Blasts from the past – Yale Summers and Judy, and Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion
Category: Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion, the movie
Tons of new YouTube videos on Daktari — wait until you see!
YouTube has had scant few videos related to Daktari but the release of all four seasons on DVD has certainly changed things. I did a random search yesterday and came up with a ton of stuff!
First, this gem:
The Legend of Ivan Tors
This is an hour-long documentary — I didn’t even know it existed. Eagerly looking forward to this:
Here’s a trailer to Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion:
And here’s an adorable tribute to Jack and Paula:
(I think I may have posted this before, but it’s worth posting again.)
This is just a sampling. There are several lists on YouTube with much to see:
YouTube lists
Popular Daktari and Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion Videos (13 videos — this one includes a trailer for “The Man from Clover Grove”)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx6B576QP0M&list=PLqQikS2euhQVJ4fakFJdxaobu_g9NuaGX
Popular Videos – Daktari (200 videos)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ururKgVlNk&list=PLqQikS2euhQXstOIRV83LAlQ3QgRh3xxk
Ken discovered a playlist that features (to date) 11 of the 33 episodes of Angel in which Marshall Thompson starred in 1960-61:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI9sSfI_pXNO_XYouTqZu45sjswvaLmJ
Angel was about a young scatterbrained Frenchwoman, Angelique “Angel” Smith, played by Annie Fargé, who comes to the US and marries a young architect, John Smith, portrayed by Thompson.
Daktari on location: Marshall Thompson in the “real” Africa
by Ken Lynch
Much has been written about Daktari being filmed at Africa USA, a simulated jungle compound in California’s desert-like Soledad Canyon. These sequences were usually edited with stock African footage.
However, during the production break between the First and Second Seasons, Marshall Thompson and a film crew visited the ‘real’ Africa and filmed background scenes of him with animals, in the bush and with natives in their villages.
These sequences were edited into at least eight episodes to give the series an authentic look that added to its appeal.
Early Visits to Africa
Marshall Thompson’s fascination with Africa became a reality in 1957 when he was chosen for a role in the film East of Kilimanjaro which demanded four months of shooting on-location in Kenya and Tanganyika.
“I guess I would have done the part just for the chance to go to Africa,” Thompson recalled. “I’ll never forget the thrill of my arrival in Nairobi and the realization that I actually was there in the flesh.”
There is a strong possibility that unused animal and African village footage from East of Kilimanjaro was used in Daktari and, most certainly, in the film that spawned the series – Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion.
Right: The very same scene as featured in Clarence
In particular, the opening scene of Kilimanjarois almost identical to the opening of Clarence. Most significantly, the scene where Thompson’s character has a close encounter with a rhino was inserted directly into Clarence.
Thompson returned to Africa for another four months to what was then the Belgian Congo and brought his wife Barbara along.
By early 1966, Thompson was quoted as saying that he had been on “four trips to Africa in the past dozen years.”
Filming African Footage for Daktari
To date, the reference most quoted about Marshall Thompson’s African visit to film for Daktari is sourced to the show’s producer Leonard B Kaufman. Specifically, the liner notes for Shelly Manne’s “Daktari” CD quote Kaufman on filming Daktari in “beautiful but primitive Mozambique”, particularly returning with Thompson “from 10 hours of location filming” and relaxing to “the haunting and earthy sounds of distant native drumming.”
However, a recently discovered 1966 newspaper article has provided much more detail of this event.
Daktari was regarded as a solid hit after its mid-season debut and screening in January-May 1966. The announcement of its Second Season contained the promise of something new as a result of the first safari to Africa ever undertaken for a television series.
Kaufman and associate producer Ralph Helfer joined Thompson to travel to Mozambique for scenes to be filmed with the Zulu tribes of South Africa. They actually became the first TV unit to make films in the Gorongoza National Park and, later, they also worked in the private game reserve of Mala Mala.
Among scenes that would ultimately be highlights of the Second Season were bull elephants charging at 30 miles an hour and the Zulus of Matavela lining up to greet Thompson.
Daktari creator Ivan Tors had heard that a pride of lions had moved into a housing project near the Gorongoza National Park and so the camera crew went there to photograph them. Several abandoned houses were occupied by lions who had taken over the clean shady buildings. It was like a lion city, and the film crew’s presence did not seem to excite them or make them aggressive. The footage from this filming expedition ultimately became a major sequence in the “House of Lions” episode.
Another event in the African shooting schedule was a two-mile chase after a 19-foot giraffe which ended in its capture. It too ultimately became a major Daktari storyline, this time in the “Little Miss Nightingale” episode
A total of five weeks was spent on this safari for Daktari footage. Thompson then returned to California with 50,000 feet of exposed color film to shoot the bulk of the Second Season at Africa USA.
Although the exact date of the five-week African shoot has never previously been documented, a recently discovered picture of Thompson in Johannesburg dated March 1966 actually pinpoints the period he made this visit.
Use of African Footage in Episodes
2.5 (23) “Cheetah at Large” (First aired 11 Oct 1966) On-location African footage of Marshall Thompson is featured for the first time.
Right: A close-up taken back at Africa USA cleverly edited into the same sequence
2.8 (26) “The Trial” (First aired 1 Nov 1966) The first on-location shots of Thompson filmed with natives in an African village are seamlessly edited into footage at Africa USA.
