Eugen Weidmann
Circus animal trainer who displayed big cats, bears and monkeys with elegance and gentleness
EUGEN WEIDMANN, who has died aged 88, was one of the finest animal circus trainers of the post-war years and specialised in showing wild beasts and big cats.
Handsome, elegant and always impeccably dressed, he displayed with gentleness and studied grace, and had a great affinity with his charges. “When animals are properly trained,” he explained, “they come into the ring gladly and enjoy their work. If one understands animals, one knows when they are happy.”
Eugen Weidmann was born on Christmas Day 1929 in Winterthur, Switzerland. As a child he wanted to become a mechanic, but after an unsuccessful search for an apprenticeship, he sought employment with the Swiss National Circus Knie, where he found work as a tent rigger, ring boy and cage boy.
He then joined the Italian Circo Jarz, training small groups of lions, and worked in Britain in 1953-4 with Chipperfield’s Circus, showing their group of lionesses, before moving to the East German Circus Aeros, where he created an exotic group of 16 varied animals, including antelopes, zebras, camels, Watusi, llamas and guanacos. In 1955 he joined Emil Wacker’s Circus Apollo with a new group of lions but soon returned to Circus Knie as the show’s resident trainer.
Despite being attacked by three leopards, Weidmann expanded the act to include four lions, four leopards, three tigers, three Himalayan and two polar bears, the most difficult mixture of wild beasts seen in any circus for many years.
In 1958 he took this group to the Blackpool Tower Circus, after which he added two black panthers and two Patagonian pumas. That same year he made his London debut with Circus Knie, displaying 15 big cats of five different species. He went on to develop his signature trick of draping a black panther, “Bangkok”, around his neck at the end of his act.
By now Weidmann was acknowledged as one of the great trainers of his generation, and from 1959 to 1961 he worked in Germany’s Circus Friederike Hagenbeck with an enlarged group of 20 animals. During this period, he married Edith Schickler, a German dressage rider, ballerina on horseback and liberty horse trainer, and took his group back to Circus Knie in Switzerland for 1962. His final season with Knie was again at the Blackpool Tower Circus for 1963, after which he formed his own unique act with orang-utans, chimpanzees, cheetahs and Dalmatian dogs.
In 1964 Weidmann and his wife worked with this group at Circus Sarrasani in Germany, later adding eight Siberian, Bengal and Sumatran tigers, which he presented at Sarrasani until 1968. But tragedy later hit his cage act when two tigers attacked and killed one of the polar bears.
From 1971 to 1974 he worked with just five tigers and one polar bear, ending his circus career at Italy’s Circo Cesare Togni in the winter of 1974-5.
Weidmann then managed a safari park in Oria, southern Italy, while continuing to train lions, tigers and elephants for other shows.
He is survived by his wife.