“LION TAMER” SHOWMAN

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1934, Page 5

“LION TAMER” SHOWMAN

COLONEL ROSCOE TURNER i PICTURESQUE AMERICAN FLIER. UNIQUE FIGURE IN AIR RACE. MR. H. C. WALKER TELLS OF HIM. The true worth, under all his brazen “publicity stunting,” of Colonel Roscos Turner, America’s leading air “ace” and participant in the' Melbourne centenary air race, was testified to by Mr. H. C, Walker, co-pilot with Squadron-Leader M. C. McGregor in the Manawatu Aera Club’s air race entry, in an interview with, a Daily News reporter yesterday; morning. Roscoe Turner was a typical American proficient in all the tricks of showmanship, said Mr. Walker, but 'under it all this unique aviator was “one of the whitest fellows on this earth.” A commanding and well built mart standing 6ft 3in, affecting a tiny waxed and pointed moustache and alive withs energy, the colonel attracted attention because of his very picturesqueness. Hd wore a neat and impressive officer’s uni-' form and styled himself “Colonel Roscorf Turner, the Lion-Tamer.” To add to the nickname he carried a cane sleeved, with a lion’s tail, the bushy end of whichf* formed a tassel at the handle end. Un- ( fortunately, however, for the effect oil, people not perhaps so easily impression-., able the effect was spoiled by the fact); that Roscoe was not a colonel at all and the handsome uniform and peaked, capi with splendid badges were all a “blind. The badges were not of the United States army or air force, but were worked in a simple intertwined monogram, “R.T. • “We asked Roscoe— -everybody called him Roscoe— why he indulged in all this showmanship,” said Mr. Walker,, “because in spite of his appearance and bearing of the usual confident American type he seemed so decent underneath.” “Wai, boys, I’ve just got to -do it,” was the American airman’s reply. “If I was just plain Roscoe Turner no one would take any notice of me—l would be only an ordinary aviator, but when I wear this uniform and carry this cane I am Colonel Roscoe Turner, the LionTamer.” “And was he ever a lion-tamer?” queried the reporter. “As to that I’m not quite sure,” was Mr. Walker’s reply, “but knowing Roscoe Turner I would say he was game fo< anything.” ARMOUR OF SHCWMANSZHP. Beneath all the showmanship that he had to adopt to make his living, a kind of armour he had to wear—day anjd night, Roscoe Turner was one of “the whitest men on earth,” said Mr. Walker* People were at first disinclined to accept him, except at his face value, but his cheeriness, unbounding energy and keen perception combined to make him universally popular. It was rather an extravagant expression to say that one man loved another, but it was no exaggeration for him to say, having seen ths phenomenon, that the hard-bitten Aia Force men at Mildenhall, after two days of Roscoe Turner, “simply loved that) American.” There were many tales he could tell of Roscoe Turner, concluded Mr. Walker, but he would confine hhnself to one, typical of the man who held the American trans-continental record at an average speed of 275 miles an hour. Laverton. aerodrome at Melbourne was an Australian Air Force. base and the American flier was taken into the officers’ mess. “Nice li’l club house you’ve got here/’ was his approving comment. His American swagger led some of the officers to attempt his decline and fall. They brought along an exceptionally large sports cup with a capacity of a gallon, filled it up with beer and placed it before the American. “Will you have or® on us, colonel?” they said. Roscoe Turner picked up the cup and drank its contents steadily down. Replacing it carefully on the -table' he merely replied, “Now, how about giving me a drink?” ••

After that the lion-tamer was just as popular there as he was everywhere else.