Lions for Sale

This is pretty amazing stuff, things one used to see long ago but not much today. Lion acts were a big part of the circus. I doubt if that is true today, but maybe it is.....you just don't hear much about the circus today. Barnum and Bailey's Ringling Brothers used to be a big deal.

Anyway, it shows how lions are tamed in a big lion training zoo in California around 1940. It is demonstrated how they take a little cub a few weeks old and give it nothing but human contact so the lion learns to trust "man." The trainers then train these wild animals and make them into tame circus performers. They walk on a wire and do some jumping and rolling tricks, etc. These lion tamers were unbelievable brave, sticking their arms inside the grown lion's mouth, as shown here. They were either courageous or stupid!

Anyway, it was interesting and kind of strange, too. You just figure these lions should be left to be lions, not circus acts, but I won't get into that. This "short feature," which included a ton of puns and corny lines, was added a bonus feature to the "Sergeant York" DVD.