Friday Night Beauties and Beasts #1

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Sex sells. Always has, always will. In this weekly post I will share one of the many saucy gorilla and gal pics I have collected over the last decade of simian obsession. Don't get me wrong - a lady should be treated with respect and tenderness - but your average savage monkey boy has trouble restraining his urge to scooping up a lovely lass and taking her back to his primeval pad.

First up in our series, HGM favourite, the dapper chap in the frisky fur, Emil Van Horn with one of his ladies of the stage, Yvonne.

A Well Deserved Gorilla R and R

   The classic Beauty and the Beast burlesque act plays upon some of the baser views of what would have been a primarily white male audience. Whether it was the thrill of a woman dominated by a hulking brute (though he is often manipulated or controlled by the fair skinned Beauty), the demented inference of bestiallity and cross species intercourse or the uglier threatening undertone of interracial mingling, there is a lot of weird stuff going on in what can appear downright silly from a modern perspective.

  The husband and wife burlesque duo, Scotty Roche and Diane Revere performed together through the 1950’s and 1960’s making their mark with the classic Beauty and Beast act. In addition to the sensual simian dance, which appears to be their centerpiece performance, they also appeared in a number featuring gold body paint, showcasing that Scotty was indeed in fabulous shape under that massive gorilla suit. 

   In a previous post that presented a photo spread titled GORILLA POLKA from a 50’s men’s mag GALA, Jeff Siegel made the following comments:

I grew up with Scotty and Diane and Diane is still alive. Their act came from Vaudeville. They performed extensively in the far east during the 1950's, where they adopted their son, Andre, who was the son of a Princess of Siam and a French aviator (scandalous!). Scotty claimed to have been the underage man in KING KONG's suit during the filming due to the real actor not being able to handle the heat. Scotty was underage at the time so he didn't get credit (his father was working on the film and Scotty would hang around the set). I'll put together some pix and get hold of Diane to see if she can provide you with some more info (she's over 100 years old!). 

   Jeff wrote back in August 2014 and unfortunately I only became aware of the comment while putting together this post. Hollywood Gorilla Men has been kicking around in one incarnation or another for a decade but my passion ebbs and flows. I have reached out to Jeff and hopefully he can add another anecdote or two about this amazing pair of performers.

   The GALA photo mentions that the act actually originated with Scotty’s father Pierre, who tromped about Hungarian stages years before his son took up the 80 pound furry mantle.

   A recent trawl of the interwebs dredged up the fabulous pics below.

Image found at Not Pulp Covers

Image found at Burlyqnel

Revere and Roche appeared in this 'Burlesk' film that was typical of it's time - a parade of stage acts made all the more accessible for a multitude of movie goers. Here's the summary from AFI:

AFI Summary released 1964 Tiger Lilly's day begins in the afternoon, with a swim and some trampoline exercise. Night finds her preparing for her act at a strip club, while Bambi performs on stage. As the next act, Revere and Roche, is performing "Beauty and The Beast" onstage, a similar drama is going on in a backstage dressing room where beauteous Billy Jean is pursued by her partner, Kavich, a tiger. After Vicki O'Day's tassel-twirling striptease, Tiger Lilly descends in a gilded elevator cage for her own act. She is followed by Tempest Storm. Tiger Lilly returns to her dressing room with Billy Jean and soaks away the greasepaint in a bubble bath. 

Discerning apes fly Northwest Airlines. Roomy seats and complementary bananas.

Promotional material from a post war tour (likely the conflict in Korea) - the flier is in Korean and promotes a "King Kong Gorilla Grand Comedy Show" for NBC television.

Let Me "Rock " You To Sleep !

We'll use my rock !
This is a great behind the scenes shot of the legendary Haruo " Godzilla " Nakajima as King Kong,  in the classic "King Kong Escapes  "
This was a promotional photo shoot, as this scene never appears in the movie.

Mechanikong is about to get his iron bell rung !

Awwww.....Poor little Kid !

Hiya gang,
Gorilla Men have a long standing tradition of scaring the crap out of little kids, whether we try to, or not...
Here Gorilla Man extraordinaire Don McLeod does exactly that, while on tour promoting American Tourister luggage.
Don's amazing suit was created by none other than multiple Oscar winner Rick Baker.
It's no wonder kids, and most of the people who saw Don's commercials though he was the real thing !

Happy National Gorilla Suit Day ! Janaury 31st 2015

It's that time of year again gang !
As we all know, Mad Magazine legend Don Martin created National Gorilla Suit Day originally as a skit in Mad....Never realizing it would catch on as a real, honest ta gosh holiday !
Now anyone who owns, or can borrow, or rent a gorilla suit can participate !
 Or if you can't get a gorilla suit, you can coat yourself in glue and roll on the floor of a barbershop and celebrate too !
 The thing is to go out into the world, and do something...anything...in a gorilla suit !
Go to a party, hang at a bar, go shopping, yard work, whatever gorilla suits your fancy !
Just be SAFE in what you do ! no driving or anything dangerous wearing a suit ...play safe, and have fun !
That's what Don Martin had in mind when he came up with it, and fun is the name of the game !

Here are some shots of  Movie Monster making Monkey Man Chris Walas and myself celebrating last year....So take photos of yourselves doing your gorilla thing !
You can send your photos to  Hollywoodgorillamen@gmail.com and see them right here !

Now....GO APE !!!!!

ZOOT !!!

Castle Films Presents....White Gorilla !

Hey Gang !
What a treat we have in store for you this time !
My good friend Craig Scott Lamb has taken the classic....er...almost classic...um..should have been classic White Gorilla , and turned it into a TRUE classic in the finest tradition of Castle Films !

What are Castle Films you say ? Well back in the dark ages before we had Internet streaming, DVD'S or even VHS videos, the only option to own your favorite movies was to buy it on actual film and put it on a projector...just like at the theater !
The place to get them was Castle Films !
Castle Films were shorter, digest versions of your favorite films, featuring all the great Universal Monsters, travel films, comedies, adventures, and every other genre imaginable !
Castle's could be ordered from many magazines back then including the legendary, Famous Monsters of Filmland !

Craig meticulously crafted the notoriously laborious White Gorilla ( starring iconic gorilla man Crash Corrigan as an ape, and himself ! ) into an exciting, faster paced adventure yarn from the classic  days of cinema !

And the best part of all ??? Craig owns Castle Films, so yes, this is a REAL live Castle Film for the modern day !

So without further ado, We now present....White Gorilla !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNIMAI9rGDE&list=UUfmeB98F24KyuIGaRAaDOFQ



Now, pop up some popcorn...grab a soda, and enjoy White Gorilla !



Speaking of Crash Corrigan...Craig is in pre-production on and amazing biopic about the amazing life of Crash Corrigan, called appropriately enough...CRASH !!!!

Keep checking in here my fellow ape fans, as we'll have incredible coverage on Crash from the creators themselves including several gorilla men you know !

Have Yourself a Very Hairy Apemas !

Hiya Gorilla Gang !
From your friends here at HGM , we would like to wish you all the very happiest holidays ever !

And nothing puts us in the holiday spirit like our old friend Tracy the Gorilla in a Santy Claws hat !

Here Tracy (as trained by our good buddy and big gorilla brother Bob Burns ) wishes you Hairy Apemas with the help of legendary Hollywood Sculptor Chris Mueller !
For those who don't know, Chris sculpted the original Creature from the black Lagoon, and the giant squid from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea !

So on behalf of myself ( Bongo), Gorilla Man, and Bob Burns..... Happy Holidays !

Photo courtesy of Bob Burns