Roy Horn (partner of Siegfried) attacked by tiger on stage

[Greedybogle]

Vultures projectile vomit with pinpoint accuracy. Found that out the hard way...

[Pyromancer]

[quote]Originally posted by Rex Boyd:
<strong>All I am saying is that we make choices about what routines to do in our shows and then of course accept the risks involved as well.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

Yup... Occupational hazard. Far more workers die every day under far more miserable circumstances, without having a real choice to get involved or not.

I actually love the explanation of the dude himself. Somewhere he must love his tigers...

[RINGON]

I'm reading your responces to the first string. No one has said " Hey, I've seen that show and MAN what a SHOW!" Well People, I've seen the show and those two guys are tops. If they could make a tiger disapier " San Francisco" I never would have bet my morgage payment on 17 and stood. Thank's Guy for also being a part of the Ringon Inspiration. . Penn and Teller - consistance. Sig and Roy and Tiger's - Pretty Dame consistant! Ya have one bad show and......True wonder most of the time! Wish them both well.

[em]

Yeah i don't wish harm on them and wish them well too but that doesn't make using wild animals ok i am afraid, whether the act is good or not. i was brought up on a traditional circus for a while when i was a kid and it had lions, tigers seals etc. And if you have ever experienced miserable, depressed or downright captively insane wildlife up close,or even from afar it breaks your heart.

[le pire]

267 dancers, stagehands, ushers etc. are out of work, effective immediately.

Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Cast members angry about abrupt send-off, single week of severance pay


By MIKE WEATHERFORD
REVIEW-JOURNAL

"They'll take care of us, don't worry," Emma Rendon said she told a
fellow dancer in "Siegfried & Roy at The Mirage" on the day after Roy
Horn's injury.

But now, she and other cast members are angry about an abrupt
Saturday send-off from the show that included one week of severance
pay. MGM Mirage officials did not announce until Monday that the show
had no chance of reopening.

"Honestly, we thought we were a little better than that and
appreciated a little more than that by (show producer) Feld
Entertainment. Siegfried and Roy (themselves) would give the shirts
off their backs for us."

Before and even during a Saturday night meeting for cast and extended
crew members, Rendon said she was more worried about Roy Horn than
about her own future.

But after that larger meeting, show producer Kenneth Feld separated
the cast members on his payroll from those stagehands and ushers who
work for MGM Mirage. That's when Feld told them that, for the dancers
at least, the show was over and they could clean out their dressing
rooms that night.

"To end like this? And on this night? Nobody was prepared," she
said. "It left a dirty taste in my mouth."

Phil Misiura, the show's general manager for Feld Entertainment, said
the producer wasn't required to offer any severance pay at all, but
felt the severance was fair, using Broadway shows as a standard of
comparison.

"How many thousands of people got laid off after Sept. 11?" Misiura
noted of a contract provision for catastrophic circumstances that
could have excused the producers from any severance pay.

Along with the extra week, the dancers were paid for the Friday show
that ended abruptly when Horn was injured, plus Saturday and any of
three sick days that hadn't been used. Their insurance benefits were
extended to the end of the month.

In a statement, Misiura wrote, "Feld Entertainment ... exceed(ed)
their contractual obligations to the cast members by providing
financial assistance, grief counseling, benefits and assistance in
placing affected personnel with other productions."

Many dancers already have day jobs, including Renden, who works as a
massage therapist at the MGM Grand Hotel. But Renden said she and
other dancers feel it would have been fair to pay out the annual
contract, which ran through Nov. 25, and to extend health benefits
for three months.

Dancers note that stagehands and other MGM Mirage employees have a
better chance of being reassigned within the hotel or transferred to
another one.

Feld Entertainment also produces "Disney On Ice" and the Ringling
Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Since 1999, Forbes magazine has
listed Feld as one of America's richest people. In 2003, the magazine
claimed that Feld is the 328th richest American, pegging his net
worth at $775 million.

"He could have paid (the difference) out of pocket change," Renden
said. "He's not a liked man right now."

Renden said dancers had "to fight as a group" for a raise after she
joined the show three years ago. "We were working in the best show
and not even making as much money as the worst show."