Right: A picture taken at Africa USA during “The Trial” with the replicated village wall in the background
2.11 (29) “Shoot to Kill” (First aired 29 Nov 1966) Features on-location African footage of Thompson in the bush plus him getting out of a truck at a real African village.
Right: A shot taken of Thompson arriving at an African village
2.13 (31) “Clarence the Killer” (First aired 20 Dec 1966) Several scenes filmed on-location in Africa are used (even one of a figure dressed as Hedley searching the African bush).
Right: A shot of a figure dressed as Hedley filmed on-location on the savannah
2.17 (35) “House of Lions” (First aired 17 Jan 1967) Features extensive scenes of Thompson filmed in Africa wandering outside abandoned two-storey houses built for mining surveyors. For the only time in the series, the credits acknowledge the filming location.
Right: A close-up at the truck filmed at Africa USA cleverly edited into the same sequence
Right: An internal shot filmed at Africa USA cleverly edited to show him entering the house
2.22 (40) “A Bullet for Hedley” (First aired 21 Feb 1967) As in Episode 2.13, authentic footage of a game warden (supposedly Hedley) walking on the African savannah is shown.
3.1 (48) Judy and the Astro-Chimp (First aired 5 Sept 1967) As in Episode 2.11, footage of Marshall Thompson on-location in Africa is used again.
2.15 (33) Little Miss Nightingale (First aired 3 Jan 1967) Includes on-location scenes of Thompson capturing a giraffe. [Although listed in most episode guides as a Second Season episode, Warner Archive has confirmed that this episode actually belongs to the Third Season]
Click to Tweet & Share: Daktari on location: Marshall Thompson in the “real” Africa http://wp.me/p3hKG3-l1
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How it all began: Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion
Ken Lynch, one of our readers, contributed this write-up of the movie that started it all.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Daktari was a spin-off from Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion, a movie in which Marshall Thompson starred and collaborated on the script with Alan Caillou.
The Movie
Before Daktari was broadcast on American television for the first time in 1966, it had already been a 1965 MGM feature film with the title Clarence the Cross Eyed Lion.
Here are two trailers from the movie:
from Warner Brothers
from TCM
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/80305/Clarence-The-Cross-Eyed-Lion-Original-Trailer-.html#
Discovery of Clarence
Ivan Tors first discovered Clarence at Africa USA, an affection training compound located in Soledad Canyon about 40 miles north of Los Angeles. Born cross-eyed, Clarence’s strange physical condition inspired Ivan Tors to create the feature film.
Because of his unusual condition, Clarence was almost given away as a cub. But Tors, who had a successful track record with animal pictures – Flipper (1963) and Rhino! (1964) – took an interest in the lion and decided he had star potential. “I’ve never seen a cross-eyed lion,” said Tors. “And neither has the rest of the world.”
The trainers even made Clarence a lion-sized pair of glasses which make a cameo appearance in the movie (they proved to be totally ineffective and were eventually discarded). Eventually, Clarence’s vision did improve.
Clarence stand-in
Another not so friendly lion named Leo doubled for Clarence in some scenes. He was used only for the snarling scenes and general scenes which didn’t involve close proximity with humans. Leo had come to Africa USA from a family in Utah. His ferocity was due in part to the mistreatment he received from former owners who reportedly beat him with a stick.
Cast members
Director Andrew Marton sets up the family-friendly history for the series: the veterinary surgeon Dr. Marsh Tracy (Marshall Thompson) leading the animal research station Wameru Study Center in East Africa with his daughter Paula (Cheryl Miller), whose favourite animal is a python (Mary Lou). The film also starred Betsy Drake as a Dian Fossey-inspired love interest. Clarence is soon adopted by Paula and later saves the day when Drake and her research gorillas are threatened by poachers.
Richard Haydn (from Sound of Music) plays a bumbling tutor. (co-screenwriter) plays the local District Officer – again a character that was replicated as Hedley in the series.
Clarence the Cross Eyed Lion was an excellent family-oriented animal adventure film with plenty of human interaction and comedy.
Marshall Thompson is really convincing as the head of the animal study compound who, as a widow, must take care of his teenage daughter Paula who is a bit of tom-boy but is growing up into a woman (she tapes her stockings to her thighs with masking tape to hold them up).
Betsy Drake (the former Mrs. Cary Grant) is Julie Harper who is the romantic interest for Dr. Tracy. Richard Haydn is excellent as the comic relief Rupert Rowbotham.
Add some wrestling with wild cheetahs, a few dangerous gorilla poachers, the antics of Doris the chimpanzee (Judy) and, of course, Clarence and what you have is one of the most consistently entertaining of the African animal adventure films.
The movie was a mixture of safaris, animals and adventure with some humour. A particular technique used during the film was showing the world from the view of the cross eyed lion. Authentic film footage of gorillas, shot in their natural habitat, adds to the realism.
Success leads to Daktari
The original movie was such a large public success that it led actor Marshall Thompson together with experienced producer Ivan Tors to continue the format in television as Daktari.
Here is a slide show of pictures from the movie. You can order Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion from Amazon.
And here are pictures from Ken’s collection
Click to Tweet & Share: Daktari – how it all began: Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion http://wp.me/p3hKG3-ao
Are you a fan of Daktari?
Send an email to daktaritvshow@gmail.com
to subscribe, and never miss a post!
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Listen to Susan’s music Read Susan’s other blogs: Louisa May Alcott is My Passion and Be As One: Living Life in a Single Flow
Daktari TV Show 