Dienstag, 5. Februar 2013

Und Rosie sang doch....And yet, Rosie sang...

Ich war vorgestern so kühn zu behaupten, dass Rosie zumindest nicht selbst sang. Wie man sehen kann, lag ich komplett daneben. Rosie war ein Hollywoodstar. Viktor hat über Google Books noch ein paar Informationen gefunden, die aus der Zeitschrift "Life" vom 19.8.1946 stammen.

Rosie wog damals 250 Pfund.Geboren offenbar 1936 in Brooklyn als Nachkomme einer russischen "histrionic" (schauspielerisch affinen) Bärenfamilie, lebte sie in New York bei ihrem Manager Stanley Beebe. Neben Radioauftritten gab sie auch Roller Skating Vorstellungen fürs Fernsehen und spielte in einem Hollywood-Film namens "Road to Utopia" (Der Weg nach Utopia) mit, zusammen mit Bing Crosby und Bob Hope.Der Film kann hier online gesehen werden.-
When I posted the photos of Rosie the Trained Bear I was so bold as to assert that Rosie at least did not sing. As you can see, I was completely wrong. Rosie was a Hollywood star. Viktor found some more information on Google Books which was published in the 19 August 1946 edition of "Life" magazine.

Rosie then weighed about 125 KG. Apparently she was born in 1936 in Brooklyn as a descendant of a Russian "histrionic" (acting affine) bear family, she lived in New York with her manager Stanley Beebe. Besides radio appearances, she did also roller skating performances for television and starred in a Hollywood movie called "Road to Utopia" with (Road to Utopia), along with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.The movie can be seen online.


"Rosie, the star of the Stanley Beebe Russian Bear troupe which will be part of the entertainment at the Albany Sportsmen's and Boat Show Mar. 1 through 9, walks abroad arm in arm with Helen Paris, television star. Rosie, whose accomplishments include singing of a sort, appeared with Miss Paris on television broadcast."


"A trio of Russian Brown Bears including Rosie whose career includes several movie appearances and singing acts for television, are scheduled to go through their paces at the Albany Sportsmen's and Boat Show in the Wahington Ave., Armory, Mar. 1 through on. Stanley Beebe of Brooklyn is the trainer of the trio, which currently is performing at the National Sportmen's Show in New York.Beebe has seven bears, including two cubs born just before the opening of the New York show, but only three will be used in Albany.

Rosie, a 10-year-old, is star of the troupe, and accompanies Beebe in song, giving out with a coughing high C in true bruin fashion.Beebe's bears will be one of the12 acts which will make up a two hour program for the Albany show which is being sponsored by the Albany County Conservation Alliance and directed by the Campbell-Fairbanks Expositions, which stages the New York and Boston shows each year."

 Ebenfalls von Viktor gefunden hier noch ein Artikel aus der Pittsburgh Post Gazette vom 18.10.1946. Rosies Auftritte für Radio und Fernsehen werden dort sehr anschaulich beschrieben. Mit $ 75-100 Gage pro Auftritt ist sie eine Großverdienerin. Sie hatte zwei Brüder, Bobby und Tuffy, und ihre Eltern hießen Bill und Min. Offenbar waren alle künstlerisch unterwegs:

Here another article found by Viktor about Rosie in the Pittsburgh Gazette from 18 October 1946 with descriptions of. Rosie's appearances in radio and TV shows. She earns up to 100 $ per performance.She had tw brothers, Bobby and Tuffy, and her parents were Bill and Min, obviously the whole family was in acting.

"The family does ice skating, roller skating, mock love affair, and comedy-drunk skits."
"They live happily in a converted bus, usually parked in the back yard of a frame residence in Brooklyn belonging to their owner, Stanley Beebe."

" The Beebe bears made a great impression, especially with the very small spectators who naturally knew all about bears.These are very fine bears, happy, active and beautifully groomed", mentions another source reporting on a circus performance with animal acts featuring two (unnamed) Beebe bears.

But one can also find an article about an escape of two Beebe bears in 1940.

 Sources:
 The Knickerbocker News, Albany, If. Y., Friday February 21, 1947
- Life Article about Rosie
- Animal Acts/The Montreal Gazette 24.05.1943 
- Trained Bears Slap 'Em Down/ The Spokesman Review 29.02.1940

See also:
Thank you, Viktor!
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Sonntag, 3. Februar 2013

1944:One day in the busy life of Rosie the Trained Bear

Her name was Rosie, she was a trained bear and she must have led a busy life back then 1944...
Here she is playing on the beach

This was the first pic I found accidentally, and sure, I got intrigued...



Getting into the taxi looked like that
 source



Rosie rehearsing for a radio program
source

 source

It seems that at least she had not to sing herself... 
source

Rosie eating water melon

The photos were taken on 01 August 1944 by Photo by Tony Linck
(Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Unfortunately I could not find out more about Rosie and her background...

