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Post by manfromplanetx on May 16, 2017 5:28:22 GMT
Charles Gemora ... Carlos Cruz Gemora (June 15, 1903 – August 19, 1961), was born on the island of Negros in the Philippines, he arrived in America as a stowaway, his artistic skills and short stature were perfectly suited for a gorilla man, a niche role he held for three decades. Gemora was famously known as the "the King of the Gorilla Men" for his prolific appearances in over 40 Hollywood films (1927-61) while wearing a gorilla suit ... one credit as a bear and a few as a Martian!
Gemora in action ... The Sign of the Cross (1932) Do you have any Memorable Moments of Men or Women In Monkey Suits to share ?
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Post by manfromplanetx on May 16, 2017 9:34:32 GMT
Lon Chaney (Echo) ... Charles Gemora (Gorilla) The Unholy Three (1930)
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Post by teleadm on May 16, 2017 17:56:43 GMT
Nor really a memorable movie, but there is a little B-movie simply named The Ape 1940, a crazy scientist (Boris Karloff) trying to find some serum, but a gorilla named Nabu escapes from a circus and causes havoc in the same small town where the scientist lives, the latter get's blamed. Nabu was played by Ray 'Crash' Corrigan. Corrigan either played gorillas, apes, spacemonsters or in B-western movies (The Three Mesquiteers series), and he was also a stunt man, hence the Crash nickname. In the first two Weissmuller Tarzan movies Tarzan the Ape Man 1932 and Tarzan and His Mate 1934 there seams to have been some sort of mistake, or people just didn't know better back then, that they though that chimpanzees grew up to be gorillas when they got older. In the gorillas suits in these two Tarzan movies was the one and only Ray 'Crash' Corrigan (in It! The Terror from Beyond Space 1958 he played It). Murders in the Rue Morgue 1932, a gorilla is featured. This time the gorilla was played by Joe Bonomo, apparently a once famous strongman or bodybuilder who wrote a lot of books and pamphlets about physical health and fitness, besides being a stunt man.
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Post by manfromplanetx on May 16, 2017 22:12:11 GMT
Nor really a memorable movie, but there is a little B-movie simply named The Ape 1940, a crazy scientist (Boris Karloff) trying to find some serum, but a gorilla named Nabu escapes from a circus and causes havoc in the same small town where the scientist lives, the latter get's blamed. Nabu was played by Ray 'Crash' Corrigan. Corrigan either played gorillas, apes, space-monsters or in B-western movies (The Three Mesquiteers series), and he was also a stunt man, hence the Crash nickname. In the first two Weissmuller Tarzan movies Tarzan the Ape Man 1932 and Tarzan and His Mate 1934 there seams to have been some sort of mistake, or people just didn't know better back then, that they though that chimpanzees grew up to be gorillas when they got older. In the gorillas suits in these two Tarzan movies was the one and only Ray 'Crash' Corrigan (in It! The Terror from Beyond Space 1958 he played It). Murders in the Rue Morgue 1932, a gorilla is featured. This time the gorilla was played by Joe Bonomo, apparently a once famous strongman or bodybuilder who wrote a lot of books and pamphlets about physical health and fitness, besides being a stunt man. Many thanks for sharing teleadm...I was most interested to learn of & to read up on Ray 'Crash' Corrigan. surprising just how many films there are which feature Men in Gorilla suits in classic film! Your mention of Corrigan as IT in It The Terror from Beyond Space is equally surprising I have never forgotten this film since being terrified seeing it as a child in the sixties, I got a copy a year ago and obviously it didn't have quite the same impact but IT certainly was a terror. Ray Corrigan.... Murders in the Rue Morgue is notable in that it actually features two men in Gorilla suits Charles Gemora plays the main role Erik the Gorilla, and as you mention strongman Joe Bonomo fills in for him as the stunt double. Strongman, stuntman Joe Bonomo... Ray 'Crash' Corrigan ... Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
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Post by manfromplanetx on May 16, 2017 22:17:06 GMT
Bela Lugosi (Dr Mirakle) ... Charles Gemora (Erik the Gorilla) Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
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Post by President Ackbar™ on May 16, 2017 22:30:41 GMT
"Man in an Ape Suit" From a marketing point of view, one question may forever be debated. In interviews, De Laurentiis and company made the decision from the start to deemphasize Rick Baker and the Kong costume in favor of the full-size robot Kong. All the same, critics found out that a costume would be used for much of the film, and this costume became a lightning rod for their barbs.
The mere phrase "man in an ape suit" conjured up deliciously inept images of rigid paper mâché masks and visible zippers, comical visions of countless B-movies from King Kong vs. Godzilla to Robot Monster to television's Spencer, Tracy and Kong. But to compare the ground-breaking engineering marvels devised for King Kong '76 -- both mask and suit -- to the simplistic, zipper-backed costumes seen in previous films, is like comparing the T-rex in Jurassic Park to Barney the Dinosaur.
And perhaps if De Laurentiis had said as much in interviews, he might have mollified at least some of his critics, just as the later ad campaigns for the various Batman movies got considerable mileage out of their newly engineered bat-costume (which was, after all, clearly a descendant of the Kong costume, as we will see).
