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52-523: Algernon Maltby " Curley " Stecker (July 10, 1892 – June 16, 1924) was an early Hollywood animal trainer, Universal City Zoo superintendent, animal-film producer, and occasional actor-stuntman. Along with Charles Gay , Curley Stecker was one of the two main providers of lions for silent-era Hollywood films. Stecker was also the primary trainer of Joe Martin , Universal's star orangutan, eventually producing Joe Martin comedies alongside director Harry Burns . The near-fatal attack on him in 1923 by Charlie

104-428: A petting zoo of domestic animals (goats, sheep, a pig and horses) and rapidly expanded to include a menagerie of wild animals, supposedly including "lions, tigers, bears, pumas, leopards, jaguars and other wild denizens of the tropical forests." In May 1914, two lionesses and leopard got in a half-hour-long fight when a chute was left open between cages; one of the lionnesses was severely injured. In July 1914, shaving

156-485: A ball of misery and alternately suffered from mal de mere [ sic ] and attacks of cramps. Since then, he has not molested Joe's belongings, and peace reigns in the house of Martin. Little Joe (alligator) was apparently purchased from a bankrupt circus. Diana Serra Cary was a child performer who appeared as "Baby Peggy" in dozens of short comedies produced by Century and distributed by Universal between 1921 and 1924. She mentioned Joe Martin, Charlie

208-407: A business outfit instead of his usual animal-trainer outfit, and Carl was wearing an old outfit of Curly’s. "Charlie started picking up rocks with his trunk and throwing them at the horses. I told him to stop. He paid no attention. I jumped at him with a sharp command—and he did the rest. He thought I, in my business clothes, was my brother, and my brother 50 feet away in the clothes familiar to Charlie

260-549: A chunk of flesh. A doctor visiting from New York performed a skin graft using a live chicken, connecting the chicken's blood vessels to Stecker. The chicken died after three days but Stecker survived the mauling and ensuing sepsis. During the same production there was apparently a small elephant stampede; Williams apparently felt that Curley Stecker was responsible for saving her and her male costar from being trampled. During his Selig era he appeared in Selig's 1913 animal film Terror of

312-528: A day in winter, and running water was put in all cages during the summer. The zoo supervisors and head trainers were often involved in conceiving and producing the studio's animal pictures. Most had a circus background. Paul Bourgeois both directed animal films and worked as an actor. The brothers Stecker and Charles B. Murphy worked together managing the animals on the Zane Grey film Golden Dreams . De Rosselli, Stecker and Murphy all had on-screen parts in

364-438: A habit—he had an idea. He puffed ecstatically for a moment, during which time Skipper chattered and cursed, seeing that Joe had something which he hadn't, and at last he snatched the lighted weed and started in on it. Those watching, say that Joe observed him with saturnine joy, and, by pretending to take the cigar away, bluffed Skipper into smoking all of it. What resulted was, of course, inevitable. The robber monkey curled up in

416-475: A handful of low-maintenance animals and/or kept the zoo infrastructure intact into the early 1930s. The studio stopped offering tours in the 1930s and would not revive the practice until 1964. Universal City Zoo assistant keeper Jose Alvarez was involved in what was described as a " revolver duel" in 1917; Alvarez was dying and the other man, Modesto Sylvas, was dead after an alleged attack by Sylvas on Alvarez's wife. In February 1927, one assistant trainer at

468-488: A major attraction for the thousands of invited guests. Admission to the studio tour, including the zoo, cost 25¢ in 1915. The tour included a box lunch and attracted an average of 500 visitors a day. Visiting dignitaries, such as Henry Ford or the chairman of the Canadian Censor Board , were frequently given tours and photo opportunities with the famous animals. Universal City in 1915 also reportedly had

520-451: A number of things to refute it…We saw Cary cited numerous times, but there are flaws in her account. It's important to remember that she 'witnessed' this event at a very young age. Cary then wrote her autobiography in 1996, at the age of 78, a full 73 years after the supposed incident occurred. We need to at least consider that Cary may be misremembering a moment from her youth, if not imagining an incident that never really took place…While this