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Samstag, 2. Februar 2013

Polar Bear Treatment in Kingussie


 Arktos' root canal treatment in 2012

Wer die K-Files kennt, weiß dass Zahnarztbesuche bei Eisbären öfter vorkommen als man gemeinhin annimmt, Gesundheitsvorsorge und medizinische Check-Ups gehören zum regelmäßigen Ablauf von Einrichtungen mit Bären und sie sind umso wichtiger, da Bären nicht unbedingt zeigen, wenn ihnen etwas fehlt. Doch wie arbeitet man mit ihnen, sodass sie untersucht und behandelt werden können? Ein BBC Artikel hat sich bei Arktos und Walker in Kingussie umgeschaut, hier kommt der Artikel in Englisch, bei Ulli J findet sich die deutsche Übersetzung.

The only polar bears on public display in the UK are at the Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore. Looking after them is a massive job and they need regular medical check-ups. How do you give polar bears a health check? And why does it require speaking German?


Walker is four, tips the scales at 463kg (72st 12lb) and has been at the park since November 2010, after being introduced from a Dutch zoo.

Arktos is five-years-old, weighs 474kg (74st 12lb) and arrived in April last year from a zoo in Hannover, Germany.

Potentially, the bears could each weigh more than 800kg (125st 12lb) when they become adults.

Since arriving in the Scottish Highlands, both males have required treatment for problems with teeth that, in the wild, could have been fatal. The dental issues were picked up during regular check-ups. 

Head keeper Una Richardson is responsible for keeping track of the health of these huge animals.
In a kitchen area at the wildlife keepers' base, she is spiking hotdogs and pate with big purple pills.
The medication is for Arktos, who has the skin complaint contact dermatitis on a few scratches picked up in play fights with Walker.

It took staff a few experiments before coming up with a combination of food and pills Arktos would eat without turning his nose up at it. Another member of staff pops in to collect some chunks of meat for a family of lynx. Opening the door to a walk-in freezer, she jokes that it is a chance to warm up from the cold outside. In a sink of boiling water, a bottle of washing-up liquid is thawing out after the contents froze overnight in a gritty, green slush. Outside under the morning's clear blue sky, there is snow on the ground and the temperature is -8C. 

Arktos' medication is hidden in treats to make sure he takes it

Una puts her tray of treats in a red plastic sledge and does the rounds.When she gets to the polar bears, Walker is at the fence with his nose in the air trying to catch a whiff of what is in the sledge.

"We've noticed quite a big difference in the bears' appetite between summer and winter-time," Una says. "Through the autumn they are packing on a lot of fat for winter and can carry an extra 11.5cm (4.5ins) of fat around their abdomen. Coming into winter, their appetite cuts right down."

The bears share a large open space with a pond. In one corner is a covered area which doubles as a shelter and a safe area for the keepers to examine the pair up close. Arktos is hand-fed his medication-filled treats and he munches them up. Una next lobs in their breakfast. Arktos makes a beeline for some big salmon, but Walker spies a prized slab of fat, snatches it from under Arktos's nose and runs off.

Una says: "They have very different personalities. "We got Walker at a younger age and he's more used to us and very calm and relaxed around us. "Arktos is a little bit more wary at times and nervous of doors and things like that, but the two of them get on brilliantly. We couldn't have hoped for better."
 
After her morning break, Una returns to the enclosure with another keeper, Robbie. It is now time for the bears' check-up. Plastic bottles of smelly, yellow cod liver oil and tinned mackerel entice the bears down to the covered area.

Una starts talking to Arktos in German. The polar bears respond to words, hand gestures and "targets". "They are not tricks we are asking them to do. The training that we do with the bears is basically for a simple amount of behaviour that allow us to look at them close up and lets us know if there are any problems with them."



Walker responds to "targets" which are made from lengths of wood and blue plastic.He opens his mouth as if yawning and, when instructed to stand, he rears up to more than three metres (11ft) on his back legs.

The training to open their mouths was key to staff spotting a rotting upper left canine bothering Arktos last year and a damaged tooth that troubled Walker in 2011. Arktos required root canal work and Walker an extraction.At the time of his dental work, Walker was still small and light enough to be operated on an improvised table made from planks of wood laid on straw bales. For Arktos, however, much thicker planks and builders' scaffolding were needed to take his weight. 

More photos of Arktos' root canal treatment can be found here

Standing, sitting and lying down allows keepers to examine the bears' bodies. After completing the tasks, the bears lap up the cod liver oil.

Robbie also hefts two big blue empty plastic barrels next to the enclosure's pond. Arktos and Walker run to their new toys and handle them like a couple of competitors in the World's Strongest Man contest.

Walker rolls his barrel on to the frozen pond and without a moment's hesitation launches himself after it. His body crashes through the ice into the cold water below. "They love the winter weather," says Una. She adds: "The other day they were sliding down the snow on their stomachs."




Sources:

Related:

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