Animals: Fish, Flesh & Fowl

Twittering, chirping, trumpeting, yipping, squawking, grunting, bristling, gibbering, jittering, wagging, scampering, squeaking, howling, yowling, meowing— last week a National Pet show filled Manhattan’s ever sightful and soundful Madi-son Square Garden. There were 5,000 animals of all sizes, shapes, means of locomotion. There was a sombre Mongolian dromedary, an Indian baby elephant, ocelot (beast), a toucan (bird), a guppie (fish). Professor George Yoeger of Brooklyn took Trixie, his dancing, boxing dog. From New Jersey went Buster, 18-month-old chimpanzee who drinks Coca-Cola, hugs his mistress. Mme. Frieda Hempel. famed prima donna, wandered among the exhibits, her maid following with Master Toby, the Hempel pomeranian who has crossed the Atlantic twelve times, who once flew from London to Paris to visit his veterinarian. Louis Ruhe, famed Manhattan animal importer, sent many a truckload of his wares including bears, warthogs, porcupines. When the Ruhe trucksters unloaded one slatted crate its inmate, a zebra, kicked, crashed its head against the slats, stared wildly, piteously about. The ever-watchful American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at once ordered the animal’s release. One booth contained the famed Tail Waggers Club (TIME, Nov. n), which offered a dog ensemble, complete from military brushes to overcoat, to the most popular dog in the show, to be decided by public vote. Lord Baltimore, a pekingese. won the outfit. Agents were professionally addressed as pigeon-men, cat-men, fish-men. The pigeon-men traipsed through long rows of cages, following taciturn judges who pointed metal wands at the chosen birds—tumblers, carriers, homers. Ella, a parrot, cried: “When in Childs do as the children do.” Pavlova, stork, danced a jig. Socrates, cinnamon bear, ponderously spelled out proverbs with colored blocks: BE GOOD AND YOU’LL BE LONESOME. EARLY TO BED. EARLY TO RISE AND YOU’LL NEVER MEET ANY PROMINENT PEOPLE. Florenz Ziegfeld bought a white wolf, not for his daughter Patricia but to give to the Boston Zoo. A nameless, snarling Montana coyote, exhibited by its owner, Fred Smidlap of Lakewood, N. J., was said to be “an unusually interesting pet.” In a corner of his own slept a skunk. Because New York State law prohibits the exhibition of cats for more than two successive days, last event of the spectacle was a cat show. From far and near came black, red, cream, chinchilla, silver, smoke and brown toms and tabbies. Judges pulled fur, pried open eyes, thumped sides, tabulated their conclusions. Best cat in the show: Lavender Choice of Runnymede. blue male. Best of opposite sex: Pansy 0-So-Bonne, blue-eyed white. Best novice: Saxby Silver Miss Floss. Best novice of opposite sex: Ming Quong Gam Sing Quah, Siamese male. Best two kittens: North-ledge Desperado, Azurine Allure of Silver-land.