Charlie (elephant)

[2] A 1904 rampage in San Francisco, California had apparently involved smashing five cars, drama at the ferry dock, and a "grand finale" in the water.

"[13] According to a movie magazine, he was eventually condemned to death with the acquiescence of the Humane Society because, "On the average of about once a month, he breaks his chains and fares forth upon Los Angeles, just rarin’ to go...Movie sets, front porches, lamp posts, motor cars, trolley cars, and occasionally a dog, a horse or even a human" had been knocked about or crushed by Charlie.

[14] Charlie and another Universal Zoo animal, an orangutan called Joe Martin, were both trained by and accompanied on film shoots by Curley Stecker.

Orangutan and elephant appeared together in multiple comedies, features and adventure serials, including Man and Beast,[15] The Revenge of Tarzan,[16] and A Monkey Hero.

As Charlie tried to kneel on Stecker to crush him, a stagehand struck the enraged elephant with a pitchfork, and the trainer was rescued.

"[19] Another account stated that "as the sets were being shifted between scenes, the elephant without warning attacked his trainer, knocked him down his long trunk, reared down on his hind legs and brought his front feet down on Stecker’s body, dug at him with his tusks, and trampled him into the dust.

[3] Whether or not he would be euthanized was a decision reportedly made by Carl Laemmle himself—he apparently wired from Europe "Hate execution idea but if necessary go ahead"[3]—and multiple methods of killing the animal were considered.

"[31] Stecker died the following year from leukemia, with "wild animal injury" that occurred at Universal City listed as a complicating factor on his death certificate.

[32] Charlie's execution triggered one of the first animal welfare campaigns focused on the American film industry; Laemmle personally managed the studio's response.

Charlie, c. 1920
Henry Ford meets Charlie the Elephant at Universal City in 1916
Los Angeles Times , 1922