Quote:
Originally Posted by Tourmaline
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I've wondered about Olga's story ever since I posted a different picture of her wheeling a leopard down Broadway in the second part of my round-up of Citizens Trust and Savings Banks a few months ago (see
post #20784). Now that we have another picture, I thought I'd find a little more information.
The lady's name was Olga Celeste. She was born in Sweden on April 9, 1888, and despite her profession, lived until August 31, 1969. The following biography is from
www.findagrave.com.
"Olga Celeste was famous in vaudeville and in the circus for her leopard acts. She performed daily with the Luna Park Zoo in Los Angeles from 1925 to 1931. She was the leopard trainer in the films "Bringing Up Baby" (1938) and "Tarzan and the Leopard Woman" (1946). She was known as Madame Olga Celeste and Princess Olga Celeste."
I also found a recently uploaded video on YouTube called
Large cat trainer Olga Celeste celebrates a birthday with leopards in Los Angeles. The stills below are from that video. The first shows a close-up of Olga, and the second shows the party.
Both images: CriticalPast/YouTube