"Yours with a Roar," Manuel King

Brownsville says goodbye to another homegrown legend.  His father W.A. "Snake" King  concluded corresponding letters with his signature "Rattling Yours ... Snake King" and Manuel made it a custom to sign autographs in similar fashion with "Yours with a roar!! ...  Manuel King."  

1964 cover of book written by William Abraham King, Jr.  It tells about how his father W.A. "Snake" King built a wild animal farm near Palm Blvd (Palm Village Shopping Center today) and called it Snakeville.  He became world famous and his son went on to become the World's Youngest Wild Animal Trainer.  The book has plenty of anecdotes to keep the reader entertained but (no spoilers) by the end you'll have a special place in your heart for Snakeville.

This Snake Catching Contest held at the Fort Brown during the Mid-Winter Fair is a freeze-frame from a 1914 film by Adolph Dittman.  Dittman built the first movie theater in Brownsville and occasionally filmed for Pathe' news clips.  His "Battle of Matamoros" film clips in June 1914 went national.

If you want to see what the Texas Archive of the Moving Image did with a 35mm nitrate film (which is highly combustible) click on THIS.

No need to tell whole Snake King's story with this post but here's a blank to to check again for future posts.   Raising lions at the animal farm produced about ten cubs as once.  One time Manuel's father caught him playing with the cubs after having been warned not to and Manuel thought he was in for it!

Manuel had made friends with the cubs and gave them names.  His closest was Yo-Yo and he named the other cubs Mickey, Dynamite, Prince, Bubbles, Tiger, Spitfire, Ruth, Leo and Nero.  With them he emulated his lion trainer hero Clyde Beatty, the most daring wild animal trainer of all time who stunned audiences with fight scenes between a Bengal tiger and African lion in The Big Cage (1933).  If you don't believe me, just Google that and enjoy the fights. 

Manuel's father met John C. "Chubby" Guilfoyle who was a first-class trainer even after he lost his arm in the 1920's during a lion/tiger mix-up which went really bad.  W.A. King hired him to train Manuel to train lions.  Guilfoyle thought the Snake King was insane to ask a man who lost an arm in the cage but he was talked into making a visit to Snakeville.  This photo was taken in 1933 the first day Chubby and Manuel met.

John Guilfoyle next to cat cage while traveling with the Christy Circus c1925 (from John C. Guilfoyle Collection)

 Manuel had names for all these lions.  If you can find the book, grab it and read.  John's wife was also a trainer and she lent her outfit to Manuel which he also wore for a Universal Newsreel clip.

Click HERE if you want to watch it.

 May 1934 handbill from the John C. Guilfoyle Collection courtesy of Leah Malasko.  W.A. "Snake" King had it all set-up.  He alerted the press, got a bite, and soon enough Manuel was ready to take his show on the road.

Here are two trucks used to haul the lions and crew to carnivals, circuses and preferably big county fairs.

One thing Manuel liked to remind me was that they never use the ter Lion "tamer" -- It's Trainer - not tamer.  The belief that these lions raised from cubs can be "tame" is to not understand the unpredictability of these magnificent cats.  

The rolling barrel trick was no trick at all.  This was one of the most difficult feats to do smoothly but Manuel was well trained and while the lions gnarl and roar and paw at Manuel it's all an "act" but the potential danger can come if the routine is not followed, such as a sudden noise or movement.

A very rare photo of W.A. and Manuel King together circa 1934-35 courtesy of Leah Malasko.

 W.A. Snake King at a zoo wrapped in a python (from the John C. Guilfoyle Collection)

 The Million Dollar Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey (1935) was where Manuel spent a summer or two and it looks like he must have had a swell ol' time.

 Bronsbil Estacion version of the poster in the above photo

He saw his name in lights 

1935-36 taken by Fred Parker-photographer Louisville Times At Fontaine Ferry Park-KY (John C. Guilfoyle Collection)

 The lion training arena at Snakeville.

Manuel told me that Clyde Beatty did not like the idea of teaming with a boy and his lions but there were no worries -- Manuel brought his own lions to act with.  The film is shot in 15 episodic "cliffhangers" which were major theater draws for folks wanting to catch the next installment.  

May 1936 ad announcing Manuel's big screen debut.  Only two years before had he made his debut on a theater stage (see handbill above).

 from the Brownsville Herald's Memories of Home (colorized by Bronsbil Estacion)

Manuel continued in the business a few years, joined the army, returned home and continued working with animals the rest of his life.  Thanks to Mr. King for sharing his collection of photos and memories and Leah Malasko and family for their sharing of photos from the John C. Guilfoyle Collection.  It was truly an honor to have met with Manuel and William Abraham King back 10 years ago while researching Snakeville for a historic exhibit.

Brownsville likes to honor it's builders, it's wealthy entrepreneurs and vast land owners and that really is the thing to do but very few places have been homes to legends such as W.A. "Snake" King and the "World's Youngest Wild Animal Trainer" or "WYWAT," as his older brother Bill called him.

~ Javier R. Garcia

1951 "new" Snakeville opening announcment

1965-66 Goliath the Mighty

For those of you who know the story of the WYWAT you'll recall that once he came of age to join the army he enlisted and served his term then returned to the new Snakeville and when that closed in the early '50s he continued working with wild animals in the United States and Mexico.  He wasn't in the same business as his father per se but he knew the animal-business of carnivals and circuses and amusement attractions and Hollywood show biz.  All that.  If you went to one of those circuses from Mexico that performed on the American side it could have been him that acted as liaison between Mexican circus companies and American cities where they wanted to set up their tents.

I wish I could recall the whole story of how and why Manuel King purchased this gargantuan simian but when he told the story it was like hearing a boy realize a dream of owning a magnificent beast unlike any "pets" most Americans could cling to.  But this pet was not to be toyed with.  The best method of calming him down when he was hauled away from San Antonio [?] to Brownsville, Texas was to throw an old rubber tire in his cage so he could toss it around and release some of that aggression.  

Manuel was an animal trainer all his life.  He could deal with this beast.  He fed it plenty of bananas and his ape was on display to the public on a few occasions.  Who wouldn't wanted to have seen this back in 1965??

Hopefully we can get the whole story on Goliath with more photos to show later, ok?

W.A. "Snake" King and Python

From the Leah Malasko Collection ~ a scrapbook of photos saved by John "Chubby Guilfoyle and his wife Harriet, both wild animal trainers since the early 1920s who met the W.A. King in 1933.  Manuel King was trained by Chubby to become the World's Youngest Wild Animal Trainer and traveled across the eastern half of the United States performing for audiences during the warm seasons and eventually landing a summer stint on an Atlantic City.  This photo is a extremely rare publicity photo of W.A. King taken during the mid-1930's at a  city zoo while touring with his son Manuel.  

Snake King / Manuel King designs.

I realize this looks more like it says "Lion King" but oh well....

WYWAT - The World's Youngest Wild Animal Trainer

1934 Manuel King in Michigan with one-armed trainer John "Chubby" Guifoyle who always stood close to the gate in case he was needed.