Mabel Stark
Posted By thecircusblog on November 27, 2011
Mabel had her own arena in the back area at Jungleland. Her arena was set up on the ground as she liked working on what she was used to. The main arena where all the other trainers worked their cats was on a cement stage and the audience seats were in a half circle in front of the arena. Mabel’s favored the old style circus arena. Photo was taken in 1962 at Jungleland.
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thecircusblog
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
3 Responses to “Mabel Stark”
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I remember Her well. And was blessed to be one of the few kids she tolerated. Mabel actually taught me how tio use a whip…More to follow..
Randy CHUCKO
I’ve likely said so before here, but Mabel taught me tigers for 3 1/2 years in Thousand Oaks. That’s a very long story. Segue to: our closing auction, in 1969. After most of 4 decades, I located the road arena taken out by most of us who toured cat acts for Jungleland. But no one will admit to what happened to this set of Mabel’s props, or to this old Barnes show arena. It was made by the rough-and-tumble Red Forbes, Mr. Barnes welder, whose creations were certainly made to last. Mabel’s top man at Jungleland, Benny Bennett, told me this is one of those cages known to need 4 good men and 2 boys to carry a single section. Whoever removed from here it had a job on their hands. I regret to believe it may have been sold for scrap.
The tigress at L is the vicious Sumatran, Ouida (YOO-da). We hated the days when Mabel wore this damned bonnet of hers. She would lean into Ouida and exclaim, “And YOU!” Ouida would lean as seen here, roar violently, and pose threateningly forward on her seat. Her haunches were high, with her head far down, ideally set for a fatal leap. At this moment, Mabel turned her back and casually strode out to the center of the cage, as either Jim McClellan or I made her announcement for the wire-walk. Ouida held her seat, but we never knew why. If she had attacked, that bonnet so blocked Mabel’s peripheral vision, she would never have seen Ouida coming. Thankfully, it never happened.