572-674: A private conversation in the Universal barn that he's always had a tense relationship with Charlie the Elephant. "A week later" Cary and her father overheard Stecker and Charlie in battle, and with Cary as an eyewitness, Stecker was left "crushed and broken…the luckless trainer…lay in the bloodied dust" as a propman found "Stecker's big gun" and killed Charlie with "three blasts from the powerful weapon." A pair of reference librarians who used Joe Martin as an example of how to evaluate sources wrote, "We can find nothing to confirm Cary's story, and

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624-399: A stable with 500 horses, along with a studio blacksmith and saddlery . The 400-acre (1.6 km ) studio was wild even without the addition of African lions and leopards—" jackrabbits and mountain lions still roamed it." In 1916, someone brought a black diamond rattlesnake to the zoo; De Rosselli supposedly "performed the operation of removing the poison sack from its mouth and now it

676-469: A winding road from Universal City. She described it as "surrounded by a tall whitewashed fence with everything looking about neat as a pin…laid out with white walks, a large wire-enclosed bird house being the centerpiece of the place, [which contains] everything from canary-birds to a huge elephant." The zoo also had a "big barn-like building with concrete floors" that housed an elephant and six camels. The cages were said to be within 100 ft (30 m) of

728-517: A zoo in San Diego . According to one source the end of the silent era doomed the zoo because it was no longer possible for a trainer to stand behind the camera and verbally cue the animals through their moves. Using hand signals, that the animal needed to perceive from 30 ft (9.1 m) away was "so arduous a task that until now wild animals have not been used in talkies , save in one or two synchronized sequences." The studio may have held onto

780-489: Is a trivial exercise in chasing down materials, it does point to a larger problem. Baby Peggy's account has been cited a number of times, even though it seems not to be true. Repetition does not always equate to authority." Cary’s memoir has led to confusion about whether or not Joe Martin comedies were associated with the Stern brothers comedy operation. Thomas Reeder, author of the major Stern brothers filmography, concluded

832-499: Is debate about how Charlie was dispatched, and the preponderance of evidence points to garroting—although some sources do say the studio settled upon gunshot— no sources assert summary execution of an elephant worth thousands of dollars. As for Curley Stecker, multiple newspaper accounts relate that he was not killed immediately. He succumbed to his injuries after being hospitalized or suffering at his home in Lankershim for

884-439: Is destined to be an actor." During a zoo baby boom in 1917, an entertainment writer made a reference that pointed to the fraught social politics of the nadir of American race relations era: "There is no race suicide evidence about Universal City Zoo. The troop of youngsters there include a leopard, three lions, four huskies, seven wolves, camel, cinnamon bear , and three goats, all under four weeks of age." Circa summer 1919,

936-663: Is pulling a wagon as men clear brush from a hillside near a road in April 1914." In 1915 Stecker was part of a film crew headed by director Harry McRae that filmed on the wreck of the Aggi Nord , a ship that had run aground on the Santa Barbara Islands . Mr. McRae and the party in his boat, comprising Allan Watt, assistant director of the Bison Company; Don Meaney; and Curley Stecker, were washed out of reach of

988-495: The Los Angeles River , a location that put the zoo in danger of intermittent flooding. In 1921, Betsy, one of apparently multiple mountain lions at the zoo, gave birth to a litter of four kittens. Carl Laemmle's brothers-in-law Julius and Abe Stern had a film operation across town that produced comedy shorts. Sometimes their animals, such as the so-called Century Lions, were boarded at the zoo. In April 1921, all of

1040-667: The silent era , mainly appearing in Westerns . He appeared in more than 150 films between 1911 and 1926. He was born in Kentucky and died in East Saint Louis . He also served as head trainer of the Universal City Zoo from approximately 1915 to 1917. Rex De Rosselli was described as a "silver-haired Beau Brummell " who alternated film work in the winters and circus work in the summers. This article about

1092-712: The Century Comedy Zoo (aka L-KO ) animals were moved to the Universal Zoo. In the mid-1920s, Carl Laemmle personally managed the studio's response to animal cruelty allegations by the American Animal Defense League in the wake of the killing of Charlie the Elephant . In 1926, the zoo auctioned off a number of animals, including 10 lions, two tigers, six monkeys and some "less interesting" animals to local zoos, circuses and private owners. (The lions auctioned in 1926 may have become

