Cinema Libre Tabs Apr. 10 For The DVD Debut Of Documentary Filmmaker Leslie Zemekis’ Mabel, Mabel Tiger Trainer

Cinema Libre announced this past week that documentary filmmaker Leslie Zemekis’ Mabel, Mabel Tiger Trainer will be available on DVD this coming Apr. 10.

Mabel Stark was the first and ultimately the most famous female “big cat” trainer (act) in the history of big top circus acts.  She was a star for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, traveled the world and Mabel Stark easily rivaled her male counterparts, including Clyde Beatty, in both her courage and skill.

Her early history in the circus is a little sketchy, much of that being the embellishments and legend-building created by Stark herself … after all, she was a “show woman” and knew how to sell the persona.   Zemekis has assembled a fascinating look at this “show woman” from another era ... one that is both riveting and terrifying.

She worked in the “steel arena,” the big cage with the big cats, with only a whip, a chair and a gun loaded with blanks to protect her!!!   She was the best, but even she lost the battle with the big cats and on several occasions was nearly killed — in 1916 during a rehearsal at the National Orange Show in San Bernardino, California a lion nearly ripped her arm off and in 1928 in Bangor, Maine she was nearly ripped to pieces by two tigers, who had — negligently — not been fed prior to her working with them (378 stitches were required to piece her back together).

She was married three, maybe four, possibly five times — there’s that great line from the film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”   Mabel Stark is a legend … according to her own writings, her one great love was her husband (third), Arthur Rooney, a circus performer like herself, who was a cross dresser and died in 1927 under “mysterious circumstances.”   Big cat trainer, circus performer, legend … Mabel Stark, it’s all here in Leslie Zemekis’ marvelous film.

Bonus features included with the DVD release of Mabel, Mabel Tiger Trainer are a trio of featurettes — “Behind the Scenes,” “Remembering Jungleland” and “Training Tigers.”