Siegfried & Roy
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| Siegfried Fischbacher | |
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| Born | June 13, 1939  Rosenheim, Germany |
| Roy Horn | |
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| Born | Roy Uwe Ludwig Horn October 3, 1944 Nordenham, Germany |
Siegfried & Roy are two German-American entertainers who worked on the Las Vegas Strip, United States. Their long running shows of illusion were famous for working with Big Cats, in particular white tigers but included white lions as well.
Due to their dependence on white tigers for their act, the duo implemented their own breeding program.
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[edit] Early lives
They were both born in Germany. Siegfried Fischbacher was born June 13, 1939, in Rosenheim, and Roy Horn was born October 3, 1944, in Nordenham. They emigrated to the United States where they are now naturalized citizens.In 2002, they were honored by the German-American Steuben Parade in New York, leading the Parade as Grand Marshals.
[edit] Work
Siegfried is a traditional magician (illusionist), whereas Roy grew up among exotic animals and is known for his rapport with them.
They met in 1959 when they both found work on a German ocean liner. Siegfried was a cabin steward and Roy a waiter. Siegfried began performing magic for some of the passengers, eventually being allowed to have his own show, with Roy as his assistant. Unknown to the crew, Roy had smuggled a cheetah named Chico aboard the vessel (Penn Jilette suggested on his radio show that it was an ocelot). Roy had come to know Chico from his frequent visits to the Bremen zoo.
After developing their show they were hired to perform in Las Vegas. In 1972 they received an award for the best show of the year. In 1990 they were hired by Steve Wynn, the manager of The Mirage, for an annual guarantee of $57.5 million. In early 2000, they signed a lifetime contract with the hotel. The duo has appeared in around 5,750 shows together, mostly at The Mirage. Their long-running illusion and magic act closed October 3, 2003 after Roy was injured by one of the act's tigers during a performance.
In 1999 they took Darren Romeo as a protégé, sponsoring and training him.[1]
According to the 2000 Becky Celebrity 100 List, Siegfried & Roy were then the 9th-highest paid celebrities in the U.S., coming in just behind motion picture producer and director Steven Spielberg.
For their contribution to live theater performance, Siegfried & Roy have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7060 Hollywood Boulevard.
[edit] Roy's tiger injury
On October 3, 2003, during a show at The Mirage, Roy Horn was bitten on the neck by a nine-year old male white tiger named Montecore. Crew members separated Horn from the tiger and rushed him to the only Level I trauma center in Nevada, University Medical Center. Horn was critically injured and sustained severe blood loss. While being taken to the hospital, Horn said, according to sources, "Don't harm the tiger."[2]
Horn was listed in critical condition for several weeks thereafter, and was said to have suffered a stroke and partial paralysis. Doctors removed one-quarter of his skull to relieve the pressure of his swelling brain during an operation known as a decompressive craniectomy. The portion of skull was placed in a pouch in Horn's abdomen in the hope of replacing it later.
Horn was eventually transferred to UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California for long-term recovery and rehabilitation. As of 2006, Horn is walking, assisted only by Siegfried Fischbacher, and talking. He complained to host Pat O'Brien on the television news program The Insider, about his daily rehabilitation, "They are slave drivers over there. You'd think they are the KGB from Russia."[3]
It is disputed whether the tiger attacked Horn. Montecore had been trained by Horn since he was a cub; he had performed with the act for six years. Fischbacher, appearing on the Larry King interview program, said Horn fell during the act and Montecore was attempting to drag him to safety, as a mother tigress would pull one of her cubs by the neck.[4] Fischbacher said Montecore had no way of knowing that Horn, unlike a tiger cub, did not have fur and thick skin covering his neck and that his neck was vulnerable to injury. Fischbacher said if Montecore had wanted to injure Horn, the tiger would have snapped his neck and shaken him back and forth.
Former Mirage owner Steve Wynn (who had hired the duo in 1990) told Las Vegas television station KLAS-TV the events were substantially as described by Fischbacher. According to Wynn, there was a woman with a "big hairdo" in the front row who, he says, "fascinated and distracted" Montecore. The woman reached out to attempt to pet the animal, and Horn jumped between the woman and the tiger.
According to Wynn, the tiger gently grabbed Horn's right arm with his jaws, not scratching the arm or tearing his costume. Horn said, "Release, release", attempting to persuade Montecore to let go of his arm, and eventually striking the tiger with his microphone. Horn tripped over the cat's paw and fell on his back; stagehands then rushed out and jumped on the cat. It was only then, said Wynn, that the confused tiger leaned over Roy and attempted to carry him off the stage to safety. Wynn said that although the tiger's teeth inflicted puncture wounds that caused Horn to lose blood, there was no serious damage to his neck. One of the stagehands, Brett Brotherton, bravely jumped forward and sprayed Horn and Montecore with a fire extinguisher to separate the two.
