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Do what you
want to do
(Continued)
strange place and bring back animals
without hurting them. Of course,
every zoo man secretly dreams of do
ing this. When I talked about it one
day with Vierheller, he shuddered at
the cost. But he said if I could raise
the money, he would contribute my
time that is, keep me on the payroll.
That was half of the battle, but for
the other half I wasn't so sure. How
ever, I went to the Zoological Society,
and told them about the wonderful
reptiles that could be collected, in
Central America. They appropriated
$1,200 for my trip.
Down there, I learned something
else about the pursuit of hobbies. In
Guatemala, we found ourselves in
Quirigua, the oldest of the Mayan
cities, among magnificent monoliths
and temples and jaguar stones.
Through all the debris and trees and
matted jungle vegetation, you could
get an idea of the massive civilization
the Mayans once had. There I stood
with mycameras, overwhelmed, but
realizing that I had no idea how to
understand this spectacle before me.
When I got back to St. Louis, some
of my friends who knew about Indians
told me about the Mayans. But they
told me, too, that St. Louis is called
the Mound City because it is sur
rounded by Indian mounds. The larg
est earth mound in the world, 10
acres, is just across the Mississippi.
This made me think all over again.
How stupid it is to dream of going to
some wonderful ancient city. I had
been to one and I was helpless there.
But here in my "back yard," I could
have a whale of a time exploring.
I began to collect Indian arrow
heads. This may sound silly, but I
found it great sport and it later
broadened my whole attitude.
You have to look for arrowheads
where Indians camped, usually near
water. In the Spring or the Fall, when
the earth is bare of crops, you walk
across a freshly plowed field, pref
erably after a rain. Fresh plowing
always turns up new things, and you
look slowly for chips. They might be
arrowheads or flint stones. I began to
work with serious archaeologists
around St. Louis. We were able to
reconstruct a great deal about Indian
ways from finding these little objects.
This became my new hobby, my golf
game. I got as much exercise out of it,
and souvenirs other than scorecards.
But then it became more important
than a hobby. It awakened an interest
in me that had long been buried, an
interest in primitive man and how he
was able to manage his survival. I
began to see more clearly how this
interest related to my lifelong interest
in animals. Our whole civilization is
built on animal culture. We couldn't
live our lives today without animals
for food and many other necessities.
My latest ambition is to tell the
story of primitive man on film
for television. The project is al
ready in motion, a series called
"World Safari," that will take us to
many out-of-the-way places and to
others right here in America, always
in contact with primitive man.
Even this wonderful opportunity
arose because of a spare-time venture.
Back in the days when television was
scrimping along on experimental
budgets, Beulah Zachary of WBKB in
Chicago asked me if I could help put
some animals on television. There
were only 300 TV sets in Chicago
then, and the station didn't even have
scheduled programs. I'd load up my
car with animals from the zoo rattle
snakes, toads, frogs, turtles, crows,
anything I could put in small transfer
boxes. Then I'd show them on TV.
This led, of course, to "Zoo Parade,"
the program that later became quite
popular on the NBC network. After
eight years of television experience,
we had learned a great deal about
how to interest audiences in animals
and nature. So "World Safari" became
a natural outgrowth, and I look for
ward to it as a new frontier in both
education and entertainment.
My friends tell me I'm a mild fel
low, but as I look back over these
notes, I'm afraid I can't claim to be
shy. I'm thankful that I'm not, and I
would urge others, especially young
people, to be daring in their self
examination, in their ambitions, in
their willingness to give of themselves,
and in adding to their experience.
It is not important to be young. It is
only important to be determined. A
friend of mine at the Chicago Natural
History Museum, Melvin Traylor, is
an outstanding authority on birds. He
had owned several businesses, even a
barge line for a while. But he was
never really happy in any of these
ventures. He finally figured out that
life is too short to spend on things he
didn't care about, and now in his work
at the museum he is a happy man.
I had a cousin named Cy Perkins,
somewhat older than I, from a branch
of the family in Colorado. He was
quite successful selling insurance but
didn't really care about it. What he
really wanted to do was to study rep
tiles. (It's only a coincidence that his
interest was the same as mine, be
cause I never knew him well, and
neither of us influenced the other.)
So one day he went to work for the
San Diego Zoo where, before he died,
he became the curator of reptiles. He
spent his last years happily.
I am truly sorry for those people
who have always dreamed about doing
something else, but surrendered be
fore they ever tried. My decision to
spend my life enjoying wild animals
was unconventional, maybe even out
landish and impractical. But I have
made it come true, and I wouldn't
trade places with anybody.
Family Weekly, October 19, 195S
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