Elephant Man - Hardcover

Baumgartl, Nomi; Gallucci, Chris

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1554074223 ISBN 13: 9781554074228

Publisher: Firefly Books, 2008

Synopsis

The story of an unusual relationship -- and how an unruly giant healed a broken man.

Chris Gallucci ran away from home at 12. By 16 he was in prison for the first time, but not the last. His life was playing out on the fringes of society, characterized by rebellion and aggression. Change seemed unlikely until he happened upon the film set of Roar, a movie featuring Hollywood actress Tippi Hedren (The Birds) and her daughter, Melanie Griffith, as well as a variety of lions, pumas, tigers and elephants. Chriswas immediately fascinated by Timbo, the gigantic bull elephant known for its misbehavior, and applied for a job as an elephant trainer on the small ranch that was its home. To win Timbo's trust, Chris chained himself up in the elephant's enclosure and tossed away the key. It was the start of a 30-year relationship that would tame the savage in Chris.

Powerful photos capture the essence of elephant man Chris Gallucci's life: the small world of the ranch, walks with Timbo on the edge of the Mojave Desert, his training regime with the huge bull. Extracts from Chris's diary provide a window into his soul.

Elephant Man inspires with the silent power of an intense spiritual connection between animal and man.

About this title

About the Author

Nomi Baumgartl is an internationally acclaimed photographer specializing in images that show the connection between man and nature. Her work has received prestigious awards, and her pictures are frequently published and exhibited.

Chris Gallucci, author, biker and elephant trainer, lives in Acton, California. Since Timbo's death, Chris has continued to work as preserve supervisor at Shambala, the wild animal reserve on the edge of the Mojave Desert.

Daniel Opitz is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of Ocean Mind, an independent film, photo and television production company. His work includes The Elephant Man (also called Tusks and Tattoos), which has been shown worldwide at film festivals and on television (Animal Planet).

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Foreword by Daniel Opitz

"I love you" and "I could kill you." The world the Elephant Man grew up in was mean and hard. He left home when he was only twelve. Throughout his teens he was involved with the violent biker culture that developed in and around Los Angeles in the late sixties. Thanks to a falsified ID and too much pride to admit it, he found himself in jail for the first time at the tender age of seventeen.

His only true philosophy in those days was to show no weakness. While this mantra fueled the flames of his rebellion and brought him nothing but trouble, it also led to his eventual salvation: Timbo was a five-ton grey giant, who at nearly fifty years of age was North America's biggest and oldest African elephant bull. As stubborn as Chris himself, he too was unpredictable, fearless and always ready for a fight.

Chris was not looking for anything more than a job and perhaps some excitement when he rode his chopper into Acton, California, a small town on the edge of the Mojave Desert in 1975. He found a job as a welder on the insane set of the movie Roar, which starred over 100 wild lions, cougars, tigers and two elephants, as well as Hollywood diva and Hitchcock actress Tippi Hedren and her daughter Melanie Griffith.

When filming was completed, Chris and Tippi stayed behind with the wild animals. Together they converted what was left of the movie set into "Shambala -- The Roar Foundation," a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the animals the best life possible. Chris, who was drawn to gigantic Timbo from the very start, asked if he could be the elephant's new trainer. He got the job.

To understand what it felt like to be an elephant, Chris spent the first night with Timbo, attaching himself to Timbo's chain and throwing away the key. To gain Timbo's trust, Chris learned to control his own demons. "See," he says, "The more relaxed and at ease I am, the more I allow Timbo to be free." In the nearly 30 years they spent together, neither Chris nor Timbo got into serious trouble again.

You do not come across people like Chris Gallucci simply by chance; you get caught in their gravitational field. Chris and I got to know each other in the Bahamas in 2000, during a photo shoot with Nomi Baumgartl. A model had invited him along for his first vacation in nearly 30 years. After just a few days, however, Chris cut his Caribbean trip short. He simply could not bear the thought that due to his absence, Timbo would be again be confined and chained. Chris returned to his own small world and self-imposed prison at Shambala.

I have always been drawn to people who have pushed the envelope throughout their lives, personalities who thrive on enormous challenge. A year later, when I arrived in Shambala with my film crew to document "The Elephant Man," Chris was in the midst of a huge personal crisis. For the first time he regretted his lonely life, confined to a ranch in the desert with Timbo. He shaved his long beard, sold his beloved chopper and stopped polishing his meticulously sharpened knives. But Chris would not be Chris if he did not manage to pull himself out of this deep depression. As filming progressed, he gradually found his balance again. He started his journal again, grew his beard back and bought a new motorcycle and a '57 Chevy Bel Air that he had always wanted. We finished the film and became fast friends.

I valued Chris' simplicity, his attitude and way of looking at things, his entire essence, even Chris just being Chris. He never seemed to need such modern amenities as credit cards, computers or cell phones. Not because he was adverse to them, but because he was busy with other more important things. To me, he represented a sort of primal creature with an instinctive kind of wisdom and yes, an undertone of aggression. In a strange way, Chris became for me what Timbo was to him.

When photographer Nomi Baumgartl gets involved with a new subject it is not only with her camera, but also with her heart and entire being. Nomi was part of our film crew in Shambala. At one point she found herself in the middle of a fallow field with a five-ton elephant hurtling toward her. "Don't move!" Chris shouted, "Don't move!" Nomi closed her eyes and all was still. Suddenly she felt a moist, warm trunk in her face, and a suction so strong it felt as if she was being sucked into a wind tunnel. "Now he trusts you." At that moment she experienced the wondrous spiritual link between man and animal, Chris and Timbo.

About this edition

• Publisher: Firefly Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1554074223
• ISBN 13: 9781554074228
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 160