Sabu Dastagir, Selar Sabu, 1924, Indian film actor, United States citizenship, Son of Indian elephant rider, Abu, 1940 fantasy adventure film, Bagdad.
It took a delightfully exuberant, exotic-looking teenager whose homeland was the jungles of India to fully capture the endless wonder and imagination of the adolescent mind via fantasy and adventure through the art of film. At the same time he was thrilling young children, the eternally young Sabu delighted older WWII audiences in need of a bit of escapism with his succession of tropical Technicolor treats. Sabu Dastagir (or Selar Shaik Sabu, depending on your resource) was born on January 27, 1924, in the little town of Mysore, India, which is nestled in the jungles of Karapur. The son of an elephant driver (mahout) in service for the Maharajah of his town, the young stable boy learned responsibility early in life when, at age 9, his father died and Sabu immediately became the ward of the royal elephant stables. As with many Hollywood success stories, good timing and dumb luck allowed the impoverished youth a chance for a better life. By sheer chance the timid 12-year-old orphan was discovered by a British location crew while searching for a youth to play the title role (an elephant driver!) in their upcoming feature Elephant Boy (1937). Quite taken aback by his earnest looks, engaging naturalness and adaptability to wild animals and their natural habitat, the studio handed the boy a film career on a sterling silver platter and was placed under exclusive contract.
Size: 5200px × 3467px
Location: Plymouth City England.
Photo credit: © Steve Welsh / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1947, acted, actor, adolescent, adventure, arabian, audience, audiences, awarded, bagdad, bengal, bison, book, born, broad, career, cooper, cross, dastagir, declined, deer, delighted, distinguished, ease, elephant, escapism, europe, exotic-, fantasy, flying, franklin, ganges, hollywood, homeland, hosted, house, ii, imagination, india, indian, jungle, jungles, karapur, king, kipling, kiplings, lure, maharajah, maharajahs, marilyn, mitchum., monkeys, mowgli, mysore, narcissus, nights, pictures, president, rampage, robert, role, roosevelt, rudyard, sabu, savages, shaik, skating, smile, speed, spellbound, story, stripes, teenager, thief, tiger, tigers, town, universal, walks, war, ward, white, wolves, world
