The Show Must Go on at Irwin, Inc.

CharlieJ · #1 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 03:27 PM

The Show Must Go on at Irwin, Inc.

His mate ... John Stainton says Bindi Irwin has the same spark, passion
and openness in dealing with animals and audiences as her father did.
Photo: Steve Holland

Steve Irwin built an empire based on his image as a madcap wildlife warrior. In part two of this look inside the family business, Robert Wainwright asks whether it can survive without its figurehead.
IF THE Brisbane filmmaker John Stainton was Steve Irwin's guiding light then Wes Mannion was his acolyte. Mannion walks and talks like the Crocodile Hunter. Well, not quite, but the impact is the same, with his purposeful khaki stride and unbridled, almost childlike enthusiasm for Australia Zoo and its animals. The zoo covers 32 hectares. Within a decade it will have expanded to five times this size - an entertainment complex taking several days to explore.

It employs 530 people and has its own construction division, complete with "rock mockers", who build with concrete to replicate natural stone. Their handiwork is particularly imposing in the tiger enclosure, where massive temple walls and statues reminiscent of Cambodia's Angkor Wat tower over the animals.

Like his mentor, Mannion can't get his words out fast enough, tripping and stumbling over his adoration for the mate who drew him into the tiny reptile park as a 14-year-old and never let him go. Now he runs the place. You can forgive Mannion his hero-worship. Nearly a decade younger than Irwin, but at his side since his formative early teens, he was like a little brother as much as a mate; loving and in awe. That Irwin once rescued him from the jaws of a crocodile in an attack that left him needing 150 stitches might also be a factor.

As we walk, Mannion swings his hand left and right to show where exhibits are either under construction or will be built. The elephant enclosure will be finished by Christmas; there's a generous day enclosure with giant swimming pool, fed by a creek and all beneath a massive stone wall that looks like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. At night the pachyderms are led to another 12-hectare lot behind the zoo where they can roam at will.
As we watch, the three female Asian elephants - Siam, Sabu and Bimbo - appear to be dissing the backhoe operator. They are certainly not fearful of their surroundings and, like many of the exhibits here, spend much of their time wandering the grounds (with handlers) and mixing with the crowds. It's part of the Irwin philosophy.

Mannion points out beyond the property boundary towards the expanse of bushland with the spectacular Glass House Mountains as a backdrop. Land is not an issue here because Irwin bought out several neighbours four years ago for a couple of million dollars each. Most of the money earned from his television and film exploits has been pumped into the zoo, as well as into the purchase of land for wildlife conservation in Vanuatu, Fiji and the United States. Money was always a touchy subject for a bloke who drove a mud-spattered truck and whose family still lives - at least some of the time - in a three-bedroom house built 30 years ago in the grounds of the zoo by his taciturn father, Bob Snr. There is, of course, the waterfront get-away at nearby Minyama, bought two years ago for $3.2 million, where Irwin would park his 22-metre research vessel Croc One.

The Business Review Weekly's annual rich list once estimated that Irwin earned more than $4 million a year - a figure he always denied but never corrected. Whatever the figure, the zoo is the main beneficiary. Its growth has been extraordinary - from 200,000 visitors six years ago to almost 1 million this year - propelled by international tourists and the Crocoseum with its animal displays and performances. It has trumped Gold Coast's theme-park giants Dreamworld and Sea World to take out tourism industry awards.

Proposed developments include an orangutan exhibit with a treetop walkway, an island accessible only by boat to house 80 lemurs and an old mango orchard turned into one of the world's biggest gorilla exhibits. Then there's the African range similar to the open plains of the Dubbo Zoo. There are plans to recreate the Florida Everglades, with 100 alligators fed by park visitors on airboats.

The animal kingdom Bindi Irwin will inherit is a world away from the two-hectare reptile park established on the Sunshine Coast in the early 1970s by Bob Irwin. "Steve didn't care if the zoo made money or it didn't make money," says Mannion. "He just wanted to create this amazing conservation zoo. When you keep funnelling the money back in, it just creates something amazing. That's all he thought about. I don't think it will ever be finished. That's the point."

So what does he make of Bindi and her performance in the Crocoseum? "It wasn't an act; it was just Bindi. It wouldn't have mattered if she had one person in front of her or a million. She's very open, like Steve. She has no fear what people think of her. She'll start dancing at the drop of a hat."
And her future as the face of Irwin, Inc.? "It's like looking at a kid playing soccer and someone asking 'Why did you push her into soccer? We didn't; that's what Bindi loves. It's her sport, it's her love, and it's her passion. You can see the spark in her. She loves what her dad did and what Terri does. You encourage that. I mean, you're not going to say 'No, don't do that because people will think you're pushing her to be like her Dad.' She knows that she has the option of doing whatever she wants."

