DELEON SPRINGS, Fla. – This is the story of a little girl who found herself in Trefflich’s pet store in Manhattan in 1953. She was there to receive a baby elephant as a gift – an elephant that would make its way to become a world-famous water skier.
Yes, you read that correctly. Despite starting in New York, this is a very Florida tale, if there is one.
That pet store was owned by Henry Trefflich in New York City but as you’ll soon find out, this tale has stories within stories that branch out in all directions, like an octopus break dancing.
“In a career of more than 40 years, he imported and sold more than 1.5 million monkeys, 4,000 chimpanzees and thousands of other animals, including kangaroos, panthers, swans, lizards, gorillas, tigers, lions, pythons, elephants, parrots and other exotic creatures,” read Trefflich’s obituary in The New York Times.
Not to get too off topic but if we’re telling strange tales, an employee at the pet store in 1946 once left a door open and 100 monkeys escaped into the city. The New York Times reported that most of the primates were rounded up within hours by policemen, firemen and agents for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. However, “one elusive escapee terrorized neighborhood fruit and vegetable dealers for three months before being taken into custody.”
Back to Liz and her elephant.
Hear the story of Liz Green Dane and Queenie the water skiing elephant in her own words, recorded in 2015 for Project Speak History.
Video courtesy Project Speak History.
Liz and her family took a train from their home in the northeast to that pet store in New York City that sat where the World Trade Center used to be. She was told that she could pick any animal that she wanted from the store for her birthday.
Did I also mention that Dave Garroway and his film crew from the “Today” show were waiting for Liz and her family as they entered the store?
The plan was to show Liz all of the baby animals at the pet store and she was going to pick the one that she wanted.
“They bring out a baby monkey, and I said, ‘No, I don’t want one. I’ve already got one.’ And then they’d bring out another baby of some sort. ‘No, I’ve got one of those, also,” Liz said.
Finally, Liz said, they brought out a tiny baby elephant.
“Dave Garroway put the mic up to my face and said, ‘Do you want to bring her home with you? ‘And I said yes!’”
Now, you may be wondering how in the heck does a person find themselves in a pet store claiming a baby elephant as a present?
Liz’s father started procuring all sort of wildlife and bringing back to the family home in Orfordville, New Hampshire. Some of the critters they collected were bison, camels, rattlesnakes, anacondas, deer, monkeys, raccoons, bears, leopards, cheetahs and mountain lions.
Eventually, her father opened a small zoo of sorts on the family farm where they would charge a small fee to see the animals.
When someone who has bear cubs in their kitchen and mountain lions in their basement – a baby elephant doesn’t seem so odd after all.
Knowing they wouldn’t be able to pachy-the-derm onto a train for the return trip, the family had a 1953 Mercury awaiting outside – perhaps knowing in advance that Liz would go for the elephant.
The vehicle had its back seat removed and the car was already filled with hay.
“Queenie walked right in,” Liz remembers.
And how did Queenie, the Asian elephant, get her name? While at the pet store, Garroway asked Liz what she would name her new prize when her father whispered “Queenie” into her ear.
Eventually, the family moved their animals, themselves and Queenie to Fairlee, Vermont, where they opened the Rare Bird and Animal Farm.
After that “Today” show appearance, Queenie made her way on the local news in Vermont, a TV show called “I’ve Got a Secret,” at a New Year’s Eve event in Times Square in a Mercury boat motors advertisement and at several GOP events – for obvious reasons.
But Queenie’s most memorable appearances were right here in Central Florida.
Liz’s father purchased a home in Callahan, Florida, and a booking agent got him and his animal show at Ponce De Leon Springs around 1958 or 1959.
Ponce De Leon Springs operated as a private recreational park until 1982, when the state of Florida and Volusia County purchased 55 acres that became De Leon Springs State Park.
Liz, still being in high school, would visit the park with her mother on the weekends.
The following year, Liz said her father started working with Queenie, teaching her how to water ski. Liz was going to school in Vermont at the time but stopped and started to take correspondence courses so she and her mother could return to Florida.
Ponce De Leon Springs became an old Florida roadside attraction in the days before Disney World exploded onto the scene.
