Pat Carroll, Bert Convy, Anita Gillette, Richard Dawson
Ted and Pat Derby have with them on stage a variety of animals, including a cougar, a pair of chimpanzees, a bear, and an owl. Pat’s secret: “There’s one more animal in my purse (a wallaby)”
The Derbys have about 200 animals on their 300 acres reserve called Orphans of the Wild in Buellton, a California town north of Santa Barbara. They train animals for television (credits include Lassie, Gentle Ben and Flipper) but point out that they don’t teach tricks, only how to behave in front of a camera. Their operation would not last for long. The couple would divorce in 1973. Pat would remarry in 1976 and with her new husband would create the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) in 1984. That enormous California sanctuary, home to neglected or abused performing animals and other exotic creatures, continues to operate today. The marsupial in Pat’s purse is cutely named Marcus Wallaby, MD.
Tiny Broadwick from San Diego: “I was the first woman to parachute from a plane”
The 79-year-old Broadwick was a teenage aerialist in the
earliest days of aviation. She performed
in fairs and carnivals with a traveling troupe, making her first jump in 1912
and jumping more than a thousand times before retiring in 1922. Among her accomplishments was demonstrating
the practicality of parachutes to the US Army in those early days. She’s even credited with inventing the
ripcord.
Special guest George Kirby is an artist as well as a comedian and impressionist. As his portraits of celebrities are displayed, he answers the panelists’ questions with an impression of those celebrities.
Kirby is at the peak of an odd career at this point, starring in his own awkwardly titled 30-minute TV series Half the George Kirby Comedy Hour (1972-73). The program was an early showcase for a young Steve Martin. It failed to catch on in a competitive syndicated marketplace and Kirby’s career went into a steep decline. When money become tight, he turned to selling drugs. Arrested in 1977, he would spend three and a half years behind bars. He would achieve a modest comeback in later life, making guest appearances in films and television throughout the eighties. In 1967, Kirby participated in a delightful segment of the original series ( E673 ) where he pretends to be Pearl Bailey in front of a blindfolded panel.
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