Saturday, June 8, 2019

If you cant dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with Bull$#!+ !!!

Hey fellow gorillaphiles !

Old Bongo's been up to no good (again), and stirring up trouble again!
On our Facebook sister site Ape Suit Cinema I penned a follow-up on the legendary BS artist
Carmen Nigro....The guy who claimed to have played the giant ape in the 1933 stop-motion classic King Kong. Here for your edification is the write up in it's entirety:

The practice of identifying Gorilla actors has been the mission of Ape Suit Cinema, and sister site Hollywood Gorilla Men for decades. These hard working folks braved the intolerable heat and crushing weight of wearing gorilla suits to delight movie audiences since the beginning of motion picture history. one of the issues that has foiled our attempts time and again, is the amount of misinformation being put out by hoaxers and outright liars....Hollywood wannabe's desperate for a few minutes of fame.
one of the most notorious was a small, unremarkable elderly fellow named Carmen Nigro.
Carmen not only claimed publicly to having played gorillas in all the classics of Ape suit Cinema, ( when they are well documented to have been Crash Corrigan, Charlie Gemora, etc...) , but he upped the ante by claiming to have played the King himself in the 1933 classic, KING KONG !!!
That's right, King Kong! Now King Kong has been documented in numerous books, documentaries, and more magazine articles than I can even list. King Kong was an 18 inch tall, steel, rubber, and rabbit fur stop motion animation puppet in every scene EXCEPT close-ups using full scale mechanical props of his head and shoulders, hand and foot. these were used for chomping, grabbing, and stomping humans respectively.
At no time was the part of Kong ever played by a man in a suit in the 1933 film. Not until 1966's King Kong VS. Godzilla was Kong brought to life by a man in a suit.
But this is exactly what Carmen Nigro would have you believe to hear him tell the tail. Rather than describe his claims myself, you can read it in his own words in the following newspaper articles written at the time of the 1976 Dino DeLaurentis re-make of King Kong...Which actually DID feature a man in a suit...The legendary Rick Baker!
Here for your enjoyment is an epic BS story of Kong like proportions!



                                                    

   A newly discovered photo of Carmen in his ratty Western Costumes gorilla suit

And digitally altered so we can see the awesomeness of Carmen's scary suit with the head on !

The Bob Green article above was challenged by film historians, so Bob doubled down and penned this follow-up












Saturday, March 16, 2019

Gorilla 3 Pack Pics #3....Rick Baker !

Hi Ape Fans ! This time we've got the King himself !
 The one and only Rick "King Kong" Baker!
We found 3 awesome examples of Rick from 3 classics ! 
 First up is Rick as Sydney, in the comedy classic " The incredible Shrinking Woman"
 Next up is Rick as an escaped lab experiment in " The Thing With Two Heads"

And finally, Rick as the King himself, in the 1976 version of King Kong !
Enjoy gang! Lots more to come!

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Gorilla 3 Pack Pics #2 Charlie Gemora !

Hi again Monkey Minions ! Today old Bongo goes WAAAAAAY to the back of the vault
in search of Gemora Gorilla Goodies from the dawn of cinema !

We'll start out with INGAGI ! A notorious 1930 film that tried to pass Charlie off as a real ape who carries off human women for naughty purposes !
Next is Murder in the Rue Morgue 1932. Bela Lugosi stars as Dr. Miracle and Charlie as Erik the Ape !
And lastly, here's Charlie, in the role of Taglet the Gorilla, stalking the lovely Natalie Kingston as Jane in the classic
Tarzan the Tiger 1926. 

Enjoy Gang !
Bongo out!


Thursday, February 21, 2019

George Barrows : Behind the scenes !

Hello again Gorilla gang !
 Just back from the old vault with a treasure trove of Gorilla Goodies
Featuring our old friend George Barrows.
At one time George was the busiest monkey in the movies, and he has the list of credits to prove it!
So enjoy this glimpse into Hollywood Gorilla History !






Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Gorilla 3 Pack Pics #1

Hey Gorilla Gang!
Old Bongo here, working my way into a huge job of catch-up for being absent so long!
To make it up to you, here are a trio of favorites from the Bongo Archive featuring The Legend himself.
Bob "Tracy Kogar" Burns !
Big gorilla brother bob shares a huge space in the hearts of Gorilla Man and myself for all the years of research and stills collecting he's done. So Without further ado, I give you Bob Burns !