October 28 1998

Will the dead rise up to
haunt the humans who
exploited them in life’?

ANNETTE MARTIN
WICKED-WITCH-OF-THE-DUST

VV

hen animals die they deserve
peaceful resting places just as

  
  
   
  
 
   
 
 
  
  
  
 
  
  
   
 

peace?

 

rigger. When this equine star of screen
pnd public appearances died, his hide was

Hisplay. He remains posed, reared on his

his sound like a relaxing reward for so
any years of faithful service?

hen they finally croak? Take this tour
hrough the pet cemetery to find out, but
emember to carry a flashlight and keep
hecking over your shoulder.

e chien Rin Tin Tin
Remember the famous American movie
ero Rin Tin Tin, canine
tar of such well-known
pics as Jaws of Steel and The
an from Hell’s River? After
Heath, such a much-loved
booch should surely have

   

much as their human friends, but
do we let our more famous animals rest in

 

Consider the case of Roy Rogers’ horse

Btretched over a plastic likeness and put on

ind legs, in a museum display case. Does

So what does happen to famous animals

 

her Pre |

Ae See eed A)

been accorded full burial honours. Well he
was—in Paris, France. Turns out that the
original Rin Tin Tin was a French-born
citizen found as a shell-shocked pup in the
trenches during the First World War. When
he died at the age of 16 he was buried
back in his native France.

There is a bright note though; some of
the dogs who played Rin Tin Tin on televi-
sion in the 1950s were the original star’s
American-born descendants and they are
all buried in Los Angeles. Good job Le
Rin Tin Tin wasn't on the SPCA “Spay

and Neuter” program.

The littlest Rascal

Petey, the American bulldog with the
distinctive black eye patch (courtesy of a
movie dye job) was the pup who
accompanied
Our Gang on
their Little
Rascals
adventures.

Petey has not
one, but two,
gravesites
because nobody
j can agree on
which deceased
canine is the
real Pete. There were multiple incarnations
of Lassie and Rin Tin Tin, so why not
Petey? Multiple versions of Pete would
explain why, in some movies, the dog's
famous black patch moved from one eye to
the other.

There is a rumour that upholds this the-
ory. It is said that Petey was poisoned by
someone who had a grudge against his
trainer. Undaunted, the trainer apparently
substituted one of the original Pete’s
descendants in the next movie.

Wherever the original Pete is buried, we
hope his doggy soul remains at rest and
doesn't demand revenge on poisoners, or
make-up artists carrying black marker pens.

Tail walking not included
Flipper, the dolphin star of movies and

Continued

 

 

television, is buried beneath a dolphin
statue in the courtyard of The Dolphin
Research Centre in Grassy Key, Florida.

So what? Well, Flipper was actually
Flippette. Flipper was the stage name of a
female dolphin
named Mitzi,
and now that the
talented mammal
is no longer
around, the truth
is out. A small plaque at the graveside
reads, “Dedicated to the memory of Mitzi,
The original Flipper, 1958-1972.”

But will Mitzi’s ghost rest easy? This
lady dolphin had another little behind-the-
scenes-secret—she never did master the tail
walking stunt. That trick was performed by
her stand-in, a male dolphin named Mr.
Gipper (who has no special grave or mark-
er plaque). Will guilt and envy propel these

oceanic mammals from their eternal sleep?

I am lion, hear me roar

Leo the MGM lion was taught to roar on
cue by his trainer, and his image has been
seen on the MGM movie logos since the
1920s. Eventually, Leo and his trainer left
the bright lights
of California and
retired to a farm
in Gillette, New
Jersey.

When the
famous lion died
there, his trainer
buried him in the
front yard and
marked the grave ff
with a small block [a
of granite. But more significantly, he plant-
ed a pine tree directly over Leo's body,
because he insisted that its roots would,
“hold down the lion’s spirit.”

The granite block and 60-year old tree
still marked the site last year when the cur-
rent owners were trying to sell the proper-
ty. But by August 1997, the old house had
been abandoned and Leo's gravestone had
gone! The big pine tree is still guarding the

Page 10...

 

 

 

  

 

 

Ss

Volume 23 ¢ Issue 8

 

Visiting the gravesites of famous animals

lion's spirit, but for how much longer? Will
Leo's spirit roar into life to reclaim his
granite marker?

Ashes to ashes, peanuts to
peanut butter

Back in the 1880s, eminent circus owner
P-T.Barnum had a very popular elephant
named Jumbo, who was the star attraction
of the travelling show.

Tragically, Jumbo was run over by a
freight train and died in 1886. But his
exhibition days were not over. His hide was
scraped, stuffed and put on display at Tufts
University, Massachusetts, where he became
the school’s official mascot. The school
teams are still called The Tufts Jumbos.

 

Fate was not yet finished with Jumbo,
however, and in 1975 a mysterious fire
destroyed the now highly combustible ele-
phant. But Jumbo wasn't to be destroyed
that easily. Phyllis Byrne, a Tufts adminis-
trator, waded into the smoking debris and
scraped the elephant's ashes into a peanut
butter jar. Jambo’s concentrated remains
were then locked in a safe in the
University’s athletic department.

Tufts athletes who claim that rubbing
the peanut butter jar before their games
brings them good luck had better hope that
Jumbo continues to enjoy the aroma of
peanut butter for a very long time. The
spirit of an angry 1,500-pound pachyderm
could wreck more than the odd football

score.

Wired rodent

In life, Herman was an obscure mouse, but
the manner of his death bestowed fame
and mascot status on this hapless animal.

He lived behind the fibreboard walls of