Friday, May 12, 2006

Post card #4/ Susie the Famous Graf Zeppelin Gorilla


This card folded out showing three pictures of "Susie" and the following story:

Susie is the first and only trained gorilla in the world. Captured when about six months old, off the west coast of Africa in the Belgian Congo. At the time she weighed twelve pounds.
She was taken to the Riviera in France where she remained for about a year. Then sent to Hanover, Germany for a year. The idea was conceived to send her to America on the Graf Zeppelin when it made it's trip to America. Susie occupied Cabin #1. The Graf landed at Lakehurst, NJ on August 4th 1929.
Susie then made a tour of thirty eight States and parts of Canada. At the time animal experts gave her six months to live however she now stands five feet two inches tall and weighs four hundred and forty pounds.
Susie was purchased by the late R.J. Sullivan of Cincinnati and placed in the Cincinnati Zoo where she is on exhibition the year round to the public. She will be twenty years old August 4th, 1946.

18 comments:

Buckles said...

Joe Lemke also had a "Susie" in his act, a big old sinister looking thing that would go after people. One one such occasion Joe announced that Susie would be punished that very evening.
His helper Marvin told me that Susie's favorite dessert was fruit cocktail and her punishment meant that her portion would not only be with held but placed on a table in open view for the rest of the night.
I was never tempted to get into the monkey business and it has proved to be a wise decision since I now sit at the keyboard with a full set of fingers.

Anonymous said...

How about that old guy in California who had his face and butt ripped off a couple of years back?

Anonymous said...

From Eric:

The 1923 Douglas Fairbanks silent film THE THIEF OF BAGDAD features a large and very evil-looking chimp in some of the sequences. (Doug does NOT have any scenes with the chimp.)

This film also has a prop elephant that many viewers accept as being real.

Anonymous said...

Looks like Susie has a pipe in her mouth, and is that bananas in her hat or is she just happy to make the Blog?

Anonymous said...

No disrespect to "SUSIE" but I have seen this image in the mirror a couple of times. Especially when I need to shave my legs.

Anonymous said...

I heard that Gargantua the Great thought Susie was DA BOMB!!!!!

Anonymous said...

That reminds me,I remember reading where a gorilla toured with one of the Wild West shows during the early 20th century.
They(show owners) wanted to mate the gorilla with a cowboy and show the offspring off in a side show.
I swear I read this.

Anonymous said...

A gorrilla with a cowboy? It's true, they shaved him and he became John, the Duke, Wayne. All true!

Buckles said...

I just received an eMail from Jackie LeClaire listing 10 phrases that have been omitted from Westerns ever since the release of "Breakback Mountain". Only two I remember are "Saddle sores" and "Ridem' Cowboy".

Anonymous said...

Oh great, I guess cowpoking has gone out the window too!

Anonymous said...

I worked at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1962-63 and still heard tales of Susie. Her trainer was Bill Dressman, his wife present a few chimps. The big attraction was Dressman eating with Susie. Like Toto on RBBB, she became a big girl -- over 300 lbs (overweight by todays standards). Crandall's book said she was a little over 16 yrs. old when she died in 1947.

On the same trip the St. Louis Zoo acquired a chimp they called Louie Zep.

Anonymous said...

sounds like one lonesome Cowboy!!

Anonymous said...

also"Let's cut em off at the pass".
probably most over used phrase in the history of cowboy movies.

Anonymous said...

Just reread the Zeppelin landing date of 1929. Susie had to have made it to 19. Maybe spent 16 plus years in Cincinnati.

Anonymous said...

Don't see many working gorillas. Noells had some and most recent I know of was Johnny Lam's.

Anonymous said...

From Eric:

I heard that the sequel to BROKE BACK MOUNTAIN will be called HARD ON THE TRAIL.

Anonymous said...

Jack Badall, who also worked at the L.A. Zoo, had a performing gorilla named Ramar. I saw him work on a TV show long ago. Today Ramar is at the North Carolina Zoo where he has sire a few offspring. Learning a few tricks didn't detract from his other talent.

Anonymous said...

Buckles must e-mail the cowboy piece I sent him this morning to all you cowboys. I get the funniest jokes from my straight laced lady friends.