When I was a kid in the ‘60’s, there was a show on Television called “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” with host Marlin Perkins.
Marlin Perkins was the original nature show host. He came long before Steve Irwin or Jeff Corwin were even conceived. Wild Kingdom became the template for all nature shows that followed, and is a legend in its own right.
My sisters and I would watch Wild Kingdom each week, sitting before the TV in awe of Nature’s beauty and wonder. However, as we got a little older, some glaring peculiarities became obvious.
Marlin seemed to always be far from the action while Jim, his assistant, was always in the jaws of death. The narration would go something like this:
“While I hover in a helicopter at 10,000 feet, my assistant Jim wrestles with the Pride of Lions below”.
Then there would be a commercial break that was always started off with a plug for the show’s sponsor by Marlin himself…
“The Bengal Tiger uses his razor sharp claws and teeth to rip open the soft flesh of its prey… Mutual of Omaha makes sure you are covered, should you be involved in an auto accident.”
Wait, does he mean if you hit a Tiger? Maybe if the Tiger rips open the soft flesh of your Pontiac?
Ok, I’m exaggerating, but that’s what the show became for us. Now we just sat there waiting for the plugs so we could roll around the floor in belly-aching laughter as we tried to outdo each others monologues. My sisters and I had a habit of doing this to just about everything we saw. Pint sized cynics that left no subject untouched.
Why am I writing this? I was thinking of my ex dog Dino, a Rhodesian Ridgeback which were bred to hunt Lions, and my ex Neighbors who had seven Lions in their back yard (I kid you not) and this just popped into my head. Guess I’ll save that for another post.
