Thursday, November 29, 2012

O.K. Bull...Go and Get It !

( photo courtesy George E-gor Chastain)


Bull Montana.....A name that strikes awe in the most devoted of gorilla men !
Where other ape actors worked their primate wonders with elaborate costumes and
mechanized masks, Bull Montana played apes... without a mask !
In the 1920 film " Go and Get It" Bull plays a fierce ape man named Ferry.
Ferry it seems, was a poor gorilla who had a human brain transplanted into his hairy noggin by a mad scientist. (is there any other kind?)
To help Bull channel his inner ape, he was teamed with skilled make-up artists Cecil
Holland, and Charles Gemora.
Using materials of cotton, colodian, yak hair, and hand carved gorilla dentures, Holland skillfully transformed the hulking ex-boxer into a gruesome gorilla.
The great Charles Gemora had the task of  making Bull's fur suit, hand tying the hair a few strands at a time with a crochet needle, into a loose weave backing.

The beastly team were so successful in their efforts, that five years later, they teamed up again for
" The Lost World" 1925.
In the Lost World, Bull played an early ancestor of man, who terrorized the Challenger expedition.
Bull was filmed fairly close-up, drooling horrifically while peering from behind rocks.
This was a true testament to Cecil Holland and Charles Gemora's incredible artistry !


A very special thanks to our great friend, and fellow gorilla man fan, George Chastain for sending us the fantastic photo of Bull Montana in the Wids Daily Newspaper !


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Lucy...you got a lot of splainin to do !

 



Lucille Ball tussles with Hungarian monkey man Janos Prohaska, on the set of "The Lucy Show".
This was Janos's white gorilla suit known affectionately as "Snowpuff".
Snowpuff, was also featured on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as a rampaging albino gorilla, and most famously,as the fierce "Mugato" on the classic Star Trek episode "A Private Little War."
The appearance on the Lucy show, got to show some of Janos Prohaskas comedy skills for a change of pace, and a considerably gentler side of "Snowpuff".