Billie Richards
Posted By thecircusblog on May 6, 2012
Billie Richards the little man was a big entrepreneur and he loved show business. No matter how hard Billie and Trader tried, the compound became too much for them. I do not know the date that The World Jungle Compound went back to Louis Goebel the founder of Jungleland, but the above-ground facilities were sold again in 1963 to Roy and Marie Kabat and Tex Scarborough, a partner for the amount of $2.4 million. The greater majority of the money came from Marie Kabat’s father. Here again the struggle to make Jungleland work.
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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
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Richards & Horne ran the place as World Jungle Compound from 1945 to 1955, which was a good time for transition–before they lost their advantage. Disney opened in ’55, and two execs from 20th Century-Fox, James Rogel and Sid Ruman, bought in, re-named it Jungleland, since then all parks had to be somebody’s “Land”. They laid out immense plans to compete with Disney, but quickly realized they were no match. As Ivan notes, in about 1963 and ’64, the studio guys wanted out, and in came the Kabats and Scarbroughs. Mrs. Kabat was the former Marie Janelli, whose father owned the recipe for Old Dad’s Root Beer, and as Ivan also states, it was she who financed the Kabat involvement, and not husband Roy. The Scarbroughs had been on the lot for some time, running their concessions and paying privilege to the office. This is the team of four that had the place, formally, from 1965. Even with the money from DR. DOLITTLE, they continued stiffing Louis Goebel on payments. until he foreclosed. So this was the team that caused us to be auctioned off, over October 8 and 9, 1969, and then shut down forever.
PS about the above: When you see the Leslie Zemeckis documentary, MABEL, MABEL, TIGER TRAINER, due in general release in March 2018, you will see me giving this era of the Compound history on film, and I pull no punches as I take it a little further than this.