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1144-538: The Elephant , an animal he'd worked with for at least 10 years, made national headlines. In Natacha Rambova 's 1926 memoir of her late ex-husband Rudolph Valentino , she wrote that one of their favorite activities was visiting with Curley Stecker at the Universal menagerie, where they would help care for the animals, and listen "for hours" to Stecker's "yarns and experiences. After a generous allowance of these tales of hairbreadth escapes, he would take us to visit our more particular animal friends." Algernon Maltby Stecker

1196-575: The Elephant, and Curley Stecker in her 1996 memoir, Whatever Happened to Baby Peggy? According to historian of silent-era comedy films Steve Massa , although her books are for the most part "a very accurate retelling of her time in Hollywood," she "goes off the rails in her retelling of the deaths of Joe Martin and Charlie." He argues that Cary's account is likely from "stories that Cary was told instead of things she experienced herself." In Cary's Whatever Happened to Baby Peggy? , she claims that she

1248-576: The Joe Martin comedies were not Stern-affiliated and suggests, "[Cary] may have misremembered Mrs. Joe Martin as Joe." Cary was often directed by Fred Fishback ; Fishback was in charge of the Mrs. Joe Martin (chimpanzee) films. Cary places Julius Stern on the scene of Stecker killing Joe Martin, but the history of the Stern brothers comedy operation states "the Sterns had no direct involvement with any of

1300-685: The Jungle as "Nig." He appeared in full-body blackface to play the part, in which his character plays into the "faithful retainer" stereotype of African-Americans when the character stays behind to protect his mistress. Curley may have been at Universal as early as 1913, as it was reported that he and Charlie hauled the first loads of lumber that built Universal City. There is a photo in the Los Angeles-centric Security Pacific National Bank Collection wherein "an elephant named 'Old Charlie'

1352-501: The [Joe Martin films].” Of course, the Stern brothers could possibly have had indirect involvement in the Joe Martin films in that Carl Laemmle was their brother-in-law and Carl Laemmle Jr. their nephew. As mentioned by the library research team, primary sources and film history books largely fail to validate Cary's narrative. According to one newspaper report in 1921, Joe Martin may very well have bitten Curly Stecker's wife Ethel, while shooting A Monkey Bellhop. According to

1404-473: The animals, and the first animal that responded to his training was an elephant." Stecker apparently worked for Barnum & Bailey Circus , Forepaugh Circus , and Ringlings . Curley Stecker appears with an unidentified elephant in a stereoscopic view taken at the Appalachian Exposition in 1910; at the time he was apparently associated with " Big Otto's Trained Wild Animals ." In 1911 he

1456-425: The article, Curly Stecker volunteered to remove Joe Martin's "tusks," rather than kill Joe Martin, which was the legally prescribed penalty. Stecker apparently would do the operation himself; a dental chair is mentioned in the article. This report or similar is likely the origin of Cary's version. However, Universal, Al G. Barnes , Frank Buck , film history books, and multiple press outlets all agree that Joe Martin

1508-400: The better part of the year. Stecker's death certificate says that he died June 17, 1924, at Hollywood Hospital of myelogenous leukemia complicated by wild animal injury. 34°08′28″N 118°20′54″W  /  34.1410°N 118.3484°W  / 34.1410; -118.3484 Rex De Rosselli Rex De Rosselli (May 1, 1878 – July 21, 1941), was an American actor of

1560-432: The camels for "sanitary reasons" yielded camel hair that was sold for $ 350. As Carol Weld put it in 1939, “Among the oak trees, desert scenes, and other natural beauties to be found on the far outskirts of Los Angeles was established a good-sized zoo." When Universal City held its grand opening at the current location (at what was then called Lankershim ) on March 15, 1915, the dedicated zoo and arena for filming were

1612-408: The circus. Technically it was a hypnotist he ran off with but nonetheless young Stecker then "drifted from one traveling show to another until he finally found his forte with the menagerie of a circus. When it was learned he could manage wild animals his fortune was made." Another report stated, "Mr. Stecker has been training animals since he was 11 years old. He was following a circus, toting water to

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1664-575: The core of the Goebel's Lion Farm collection in Thousand Oaks, California . ) The zoo closed in 1930. One article in 1939 stated, "When the talkies came…the menagerie proved too expensive to keep up…it represented an investment of $ 600,000." Sometime before May 1930, the 26 lions were sold to a circus in Macon, Georgia , Brownie the bear was sent to Kansas City, and Jiggs the orangutan went to

