Well, obviously how it came about was it was Nixon’s visit to China that opened the doors for the US and relations with China. And when Nixon went over there, he evidently was able to, or was offered the giant pandas. And we had very little notice, Ted came back… Read More
And that’s why it was such a chaotic situation when we were trying to get these white rhinos out of their enclosure out to San Diego. And even though they’d been the zoo for many years, and they were a gift from one of our major donors and they were… Read More
They came in under Nixon. Read More
They came in under Nixon, but why am I thinking about Carter?… Read More
During that time, can you tell us the story of Shing-Shing and Ling-Ling, the giant pandas from China?… Read More
How did that come about?… Read More
Was it craziness?… Read More
Not really, and I mean, what the heck?… Read More
I mean, I met my second wife there, I met my third wife there, not as a keeper, but my second wife was a keeper, so yeah, and there were a lot of relationships that sprung up between the male and female staff. I mean, it was not so much… Read More
Side question, were the policies established about that kind of thing or not at all?… Read More
No. I mean, when I married my second wife, she worked for me. So I had to have her supervised by another curator, which was a little awkward. It was even more awkward when I got divorced, but we’ll talk about that way down the road. Read More
Yeah, I think there was resentment, not only for the first female keeper, but I think there was resentment on the part of a lot of the keepers. And I think to a certain extent, the curatorial staff, I don’t know about Ted, but over the fact that they were… Read More
Did you would have concerns?… Read More
Did I have concerns?… Read More
She was the secretary. Read More
How’s she do?… Read More
She did fine. I mean, she really did. And I don’t know whether I should, I mean, she did fine, and it was a… Tell me what, you seem to hesitate. Well, I mean, she was hired and then she ended up living with with the person that hired her… Read More
Was there resentment with the male keepers for this first female?… Read More
How was it possible for her to break into the all male society?… Read More
Well, she was very good friends with the general curator, well, the reptile curator at the time, and Ted always said, I mean, he always said, “I’ll never hire female keepers because it’s gonna just be a total disruption.’ When I started in ’56, there was one woman, no, excuse… Read More