When Siegfried Fishbacher had a lingering bout with the flu that
caused the show to be canceled for three weeks in early 2001, dancers
said he paid them out of his own pocket.

"From what I heard, Siegfried was highly upset that -- these were his
friends and family, too -- that they were let off like that," said
another dancer, Tiffany Baker.

Baker said Disney officials have told cast members they would be
given first priority for auditions at Disney theme parks.

The 27-year-old dancer said she will keep working three other jobs
while looking for yet another. She serves cocktails and dances at
Coyote Ugly and teaches at a dance studio.

But otherwise, she said, the timing is awful. Other Vegas shows
aren't hiring; entertainers in those shows are still under contract.
And Vegas has fewer stage shows, anyway.

The next big production on the horizon is Cirque du Soleil's new show
at the MGM, but Cirque hires few local dancers. "It kind of sucks.
(Cirque) is coming in and taking over the town, but not gonna spread
the wealth," Baker said.

Entertainers are worried about finances, especially a single mom who
danced in the Siegfried & Roy show, and a married couple who danced
in the show together, Baker said. On top of all that, she said,
entertainers didn't get closure.

"A lot of people had been in Siegfried & Roy for over 13 years, so
that was probably their last night on the stage. ... Which was out of
everyone's control, but it's hard," Baker said. "Roy had his birthday
party the night before. That was joyful. But he didn't know it was
gonna be the last."

"Roy was in the best mood. He was just winking and smiling, and he
was so happy," Baker said. "To witness what we saw, I wouldn't wish
that on anyone. That was just horrible."

Renden said it's also hard to go from being an insider to "getting
information from the news like everybody else. They are the world to
us."


Review-Journal writer Doug Elfman contributed to this report.

[Rick Martin]

Wow! That really bites!

[RINGON]

Show was Damn good, Performers Were/Are ASSHOLES? I'm shocked! I wish the supporting cast the best. I'm going out on a limb again to say that they are a cast of top notch perfessionals. I wish them well. (You Too Rick, and Chico, and Rocket and Twinkie.) Chico and the Man.......

[Rick Martin]

I think the point is that Siegfried and Roy are not assholes, but the production company is.

[RINGON]

Thank you Rick, for taking me by my little hand and Telling me what the point is. Maybe with your complete understanding of the business you could give Sig and Roy a little stand up for the little Guy Speach instead of making a really poor and uninteresting choice of being snarky to me. Good luck.

[Mr.Taxi Trix]

Pshaw. Whiners. They got a week's pay beyond what Feld was contracted to give, end of story. Asking for more is a symptom of the over-developed sense of entitlement all around America. No show, no pay. Adios. Welcome to reality. I can't tolerate whining.

[RINGON]

Taxi, do you suffer from short term memorie loss? Go Back in time or look in a mirror.... but don't hate yourself... David Schwartz, in his book "The magic of thinking BIG" says "believe and you'll start thinking constructively". Like a bad date no one likes being dumped, What the hell, I try to get paid in full for cancilations. You said it "America"!

[Rick Martin]

I wasn't trying to be snarky, I was trying to be helpful...excuuuuuuuuuuuse me.

[em]

stop getting catty.

hahahah!

monday morning.

hmm

[Dead Wood Records]

Working with animals is un-predictable!

Earlier last century a memeber of my family members
from Chipperfields Circus, was chomped to peices by
a lion, He was one of the trainers, the only thing they found
after the attack in the cage was his torso. This cannot of being a pretty sight afterwards. After this all circuses made sure that there was always some-one else present when entering the cages behind the scenes.

Any-one working with dangerous animals knows the risks and like many other people I dont agree with keeping animals captive in any case, especially if it's for show purposes.

So in saying all of this lets hope the dude recovers from such a tradgic accident.

Trevor Rooney

[ 10-20-2003: Message edited by: Dead Woods Music Agency ]</p>

[Rick Martin]

[quote]Originally posted by em:
<strong>stop getting catty.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

How about if you be Catty and I'll be Snarky and we'll be rogue buddy cops riding around in a custom Mini solving crimes.