BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: PROFESSIONS

PROFESSIONS I DID NOT CHOOSE 

LION TAMER

Isaac Van Amburgh --

The first lion tamer to make it big 
in the UK was Isaac Van Amburgh. Born in 
Fishkill, New York State, Van Amburgh 
toured Europe between 1838 and 1845 and 
achieved notoriety for his performances 
with big cats.

**

"Methods of training wild animals vary, 
although there are certain basic principles 
that all trainers observe. I now use jungle-bred 
animals almost exclusively. Having trained beasts 
born in captivity, I am cured of any further 
desire to make performers of such specimens. 
In an emergency I sometimes have to fall back on 
cage-born ‘raw material,’ but if possible I avoid
 doing so.
         I am taking up the point early in this 
chapter because one of the popular fallacies 
concerning my profession is that the trainer 
can make his job easier by using animals born 
in captivity.

Clyde Beatty, with Edward Anthony. The Big Cage.   
(New  York: The Century Company, 1933)
**

WALKING TOWELS
Flashback: Minsky occasionally would book into the
 Gaiety legit  dance acts known as ‘walking towels.’
They cooled off the heated men between the strip
acts. One of them was a tall, engaging,loose-limbed
tap  and softshoe man, Dan Dailey.

Phil Silvers. This Laugh Is On Me, with Robert 
Saffron (Englewood, N.J. Prentice Hall, 1973.
**

FILM PROJECTIONIST

Cinemactor Ronald Reagan gave from the heart
in introducing a reel of excerpts from Oscar 
winning films of yesteryear: “This film embodies 
the glories of our past, the memories of our 
present and the inspiration for our future.” 
When the film came on, it was running backwards.’

TIME (March 24, 1947)
**

PIRATE

“Contrary to the popular usage,which was
 originally promoted by European governments 
actively seeking to cast pirates unfavorably, 
they were actually, often surprisingly good dudes.
They’d attack slave ships and offer a life of 
freedom on the seas to captured Africans. They 
disrupted the very nature of colonialism. 
and people liked it. The pirates had a lot of 
fans, especially in the colonies, where they 
were viewed as exciting and liberating heroes 
of the common people. Which makes sense, especially 
when you know that these mariners were much more 
about stealing from the rich (slave owners, 
colonialists) and giving to the poor (themselves) 
than about causing senseless chaos.

Sam Maggs. Girl Squad: 20 Female Friendships
 That Changed History (Philadelphia: Quick Books,
2018)
***

SPY

Mildred Harnack was an American spy during 
World War II. Along with her husband, Arvid Harnack, 
she led a resistance organization in 
Berlin, risking her life to leak information 
from Germany’s Ministry of Economics, where he worked,
in  hopes of defeating the Nazis. Despite nearly 
escaping she  was executed by guillotine in 1943 
on Hitler’s direct order.

Kate Dwyer. “One Writer’s Obligation of Blood”
in The New York Times (August 13, 2021)
**

ATOMIC BOMB TESTER

“Shortly after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, Maj. Leslie R. Grove of the U.S. Army,who
directed the making of weapons, told congress that
succumbing to their radiation was ‘a very pleasant
way to die.”

William J. Broad. “The Truth Behind the 
News” in The New York Times (August 10, 2021)

**
GYMNAST

“The Wolf Turn has been around for decades,
but recently it’s become a favorite in balance 
beam and floor routines. A gymnast will get 
into a squat position with one stretched out.
She’ll then stretch out her arms and wind them
up.Once she finds her balance, she’ll start 
spinning. Finally, she’ll stop and return to her
original stance."

Antonella Crescimber. “Why the Wolf Turn is such a 
big deal’ on VOX (August 9, 2021)
**

JOURNALIST

NEW YORK NEWSPAPERS IN THE 1920s

The newspapers, the Journal and American, later 
combined,were dedicated to ”noise in the news”
and had an editorial view of the world from
inside a bedroom, or at the rail of a police desk
at night. These tales were printed in newspapers
that practiced bribery, extortion, calumny, also
known as slander, and two kinds of lies, bald-
faced and by omission. Anybody on the staff
who performed an act without malice was 
regarded as a dreadful amateur. There was
great confusion in the office, for sometimes
the sins being committed at typewriters 
were greater than the ones being written about. 
There was no situation so bad that a fresh
edition of the morning American or evening
Journal couldn’t make it worse. Yet the working
conditions were the best in the history of the 
business, for nobody died at an 
early age of the worse of maladies, seriousness.

Jimmy Breslin. A Life of DamonRunyon 
(NY: Ticknor & Fields, 1991)

**
THE PROFESSION I CHOSE

Stuttering & studying
Luminous poets
As if they were chums,

Better than coin-changers,
Money pushers & 
Entire universes
 
Of 9 to 5 drizzle
Soaking into souls
That so thoroughly 

Absorb the dead & dying,
To skylark 
With freewheeling melodies

Of human hearts
Keening with mysteries
That keep all of us alert

& on edge.


Louis Phillips