Archive for the &;Cheeta&; Category
Animal Acts and the SillySeason
May 1, 2007
Reggie, the lovable alligator dumped in a Long Beach lake by his loser owners when he got too big, is back!
This week also brought us a grizzly bear attack and aftermath. It follows the death threat against little Knut the Polar Bear and the pet food panic. Last spring, a coyote in Manhattan was a huge story, even as Californians used to real Wileys said WTF. There&;s West&;s incredible cover piece on Cheeta, 75-year old survivor of Hollywood&;s golden era. Lucky and Flo. And panda porn.
Alligators, bears, monkeys and coyotes don&;t buy papers. But people who care about them apparently do. Is reading about animals a respite from the depressing doings of humans? Do animal stories pull like Hollywood fish-out-of-water tales? Do they bring the call of the wild to sedentary urban people? Or are animals part of the reader&;s idealized family, as in this 1939 (!) shot of Cheeta with Johnny Weismuller as Tarzan and Maureen O&;Hara as Jane.
Or has what was once the summer silly season become a year-round media game of trivial pursuit?
Posted in alligators, animals-in-the-news, bears, Cheeta, Hollywood Follies, Journalism, panda-porn, Pets, Publishing, silly-season, Tarzan, Television, Wiley-coyote | Leave a Comment &;