Photograph by the Missouri History Museum Photographs and Prints Collection
No, this is not a Lemmon-Curtis publicity still from Some Like It Hot. These are genuine St. Louis society matrons, posing with Miss Jim (née Judy), the Saint Louis Zoo's first elephant. She was purchased in 1916 by local schoolchildren, who held their breath in their throats (and their Lincoln red cents in their fists) while passing the candy counter. After abstaining from Goo Goo Clusters and Valomilks and King Leo peppermint sticks for several months, they mailed all that deferred pleasure—238,500 pennies' worth—to the zoo. They'd already decided to name the elephant after Board of Education president James Harper, but when it turned out to be a she, they settled on "Miss Jim" instead. They also called her "our elephant," and essentially came to identify trips to the zoo with a ride on her back. After revelations of elephant graveyards and elephant tears, we suspect Miss J. would've been happier in the jungle, though it seems she knew how well loved she was: The average life span for an elephant in captivity is 45 years, but when Miss Jim passed, she was 70—a right old St. Louis matron herself.
