JACKIE THE LION ENDED LIFE IN THOUSAND OAKS

DISCOVERING OUR VALLEY     2011

Eventually there will be a member of The Museum Community or a college student who will write the history of Bird Wonderland in Encino (at the time Van Nuys).  It's the kind of thing that I would like to do, had I the time. In the meanwhile, there are always parts of history's puzzle worth exploring, and sometimes though I am limited in time, I have to investigate..

There are many photographs of Jackie the Lion among the images donated recently to The Museum by Joan Putney. At first, I assumed the famous MGM lion in the collection belonged to the owner of Bird Wonderland Coulson Glick, but it now seems more likely that Jackie was the property of a lion tamer and performer named Mel Koontz. The lion may have been boarded at Bird Wonderland or was there just for the time when Mel Kooze worked there. 

Jackie the Lion - Jungleland Thousand Oaks, California:  vintage postcard - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2011.  (click on image to enlarge)

Jackie was neither the first, nor the last of the MGM lions. He was lion number 2, who ruled the film world from 1929 to the mid 1950s.  He died in Thousand Oaks in 1952.

SATAN THE TIGER AND OTHER ANIMAL MOVIE STARS

DISCOVERING OUR VALLEY    2011

In the next few months, this blog of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley will be featuring rare and often fascinating materials from the newly acquired Putney Collection, featuring images chiefly from the once world-famous Bird Wonderland of Van Nuys.

Coulson Glick with Cougar - c. 1940 - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Joan Putney 2011.  (click on image to enlarge)

Coulson and Lucile Glick once owned one of the most important animal and bird suppliers for the motion picture industry. Operating from their headquarters at Bird Wonderland (15640 Ventura Boulevard in Van Nuys -later Sherman Oaks) the Glicks took Coulson’s hobby of raising birds and training animals into a profitable enterprise with some of the most famous animal “actors” in movie history. 

 Coulson Glick and his lion chariot - c. 1940 - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Joan Putney 2011.  (click on image to enlarge)

 Movie star cougar - Bird Wonderland c. 1940 - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Joan Putney 2011.  (click on image to enlarge)

 Satan the Movie Tiger - Coulson Glick with yard stick - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Joan Putney 2011.  (click on image to enlarge)

The Bird Wonderland company functioned until the mid ‘50s.

Standards of importing animals into the United States and their use in films has changed much since the 1940s.