He Trains Tarantulas

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 219, 16 September 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

He Trains Tarantulas

lOHNNY KERR reaches into his J coat pockets and withdraws therefrom saucer-sized hairy, tarantulas with the utmost nonchalance. He even has names for his pets, and insists that they know and answer to them. He trains th«im to do tricks, guiding them with a bit of wire.

This hobby has netted him a neat profit. Whenever a tarantula is needed in a Hollywood motion picture, Johnny supplies it. In "Tarzan" he had "Carinieliacl," "Sea Biscuit" and "Malicious," three of his largest spiders, working as actors for several days. "Carmichael' even ran across Johnny Wcisamuller'a foot for one sequence. Kcrr'd hobby does not only extend to tarantulas. Over a period of years he has built up a collection of unusual animals and bird-, all trained for motion picture work. If an African agouti is wanted, the studios call Johnny. When crested African cranes and a toucan were needed in "The Wizard of Oz," Ken" furnished the brill iantly-plumaged birds. The crested chickens in the garden scene in "The Great Waltz" came from his collection. So did the giant sloth used in "Tarzan.' Tho unusual business started as a hobbv. Kerr liked to study animals and insects. He began collecting small specimens and t'i ;md he had a knack of trainin" them. Meantime, Hollywood developed, and a studio rented some trained skunks fr 111 him. "This pave me an idea and I started collecting for use in studios from then on," ho relates. To-day he has the largest and most varied collection in America. He does not handle the larger carnivores, but smaller animals, birds, reptiles and inserts, leaving the raff" the lion farms in Southern Cr! : ornwi.

Among his animal 3 are bears, large and small, trained cats of all breeds, bobcats., pumas, smaller varieties of monkeys, ocelots, trained mules, ponies, trained rabbits, raccoons, rats, opossums, squirrels, weasels, skunks, assorted tropical bird, boa constrictors, assorted insects and reptiles, and even a trained crawfish. "I never know what pictures are going to call for next," he says, "so I gather up any unusual animal I can find.' In all, ho has about 2000 items on hi« catalogue.