Early on during my years we, of course, were fortunate to have an incredible creature, a lowland gorilla named Bushman at Lincoln Park Zoo in the Old Monkey House. And Bushman was one of two gorillas of his era back in the 30s and 40s that were in America. Ringling… Read More
The people, the exhibits when you started working there, the size of the zoo, what were those impressions as you were the veterinarian?… Read More
Well, at the time I thought the zoo was a very exciting kind of place, it was full of strange and wondrous creatures. It was staffed by a group of personalities. The people that worked at Lincoln Park Zoo were a cross section of animal lovers. There were some people… Read More
What was the zoo like during this time?… Read More
And he knew the area that he was very interested in, so Marlin and I had nothing but a comfortable working relationship. And as I say, I’ve been grateful to him for that opportunity to meet many, many wonderful people in the TV industry. And to this day, I felt… Read More
So the Perkins family have been very important in my life, and I was saddened when Marlin died of cancer. And as I say, I’m sorry to know that she is now potentially, medically in big trouble. Read More
And I said, “Sure.” And so then I think two or three times a year, we would do an animal health show on “Zoo Parade.” And that’s how I got into television, I guess, and looking back. And so Marlin he was full of himself. After all, he became a… Read More
Marlin Perkins was a very interesting man for me to get to know, he was certainly a showman in personality. Marlin was a very dapper, well-dressed, very articulate person. He and I hit it off fairly well because he didn’t try to interfere with my medical decisions, he didn’t try… Read More
All the big early shows, I think, originated here. And thanks to Marlin, I got to meet all the different personalities in the Chicago TV scene. And of course, that’s how Marlin became Mr. Television himself. The story is that WBKB, the old ABC Channel I think it is, that… Read More
Well, you mentioned Marlin that you started working with, what was your first impression of Marlin Perkins?… Read More
So it was very much a learning experience. First of all, learning about the wild animals and secondly, how to try to handle them, how to work with them. Read More
In hindsight, I look back at times and thought, Well, that’s unfortunate because in no way, did it help me with my pension fund after I went to the zoo. So that was just a services rendered and something that was fun for me to do. My wild animal experience… Read More
We went back to what Walter Anderson taught me a little bit in his ambulatory work at Ames with ropes. We literally had to drop some lariats around the heads of some of the hoofed animals. In the Lion Hose, the only way we could get to a cat was… Read More
Did the pay you for your services?… Read More
At first, I didn’t get any money because I didn’t ask for any, I was doing it more or less out of interest. And finally, I think I got some, probably a stipend or something like $75 a month, a retainer fee. And I’m sure that I spent more of… Read More
So I looked around and found on Harlem Avenue, a sheet metal shop that was going out of business and looked at the place, and looked like it could be adapted to a small animal hospital, and so I decided to buy it. And went and saw Marlin, and said,… Read More
Wes proceeded to get probably the best job that a animal doctor could ever have, he ended up being humane officer for all Hollywood films. And so every time a dog, a horse, a cat, any animal was in a film in Hollywood, a veterinarian had to be on site. Read More
I never came home with any plans of what I would do as far as what to do, where to go. I surveyed the kind of local and national picture, and one of the places that I remember looked challenging and fun was at the university in New Hampshire. They… Read More
And there was a woman named Irene Castle McLaughlin, a famous dancer of some era back in those days. And she was a strong anti-vivisectionist, and she was battling a man named Andrew Ivey, I believe was the head of physiology at Northwestern Medical School. And Dr. Ivey was her… Read More
How did you begin then to work at a zoo from being a private veterinarian?… Read More