1716-487: The educated lioness and other four-footed screen stars. He is survived by a wife and three children." The funeral was held at Leroy Bagley Chapel at Hollywood and Western on June 19, 1924. Curly's brother Carl Stecker continued as an animal trainer, working with camels and dogs, well into the 1930s. Stecker had named his daughter Marie, born in 1920, after actress Marie Walcamp , who had starred in several Universal animal pictures. Universal City Zoo The Universal zoo

1768-414: The first meal of the day was rich fare.) The camels were each given half a bale of hay a day. The lions got 25 lb (11 kg) of meat a day, while the leopards and pumas got 12 lb (5.4 kg) each. Bears received bread and vegetables, and had 5 ft (1.5 m)-deep pits filled with running water. "Eskimo dogs" were served bread, vegetables and a meat stew. Animals were given water three times

1820-640: The genie-in-a-bottle film The Brass Bottle , directed by Maurice Tourneur . Charlie had spent the day leading a parade of camels and donkeys down a London street set—"the elephant had been painted white and loaded with gorgeous East Indian trappings for the scene and it is believed this may have angered him." Charlie wrapped his trunk around Stecker, pulled Stecker's head in his mouth and was trying to kneel on him. Stecker's older brother Carl Stecker and another man, carpenter A. H. Kuhlman, together using some combination of pitchfork, spear, club or "a piece of concrete," fended off Charlie long enough for Curley to survive

1872-416: The index of animals on the back ranch was "one tigress, 4 lionesses, 7 lions, 4 lion cubs, 6 leopards, 2 leopard cubs, 2 pumas, 2 bears, 10 wolves, 3 newborn wolf-puppies, 12 Malamute sledge dogs, 3 weaning puppies, 1 elephant, 4 camels, 1 baby camel, 4 monkeys, 1 orangutan (the world-famous Joe Martin ), 1 hoot-owl, 1 cockatoo, 2 ducks, 40 pigeons, 24 chickens, 16 domestic dogs." At the zoo's peak in 1920, it

1924-467: The initial attack. The collapse of the elaborate howdah on his back also distracted and "hampered" Charlie as it crashed down around him. Stecker suffered lacerations, contusions, "three double-fractured ribs", and a concussion. Curly told the Associated Press he thought it was a case of "mistaken identity" in which Charlie thought he was Carl (whom Charlie hated), because Curly was wearing

1976-437: The lion-tamer romance The Man Tamer (1921) starring Gladys Walton . In an animal comedy, called " Monkey Stuff ," in which Joe took the lead, he had to smoke a cigar, and he got away with it, but was green-eyed for an hour afterward. When he went into his cage that night, he begged another lighted cigar from a studio carpenter, who gave it to him, observing that Joe had " got the habit ." But Joe had something different from

2028-424: The others and drifted to a coral reef about a half mile away where they were forced to land and bail out their boat. It was two days later before they were able to beat their way back against wind and waves to the wreck. In July 1916, when Universal City Zoo director and animal trainer Rex De Rosselli , also an actor, was cast in the lead of "a series of mountain pictures directed by George Cochrane ," Curley Stecker

2080-480: The result of injuries received about a year ago when Charlie, a trained elephant owned by Universal, turned on his master and mauled him severely. As a result of this incident, Charlie was executed and Curley was persuaded to give up his hazardous work. Since that time he has been assisting his brother in the conduct of an animal ranch in Lankershim. Besides Charlie, Stecker trained Joe Martin, the famous ape, Ethel,

2132-468: The zoo, Scotty Wonderle, shot another assistant trainer, George Emerson, as part of some long-standing personal feud. The proximate issue was whose job it was to put a mat in a tiger’s cage. Emerson survived and worked as a film-industry animal trainer for another 20 years. During the Curley Stecker era, feeding time was 8 a.m. daily except Sundays. (Sunday was a fast day; on Monday mornings

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2184-580: Was 'the master.'" Stecker seems to have been able to come back to work for a time, doing at least one interview at the zoo in July 1923. Charlie was executed for the "rampage”; Stecker was apparently "stubbornly opposed" to the death sentence. Stecker died a year later from leukemia with a contributing factor of "wild animal injury." An obituary in Exhibitors Herald related "The famous handler of beasts passed away at his home in Lankershim last week as