Stainton gazes around the concrete stands of the Crocoseum. They were packed on September 20 when thousands queued for two days to get tickets to the memorial service. It's hard to fathom the quasi-religious fervour surrounding Irwin's death that day. As politicians, dignitaries, celebrities and football players were disgorged from mini-vans in a special car park, dozens of young mothers struggled nearby with babies wearing Bob khaki bloomers and toddlers in Bindi dresses while trying to find a spot in a crammed pram-park.
Families, few of whom had ever met him, left in tears an hour or so later, lamenting: "I wasn't this upset when my grandfather passed away", or "I didn't cry over Princess Diana. That tells you how much he touched me."

The place is empty on this morning, although the crocodile-feeding demonstrations continue each day. Terri Irwin doesn't appear, not yet at least, although she has promised to resume in time for the Christmas holidays. It will be yet another emotional day when that happens.
Filming for Bindi's television series has also been interrupted. Stainton has completed seven of the 26 episodes and he had been confident the resilient youngster would be ready within a couple of weeks. Now he is not so sure about the schedule.

So how is Bindi handling her father's death? "She's been a great strength, particularly to her mother," says Stainton, adding that growing up in a zoo had exposed her to new life as well as death, like the week in June when two of her favourite animals, Harriet, the 176-year-old giant Galapagos land tortoise, and Sui, the family dog died, within a few days of one another. "Steve slept on the floor of the hospital for three nights while they tried to save Sui," he recalled. "At one point Bindi came in and Steve sat there explaining to her about death; how it was inevitable. She grieved for a few days and then got on with things. Steve and Terri taught her well."

Stainton hasn't had time to grieve, either, forced to front the cameras after his mate's death: "I was there, with him, when he died so that made it really personal. I had no choice but hold it together, particularly on the first day when the police were telling me I had to say something. People are taken for granted. It's when you lose someone that you realise there is a big hole there, and you can't fill it. When a life like his is cut short, that's the tragedy. He had everything to live for, loved life and whoosh, the lights went out. Steve never thought about old age or that he might be an old man one day. He had eternal youth. We talked about death. It was always a possibility, but he never thought it would be an animal; a car accident maybe, but not an animal."

It will be years or maybe never before the Crocodile Hunter's open-mouthed enthusiasm disappears from the giant billboards by the side of the Bruce Highway, or his voice fades as the backdrop to the crocodile-feeding demonstrations. Details of the succession plan are as uncertain as it is certain the US cable giant Animal Planet will continue to screen re-runs of his documentaries.

Stainton smiles at the memory of selling the first series of Crocodile Hunter for just $US2000 ($2660) an episode: "It seems a pittance now, but that's all they could afford because they only had a small subscriber base about 200,000. We had to grow with them, and they grew with us." [There are now 200 million subscribers.]

"Steve was such a hit that the whole thing exploded. People would have parties on a Sunday night to watch the show. It was on at 9pm. College students would get whiteboards to write down all his sayings. Every time Steve said, 'Crikey', they'd skol a beer. We had to be careful with the edits to make sure there weren't too many to make sure the campuses weren't too drunk."

Why did American television embrace Steve Irwin and his antics? "Because he personified what they believed to be the true Aussie. What had been implanted in their minds by Crocodile Dundee in the mid-'80s became real when Steve came along. He was the real deal."

Was there a more normal personality behind the mud-splattered hunter - at home, for example? "Nope. Steve was an early-to-bed guy - 7.30 or 8 - because he'd be up by 2 or 3; out on a backhoe digging in the zoo or in the office drawing up ideas, maybe doing research. He'd ring me at 5, raring to go. I would say, 'Look, we can't do anything yet. I can't ring anyone until 7.' But it wasn't good enough because he always wanted to do everything now. 'Try 'em at 6,' he'd say."

Stainton takes a moment. These are tough memories. He gathers himself: "Steve couldn't believe himself sometimes. There'd be times when he was doing a voice-over and a scene would completely take his attention. He couldn't take his eyes off the screen, watching himself. Then he'd look at me and say, 'John, look at what that guy just did.' He was talking in third person about himself. It was really weird, as if he didn't connect with the character and yet that's who he was."

