Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom

I remember sitting around the TV with my family and watching this. It was educational and entertaining family entertainment that simply doesn't exist anymore. Merlin of course did the in studio while Jim was in the field wrestling whatever animal was the subject. Truly miss it. Jim being on Johnny Carson was great as well.

FOLLOWING HIS EXPOSURE to national prominence after hosting ZOO PARADE (NBC, 1950-57) Marlin Perkins proved to be the ideal host for this project. Scholarly in appearance and obviously highly knowledgeable, it was as if we had a Professor of Zoology before us.

THE BIG DIFFERENCE between ZOO PARADE and this MUTUAL OF OMAHA'S WILD KINGDOM were many. In spite of their both being nature programs about mainly exotic, wild forms of fauna, the approach was very different in both cases.

WHERERAS THE CONSTRUCTION of the ZOO PARADE show was live and on location, the location was,in this case, Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. Weekly installments would zero in on one particular family of animals or upon a certain wild region (i.e., the Serenghati). The Sunday half hour would be devoted to whatever the subject was, with live remote televising of the subject animals directly from their housing pens. Local NBC Newsman, Jim Hurlbut assisted.

THE THEME AND subject matter of WILD KINGDOM mandated that the format be far different. On sight filming was done in Africa, Asia and places like Borneo, New Guinea and the outback of Australia. The Arctic and Antarctic weren't off limits, either. Filming featured the animals in the particular, often being threatened by some natural or man-made potential disaster. Marlin and Jim Fowler were always on hand to help out and to do the voice-overs.

AT ONE POINT, Mr. Perkins remained home, leaving the field work to Fowler and Stan Brock. Marlin did, however did participate as in studio host. He would also provide segue-ways for the commercials; doing monologues something like: "The Grizzly Bear always prepares for the worst of Winters! You'll be prepared for whatever emergency with insurance from Mutual of Omaha!"

I would like to second Huck's comments.

"Wild Kingdom" was my first show and the beginning of my career. I was one of those guys in the the offices on Chicago's Miracle Mile. I was a young lad, hired as an apprentice sound editor by the late, great Jim Bourgeois, my mentor and Master. Jim's company, Sync Marc, which included editors Richard Albrecht and Denny Hough was subcontracted by Don Meier to do sound editing.

"Wild Kingdom" was very well done, and in a way spoiled me because I thought all shows would be that good, both technically and creatively. It set my standard. Production was, in deed, a well oiled machine and post followed suit.

I fondly remember my frequent trips to Zenith for mag transfers of SFX, BGs, and MX. We are in the digital age with many advances, but "Wild Kingdom" taught me about the power of FILM, physical FILM, in my hand.

The toss I always liked was, "Just like the Giant Antellope, you too need protection. Mutual of Omaha..." well....I think he said that....Or did I just cut a new one from trims?

Here's to a great show and a personal milestone.

I have fond memories of the original series, not just because it was so well done but because I worked for Don Meier Productions, in Chicago, c. 1977-78. It was a great place to work for a first job out of college. (At the wages they paid, though, I was pretty much forced to move on.)

The show had been in production for 15 years at that point, and was a well-oiled machine. The ever-dapper Don Meier had cinematographers scattered around the globe shooting raw footage. The footage was sent to the offices on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, where very experienced editors would piece together each show. Then, the writer (Allan Eckert?) would create a script that conformed to the visuals -- just the reverse of how fictional stories are shot and produced (although this may still be the method used with wildlife and other documentaries).

One of my jobs was to edit in the commercial segues, usually spoken by Marlin Perkins ... "Just as the mother lion protects her cubs, you can protect your family with Mutual of Omaha ..."

It was a treat to watch these pros at work, and to learn from them. Animal Planet and all the animal-related shows on the Discovery Channel owe much to these pioneers. Though it would be great to see the old shows (and Marlin, Jim, Stan) on TV again, I believe the advances in animal photography and documentary production make that, sadly, unlikely.

Good old Marlin Perkins; always seemed like he was safe and sound in the studio while Jim was up to his ass in alligators. " While Jim wrestles with that giant anaconda, let's talk insurance". Always entertaining, it was the only thing on on an otherwise boring Sunday night except for wonderful world of Disney. If the signal went bad, someone would have to take a pipe wrench outside to turn our 30 foot antenna until the signal came back. Always fun in a thunderstorm.