I was general curator until Bill Hoff, Bill Hoff left for St. Louis. I was general curator, yes, until Bill Hoff left for St. Louis. I was placed in as interim director. Bill had an opportunity for the directorship following Marlin in St. Louis. So they put me in as… Read More
What was the year?… Read More
The year I became the interim director was 1968. Read More
What was the charge of your role?… Read More
When I came in, we had a lot of major problems with the keeper staff. To cite examples, they would go out on breaks and they would go to the tavern and they would get liquored up, come back to work, and I found one gentlemen teetering on the edge… Read More
So we got keepers better pay, and they eventually saw what I needed and wanted, and we got rid of the bad elements in the zoo. It took some time. I think the first year I was responsible for 15 people leaving the keeper force, my first year of employment. Read More
How long were you general curator?… Read More
Tiger was sitting on the shelf and Clarence was inside changing the light bulb, figuring that we had been in the cage the day before, why couldn’t he?… Read More
I gently had to say Clarence, and fortunately nothing happened to him, and the cat was probably as surprised as I was, but it was those kinds of experiences. But eventually I got a good crew together and we got things together and we got it moving in the right… Read More
When you came, what was your-?… Read More
My first title, I replaced an animal- The title at that time was animal superintendent. And I asked Bill to change the title to general curator. I preferred that title, which he did. I remember those early years, teaching these people to work with animals was another experience altogether. I… Read More
At that time, we didn’t have a full-time veterinarian in Cincinnati. We had to do a lot of the veterinary work ourselves. So I went in with another individual and we gave the animal an enema, and Clarence is on the outside and he’s watching me do this. And the… Read More
What made you say I want to go there?… Read More
Well, my first, when I went in for an interview, my first impression of the zoo was not a very good one. They used to have an annual event called the home and food show, and they would have barkers, they would have canoe salesmen. The first night, it was… Read More
But I came back the following morning and walked around the zoo and I saw a lot of potential. It was a nice hilly atmosphere. It was great for building new exhibits. It was well landscaped. It had some fairly interesting animals, animals I had not had an opportunity in… Read More
I had not had an opportunity, giraffe at that time we did not keep in Lincoln Park. So it was a great place. It had a lot of new animals and the grounds, I saw potential. It was bad at that time, so I decided I’m gonna take the job. Read More
Well, my predecessor Bill Hoff was the assistant director in Lincoln Park. He was under Marlin. I worked very closely with Bill over the years, far closer to build an I did Marlin. Marlin was obviously the larger figure. Bill had an opportunity to obtain the directorship. He applied for… Read More
The animals were mistreated. The collection was, it was somewhat, they had some interesting animals, but it was an amalgamation of ducks and goats and sheep, and a lot of domestic animals and under very poor conditions. The zoo literally run down. I mean, we had to replace windows literally… Read More
And I remember it was, he sent me a job that, it was gonna be a challenge for $7,200 a year was a magnificent salary increase I remember at that time. Read More
I started Lincoln Park Zoo, I believe it was in 1955, and I probably spent at least six years in that position. Well, I’ll tell you exactly because I went to- I left for Cincinnati in 1961. Okay, now let’s talk about that. Read More