Whittling Away with Dick Brooks - Animals

I know I’ve said it before, but I like animals.  I will frequently read articles about them in the magazines I come across in the medical waiting rooms.  I have several critter books in my library and frequently can be found watching The Animal Channel, The Discovery Channel or The Learning Channel, all of which have some good shows about animals.  I’ve even found some excellent programs on PBS although it’s hard to find them hidden among the British soap operas and comedies that all seem to have some character named Reginald.  They don’t have commercials on PBS, just fundraisers that last for weeks and promise that if you join at the forty dollar level, they’ll send you a CD of the Peruvian Pan Flute Orchestra playing selected Bagpipe favorites.  I prefer commercials.  They do have some great animal shows though, I found one the other night dealing with the mating habits of the artic anteater that was very interesting but something about it just didn’t seem right.  I finally figured it out, the young man narrating the show was dressed in jeans and a polo shirt.  That made me doubt the authentic nature of the knowledge he was spouting.  If he really knew what he was talking about, why wasn’t he dressed in khaki?  Maybe it’s just me, but if you’re supposed to be an animal expert, isn’t there a law or something that says you have to be dressed forehead to toe in khaki?

I think it all started years ago with Marlin Perkins on Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.  That was the first animal show I remember watching.  Marlin looked crisp and clean in his khaki outfit.  I always thought he had stolen the look from the old Stewart Granger safari movies and had just left off Stewart’s ascot.  I remember being disappointed as a child that he was never armed with one of Stewart’s elephant guns, the man had an arsenal of the biggest rifles I’d ever seen.  I never remember Marlin packing a gun, but looking back on the show, he never really needed one, he had Jim.  Marlin was an old guy that weighed probably a little over a hundred pounds soaking wet, but he was the brains of the outfit.  Jim was big and brawny but not too bright.  He dressed in khaki too. 

Marlin would introduce the show and tell about the animal of the day.  They would track the beastie to its lair, Marlin would sic Jim onto the critter and as poor Jim wrestled the python or alligator to the death, Marlin, looking clean and crisp, would cut away to a commercial for Mutual of Omaha.  Commercial over, the camera came back to a bruised and battered Jim, looking a little confused, holding the animal of the day for a close up so Marlin could tell us more about it.  

I learned a lot about animals and life from that show.  It spawned a bunch of other khaki covered experts.  My personal favorite was The Crocodile Hunter.  The host, Steve Irwin, dressed from head to toe in khaki which showed that he was an animal expert, in fact he swam in his khaki shorts and shirt, surfed, skied and probably slept in them.  It was a great show and since Steve was his own Jim, probably cost less to produce.  

I think I could probably do my own animal show, all I need is a khaki outfit.  I saw on Facebook a week or so ago  that Jim had passed away.  I’m not jumping on any animals, are you doing anything this weekend?

Thought for the week--The female of all species are most dangerous when they appear to retreat.  –Don Marquis

Until next week, may you and yours be happy and well.

Whittle12124@yahoo.com