Putting Head In Lion's Mouth

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 36, 17 February 1939, Page 14

Putting Head In Lion's Mouth

QiLYDE BEATTY, woarlkc& famous animat trainer, who appears in Action Pictures’ "The Lost Jungle," says that there is mo such trick as putting your head in a lion’s or tiger’s mouth. He admits that it might be a good trick if it could be dosie, but he insists that HK has never been performed. Now, wait a minute, don’t get excited and say that it has been done because you’ve seen in with your own eyes. When a trainer puts his head in a tHion’s mouth, he very nearly puts it in. In fact, Beatty. himself has thrilled audiences by seeming to thrust his head inside a big ca’s jaws, But the trick is not to put your head in the lion’s mouth, but to make it appear as though the head was resting in the lion’s jaws. A simple device, that of putting your face in the tion’s mouth, creates the illusion and renders the stunt perfectly safe. The trainer catches the. upper and lower jaws of the animal. His right hand rests’ securely. on the upper jaw, and he holds the lower jaw with his. feft hand; and when he feels the slightest pressure, as though the animal had any | ideas of its own about closing his Jaws, the trainer quickly can withdraw his face.