Given their close links over 15 years does Stainton feel responsible for the family? "It's not so much responsibility as being connected with them. Steve didn't have a wide circle of friends; more a small group of trusted people. He kept it close and didn't take counsel from people outside that circle. He put his faith and trust out there and I took it. When someone does that you can't let them down."

So what does the future hold for Stainton? After all, his own business success has been largely because of the Irwin family. Money is no more a comfortable subject for Stainton, than it was for Irwin:"We don't talk numbers," he says, while rejecting estimates that they made $16 million out of the 2002 movie, Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course.

"It's been a success story," he eventually concedes. And there is more to come. The documentary Ocean's Deadliest, which they were filming when Irwin was killed, is finished and will be screened in the first three months of next year. There is a heap of extra footage which has not been edited and packaged, including an IMAX 3-D version of his Crocodile Hunter documentaries. Then there's Bindi's project, Jungle Girl. If Stainton is right, and the eight-year-old "takes off" as her father did, then the Irwin empire will not only survive, but thrive. If not … well, only time will tell.

barrychapman · #2 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CharlieJ

The Show Must Go on at Irwin, Inc.

His mate ... John Stainton says Bindi Irwin has the same spark, passion
and openness in dealing with animals and audiences as her father did.
Photo: Steve Holland

Steve Irwin built an empire based on his image as a madcap wildlife warrior. In part two of this look inside the family business, Robert Wainwright asks whether it can survive without its figurehead.
IF THE Brisbane filmmaker John Stainton was Steve Irwin's guiding light then Wes Mannion was his acolyte. Mannion walks and talks like the Crocodile Hunter. Well, not quite, but the impact is the same, with his purposeful khaki stride and unbridled, almost childlike enthusiasm for Australia Zoo and its animals. The zoo covers 32 hectares. Within a decade it will have expanded to five times this size - an entertainment complex taking several days to explore.
It employs 530 people and has its own construction division, complete with "rock mockers", who build with concrete to replicate natural stone. Their handiwork is particularly imposing in the tiger enclosure, where massive temple walls and statues reminiscent of Cambodia's Angkor Wat tower over the animals.
Like his mentor, Mannion can't get his words out fast enough, tripping and stumbling over his adoration for the mate who drew him into the tiny reptile park as a 14-year-old and never let him go. Now he runs the place. You can forgive Mannion his hero-worship. Nearly a decade younger than Irwin, but at his side since his formative early teens, he was like a little brother as much as a mate; loving and in awe. That Irwin once rescued him from the jaws of a crocodile in an attack that left him needing 150 stitches might also be a factor.
As we walk, Mannion swings his hand left and right to show where exhibits are either under construction or will be built. The elephant enclosure will be finished by Christmas; there's a generous day enclosure with giant swimming pool, fed by a creek and all beneath a massive stone wall that looks like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. At night the pachyderms are led to another 12-hectare lot behind the zoo where they can roam at will.
As we watch, the three female Asian elephants - Siam, Sabu and Bimbo - appear to be dissing the backhoe operator. They are certainly not fearful of their surroundings and, like many of the exhibits here, spend much of their time wandering the grounds (with handlers) and mixing with the crowds. It's part of the Irwin philosophy.
Mannion points out beyond the property boundary towards the expanse of bushland with the spectacular Glass House Mountains as a backdrop. Land is not an issue here because Irwin bought out several neighbours four years ago for a couple of million dollars each. Most of the money earned from his television and film exploits has been pumped into the zoo, as well as into the purchase of land for wildlife conservation in Vanuatu, Fiji and the United States. Money was always a touchy subject for a bloke who drove a mud-spattered truck and whose family still lives - at least some of the time - in a three-bedroom house built 30 years ago in the grounds of the zoo by his taciturn father, Bob Snr. There is, of course, the waterfront get-away at nearby Minyama, bought two years ago for $3.2 million, where Irwin would park his 22-metre research vessel Croc One.
The Business Review Weekly's annual rich list once estimated that Irwin earned more than $4 million a year - a figure he always denied but never corrected. Whatever the figure, the zoo is the main beneficiary. Its growth has been extraordinary - from 200,000 visitors six years ago to almost 1 million this year - propelled by international tourists and the Crocoseum with its animal displays and performances. It has trumped Gold Coast's theme-park giants Dreamworld and Sea World to take out tourism industry awards.
Proposed developments include an orangutan exhibit with a treetop walkway, an island accessible only by boat to house 80 lemurs and an old mango orchard turned into one of the world's biggest gorilla exhibits. Then there's the African range similar to the open plains of the Dubbo Zoo. There are plans to recreate the Florida Everglades, with 100 alligators fed by park visitors on airboats.
The animal kingdom Bindi Irwin will inherit is a world away from the two-hectare reptile park established on the Sunshine Coast in the early 1970s by Bob Irwin. "Steve didn't care if the zoo made money or it didn't make money," says Mannion. "He just wanted to create this amazing conservation zoo. When you keep funnelling the money back in, it just creates something amazing. That's all he thought about. I don't think it will ever be finished. That's the point."
So what does he make of Bindi and her performance in the Crocoseum? "It wasn't an act; it was just Bindi. It wouldn't have mattered if she had one person in front of her or a million. She's very open, like Steve. She has no fear what people think of her. She'll start dancing at the drop of a hat."