2236-399: Was at the zoo almost continuously from then until 1923, and in 1920 was living across the road from the animals in a rental house two doors down from his brother Carl Stecker, who also worked as an animal trainer for Universal and other studios. Curley's wife, and Carl and Curley's young children, would eventually appear alongside Joe Martin or in small parts in other films. In January 1919 it

2288-500: Was born in the Copper Country of Michigan to George W. and Maria Jane Oughten Stecker. His mother died on Christmas Day when he was seven years old. In 1900, at age eight he was living with his uncle Seth W. Stecker. According to one newspaper source he was the stepson of actor and fellow animal trainer Rex de Rosselli . Still another said he was from a long line of animal trainers. In approximately 1903, Stecker ran away to join

2340-446: Was home to some 30 lions. The zoo also periodically housed somewhat less familiar animals such as armadillos and anteaters . Harry Carey found two bear cubs on his ranch that year and took them to Curly Stecker, "knowing that they would be well-cared for at Universal City." In 1921, the zoo bought eight kangaroos. Circa 1921, a newspaper reporter wrote that the zoo was on the Universal back ranch about 2 mi (3.2 km) down

2392-526: Was in the midst of filming with "Joe Martin the chimpanzee" when, somewhere backstage, Joe Martin bit Curly Stecker's wife. Despite the helpless pleadings of producer Julius Stern , Stecker knocked out Joe Martin with a crowbar , strapped him to a dental chair on set, pulled out all of his teeth with pliers and then, when he came to his senses, killed Joe Martin with a single shot to the brain. Later in Cary's telling, Curly Stecker confessed to Cary and her father in

2444-412: Was mauled by a lioness named Ethel. It may have been on this occasion that "boy wonder" producer Irving Thalberg , who sometimes demonstrated a "lack of sensitivity to other people's problems...went to the hospital and lectured Stecker on the proper way to take care of wild animals." In 1923, Stecker was attacked and nearly killed by Charlie the elephant. The attack took place during a break in shooting

2496-523: Was one of the earliest parts of the film operation that Carl Laemmle sent out to the west coast, and one of the first pieces developed within the Universal City he opened in 1915. According to one scholar, avoiding the oversight of east-coast animal welfare groups was one of the many motives for moving the film industry out west. The so-called Universal Oak Crest ranch zoo located at the old Providencia Ranch began with what would today be called

2548-540: Was put in charge of the zoo. Stecker did stunt work in His Master's Wife (1917), directed by Harry McRae, wherein a lion jumped on his back. In October 1917 Stecker married a 25-year-old vaudeville actress named Ethel L. Spurgin Schroeder, the mother of his one-year-old son Roy. When filling out draft cards that year, Stecker reported that had a past broken kneecap but it hadn't bothered him the last two years. Stecker

2600-572: Was reported that Stecker has been working on "aviation serials" recently "but after having two bad falls...he came back to the lions for a quiet life." Stecker lost part of a finger—the little finger of the left hand was off at the knuckle—in 1921 in an accident while shooting a lion scene on Terror Trail! with Eileen Sedgwick . Also in 1921 he had a credited on-screen part in the lion-tamer romance The Man Tamer (1921) starring Gladys Walton , alongside past and future Universal City Zoo superintendents Rex De Rosselli and Charles B. Murphy . In 1922 he

2652-479: Was sold to the circus, and he appears to have both toured the country and been exhibited for several years in "Monkeyville" (a local derisive description of Barnes City, California ). Multiple newspaper articles from the second half of 1923 report on the studio's deliberations about Charlie the Elephant's fate—whether or not he would be euthanized was a decision reportedly made by Carl Laemmle himself, and multiple methods of execution were considered. While there

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2704-533: Was with the Greater United Shows working as a wild animal trainer. According to a newspaper report, "In 1911, Stecker was in Jacksonville, Fla. with Col. W. N. Selig producing the first animal cinema ever made for the screen. Kathlyn Williams was being starred." While standing in as Williams' stunt double, Stecker was mauled by a tiger that bit into his shoulder, clawed his chest and tore off

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