Am I the only one who thought the elephant scenes were a bit odd? Don't an elephant have a problem with so many people around and all the weird environment?
shareIf an elephan has a problem with something, you'll notice.
sharedon't be stupid.
shareAs opposed to the quiet and calm of the circus?
shareAs opposed to the quiet and calm of the circus?
Elephants are very sociable creatures and they don't really have much to be afraid of. Also you can figure that this was a Hollywood elephant who had probably been in a bunch of movies, television shows, maybe Las Vegas, and was not new to the confusion of a movie set. In addition to all that, smart as they are and as much as I love them, elephants are animals. People make the mistake that animals think like people. They don't. He was wet, well fed, and socializing with other mammals, many of whom were probably more drugged than he was at the time. I bet that elephant was having a good time even without knowing why.
shareHe was wet, well fed, and socializing with other mammals, many of whom were probably more drugged than he was at the time. I bet that elephant was having a good time even without knowing why.brilliant! share
This post was entered roughly 4 years and 3 months after its original post. So if anyone is still interested in this subject; I'm going to add my always late 2 cents.
That little elephant was a very fat baby. Probably not more than 4 months old. He or she was rambling along pretty well for a "drugged" elephant so I hazard a guess that there really was no sedative involved. I was impressed that she didn't fall off any of the catwalks and made it to the other side of the indoor wading pool without falling in.
I guess there were not many concerns about animal rights or cruelty in the late 60s but I seriously think this does constitute animal cruelty; maybe negligence would be a better word since none of this is appropriate for a baby elephant. One doesn't wash elephants with TIDE either it would be wise to note.
I'm disappointed that she wasn't credited and I wish someone who worked on the film could comment on it.
I suppose there may be something in print about it from the 60s but I've never seen it.
I intend to live forever. So far so good.
I was concerned with the detergent issue. I definitely saw someone waving a plastic bottle of bleach. That couldn't have been good for an elephant's skin.
There is no "off" position on the genius switch.
I wondered whether a lot of the party noises, shouting, music etc were dubbed on later and the elephant scenes were actually done on a 'quiet set'. That said, I guess elephants can be trained to not worry about noise - they were used in battle, after all. I assume there are 'elephant breakers' in the same way there are horse breakers who train animals to get used to noise and crowds.
'Monsters? We're British!'
I also had the same thought when I saw the elephant scenes. I wondered if it might have been under some kind of duress (what with all the people and noise), but then I saw it was a baby and figured it had been raised since birth in an environment where it was used to all of that.
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