TV Guide (January 29, 1954)

O NCE a week, an intrepid ex¬ plorer-scientist named Ivan San¬ derson upsets the routine" at CBS- TV’s Mansfield Theater on New York’s West 39th Street by unloading a few wild animals on the premises. The untamed creatures have been the glamorous and unpredictable stars of Garry Moore’s daytime program for close to two years now—aa" excep¬ tionally long run on the Crewcut’s show. Says Garry, “We have to change our features every few months or people tire of them. Not so with the animals. They are by far our most popular feature and probably will be indefinitely.” Sanderson, a collector of rare ani¬ mals, has insisted that his strange little pets, whether baby bears or man eating lizards, never be incar¬ cerated when on camera. “This,” he points out, “is a different approach from other animal shows. We want the audience to get a closer look at the animals in a more natural light and prove most are well behaved.” Bee With A Buzz There have been some memorable moments when the creatures, strictly ad-libbers, crossed up Ivan’s theory of good behavior. For example: there were the bees. To keep them close to home before airtime, Ivan and his as¬ sistant blew cigar smoke into their hive. Smoke, it seems, slows them down to a slow buzz. A stagehand, unaware of what was going on, bel¬ lowed, “Hey, you guys! You ain’t sup¬ pose to be smoking in this here the- ate-er!” One of the bees immediately dive bombed in his direction and planted a whopping sting on his ear. The rest of the colony frolicked harm¬ lessly on Garry’s face and hands. For the audience, the most frightful experience centered around old Mr. stork, a five-foot bird with a razor- sharp bill and an unnerving instinct for jabbing at eyes. Garry and Ivan came prepared in fencing equipment and work gloves in case Mr. Stork got frisky. Ivan went one step further. He had the bird’s wings clipped to pre¬ vent its flying oUt into the audience. But alas the stork, clipped flappers and all, took off just as he was intro¬ duced, and lit on the back of a wo¬ man’s seat. The audience, forewarned of the bird’s ferocity, went into hys¬ terics. The unlucky gal in the hot seat, however, sat still, covering her face with her handbag. Garry and Ivan went down into the crowd, one grabbing the bird, the other his bill—and the day was saved. Pants Leg Liunnaise Handling the animals as he does, Sanderson’s wardrobe has an alarm¬ ing casualty rate. “The consumption of my clothing is enormous,” says Ivan, with a decided British accent, “A baby lion once methodically chewed off the bottom of my pants leg and I eyed the little fellow in the monitor just as he took a last gulp.” It’s easy for Garry and Ivan to re¬ call their roughest customers. One, a baby bear, rates as the only animal too tough even to get on the air. Double-chained, he still threatened to break off into the audience. Then there was the giant anteater, a most ferocious and unhandsome creature, a trifle more fractious than usual be¬ cause she was carrying her child. Sure It Wasn’t ‘Mrs.?’ The champ of Sanderson’s trucu¬ lent terrors, however, was a galago, an African beastie with two tongues and a nasty jaw action. This Mr. Galago proved so tough he appeared on the Garry Moore show for three consecutive weeks. The first two times the critter broke his steel belt and chain and wire rings and took off for the rafters. The third time Sanderson dreamed up some restrainers he couldn’t bite away. “But the show,” said Ivan sadly, “the show was so much duller than the previous two.” 11