Things might have turned out quite a bit differently. In the pre-Star Wars '70s, there were no "special effects" companies and most films relied on in-house effects experts. But, when a gorilla was called for, it was standard to go out and find someone who could supply their own gorilla costume.
Bob Burns and Rick Baker were the top names on a very short list. Rick Baker was hired, along with his own gorilla costume, but it was quickly recognized that Baker's costume, as impressive as it was, couldn't possibly come close to providing the range of emotions which De Laurentiis demanded for his Kong. Enter from Italy a mechanical effects wizard, Carlo Rambaldi.
After reading the script, Rambaldi determined that they would need seven masks, each one animatronically controlled to provide a range of expressions. More than one mask was necessary because there wasn't room in a single mask to include all the cables and mechanics required for all the expressions. Rick Baker, though hired to wear the costume, was also called upon to sculpt the mold used to make the outer latex skins of the masks.
The masks were built up much like a real face, starting with a plastic "skull" over which were placed artificial muscle groups activated by cables which entered the costume through Kong's feet. Though the full-size Kong used hydraulics to provide movement, there wasn't room in the masks for the tubes which a hydraulic system would require. Hence the use of cables controlled by operators working at control boards just off the set.
As revolutionary as the animatronic masks were, the rest of the costume was itself a feat of engineering which set the standard for later costumes, and served as the suitprecursor for everythingsuit from Batman's muscled-up Batsuit to Hellboy's "ripped" scarlet torso.
Far from being a simple zippered boo-suit, the costume invented for Kong '76 ( actually four costumes were used ) realistically depicted the appropriate musculature beneath the fur through a special undersuit with silicone filled muscles.
The costume's hands used animatronic extensions, again controlled by operators off set, so as to give Kong appropriately gorilla like long limbs. It was pointed out that the only parts of Rick Baker actually visible on film were his eyes -- and even those were gorilla-fied using contact lenses! Rick Baker explained that the key to a good gorilla suit is in the eyes. If they look too human, the entire effect is lost.
So complex was the result of all this technology that to use the word "costume" seems wholly inadequate. It was more nearly a state-of-the-art, remotely-controlled, mechanized "exo-skeleton".
Sadly, Rick Baker had few good memories of his work on Kong '76, feeling under appreciated, that his suggestions were too readily ignored and that his contributions were unfairly downplayed -- which of course they were. The credits merely read: "With special contributions from Rick Baker."
Nonetheless, he had little reason to worry as, in spite of the misleading press, it was well known that he had played Kong in the "ape suit", and he received only praise, even from those who pilloried the film itself. And it seems likely that Baker owes his present status as a top Hollywood make-up man to the initial boost given him from the publicity surrounding King Kong 1976.
But who'd have thought a guy could make a life-time profession out of dressing up like gorillas ?!
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Post by BATouttaheck on May 16, 2017 23:30:47 GMT
Morgan (1966) David Warner "Morgan Delt is a failed and irresponsible left-wing artist whose Communist parents own a fish and chips shop in downmarket London. He is also an aggressive and self-admitted dreamer obsessed with Karl Marx, gorillas and stopping his beautiful wife from marrying his former best friend. He uses his rich fantasy world as refuge from external reality, where his unconventional behavior lands him in a divorce from his wife, trouble with the police and, ultimately, incarceration in an insane asylum. " Another man in a gorilla suit. Whenever I see David Warner, I think of him in this film.
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Post by manfromplanetx on May 17, 2017 7:48:40 GMT
Morgan (1966) David Warner "Morgan Delt is a failed and irresponsible left-wing artist whose Communist parents own a fish and chips shop in downmarket London. He is also an aggressive and self-admitted dreamer obsessed with Karl Marx, gorillas and stopping his beautiful wife from marrying his former best friend. He uses his rich fantasy world as refuge from external reality, where his unconventional behavior lands him in a divorce from his wife, trouble with the police and, ultimately, incarceration in an insane asylum. " Another man in a gorilla suit. Whenever I see David Warner, I think of him in this film. Thanks Bat Outtaheck that looks like a really interesting film to check out
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Post by manfromplanetx on May 17, 2017 8:07:18 GMT
"Man in an Ape Suit"But who'd have thought a guy could make a life-time profession out of dressing up like gorillas ?! Wow many thanks Mr President, that was an insightful read, things certainly have moved on from the old zippered suits, inspired me into reading all about the original Kong, which also has lead to the discovery of another couple of regular gorillas George Barrows & Steve Calvert and to a site CONFESSIONS OF A HOLLYWOOD GORILLA . loved your last line, seems like many did, I am surprised at the number of classic films that feature an Ape Man.
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Post by koskiewicz on May 18, 2017 17:38:56 GMT
3 stooges episode 165 "Hot Ice"
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Post by manfromplanetx on May 18, 2017 22:16:23 GMT
3 stooges episode 165 "Hot Ice" Thanks for the 60s childhood memory, can still picture Shemp swallowing that diamond. LOL Ray 'Crash' Corrigan in the suit...
