Mary Ann Haynie, commonly known as Mabel Stark (1888 or 1889 – April 20, 1968), was a renowned tiger trainer of the 1920s. She was referred to as one of the world's first women tiger trainers/tamers. In its belated obituary, The New York Times lauded Stark as "one of the most celebrated animal trainers in a field dominated by men."

Biography

Born Mary Ann Haynie in 1888 or 1889, she grew up in Princeton, Kentucky. She was one of seven children born to Lela and Hardy Haynie.

Stark's parents were farmers, and they died within two years of each other, so that by the age of 17, Stark and her siblings were orphaned. She spent a short period of time with her aunt Kate Pettypoole in Princeton. She then traveled to Louisville and became a nurse at St. Mary's Hospital. Soon after, she left Louisville, and her history becomes difficult to trace.

Circus friends contend that she worked in carnivals as a "dancer" of some type. (Like many circus performers, Stark did not hesitate to enrich the truth to create an interesting story. She even once told an interviewer that she was born to a wealthy Canadian.)

While on vacation in 1911, she met animal trainer Al Sands, manager of the Al G. Barnes Circus based in Culver City, California. She began working with horses and goats, and after several years started working with big cats. Stark's husband, Louis Roth, fired blank cartridges from a revolver into the face of the lion amid the screams of his wife and spectators who had gathered to watch the rehearsal. The lion seized Stark's left arm into its mouth and rolled over a number of times. (Roth had also been mauled earlier that day by a lion named Jeff. He suffered deep injuries to his arm before firing blanks into the animal's open jaws.)

Stark was dragged unconscious from the cage and rushed to a hospital where she was treated for a mangled and broken arm. This was Stark's third mauling in as many years. In 1914, while in Detroit, Michigan, she was attacked by her leopards during a parade, and during the winter of 1915, she was mangled in Venice, California.

She adopted a mangy, sickly tiger cub named Rajah and raised him to perform a famous wrestling act with her. She accomplished this by romping and playing with the cub at the beach and actually keeping him as a pet in her apartment. According to Stark's autobiography, "Rajah would run straight toward me. Up he went on his hind legs, his forefeet around my neck. We turned around once or twice, I threw him to the ground, and we rolled three or four times. I opened his mouth and put my face inside, then jumped to my feet".

In 1922, she was asked to join the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus where she performed in Madison Square Garden with tigers and a black panther. By the end of that season, of the six wild animal acts featured with the circus, Stark's was clearly the greatest success. In 1923, she starred in the Ringling center ring, but two years later in 1925, the circus banned all wild animal acts.

After a sojourn to Europe where she performed in a circus, she came back to the US in 1928 and began work with the John Robinson Show.

In 1928, Stark was attacked by two tigers after she fell in mud during her act. Due to a circus train arriving late, the tigers had not been fed for 24 hours. She suffered multiple broken bones and required 300 stitches. She collaborated with screenwriter Gertrude Orr to publish an autobiography, titled Hold That Tiger, in 1938.

Legacy

In 2001, a fictionalized biography of Stark's life by author Robert Hough titled The Final Confession of Mabel Stark was published. The story is based in 1968, the same year that Stark committed suicide. It is a fictionalized account of the events of her life. The screenplay was optioned by director Sam Mendes with the hopes of making a film starring his wife Kate Winslet; however, no production schedule has been announced. A documentary titled Mabel, Mabel, Tiger Trainer directed by Leslie Zemeckis premiered in 2017.

See also

  • Irina Bugrimova

References

  • Note: IMDb uses the incorrect date of death.
  • Mabel Stark: The Lady with the Tigers from Mental Floss
  • History of Jungleland mentioning Mabel Stark, sponsored by Jungleland skates
  • Winslet and Mendes team up for Mabel Stark movie
  • Husband and Wife unite to make film about Circus Tiger Tamer