Mel Koontz
Posted By thecircusblog on June 14, 2015
Mel had constant control over his cats. The braking period started at about two months old. He would carry the cubs in his arms and hand fed and watered them. He in essence was there mother, even to the point of reprimanding as a mother lion would. As they matured there was a built in respect and a caring that they had for him. Of course not all the lions that he raised were acceptable for movie work. Playing had to look ferocious. When thing got out of hand however, his method in reprimanding could and would stop any aggressiveness. He did say that there was a time or two when he got nailed in his neck and arms. I and others only saw what Mel wanted you to see when he trained. If you had a question about his training, he would be very open with you. Last time that I saw Mel was in 1959, at Jungleland Thousand Oaks,Calif. Jackie was his best Lion, and was also the MGM Lion.
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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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Mel had retired due to increasingly bad eyesight before I knew him. So I never saw him work, or train. But I’d spend long afternoons visiting him at his bartender’s job at Moose Lodge 1919, in Thousand Oaks. As noted above, he was indeed very open about his methods. I told him I wanted to learn from him, and he almost cried that he was remembered and respected. As we know of a vanishing profession, interest in the work is greatly diminished, and no one ever asked me what Mel said. Jungleland’s Benny Bennett told me when Cecil B. DeMille was filming his great historic epics, he insisted on Mel getting the wild animal shots, and paid Mel $1500 a day in the late ’40s and early ’50s, when some lead stars did not command such salaries.