Friday, August 15, 2014

Was this the first Hollywood Gorilla Man ???

Hey there true believers ! How much excitement are you looking for ?!?!
I just had to borrow Stan Lee's line because it seems so perfect for this great discovery !
My dear friend and brother in arms, Craig Scott Lamb ( the creator of our Facebook sister site Ape Suit Cinema) has gone above and beyond in this exciting discovery !
While researching an exciting new movie project about a gorilla man we know and love (more on this later)
Craig stumbled across this incredible bit of history !
The 20 chapter serial " the Perils of Pauline" (1914) featured this early gorilla suit.
Unfortunately the full 20 chapter version is lost to the ages and we are left with the shorter 9 chapter version.
As bad luck would have it the gorilla does not appear in the shorter version...
All that is left are these few amazing photos, and damned fine ones they are !
With a date of 1914, we can't find any instances of an earlier ape suit in a motion picture....ever!
So it looks like Craig found the one...the only...First ever Hollywood Gorilla Man!




This is truly an amazing find !
Our HGM master gorilla suit builder Chris Walas pointed out that the eye opening for this suit was a single opening rather than two individual eye holes.
Another more famous instance of this configuration was Emil VanHorn's  suit !
 It a damned shame that this gorilla footage was lost with the longer cut of the serial.
Had it survived it would be a great addition to our collection of Simian Cinema !


The Perils of Pauline (1914) was produced by the Electric Film Company and distributed by  Pathe.