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- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- Wild animal exhibitions originated with the menagerie, but jungle beasts as performers are relative newcomers to the circus. Because traveling menageries were so successful financially, circus operators around the turn of the century began to incorporate into their shows wild animal exhibitions with “lion tamers” in attendance. The American public flocked to see the dangerous denizens of faraway jungles paraded with great ballyhoo by nerveless human handles, and wild animal acts swiftly became an integral part of the circus. There is another kind of animal act which answers a different interest among circus audiences and comes out of a longer standing tradition than the wild animal acts: the tame animal act in which the animal, through meticulous training, is able to perform tricks exploiting the upper limits of its physical capability and intelligence. It is always with squeals of delight that the audience watches an animal –a seal, pony, chimpanzee, or dog –break into a routine which makes it look “human.”This program concentrates on these two kinds of animal performance. It uses as examples of the tame animal act the skillful and imaginative “Stephenson’s Dogs,” seen in rehearsal on the Ringling lot. In the wild animal category there are three different performers: Clyde Beatty, Pat Anthony, and Robert Baudy. In each case the viewer sees them at work with their “cats” (tigers and lions), while their voices come over their own performance shots describing the dangers of their profession, their training methods, how they groom the animals, and what happens when a snarling cat turns against his master (Anthony, who puts his arm in the mouth of a tiger, tells us that if the animal begins to bite his arm, he bites his ear, which makes the tiger relinquish its hold.) The three trainers on this program represent two different approaches to the art of the wild animal act. Both Pat Anthony (who studied animal training under the G.I. Bill) and veteran Clyde Beatty (whose performances are seen in both old and current film clips) give “fighting acts,” concentrating on the physical aspects of their performances –often wielding the gun and whip irritating the cats into loud roaring, and, in general, making it as clear as possible that a 165-pound man is taking on 8700 pounds of “unleashed jungle fury.” Robert Baudy, a Frenchman, has a different approach. His act emphasizes “style” rather than combat, and, clad in rich costume, he enters the steal arena with a more aesthetic objective than that of his colleagues Beatty and Anthony: he makes his Siberian tigers go through the paces of their impossible tricks with quiet, sinister, grace.
- Date:
- 1958
- Summary:
- Bird identification has escaped the laboratory stage in the past 20 years. Frequently the identification of living things down to the species, depends upon features not really observable. But naming a bird (in some cases even to a subspecies) can now be done quite accurately through a system of field identification. Perfected by outstanding field observers like Ludlow Agrisom and Roger T. Peterson and put into book form and general circulation by Peterson, this system has created a hobby full of leisure for many people. This program will introduce the elements of knowing a bird when you see it, alive and in its environment. Graphic art and film will illustrate how you look for stance, pattern, habits and combinations of marking to identify a bird. Betty Sears, “Discovery’s” artist, appears on this program with the sketch book she uses on birding watching expeditions.
- Date:
- 1958
- Summary:
- Discusses how and why birds migrate. Shows ways in which the movements of birds is studied. Describes and illustrates the use of the mist net in capturing birds for banding. Outlines the results obtained by banding. Tells the migration story of the Arctic Tern and the Golden Plover. (WGBH-TV) Kinescope.
- Date:
- 1958
- Summary:
- Modern reptiles have body structures and characteristics much like their giant ancestors of long ago. This will be an introduction to the contemporary reptiles, the ones living now which we can watch and observe and study. On this program, Meyer Bornstein, who is studying biology at Northeastern University, will introduce through living examples the four kinds of reptiles; alligators, lizard, snakes and turtles. He will tell you about their habits, and show you how he cares for and learns from reptiles as pets.
- Date:
- 1958
- Summary:
- In the case of mammals, bones can tell us a lot. Form the extinct mastodon and mammoth, or the ancient horse, one can learn lessons about the development of the mammals by merely examining the teeth and bone structures these early creatures left behind. You will meet the mammals and learn about their classification and development by examining skulls and live animals. Six orders of mammals will be considered: the Marsupialor opossums; the chiroptera or bats; the Carnivora or carnivores; the Artiodactyl or even-toed (like the horse); the Rodentia or rodents; and the Lagamorpha or rabbits.
- Date:
- 1957
- Summary:
- The ants are social insects with a fascinating story of division of labor and social organization. Their history of how this social structure developed from very simple beginnings to more complicated systems is interesting too. You’ll find that some ants eat protein food while others are vegetarians, and you’ll discover that the kind of society which ants maintain is related to their food habits. Robert Willey, an entomologist, will demonstrate these things with live colonies of ants. You’ll learn too how to keep an ant colony and what kinds of questions about behavior of ants you might answer by observation. On film, you will see an ant herdsman tending the aphid cows and stoking them to secure their sweet honeydew.