BRONX SCENE
Met Opera’s Lily Pons leaves pet at Bronx Zoo
REPRINTED FROM 2-24-2011
Lily Pons donated her pet jaguar to the Bronx Zoo when it got too dangerous to handle and
refused to believe it when told that it was actually an ocelot. My uncle accepted the animal
on behalf of the zoo and the story made the New York Times the following day.
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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, NOVEMBER 1 BTR 5-21, 2019 61
Lily Pons starred as the leading
coloratura at the Metropolitan Opera
House for about three decades.
She made her debut on January 3,
1931 as Lucia in Donizetti’s “Lucia di
Lammermoor,” a role she would perform
there 93 times over the years.
She was born near Cannes, France
on April 11, 1898 and was relatively
well-known in France before coming
to New York and being introduced at
the Met. She would remain there until
her retirement on December 14,
1960 after her performance in “Rigoletto”
singing Caro nome.
During World War II she interrupted
her Met performances to tour
military bases with the USO accompanied
by her husband. Andre Kostelanetz,
the conductor, who led
a band of U. S. soldiers. Together
they performed throughout Europe,
North Africa and the Orient during
1944 and 1945. Upon returning to
the United States, they continued to
entertain the troops at home. Pons
also starred in several movies and
recorded for several major labels including
RCA Victor and Columbia.
She died of pancreatic cancer on February
13, 1976 and was interred near
her childhood home in France.
While visiting Rio de Janeiro in
1932 a friend gave her a one month
old kitten which was described as a
baby jaguar. The kitten, called Ita,
followed Lily wherever she went and
they became very attached to each
other. As Ita grew, however, she began
to show a hostile view to strangers
and some visitors until eventually
even the maids were afraid to
enter her apartment around which
Ita freely roamed. She started to
snarl at visitors and was beginning
to become a menace. It was apparent
that the time had come for Ita to
be placed in a different environment
thus the Bronx Zoo was chosen.
Ita was brought up from her home
at 55 Central Park West in her special
traveling cage on the front seat
of the limousine while Lily Pons remained
in the back. Ita was not too
happy to be traveling anywhere and
when they arrived she managed to
get out of her cage briefl y and began
to climb about but when Lily called
her, she quietly returned to the cage
confi rming the close relationship
they had and showing that she was
not too wild. Interestingly, Lily always
spoke to Ita in French.
Ita was presented to my uncle,
John Twomey, a headkeeper at the
zoo who seemed to get along quite
well with both Lily Pons and her pet.
The New York Times took a photograph
of the three of them together
for their March 16, 1934 edition. The
odd thing was that Ita was not a jaguar
after all. When told that she was
an ocelot, Lily refused to believe it.
Still, it was a sad parting and many
tears were shed but it was the right
thing to do and everyone knew it.
I’m sure the maids at 55 Central Park
West were especially pleased that
they could now go about their business
safely.
Ita would be isolated for a month
or so to be sure that she bore no diseases
and would then be placed in a
cage with an appropriate male companion.
S
he was nineteen months old at the
time and it was important that she
get used to being with others of her
own species.
I still wonder whether Lily Pons
ever made the short trip to the Bronx
Zoo to visit her old inseparable companion
Ita and, if so, how the reunion
went.
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