Pallenberg Wonder Bears: From the Beginning
About this ebook
Considered to have been the greatest bear trainer of his time, Emil Pallenberg taught by example, as well as by using his gentle voice and hand signals. In 1908 he became the first person to teach a bear to ride a bicycle and later taught his bruins to roller skate, play musical instruments and walk the tight rope. Pallenberg bears appeared in three major motion pictures, including one performing as “Carmichael” in a movie starring Jack Benny, while another was on Broadway for over a year in a 1932 Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein Musical. Yet when Emil and his Wonder Bears were not performing, they all lived harmoniously in the little shoreline town of Clinton, Connecticut.
The book, written by Peggy Adler, incorporates never-before seen Pallenberg family archival photographs; vaudeville and circus contracts; as well as Emil Pallenberg’s hand written memories, all provided by Adler’s indispensable collaborator, the Pallenberg’s granddaughter, Dibirma Jean Burnham.
According to Justin Race, Director of Purdue University Press, Pallenberg Wonder Bears – From the Beginning is a captivating narrative you couldn’t have dreamed up, but won’t want to put down. I’ve been in publishing for a long time and at this point it takes something really unique to raise my eyebrows—and this story certainly did, from the very first page.”
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About the author
The Audiobook version of Peggy Adler’s Trilogy: Three True Stories of Scoundrels and Schemers, narrated by Peter Coyote, won gold medals in two prestigious literary competitions. First in the Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards competition and then in the Electronic Literature (eLit) Awards Competition. Prior to Trilogy, she authored this historical biography, Pallenberg Wonder Bears - From the Beginning, as well as the award winning pictorial history, Images of America Clinton. She is also the author of the 2025 e-book and audiobook titled, Anatomy of a Gildy Episode - The Who’s Who of GG470129 Marjorie’s Hotrod Boyfriend: The Great Gildersleeve, John Whedon and Beyond. Decades earlier, In the 1960s and 70s, she authored and illustrated five titles for New York City publishers (The John Day Company & Franklin Watts), which went out of print in the mid-1980s—and were republished in two volumes in 2023. Furthermore, she’s illustrated two dozen others; provided art for the Bronx Zoo, the Humane Society of the United States, Little, Brown & Company, the Journal of Theoretical Biology, the Journal of Algebra, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and World Scientific Publishing; and complied and copyrighted a ragtime album titled, Joplin Playing Joplin. Adler also coordinated the 1969 world premiere of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid for 20th Century Fox and worked as a consultant for the U.S. House of Representatives’ October Surprise Task Force. Previous to winning the 2024 gold medals for Trilogy, her book Images of America Clinton was named “Best Research Publication” by the Connecticut Society of Genealogists. And in 2017, Marquis Who’s Who presented her with their Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. Other honors include the Association of Former Intelligence Officer’s General Richard G. Stilwell Award, the Duck Island Yacht Club’s Corinthian Award and being named as a 2025 Connecticut Beacon Awardee. An active member of each community in which she’s ever lived, Adler spent eight years as a Clinton, CT Police Commissioner and is presently Chairman of the town’s Historic District Commission.
Dibirma Jean Burnham wrote the foreword to Pallenberg Wonder Bears – From the Beginning and supplied the family archival photographs and documents that can be found in the book’s Wonder Bear Gallery. She is the granddaughter of Emil and Catherine (Cato) Pallenberg, the subjects of the book and resides in the house where her grandparents once lived, which is next door to the barn where her grandfather, Emil, trained the Wonder Bears.