And her future as the face of Irwin, Inc.? "It's like looking at a kid playing soccer and someone asking 'Why did you push her into soccer? We didn't; that's what Bindi loves. It's her sport, it's her love, and it's her passion. You can see the spark in her. She loves what her dad did and what Terri does. You encourage that. I mean, you're not going to say 'No, don't do that because people will think you're pushing her to be like her Dad.' She knows that she has the option of doing whatever she wants."
Stainton gazes around the concrete stands of the Crocoseum. They were packed on September 20 when thousands queued for two days to get tickets to the memorial service. It's hard to fathom the quasi-religious fervour surrounding Irwin's death that day. As politicians, dignitaries, celebrities and football players were disgorged from mini-vans in a special car park, dozens of young mothers struggled nearby with babies wearing Bob khaki bloomers and toddlers in Bindi dresses while trying to find a spot in a crammed pram-park.
Families, few of whom had ever met him, left in tears an hour or so later, lamenting: "I wasn't this upset when my grandfather passed away", or "I didn't cry over Princess Diana. That tells you how much he touched me."
The place is empty on this morning, although the crocodile-feeding demonstrations continue each day. Terri Irwin doesn't appear, not yet at least, although she has promised to resume in time for the Christmas holidays. It will be yet another emotional day when that happens.
Filming for Bindi's television series has also been interrupted. Stainton has completed seven of the 26 episodes and he had been confident the resilient youngster would be ready within a couple of weeks. Now he is not so sure about the schedule.
So how is Bindi handling her father's death? "She's been a great strength, particularly to her mother," says Stainton, adding that growing up in a zoo had exposed her to new life as well as death, like the week in June when two of her favourite animals, Harriet, the 176-year-old giant Galapagos land tortoise, and Sui, the family dog died, within a few days of one another. "Steve slept on the floor of the hospital for three nights while they tried to save Sui," he recalled. "At one point Bindi came in and Steve sat there explaining to her about death; how it was inevitable. She grieved for a few days and then got on with things. Steve and Terri taught her well."
Stainton hasn't had time to grieve, either, forced to front the cameras after his mate's death: "I was there, with him, when he died so that made it really personal. I had no choice but hold it together, particularly on the first day when the police were telling me I had to say something. People are taken for granted. It's when you lose someone that you realise there is a big hole there, and you can't fill it. When a life like his is cut short, that's the tragedy. He had everything to live for, loved life and whoosh, the lights went out. Steve never thought about old age or that he might be an old man one day. He had eternal youth. We talked about death. It was always a possibility, but he never thought it would be an animal; a car accident maybe, but not an animal."
It will be years or maybe never before the Crocodile Hunter's open-mouthed enthusiasm disappears from the giant billboards by the side of the Bruce Highway, or his voice fades as the backdrop to the crocodile-feeding demonstrations. Details of the succession plan are as uncertain as it is certain the US cable giant Animal Planet will continue to screen re-runs of his documentaries.
Stainton smiles at the memory of selling the first series of Crocodile Hunter for just $US2000 ($2660) an episode: "It seems a pittance now, but that's all they could afford because they only had a small subscriber base about 200,000. We had to grow with them, and they grew with us." [There are now 200 million subscribers.]
"Steve was such a hit that the whole thing exploded. People would have parties on a Sunday night to watch the show. It was on at 9pm. College students would get whiteboards to write down all his sayings. Every time Steve said, 'Crikey', they'd skol a beer. We had to be careful with the edits to make sure there weren't too many to make sure the campuses weren't too drunk."
Why did American television embrace Steve Irwin and his antics? "Because he personified what they believed to be the true Aussie. What had been implanted in their minds by Crocodile Dundee in the mid-'80s became real when Steve came along. He was the real deal."
Was there a more normal personality behind the mud-splattered hunter - at home, for example? "Nope. Steve was an early-to-bed guy - 7.30 or 8 - because he'd be up by 2 or 3; out on a backhoe digging in the zoo or in the office drawing up ideas, maybe doing research. He'd ring me at 5, raring to go. I would say, 'Look, we can't do anything yet. I can't ring anyone until 7.' But it wasn't good enough because he always wanted to do everything now. 'Try 'em at 6,' he'd say."
Stainton takes a moment. These are tough memories. He gathers himself: "Steve couldn't believe himself sometimes. There'd be times when he was doing a voice-over and a scene would completely take his attention. He couldn't take his eyes off the screen, watching himself. Then he'd look at me and say, 'John, look at what that guy just did.' He was talking in third person about himself. It was really weird, as if he didn't connect with the character and yet that's who he was."
Given their close links over 15 years does Stainton feel responsible for the family? "It's not so much responsibility as being connected with them. Steve didn't have a wide circle of friends; more a small group of trusted people. He kept it close and didn't take counsel from people outside that circle. He put his faith and trust out there and I took it. When someone does that you can't let them down."
So what does the future hold for Stainton? After all, his own business success has been largely because of the Irwin family. Money is no more a comfortable subject for Stainton, than it was for Irwin:"We don't talk numbers," he says, while rejecting estimates that they made $16 million out of the 2002 movie, Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course.
"It's been a success story," he eventually concedes. And there is more to come. The documentary Ocean's Deadliest, which they were filming when Irwin was killed, is finished and will be screened in the first three months of next year. There is a heap of extra footage which has not been edited and packaged, including an IMAX 3-D version of his Crocodile Hunter documentaries. Then there's Bindi's project, Jungle Girl. If Stainton is right, and the eight-year-old "takes off" as her father did, then the Irwin empire will not only survive, but thrive. If not … well, only time will tell.

