'll cared for that DR.. Reid spends
more of his time at preventive
treatments - innoculations, diets
and so on-than in making cures.
But occasionally he encounters
"a sticky situation. One such came
up recently when he was asked
to examine 10 matching cats. One
was Rhubarb, scheduled to star
in a movie. and the others were
his stand-ins.
Quick Work Effective.
Somebody had made a mis-
take" the doctor says. "The cats
had been gathered from all over
Los Angeles County before I was
called. Two or three had cat few
er, which has 80 per cent NOR
.tality rate, and they had infected
the others. The picture was due
to start in three days and the
producer was having fit"
He innoculated the cats. then
isolated them in separate rooms
of an empty apartment building
on the studio lot. After the film
started he checked them over each
morning and allowed only the
ones with no fever to work.
"The amazing thing is, he says.
that we didn't lose cat"
DR.. Reid sometimes is called
upon to achieve special effects.
One of his best was in the ls4T
picture, Stallion Road" The
scene showed a horse lying i'll
Ion a stable floor, victim Of a dead
lly disease. A crowd had gath
Iered to see if a new serum would
take effect. The horse was sup
posed to rise, cured, at certain
point in the dialogue and stand,
trembling a little from weakness.
The horse did 1t beautifully on
the first try. The doctor prefers
to keep the technique he used of
the record.
Lions Often Doped.
Many movie stunts are &C
icomplished by injections that put
an animal to sleep temporarily.
The American Humane Associa-
ton, which sanctions the prac-
tice, says it is harmless and pain
less. Drugs are often given lions
or tigers when scene requires
them to fight" with humans.
DR.. Reid holds that vet has a
tougher job than an M. D. 1--WE
have to know the anatomy, dis
eases, parasites and habits OF
scores of animals. A skunk and
camel have little in common"
Once he was asked to enter
sound stage in which couple Of
mountain lions had gotten loose.
II knew it was no use to look
underneath things" he says. "A
cat, be it tabby or tiger, always
goes up when it wants to get
away. Those two we're in the
rafters. We had to get them down
with ropes"