❌ This tale is nothing more than an amusing fabrication.
The MGM lion is prominent enough to have featured in urban legends, one of which we first encountered in 2004:It goes that the lion was originally meant to be standing proud and silent, but roared when two burglars rushed into the warehouse.Supposedly, Regina and Maninovsky would regularly rob banks and stash their loot at a warehouse a few blocks away.
The lion then jumped off the platform and mauled Maninovsky, who died two days later. Regina ran out of the warehouse and got run over by a police car heading to the bank he had just robbed. “Slats” was trained to roar on cue by Volney Phifer, Hollywood’s premier animal trainer, and toured the world to signify MGM’s launch. He was born at the Dublin Zoo and died in 1936. By that time Mr. Phifer had retired to his farm in Gillette, New Jersey, where he boarded animals used on Broadway. Upon “Slats”‘ death he was buried on the farm, where a small blank block of granite marked the grave. Additionally, Mr.