“Professor” George Keller #1
Posted By thecircusblog on May 29, 2010
This photo was taken of him on his jungle farm 1942. George Keller was known for his dynamic cat act,”Keller’s Jungle Killers”. He got his nick name “Professor ” because he was a college professor of visual arts at Bloomsburg Teachers College, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, This was before he became a cat trainer… most likely he thought it was safer in the arena. After his death of George Keller in 1960, Bill Horne took over the act and he was a superb trainer. Bill Scamihorn is his given name. He was George Keller’s cage hand for quite some time and knew the act well. In June, 1971 the truck and semi carrying the cat act ran into to a land slide on a highway near Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Al Lapchak, the driver was killed in the accident. It is said that many animals broke lose from their cages causing one tiger to be shot, others tranquilized. Most of the animals were recaptured. Other say six cats got away into the mountains and lived to have off springs that now live in the wilds, This is a local legend. Keller’s Jungle Killers at that time of the accident were owned by Mrs.Virginia Keller Horne. This photo should have been reversed. On his hat is written Jungle Farm.
I received this comment From Forrest Higgs 6-15-12. It is a must read comment.
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My name is Ivan M. Henry and I am the 4th generation of a circus/show business dynasty. I hope you enjoy the blog.Comments
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George died in Corpus Christi while performing at the Shrine Circus that I was attending there. His act was very unusual in that he had half a dozen different big cats in the same cage with him. He had just begun his act when he suddenly just collapsed. The audience was stunned and did not understand what had happened. Neither did the big cats. His assistant ran into the cage firing a pistol into the air and urging them back into their cages. So well trained were his cats that they quietly exited the big cage, some stepping over George’s body on the way back.
It was a terrible performance, with an acrobat and a trapeze artist both having non-fatal mishaps. I avoided going to circuses for nearly thirty years thereafter.
“The Shrine Circus was due to perform this afternoon at Memor ial Coliseum as scheduled despite several mishaps yesterday in chiding the sudden death of its animal tamer George J Keller The afternoon performance scheduled at pm Another will begin at 8 pmA pm matinee is the only show sched uled Performances Monday will be at and 3 pm Keller 62 collapsed and died among eight big cats about pm yesterday during He apparently suffered a at tack His assistant Scamihorn jumped into the cage and direct ed the cats back to their small cages Scamihorn is slated to continue the animal act in the rest of the performances here Brahim Ben Belaid 36 of New York fell while performing in a tumbling act but was not ser iously injured In another mishap Betty Pasco trapeze artist became entangled in a rope and dangled helplessly in the air during the matinee yes She fainted as she was helped to the floor When Keller slumped down just as he began his act last night many spectators thought jt was part of the act Dr Tom Bailey who was in the audience rushed in as soon as Scamihorn the cats and began administering first aid Mrs J U Clements a local nurse working at the first aid station assisted The efforts to revive Keller failed He apparently died almost instantly Keller nationally as the fine arts professor who turned to lion making his first appearance with the Shrine Cir…”
http://newspaperarchive.com/corpus-christi-times/1960-10-15/
Thanks for the George Keller article. We knew him and recently bought his biography. (You have several misspelled words in your tags, “college professor”, etc.)
As child i read a story of George j Keller.
He became my hero as i understood even so young his method.s
I went in to life and trained variose dull species by comparison.
With Gorge remaining my idol
Not until i was 68 my late wife gave me a very bedraggled copy of Here Keller Train This.
Like your site.
Our family lived in Catawissa, about 5-6 miles from Prof. Keller’s home. One Sunday my parents took my two brothers and me to see the big cats. My older brother Dave probably 8 years old at the time was standing near the black panther’s cage mesmerized by the beautiful creature. With no ceremony, the panther felt Nature’s call and showered my brother. This is one of my funniest memories of my childhood. Having Prof. Keller’s ‘killers’ to visit was quite special.