And I think it started in 1959 and I took over in 1962. And so they were sort of delegated to be the friends, so the people who’d go out and raise some money to help the Park District do good things at Lincoln Park Zoo. And they were hired… Read More
How did you adjust to fundraising?… Read More
And Frank, of course, made a point of telling the press that the animal was coming down to see him. But that ended up happily, when I hopped in a squad car and went beyond the animals location, and the animal finally ended up jumping in my arms. And the… Read More
Most animals, this is their home. And if given the opportunity, if they’re out of their environment, their home, their secure blanket, they’re gonna go back to it if allowed, and many times they have. So I think again, Lincoln Park has a history of way, way back when sea… Read More
By and large, they accepted the fact that it was a human failure. Happily, if nobody was seriously hurt or killed, either of the zoo employees staff, or of the visiting public, the animal escapes made great stories in the media. And I think I can look back and say… Read More
When an animal would escape as they sometimes do in zoos, was the press kind to you?… Read More
Well, first of all, animal escapes were a way of life in a zoo because you’re dealing with humans that are caring for animals. You’re dealing with animals that can find a weakness in an area that you didn’t know existed. Most of the escapes that happened in zoos were… Read More
And this became, I can’t remember for sure, but I think pretty much almost a daily event that a certain time of the day was tee time at Lincoln Park Zoo. And the kids would get crackers, biscuits, goodies. And the idea was kind of at that time thought of… Read More
So the tea time folded up because it was time to stop using these babies for that purpose. Animals were returned to their parents as quickly as possible. The so-called zoo nursery operation took a dive, and wasn’t needed. And so everything kind of changed in that area, and I… Read More
(faint female voice) I guess we can probably continue on. She’s talking (voice fades) They would take young chimps and sit them around a table. And in London, of course, everybody drinks tea, so they call it tea party, they had tea. In our case, Frank said, “Well, can’t we… Read More
Can we go ahead?… Read More
What was the origin of the chimpanzee tea party and how did that enhance the zoo’s image for good or bad?… Read More
Oh, the tea party turned out to be a fun, mixed bag. What happened was, again goes back to Frank Schmick, the park commissioner who had money, and time, and traveled, and enjoyed himself and came back one time from a visit to the London Zoo. And he said, “Fisher,”… Read More
I learned the hard way about not to move a chair in the studio ’cause there was a certain union for that. And not to try and change a light somewhere, there was a union for that. Not to pick up the carrying case, and a lot of learning went… Read More
And a lot of people would watch it having breakfast and then go to school. And I don’t remember quite how it came about, but someone from GN said, if I’d be willing to do a sorta five or eight minute insert twice a week in the Ray’s show. And… Read More
It went on for, I don’t remember now, 12 to 15 years. And I’d be walking around the zoo, and kids would be following me, singing the theme song about green alligators, and long-necked geese and stuff like that. Ray remained part of Chicago an icon, he was also in… Read More
And I’d say, no, thank you. And happily, in retrospect, our local station, WGN in Chicago pursued the fact that they thought Lincoln Park, Chicago Zoo, Chicago TV Station that they’d like to try and start up some things. So I told them, “If you go down “and talk to… Read More
But when Marlin left and went to St. Louis and I took over, of course, everybody wanted to know when I’m gonna be on television. And my answer was, at that particular moment in time negative, because by the time Marlin left, there were a lot of difficult ill-feelings between… Read More
So for, I would think can’t remember exactly, maybe a couple of years, when I’d be asked about, are we gonna do some TV work?… Read More
Oh, it turned out to be incredible. I never dreamed that it could or would be that. My television experiences are strange one because after all I followed Mr. Television of Chicago, the country, the world. My predecessor, Marlin Perkins was a full-time, incredible TV person. Marlin developed an early… Read More