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Post by manfromplanetx on May 18, 2017 23:35:51 GMT
Loved Jungle Jim adventures as a 60s kid... Steve Calvert is the Gorilla Man
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Post by poelzig on May 19, 2017 4:22:29 GMT
A local TV station showing of Gorilla At Large when I was a kid. It was in 3D as long as you bought a pair of Gorilla At Large Channel 36 3D glasses from a convenience store. It starred Lee J Cobb, Raymond Burr, Lee Marvin, Cameron Mitchell and Anne Bancroft. We all bought the glasses.
The scene in Trading Places where the villain was gagged and put into Jim Belushi's gorilla suit where he was promptly raped by a "real" gorilla who was also a guy in a gorilla suit.
I recently watched the pilot for Tales of the Gold Monkey. It was a series that ripped off Indianan Jones and featured (at least in the pilot) some stunningly bad gorilla costumes.
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Post by manfromplanetx on May 19, 2017 4:43:52 GMT
A local TV station showing of Gorilla At Large when I was a kid. It was in 3D as long as you bought a pair of Gorilla At Large Channel 36 3D glasses from a convenience store. It starred Lee J Cobb, Raymond Burr, Lee Marvin, Cameron Mitchell and Anne Bancroft. We all bought the glasses. The scene in Trading Places where the villain was gagged and put into Jim Belushi's gorilla suit where he was promptly raped by a "real" gorilla who was also a guy in a gorilla suit. I recently watched the pilot for Tales of the Gold Monkey. It was a series that ripped off Indianan Jones and featured (at least in the pilot) some stunningly bad gorilla costumes. Thanks poelzig... What a film! George Barrows (Goliath the Gorilla) carries off Laverne (Anne Bancroft) ... Gorilla at Large (1955)
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Post by manfromplanetx on May 19, 2017 9:10:55 GMT
Kim Hunter (Dr. Zira) Chimpanzee ... Planet of the Apes (1968), Beneath the...(1970), Escape From... (1971) Kim Hunter reportedly found the facial ape prosthetics so claustrophobic that she took a Valium each morning while being made up as Zira, she apparently spent a lot of time at the Bronx Zoo studying the apes to authenticate her role. Turning down the part of Zira was one of Ingrid Bergman's greatest regrets and is quoted saying that it was a missed opportunity to... "disregard her regal bearing". She also regretted missing the chance of working with Charlton Heston.
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Post by teleadm on May 19, 2017 16:52:06 GMT
The Hairy Ape 1944 based on a play by Eugene O'Neill, no less, was made at small studio Mayfair Productions Inc., starring William Bendix (before Life of Riley fame) and a young Susan Hayward. Goliath the Gorilla was played by our friend Ray 'Crash' Corrigan. Why O'Neill sold the rights to such a minor studio is beyond me, or he didn't trust the big studios.
That Ingrid Berman was offered the role later played by Kim Hunter was news to me! in Planet of the Apes 1968. I know though that Edward G. Robinson was to have played Dr. Zaius, but as the movies starting shooting date went forward and forward, he jumped off as he thought he cold sit that long in the make.up studio. Former teen idol Sal Mineo's role was in Escape from the Planet of the Apes 1971, was killed of early because Sal couldn't stand the eternal itchings of the make-up. I don't know if that is true, or allready in the script. In Battle for the Planet of the Apes 1973, there has been doubts if it really was John Huston behind the mask, or he just recorded and someone else mimed.
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Post by manfromplanetx on May 19, 2017 21:31:22 GMT
The Hairy Ape 1944 based on a play by Eugene O'Neill, no less, was made at small studio Mayfair Productions Inc., starring William Bendix (before Life of Riley fame) and a young Susan Hayward. Goliath the Gorilla was played by our friend Ray 'Crash' Corrigan. Why O'Neill sold the rights to such a minor studio is beyond me, or he didn't trust the big studios. Thanks again teleadm ... Looks like thoughtful & interesting adaption, a dramatic film with a different take on the typical stereotyped Gorilla Man pics, will be keen to get a copy, great leads and of course... Ray 'Crash' Corrigan seen here from the film
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Post by gunshotwound on May 21, 2017 1:04:14 GMT
George Segal wears a gorilla suit in a scene from Carl Reiner's Where's Papa? (1970). It has been so long since I saw the movie can't remember why he wears a gorilla suit.
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Post by petrolino on May 21, 2017 1:15:53 GMT
Nice thread!
"Holy apemen, Batman ..."
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Post by manfromplanetx on May 21, 2017 3:18:06 GMT
George Segal wears a gorilla suit in a scene from Carl Reiner's Where's Papa? (1970). It has been so long since I saw the movie can't remember why he wears a gorilla suit. Thanks so much gunshotwound ... looks like a great 70s black comedy, got a copy on the way! Apparently George wears the suit to scare his mother , and his brother Ron Leibman also wears the suit to scare off muggers on his way home George Segal (Gorilla) with his mother Ruth Gordon in Where's Poppa? (1970)
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