The park featured tropical gardens, a jungle cruise and water ski shows, which brings us back to Queenie.
Liz credits water skiing legends Jim and Marge Rusing with making the skis and teaching Queenie the art of skiing.
Queenie’s skis were custom made from pontoon floats and she was pulled behind one of Rusing’s water ski boats with a Mercury motor.
The Mercury motors is another detail that is important in Queenie’s story - she once appeared in an advertisement for the company.
She was the second elephant to ever water ski but at the time, she was billed as the “the world’s only waterskiing elephant,” which was true at that time, Liz said.
“There’s really not much to to teach them. You just need to build their trust, get them up on the skis with the water being shallow so it’s not going to move that much. Just get her used to the right stance and then eventually working out into the deeper water,” Liz said.
Liz and Queenie performed in the winter months in 1959 and 1960 since the family still had to run the Rare Bird and Animal Farm in Vermont that was open to the public from Memorial Day through Columbus Day.
“When I would water ski with her, I would stand up beside her on her left side and I could hang on to her head gear in case she decided to rock the boat, so to speak,” Liz said.
“She would dip her trunk in the water and bring it up and spray the water all over,” Liz said. “Queenie loved it. Absolutely loved it.”
If you’ve been to De Leon Springs State Park, you may wonder where exactly this took place. It wasn’t in the round swimming area that thousands enjoy every year.
“If you’re standing on the spillway looking out at the lake, we would be to the right of that, back against the trees,” Liz remembers.
If you look at the historical signs inside of the state park, you may notice an image of a water skiing elephant labeled as Sunshine Sally, Liz said. Confused, Liz said she reached out to Marge Rusing – who was in the photo with Sunshine Sally – and Rusing was able to confirm that Queenie was the only elephant to water ski at De Leon Springs.
The family also took their show on the road to other venues in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Key West – especially during the Christmas holiday, Liz said.
“My fondest memory during that time was performing at a specialty circus put on at the Hollywood Beach Hotel – on Christmas Eve – with Emmett Kelly,” who was one of the most famous Ringling Brothers Barnum and Baily Circus clowns, she said.
Liz said that after several years of being a “circus girl” that she wanted to be a regular high school student and Queenie’s water skiing days were numbered.
After Liz’s father passed away, the family had to make some tough decisions about the animals and Queenie was sold to a circus that had three other elephants in 1967.
When the gentleman who purchased Queenie retired, she was sold to another circus, this time in California. After being injured at that circus, she was going to be euthanized, Liz said.
“Something eventually just made me think, I need to find her,” Liz said.
That’s when a one of Liz’s circus friends made arrangements for Queenie to be taken to Wild Adventures in Valdosta, Georgia.
So, after 38 years, Liz and Queenie were reunited in 2005.
Not sure how Queenie would react after being apart for long and having multiple owners, Liz was separated by a heavy-duty fence. She said she called Queenie’s name and the aging elephant made her way to the fence.
Liz said after she put her hand inside the fence as far as she could, Queenie touched her arm with her trunk and ran it up and down her arm and started a low rumbling “almost like a cat purring – a sound of contentment.”
After she slid her foot inside of the enclosure, Queenie did the same thing to Liz’s leg.
The caretakers at Wild Adventures thought it was safe enough for Liz to go inside of the enclosure with Queenie.
“It was like we had never been apart. I cried!” Liz said.
Liz was able to visit Queenie five more times in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 and 2011.
After declining in health, 59-year-old Queenie was euthanized at the Wild Adventures in 2011.
Liz, now 79, still spends the winter months in Florida.
Liz wears a reminder of Queenie everyday. Some female Asian elephants have small tusks called tushes. Liz had a necklace made with a gold emblem that has a piece of Queenie’s ivory that has a small silver elephant on it. On the outside, a piece of hair from Queenie’s tail is around the ivory.
“I will always have her with me,” Liz said.
Note: In 2016, Dianne Hermanski, former board member of the DeLeon Springs Community Association, helped put together a project on the city’s history titled “Project Speak History.” She was able to interview over 100 people, including 40 who spoke on video.
Liz was one of those subjects and you can watch her tell the story of Queenie in her own words by clicking here.
You can listen to every episode of Florida’s Fourth Estate in the media player below: