HAPPY NATIONAL GORILLA SUIT DAY!

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Oops, sorry about that, I forgot and left my gorilla hands on. I was trying to type – May everyone have a super-simian National Gorilla Suit Day!


Here’s some gorilla vids I found on YouTube, so enjoy.

Now I’m off to the supermarket to pick up some bananas and vanilla wafers in my gorilla suit.

Good thing this isn’t National Birthday Suit Day! Yikes!

This first vid is a clever A&E Biography spoof called The Curse of P.P. Fartingham's Gorilla Suit. Written and Produced by Chad Fogland. Edited by Maria Friesen. Photography by Meredith Jenks. 8 min.



This next vid comes from Bob Burns and it's a golf club commercial. No, not that Bob Burns, but another Bob Burns who loves gorillas. This Bob Burns is a PGA Golf Pro.



This is a 1985 commercial for Hillybilly Vac Shack and was uploaded by cartainvac.

GORILLA LINKS

Tomorrow as you sit in your gorilla suit all day in front of your computer sweating and trying to eat Little Debbie Banana Twins thru your mask, check out these fun links that will make your hairy holiday much more fun!

Tom Weaver interviews Bob Burns about the great gorilla man Charles Gemora in the first issue of the Monster Kid. Check out page page 1 and page 2.

After that one you might as well check out Bob Burns' Audition article about Tracy the gorilla.

Here's a site devoted to gorilla men with tons of photos and history called appropriately Gorilla Men.

Now get your silver hairy back over to Muppet Wiki and check out their article on Gorilla Suits.

And if you want to impress all of your gorilla suited pals next year during N.G.S.D., then show up in a pro-gorilla suit. You can buy a snazzy looking one at The Hollywood Gorilla.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE WALL DRUG ARTICLE

I was invited by Anne over at the nothing to see site to write a short article about the Wall Drug Store! If you haven’t been to this wonderful worldwide roadside site before, you’re missing out.

If you would like to read my article about the one and only Wall Drug Store you can click here.

Keeping with the gorilla theme for this week, here’s a photo of a fiberglass gorilla. (Yes, I know I posted this photo earlier in the month, but at least I didn’t post Sam the singing gorilla again!)

THE GIRL AND THE GORILLA EVEREADY AD

From May 17, 1953 comes this Eveready Batteries ad out of a newspaper comics section.

(CLICK FOR A CLOSER LOOK)

I’m not sure who the artist is, but they did a bang-up job. I really like this first panel!

ANNE BANCROFT CELEBRATED N.G.S.D.

What would National Gorilla Suit Day be without a obligatory drawing of Anne Bancroft in a gorilla suit? That’s like taking Jack O’ Lanterns away from Halloween or doing away with the Christmas tree during Christmas.

Fear not loyal N.G.S.D. celebrators because here she is!

Scanned from a 1978 issue of Dynamite magazine and art by Sam Viviano.

FM GORILLA MONSTER MASK

The ones that are fortunate to own this classic gorilla mask will have to dig it out for the big day. Wear it in the office, the supermarket, or at your local bank. Ooh, you better cross the bank off, as that wouldn’t be a good idea. But for most places, this is the one day of the year it’s socially acceptable!

I love the artwork for the collection of masks advertised in the earlier issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. So this is an appropriate time to post this iconic image.

THE GORILLA HUNT

This is the beginning of a gorilla countdown to help everyone get in the spirit of National Gorilla Suit Day on the Jan. 31.

I rummaged thru the Neato Coolville archives to find this little gem, a movie herald advertising The Gorilla Hunt.

There’s not much info out there on this movie and I’m not sure if a print still exists. It was released in 1928 by FBO (Film Booking Offices), owned by Joseph Kennedy the father of JFK. FBO would later merge and become RKO Studios, who gave us the ultimate gorilla picture in King Kong!

This movie starring Ben Burbridges was probably a predecessor to Frank Buck’s Bring ‘Em Back Alive that was released in 1932. Besides wearing his pith helmet, Burbridges wore many other hats for this movie and is credited with actor, writer, director, editor and cinematographer.

I got a chuckle out of one of the tag lines, “SEE The Most Gigantic Thrills Ever flung Upon the Screen!” Funny that they used the word flung, if you know what I mean!

This herald was handed out at the Bennett Theater and it must have played on August 13 as someone penciled the date under the theater stamp on the back. The Bennett might have been located in Hermann, Missouri.

Maybe there’s a copy of this movie out there somewhere and hopefully it will have men in gorilla suits being hunted instead of real ones. One can only dream!

SNOW SNOOPY FROM THE WINTER OF 1978

Back in February of ‘78 we had one of those perfect snow storms. You know, when the snow is at the right thickness and it’s not too dry. It was perfect for snow ball fights, snow forts, snowmen and even a snow Snoopy!


(That's me on the end wearing my striped shirt. Regular readers have seen this shirt before!)

I can’t remember if it was my Brother or Grandma that came up with this brilliant idea, but the whole family and even a neighborhood friend helped create this work of art.

We worked all morning and thru the afternoon assimilating billions and billions of snowflakes into Schulz’s famed beagle. Our house had two large square stone blocks on each side of the front yard and so we used a block as the bottom part of the dog house. We then packed snow on top until we made a roof and used ribbon for the lines on the sides. Of course the hard part was Snoopy himself.

Luckily my Dad, Mom, and Grandma had packed in plenty of experience making snowmen thru the years, but this was their first snow Snoopy. We ended up taking a little bit of water to smooth and help form his body. This method worked especially well on his tail. I remember that was the hardest part, as the tail kept falling off.

We even had plans to build Woodstock, but we were getting too cold and the snow was falling too hard. Anyway, it was time for some hot tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches!

It was fun to have Snoopy around for a few days until the sun came out and melted him away.

DANCE OF THE ZOMBIES

Ok, I couldn't help my self, I had to make another one.

This time decided to draw a zombie.

http://roxik.com/pictaps/?pid=a221493

Now I better get to work and stop playing.

DO THE ROBOT DANCE

Check out the Robot Leader as he charges up his robot horde before they attack the Earth. You know you gotta boogie down before world domination!

Just click on this link to watch it!
http://roxik.com/pictaps/?pid=a219141

This is a fun little site where you get to draw your own character and the site animates him for you. This is my quick little drawing! Ok, what are you waiting for? Go make your own!

STRETCH MONSTER WEEK POSTPONED

Today was supposed to be the beginning of Stretch Monster Week, but I'm afraid I've fallen behind on what pays the bills thanks to all the power outages from our ice storm. So sit tight SM fans, Stretch Monster Week will show up sometime after Valentine's Day and hopefully will be even better than if I rushed it for this week!

POOR SAD STRETCH MONSTER

POOR COLD SQUIRREL

1975 WALL DRUG POSTCARD SIGNED BY TED HUSTEAD

I forgot that I had this old Wall Drug postcard that has a message on the back by the one and only Ted Hustead, the founder of Wall Drug.

(CLICK FOR A CLOSER LOOK)

THE FAMOUS WALL DRUG STORE

I've always loved cheesy roadside places and the Wall Drug Store is one of the best.

I've been wanting to try my hand at uploading a video to YouTube, so I picked two clips that I shot back in 2004 at the Wall Drug. (I'm impressed on how easy it was to upload!)

So sit back and enjoy the pics and vids and while you're at it drink a tall glass of ice water!

THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU 70'S PSA STARRING THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN

Who remembers the Abominable Snowman PSA puppet spots during the 1970's?

I remember seeing 'em during Saturday morning cartoons up until the 1980's.

Thanks to YouTube, I found two of these fun old spots that were posted by love2register, who also has some cool 70's Sesame Street clips.





The Abominable Snowman and Magnolia the Ostrich puppets were the creations of the puppeteer husband and wife team Paul and Mary Ritts. They originally created the CBS kids show In the Park back in the early 1950's and would later host and perform on The Pink Panther Show in the early 1970's.

The Abominable Snowman made his first appearance on the 1970's NBC special, Howdy Doody & Friends.

There's a nice article over at TVParty! about the Ritts that was posted after Mary Ritts had passed away last May.

DIME SAVER BANKS

Some fun old dime saver banks. I really like the Peter Progress one!

Check out Dan Goodsell's spaced-out dime saver. One of the best ones I've seen.

And if you missed my Santa one from a few weeks ago you can see that one
here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

May everyone have a fun, happy, prosperous, blessed, healthy, and successful 2007!

This is the New Years page from the 1953 Happy Holidays Paint with Brush and Water book published by Saalfield.

You can see a few more scans from this book in The Coolville Kid's Library.