The wire/press service photo and article below give us a glimpse into the animals, and their fearless trainers, used in “Merlin.” It’s a quick piece, but a good one.
On a side note, the panther trainer featured here, Rick Glassey, worked with Doug once again on Broadway in 1984’s “Doug Henning and his World of Magic.”
THE DOUG HENNING PROJECT 
In the fall of 1984 I remember visiting with Rick Glassey outside the Orpheum theater in San Francisco between Doug’s performances. The cats rode in a large box truck with a partition to keep them separated. Kirby, the tiger was a giant, mellow cat, while Kaboe was quite a handful. Rick kept the back door of the truck rolled down except for about 6 inches for air circulation. He had a small can into which he would cut up meat chunks to feed them. Rick was leaning against the back of the truck chatting with my friend and I, when I noticed a black paw stealthily emerge from under the door and curl carefully around the can and began sliding it into the truck. I pointed this out to Rick who reached under the door and we heard a loud commotion as he fought Kaboe for the can. After a few seconds Rick’s hand emerged with the can where he set it down and continued our conversation as if nothing had happened. I’ll never forget that day!
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