US UCLA Library Special Collections, A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575. Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu. Phone: (310) 825-4988
Description
Access to this collection is generously supported by Arcadia funds. In 1912 William Selig purchased the site that is now Lincoln Park in Los Angeles, at Mission Road and Selig Place, as additional film studio acreage for the housing of wild animals used in his films. The studio was insolvent by 1918 and the zoo was auctioned off in 1923. Over time, it had various names, including Luna Park Zoo, the L.A. Wild Aimal Farms, the California Zoological Gardens, and Zoopark. A behind-the-scenes look at the animal actors that have roles in popular motion pictures. These animals are well-groomed like any human Hollywood star, and are trained for the profession from a very young age, marked as being highly intelligent. They reside at the California Zoological Gardens on Lincoln Park Boulevard.Anna May is an Indian elephant who has been in the motion picture business for 26 years. Other than her diet of hay and fruit, two of Anna May's favorite things to eat, trainer Alfred Alcorn explains, are onions and tobacco. Similar photographs appear with the article, "Stars That No Director Dares Defy!", Los Angeles Times, 07 June 1936: I4. Anna May stands on a small pedestal with her trunk resting on top of her head while her trainer stands just beneath her neck. Text from newspaper caption: Anna May and her trainer, Alfred Alcorn Text from negative sleeve: 5674 Zoo Olga Celeste (zoo park) - animal trainer (animals used in movies - see 6/7/36 article) June 8, 1936 Handwritten on negative: Anna May
Type
Image
Format
b&w nitrate negative
Identifier
uclamss_1429_14340 ark:/21198/zz002j7x1d
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
Animal training--California--Los Angeles Elephants--California Alcorn, Alfred
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