Interview 5420 – Caption Index: 0
I’m Charlie Hoessle. Born in south St. Louis on March 20th, 1931. Read More
I’m Charlie Hoessle. Born in south St. Louis on March 20th, 1931. Read More
What kinda childhood did you have growing up?… Read More
Well my parents were German immigrants and I was the firstborn. Actually, my sister first and then I was second. And my parents loved the Ozarks and they went off in the Ozarks. And they loved the beautiful rocks they would bring back for a rock garden and to put… Read More
I went to public grade school, Mount Pleasant School in south St. Louis and it was real close to the Bluffs. The Mississippi River, south St. Louis. And I would go along the empty lots and the high weeds and look for critters and I found frogs and toads and… Read More
Do you have anything that we’ve kind of missed or something that you’d like to expand upon that we’ve talked about?… Read More
Anything that-?… Read More
My zoo experience for me has been a very rich and rewarding life. I have no regrets. I have, I have no visions of grandeur. I think I’ve took it, and many times it was, it was a difficult road, but we took it up a notch or two, and… Read More
You’ve mentioned a little about making it better for everybody. In our zoo, in order to enhance attendance through exhibitry, we found that by being very creative, working outside the box often paid in big dividends. Jungle Trails was a classic example of a good exhibit, an immersion exhibit that… Read More
Did you have a travel program at the zoo to bring people out into the wilderness?… Read More
Well, I worked for Marlin Perkins. I came out of Lincoln Park and Marlin was I think the first person to take people back into areas of Africa, and Bill Hoff, my predecessor, came into Cincinnati and he developed a similar program and he expanded on what Marlin was doing. Read More
And it’s still popular today. I think they send two or three trips out a year. We’ve talked about so many different subjects here from the press to politics to animal exhibits and board membership and so many things. Jack of all trades and be master of one. Read More
Did you have a vision for the children’s zoo?… Read More
You had run one. Well, I, and personally, I don’t believe in children’s zoos. I believe the whole zoo should be for children. And that came to me very clearly when I took my grandson and I was visiting a few zoos and my arms at the end of the… Read More
What would you say that zoos can do to enhance their attendance regarding exhibits?… Read More
Lessons learned were be very, very careful and plan your strategy before you go into a meeting with the press. Read More
Do you ever have any surprise donations?… Read More
Anybody bowl you over?… Read More
Yes, we had a two and a half- Gave us two and a half million dollars for a new children’s zoo. That was a windfall that came from Spalding’s. They were lighting manufacturer, husband died. She liked the zoo. She liked the number of board members and she wrote Spalding… Read More
What would happen if you don’t get the levy passed?… Read More
I says, well, get rid of the elephants, which was, I had to, I had a pregnant animal in an area- I had three elephants living in an area for one. Well, four elephants, that would’ve made the fifth. It would’ve been impossible. Well, they took that and they ran… Read More