Remember the roaring MGM Lion ? Well, the original "Leo" has quite a story to tell.
There have been five lions playing the role of "Leo The Lion". The first lion was Slats who did the silent films from 1924 to 1928. The next lion was Jackie, the first MGM lion whose roar was heard by the audience. Though the movies were silent, Jackie's famous growl-roar-growl sequence was played over the phonograph as the logo appeared on screen. He was also the first lion to appear in Technicolor in 1932. The third lion and probably most famous was Tanner. After a brief use of an unnamed fourth lion, MGM settled on Leo, which the studio has used since 1957.
The company motto "Ars Gratia Artis" means "Art for Art's Sake."
PAYSON, AZ- "You can bring the lion to the mountain, but that doesn't make him a mountain lion".
At least not for Leo, the famed MGM lion who once spent an uncomfortable week in the mountains between Payson and Young, AZ after a celebrated mishap that's been largely lost to history.
This story begins in the 1920's when aviation was in its infancy and all eyes were agog over Charles Lindbergh's trans-Atlantic flight just a few months earlier. As fliers made frenzied attempts to set aviation records, MGM studio execs decided to cash in on the craze and cooked up a publicity stunt to fly their storied mascot non-stop from Southern California to New York.
The event drew nationwide press coverage as a Ryan B-1 Brougham, similar to Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, was outfitted with a steel-barred cage, complete with milk and water dispensers, in the passenger section. Plate glass was installed along the sides to provide Leo with a window seat and give movie fans the opportunity to view the famed African lion. Martin Jensen, a well-known pioneer aviator and barnstormer, agreed to serve as Leo's pilot on the history-making transcontinental jaunt.
At 10 a.m. on Sept. 16, 1927, a flurry of reporters with flashing cameras recorded the MGM lion's successful takeoff from Kearny Mesa, a military parade ground near San Diego. But contact with the pilot was soon lost, and the plane's plight was shrouded in mystery. Newspapers across the country carried stories. A New York Times headline shouted: "NO WORD FROM PLANE CARRYING MOVIE LION; Jensen Long Overdue at Mitchel Field - Other Planes Search Western Desert for Him."
Unknown to the rest of the world, Jensen - and Leo (Slats)- had made a forced crash landing in Arizona, shortly after flying over the town of Gisela. Apparently, Jensen was flying low and couldn't gain enough altitude to clear the Mogollon Rim. He came down in a Tonto National Forest canyon full of scrub oak about 15 miles east of Payson and about 10 miles west of Young. The canyon, then known as Hell's Canyon, was later renamed Leo Canyon. Located near the Hellsgate Wilderness, a very rugged and remote area still today.
The plane hit the treetops and rolled to a stop on its side, and Jensen escaped with only a cut on his face. "I crawled out and looked to see what had happened to Leo," Jensen said in a 1927 newspaper article. "The cage had held tight, and he wasn't scratched, although he did look disgusted, and I figured his opinion of me as a flier is pretty low."
After providing Leo with sandwiches and milk, Jensen gave him water from a nearby stream before heading to Gisela to find help. He endured the treacherous lower Tonto Creek terrain for three exhausting days, encountering coyotes and rattlesnakes along the way. For a while, he followed some cows hoping they would lead him to help. But then he realized they were range cattle without a home and continued his journey along the creek.
Late on the afternoon of Sept. 19, Jensen reached the H-Bar ranch near Gisela, and the cowboys there cleaned his wounds and fed him as they listened to his incredible story. They gave him a ride to Roosevelt so he could telephone his bosses in California. The first thing they asked was, "How's the lion?" and said to spare no expense to rescue Leo. Jensen traveled to Payson where initial plans were made for Leo's rescue.
According to a Sept. 21, Associated Press report from Kohl's Ranch, a posse, including a lion trainer from Los Angeles, was formed to help with the rescue. Six days after the crash, Jensen led the search party on horseback starting from a ranch near the Mogollon Rim. About four hours passed before the rescuers discovered the wreckage. There, they found Leo - alive but hungry and thirsty. The news report stated: "It was decided to bring the lion on a sled to the Boy Haught ranch, 7 miles from the crash site, and from there to ship it by truck to Los Angeles." The cowboys chained the still-caged Leo to a handmade sled (an old shed door) and hitched it to a team of mules and guided the lion out of the canyon.
Leo journeyed by truck to Payson with a member of the rescue team for a stay at Grady Harrison's garage and freight depot on Main Street. Townsfolk, especially the kids, scurried to see the star attraction before he was chauffeured to Hollywood.
Jensen continued flying and won several awards recognizing his contributions to aviation. He died in 1992 at age 91.
Leo recovered and eventually retired from show business, leaving fame behind for another lion that would take his place.
Leo recovered and eventually retired from show business, leaving fame behind for another lion that would take his place.
While touring the globe for MGM studios, Leo earned a reputation of being a cat with nine lives: he survived two train wrecks, a flood in Mississippi, an earthquake in California, a fire and a plane crash.
Leo died at the age of twenty-three in 1938, an old age for a lion, leaving many descendants.
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