Siegfried and Roy Links
News Stories from Just After the Tiger Bite Incident
Index of the Las Vegas Review-Journal 's coverage of the story (now current to June 29th, 2005)
Washington Post, October 26, 2003
"Biggest Cats in Town" (bemused look by reporter who hadn't thought about them much previously)
Los Angeles Times, December 2, 2003
Siegfried Without His Roy (Siegfried's informal interview during Roy's stay at UCLA Stroke Center)
(no longer available from original source)
The Advocate (gay newsmagazine), November 11, 2003
The Truth About Siegfried and Roy (generally sympathetic coverage of a volatile topic)
Larry King Live appearance transcripts:
interviews with witnesses (just after the incident) and with Siegfried (a few days later)
Follow-up Coverage
New! The official USDA report on the tiger-bite incident, shaken loose (via the Freedom of Information Act) and posted by Associated Press wire service. (c. 250 page document; something over 25M download)
Barbara Walters interview transcripts:
Ten Most Intriguing People of 2003 special (shorter), and
20/20 feature piece (longer)
(both recorded at same session, c. December 1st, 2003, for later airing)
A retrospective (by their employers, the Mirage, in the house magazine M Lifestyle).
The e-zine Slate takes a somewhat sour look at NBC's relationship with the duo. Both the brief May 2004 video made to promote the Dreamworks/NBC animated series Father of the Pride (first post-incident joint public appearance) and the NBC "Miracle" special are discussed.
Promotional interview for the September 15th, 2004 NBC special on the incident and Roy's recovery
An animal behaviorist analyses Roy's explanation of the incident.
Older Coverage
Archive (Roweana's "Scrapbook") with texts of many of the supermarket tabloid stories and earlier interviews (comparing the earlier with the later versions of many of their staple stories may entertain some of you); divided into chronological sections covering
2006,
2005,
2004 ,
2001-2003,
1994-2000, and
1972-1994.
(Roweana closed her archive to casual visitors for a while for reasons she explains on her site. The above references are to the re-opened areas. She has requested that I link only to her top page, but has not sent me the preferred URL. That page apparently says that she doesn't want visitors stealing her stuff or sending her nasty e-mails, which you should know not to do without being told, anyway.)
An interview with them as professional magicians (in the journal Magic)
A bunch of quotes elicited for Esquire by Bill Zehme
Larry King Live appearance transcript1999 (re-broadcast of Siegfried's and Roy's _Magic Box_ promo, with update)
Gone! (now moved to a closed site -- much of the material also available from Roweana's site in transcript form, sometimes with fewer pictures)
Archive of scanned magazine stories (warning: graphics-and-soundfile-heavy, and uses Shockwave rather than jpgs, so you can't "stop" the garbage parts of the downloads). Specifically, there's the Vanity Fair 1999 (serious Matt Tyrnauer piece with Michel Comte photo layout) and an English translation of BMW Magazine 1992 (original article was for a German readership).
Special Material
The Las Vegas Review-Journal 's life/career Timeline (the widely pirated original).
Frank Rosenthal's account of hiring Siegfried and Roy for their second Lido show (Rosenthal had organized crime connections, and was the original of the lead character in Nicholas Pileggi's book, Casino ("Sam Rothstein" in the movie) -- his lawyer, Oscar Goodman, is currently mayor of Las Vegas)
Siegfried House tour (from when he briefly put his Spanish Trail home on the market) (photo images only; panoramic java images no longer available)
(If a peek at Siegfried's master bedroom suite, with fireplace, balcony, wet bar, and two-person jacuzzi, isn't enough intimacy, here's the man himself , wearing nothing but a gold chain around his neck.)
New SectionThe Siegfried and Roy Riffs
Derek Denton's video clips (less sympathetic, but amusing if you are in the mood; material cribbed from copyright videos)
The most over-the-top of many bad reviews of The Magic Box (the IMAX-3D movie of their lives) is "Scared Straight" (funny, but not for the faint-hearted).
Newly Added The History of Roys in Siegfried and Roy imagines Siegfried partnered with other celebrities named Roy.
Ducktastic!, a London comedy about a supposed comeback, opened in the fall of 2005 (out-of-town tryout from September 2, London preview run started October 11 for October 17 opening). Lots of top talent was involved, and, of course ducks (links are to promotional stories about the play).
A review from the try-out run mentioned script problems. Advance publicity for the
preview run wasn't the best, either. The lengthy preparation didn't pay off; the show posted closing for November 19th.
Official website!
Boards and Fansites
The Las Vegas Review-Journal e-forum has been pretty much "Siegfried and Roy Central".
It was started the day after the tiger bite incident as the "Roy Horn Tribute Board", which locution suggests that the Review-Journal's sources were telling them that things didn't look good for Roy.
The webmaster clears it out every so often, and occasionally changes software -- a third format is just being rolled out. Something like 60,000 posts have been dumped, most recently as of April 28th, 2005. Endemic fan-ish territorial disputes have driven off many posters, reducing the active membership from hundreds to dozens.
But it has been the largest and generally news-iest source, as befits one hosted by a newspaper.
Due to the eccentric administration of the Review-Journal board, I am removing the link to it.
Fansites include:
Yahoo! Getaway board (oldest, although not very active recently, with search-able archive; view-able by lurkers, members-only for posting)
Sarmoti Forever (once open, but a closed board since its recent move) is referenced here to record the existence of its infamously racy "Dreams and Fantasies" topic. Its currently active rivals are Everything Siegfried and Roy (open to lurkers and even to posters) and Sarmoti Miracle (recently closed, even to lurkers).
Due to the web-wide disruptiveness and personal vindictiveness of the webmistress of the Sarmoti Forever board, I am removing the link to it.
The following sites are a pair of dueling fanclubs. They are both closed to non-members, even lurkers, apparently out of a combination of competitiveness and an abandonment of the idea of spreading the word about Siegfried and Roy. Re-posting their "exclusive material" will get you kicked off.
Worth joining? Who knows, given that you can't tell what's on them ... but joining encourages the restriction of information, which not everyone thinks is a Good Thing.
North American Fan Club
Sarmoti World
There are also about thirty Yahoo and MSN groups in various stages of activity and abandonment, many also closed even to lurkers. The fans are somewhat given to flame wars, and regularly split up and start new groups. This fragmentation tends to give the impression that the Siegfried and Roy fanbase consists of a small assortment of quarrelsome crackpots.
Arguing against that is the act's record of having sold out every seat as a headline act, night after night, week after week, for TWENTY-FIVE FREAKIN' YEARS (and they were doing well as a featured act for over another ten years before that). It would be nice if there were "one (thing) to rule them all".
The Boys Speak for Themselves
(Not So) New! Roy gives an interview to the Las Vegas Sun.
Siegfried and Roy's Official Site; includes press release archive, videos of animals, and much else.
The most recent update was c. June 2nd, with pictures and a story about their award-receiving appearance at the Ellis Island Awards. stories include
Other recent items in the News section include their award-giving appearance at the World Magic Show, a visit to Elton John's show and an appearance at an Alzheimer's benefit, some Christmas pictures, the Dinosaur Ball , Roy's birthday celebration at the Secret Garden, their opening of the Oktoberfest at the Hofbrauhaus (Las Vegas), the death of Gildah , their performing elephant, and a promotion for a charity they have long supported, the
Friends for Las Vegas Police K-9 unit.
Plus! The Secret Garden now has its own, quite extensive, stand-alone website.
(heh, heh, heh) This page's evil twin, the Siegfried and Roy Lists
Questions? Comments? Broken links to report? E-mail me!
(And the color scheme of this page? Gryffindor colors for our boys!)