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. 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.Midnight is a nine-year-old Malayan panther who is readily identified as the most dangerous of all the animals. He attacked trainer Olga Celeste the previous year, biting into her neck and ripping at her shoulders with his claws, putting her in the hospital for eight weeks, but this has not deterred Olga from training him. 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. Similar photographs appear with the article, "Stars That No Director Dares Defy!", Los Angeles Times, 07 June 1936: I4. Olga holds several whips as she stands several feet away from Midnight inside his cage. The cat walks on a beam above the ground, growling at the trainer while an unidentified man watches from outside. Text from negative sleeve: 5674 Zoo Olga Celeste (zoo park) - animal trainer (animals used in movies - see 6/7/36 article) June 8, 1936
Type
Image
Format
b&w nitrate negative
Identifier
uclamss_1429_14341 ark:/21198/zz002j7x2x
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
Animal training--California--Los Angeles Zoos--California--Los Angeles Cages--California--Los Angeles Whips Panthers--United States Celeste, Olga, 1888-1969
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