Volney phifer biography of barack

By Joanne M. Austin

Almost anyone who has watched an MGM movie or television show has heard the roar of Leo the Lion just before the camera fades into the main event. You’d think that such a Hollywood icon would rate a burial in La La Land, but in Leo’s case, that’s not so.

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And thus begins the lion’s tale…

Volney Phifer was one of the first animal trainers in movie history, according to Steve McAuliff, another animal trainer who was interviewed by the Star-Ledger back in September 1991. Phifer could train lions to roar on cue, and as early as 1917 — before talkies — he trained Leo to look his fiercest for Goldwyn Studios, and then MGM.

He reportedly was trained not to use a full-out roar and another lion was used in the first MGM sound movie in 1924.

As the chief, quiet, feline representativeof the movie company, Leo traveled with Phifer on promotional tours around the country, and at some point, Phifer met a musician named Eloise Page, whom he married.

Eloise’s sister, Alma Sunset Over Hollywood: MGM's First Star: The True Story - Blogger, carousel LEX