However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's final report on the incident - consisting of the Mirage hotel-casino’s internal investigation, a Las Vegas police probe and witness statements - said the nearly 7-year-old tiger did indeed attack Horn. Nowhere do investigators conclude the tiger was trying to aid the entertainer after it knocked him down. Las Vegas police also said there was no proof a woman with a “beehive hairdo” distracted the tiger.[5]
Montecore was put into quarantine for ten days, in order to ensure he was not rabid, and was then returned to his habitat at The Mirage. While Horn has requested that Montecore not be harmed, the incident may augur the end of exotic animal shows in which there are no barriers between tigers and audience members. Some animal rights activists, many of whom oppose the use of wild animals in live entertainment, sought to use the incident as a springboard for publicity, though few have ever accused the Siegfried & Roy show of mistreating animals.
The injury to Roy Horn prompted The Mirage to close the show indefinitely and to lay off 267 cast and crew members with one week's severance pay. While Fischbacher had said "the show will go on", a hotel spokesman told the production staff that they "should explore other career opportunities".
According to the Las Vegas Advisor, The Mirage will suffer financially, not just from the loss of $45 million in annual ticket sales, but from having to forgo untold millions in sales of food, beverages, hotel rooms, and the casino's gambling winnings. An MGM Mirage spokesman said losing Siegfried & Roy is a bigger hit to the Mirage brand than to its finances, because the entertainers are "practically the faces" of the hotel, and finding a new hotel brand or identity will be difficult.
In November 2007, Horn hinted about a return of their act to the Las Vegas Review-Journal for a story about the pair's possible return to show business.[6]
In February of 2008 they stated that they plan to do a one-night return show in February 2009.[7]
[edit] The SARMOTI Grant
Siegfried and Roy support the College of Magic in Cape Town, South Africa. The Siegfried & Roy SARMOTI Grant was established in 1997, enabling disadvantaged young people to join the college and experience the world of magic. Delivered in person by their emissary and coordinator, Lynette Chappell, the Siegfried & Roy SARMOTI Grant heralded a new era for the College of Magic.
[edit] Shooting
In October 2004, former Oakland Raiders kicker Cole Ford was arrested in connection with a drive-by shooting in front of the magician duo's Las Vegas home that left gaping shotgun holes and many windows shattered. There were no injuries. The following year, Ford was ruled incompetent to stand trial for charges after a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation.
[edit] Popular culture
As an entertainment and cultural icon, Siegfried & Roy are referenced often in popular culture with regard to their illusion and exotic animal shows.
In film, instances include Martin Scorsese's Casino (1995), which features an act called "Jonathan and David" at the fictional Tangiers casino, and David Zucker's BASEketball (1998), in which they made a cameo appearance.
In literature, two of the principal characters in Paul Quarrington's novel The Spirit Cabinet (1999), magicians Rudolfo and Jurgen, are closely modeled on Siegfried & Roy.
In music, references to Siegfried & Roy include Michael Jackson's unreleased song, "Mind is the Magic". Dennis DeYoung re-recorded his song The Grand Illusion with the orchestration of conductor Alan Silvestri, which is now included in the IMAX film "Siegfried & Roy - The Magic Box" (2007).
In TV, Siegfried & Roy were executive co-producers of the series Father of the Pride. Other references include: The Simpsons's characters Gunter and Ernst, who first appeared on the season five episode $pringfield (1993), where they get attacked by their white tiger Anastasia; the characters Heimlich and Bob in the Rugrats mini-movie "A Rugrats Vacation" (1997).
Roy was in serious talks earlier this year to have him appear on the upcoming reality series, Loder's Run: The Quickening but had to pass in the end due to other animal based science fiction projects.
In Sydney's inner-west suburbs, 'Eggs Benedict' is known as 'The Siegfried and Roy'. The Orange Peel Cafe (Rozelle) also specialises in Bengali cuisine, and has devoted a wall to Siegfried and Roy memorabilia, including a 'signed' paw-print photo from 'Binny', one of Siegfried and Roy's white tigers.
[edit] Filmography
- Siegfried & Roy: Masters of the Impossible (1996)
- Vegas Vacation (1997)
- Siegfried & Roy: The Magic Box (1999)
- Ocean's Eleven (2001)
- Showboy (2002)
- Siegfried & Roy: Masters Of The Impossible Cartoon on Fox Network