steve was my hero

Slithers · #3 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 04:01 PM

thanks charlie!

amercnwmn · #4 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 10:43 PM

Thats a great story, sad in many ways, but very uplifting in that there will be no replacing Steve, but that his work will be carried on.
Hopefully Bindi will be able to step in, and possibly take it one step further. I really can't wait to see how she will develop into a strong voice for animals, and I hope she stays somewhat in the spotlight so we can see her grow.

MAG_Pythons · #5 (**permalink**) 10-17-2006, 02:48 AM

awesome, just have to keep on keepin on. sad, yes, but i'm glad bindi still loves her animals and terri is sooo strong too *sigh*

Thanx,
Leigh

Weepngprpht · #6 (**permalink**) 10-17-2006, 04:32 AM

With all the pressure on his daughter I hope its what she wants to do with her life.

Sleepy_FF · #7 (**permalink**) 10-17-2006, 04:42 AM

thanks charlie. he was my hero... i still miss him

schatzie001 · #8 (**permalink**) 10-17-2006, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weepngprpht

With all the pressure on his daughter I hope its what she wants to do with her life.

I agree - it would be so easy for unscrupulous people connected to this enterprise to exploit her for their own reasons. Only time will tell!

CharlieJ · #9 (**permalink**) 10-17-2006, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schatzie001

I agree - it would be so easy for unscrupulous people connected to this enterprise to exploit her for their own reasons. Only time will tell!

You know, I think Terri Irwin is really grounded. I also believe that John Stainton and Wes Mannion have more influence than anyone knows publicly. BOTH of them seem to be well-grounded, too. If the three of them keep control over "the Irwin empire", then I don't think Bindi will be abused or pushed in any one direction.
From what I've read, Steve Irwin took great care in his financial matters -- to make sure Terri, Bindi & Bob have the reigns over their land, business and homes.
We need to keep them in our prayers, but I don't see a lot to worry about in their "business" future.

Weepngprpht · #10 (**permalink**) 10-18-2006, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CharlieJ

You know, I think Terri Irwin is really grounded. I also believe that John Stainton and Wes Mannion have more influence than anyone knows publicly. BOTH of them seem to be well-grounded, too. If the three of them keep control over "the Irwin empire", then I don't think Bindi will be abused or pushed in any one direction.
From what I've read, Steve Irwin took great care in his financial matters -- to make sure Terri, Bindi & Bob have the reigns over their land, business and homes.
We need to keep them in our prayers, but I don't see a lot to worry about in their "business" future.

Yea i agree they all seem as if they are open minded and have all established themselves financially but from experience what you see outside isnt always whats goin on inside..But im never one to speculate and i wish the whole family the best of luck privately and publicly

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