I Like Monkeys... Sometimes

“He was a good little monkey and always very curious.”

Curious George by Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey

 

I have had a love-fear relationship with Monkeys my whole life...

My first exposure to Monkeys came from the Captain Kangaroo Show when he read the book Curious George. It was one of the first books I loved and am still very fond of it.  I thought I remembered having a Curious George stuffed animal but after looking at ones from the 60’s none of them looked like mine so guess I didn’t have one.  But I did have a stuffed Monkey animal that had a banana in one hand so you could stick in its mouth like a baby doll with a bottle. 

When I was a kid, at the Oklahoma City Zoo, one of the first things inside the gate were the monkeys and I thought they were cute but I always worried about them escaping out of their enclosure that had a wooden boat in it because there weren’t any bars or cages.  And I hadn’t even seen any Ape movies at that time.    

Here we come, walkin'
Down the street.
We get the funniest looks from
Ev'ry one we meet.
Hey, hey, we're the Monkees

Theme song from the TVshow, The Monkees

Man, oh man, did I have a huge crush on Davy Jones from The Monkees!  And I thought he stayed super cute up until he died at age 66 in 2012.  Maybe this is where my fondness for short men started.   I will admit to reading Tiger Beat magazine and writing fan letters to him and of course, watching their TV show.  Their music is still great to me even today.     

Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!

George Taylor, The Planet of the Apes

The original & best, in my opinion, came out in 1968 and was based on the book 1963 French novel by author Pierre Boulle.  My family went to the movies a lot but I was only 7 when this came out and it was not a family film so I didn’t see it until I was older and also read the book.  It became an instant hit and has withstood the test of time.  Quite frankly, this movie scared the shit out of me.  I watched it recently and it is still a phenomenal film and the soundtrack really caps off the perfection of it.  I did see all of the cornball sequels but nothing came near the original, eerie tone of the first film.  As much as I like Tim Burton, Mark Wahlberg and Helena Bonham Carter, I hated his remake of the original in 2001 and I really, really wanted and tried to like it.  However, the next Ape movie, Rise of the Planet of the Apes in 2011 was one I really enjoyed mostly due to the phenomenal work of actor, Andy Serkis.  His almost realer than life portrayal of Caesar in the next Ape film, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, was even more extraordinary and I thought the story was original and very entertaining. 

The most frightening thing to me about these movies and Monkeys in general is that I know they are very bright animals and I think there is the possibility that they could evolve into a new race that could exceed what we think their abilities are and start running amuck across the country or world.    

So, I guess if a Monkey is cute and stuffed animal made in a factory somewhere or a in a game like “Monkeys in a Barrel” or cute brass hooks in the shape of a Monkey that I hang my Japanese lanterns from, I am ok and feel safe. 

But if they are real and even in a Zoo, I get a little afraid and have no interest in interaction with them and am glad to stay my distance and just view from afar.