Took to the big screen
one came in while Rajah was there, the odd hitch can appear in even the best laid plans.
About half-way through the film Ken was told that the fire brigade had arrived to do their regular safety checks.
Ken explained to the officer in charge that they couldn’t come in, because they had a lion loose in the cinema, but no matter how many times he told him, the senior fireman refused to believe him, so in the end he let him see for himself.
Never had Ken seen anyone shin up one of the cinema’s balcony poles at the speed the fireman did.
The fire-fighter may well have been a brave soul, ordinarily, but in this instance he waited a while and when Rajah moved far enough away, he sheepishly slid slowly down the pole and dashed into the nearest room – which happened to be the ladies’ powder room – and locked himself in.
With the film over, Rajah was put back on to a chain leash and with Frank Farrar keeping a firm grip on him, they all left the auditorium.
At this point, one of the staff members, who obviously hadn’t read the memo – a lady of rather ample proportions – came into the foyer, took one look at the lion, screamed, and flew up the stairs like the devil himself was after her.
Certainly from all the newspaper cuttings Ken collected of this unusual cinema visit, not even a personal visit from the film’s famous human stars would have caused so many astonished and delighted faces among the film-going public of the day.
If Rajah’s appearance at the Gaumont Theatre caused a bit of a stir, so did his journeys down to the Elstree film studios to make Safari and other movies.
Jackie Grainger, formerly of Meadow Avenue, Birkdale – long before he became the legendary head stableman for Red Rum – was one person who knew all about the fuss Rajah caused, as he drove him to and from the famous studios.
When Rajah wasn’t starring in films such as Tarzan, far right, he led a more mundane life with Helena Farrar, playing, right and above right, helping with the ironing, above, and even being a foot stool, left
Jackie had explained that this came about when the star lion had been booked to appear in a film – it has been suggested Jungle Princess in the mid-1950s – but we can’t locate a copy of this movie at this time, so it may have been another film, possibly one of the Tarzan movies.
The Farrars had asked just about everyone in the town who had transport big enough to do the job, but they had all turned it down.
He admitted it was a bit of a daunting task as he only had a little pick-up vehicle, but he was offered £20 each way, and that wasn’t a sum to be sneezed at, so he accepted.
Jackie drove down to Elstree Studios, with Rajah being “a real Christian all the way down there” but not everyone realised how good he was, as he remembered stopping for petrol and as the male attendant filling the tank casually leaned against the side of the van, he glanced through the window and there, coolly returning his gaze, was a fully-grown lion – and the guy fled across the forecourt almost begging Jackie to get the blazes out of there.
Not only did Rajah and Sampson roam the streets of Birkdale on occasion, Rajah also did his best to eclipse Leo, the golden-maned giant that still roars (twice) his way into the beginning of so many MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer) films.
It has been suggested that Rajah was one of a handful of lions that appeared as the mascot within the iconic moving logo presenting the opening title of all MGM pictures, but we have not found any concrete clarification for that, but it is possible that Rajah was the un-named MGM lion in the late 1950s – one of the Hollywood movie industry’s most recognisable film images, with some notable films under this logo included: Friendly Persuasion, Designing Women, Jailhouse Rock, Gigi, and Cat
On A Hot Tin Roof. There is a short one minute, 39 second long, Pathe film available on YouTube, with wonderful footage showing Rajah taking Helena Farrar for a walk, pulling like mad as they are filmed leaving the house, walking down the front steps, and then playing in the back garden.
The clip also jokingly suggests the cameraman had been eaten.
Despite all the claims that the Birkdale lion (either Rajah or Sampson) was quite tame the Farrahs were eventually forced to evict the beast from the household and keep it within their zoo compound when he grew too big.
Apparently, the nervous Westbourne Road residents had signed a petition for the beast to be removed, which is certainly understandable; although docile with family members it was still a wild animal, and the neighbours didn’t like the thought of a real life lion roaming around the front garden.
Southport Zoo (or rather the Southport Children’s Zoological Park or the Southport Model Zoo as it was originally) was founded in 1953 by proprietors Frank and Helena Farrar, of Westbourne Road.
However, the success of their fairly small seaside venue prompted the couple to find larger premises, which led them to move their animal collection to Colchester exactly a decade later.
One of the Farrars’ secretaries, Joan Honisett (and her husband, Fred), features on many photographs at both Southport and Colchester, especially playing with the baby elephants and tiger cub.
Next week we will feature the incredible life story of the Farrars and how they went on to leave Southport to become the founders of Colchester Zoo.