"Gargantua" |
Friday, September 02, 2016
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4 comments:
I was lucky to have seen him late in the season of '49. He had become so ill, he was entirely inactive, and slumped in a heap in the corner of his cage. He died on closing day, in Miami. Read in CIRCUS DOCTOR, of Doc Henderson's season-long distress in wanting to examine and diagnose an animal so dangerous he couldn't get near him. Continue reading for Doc's findings from the autopsy.
I rather suspect that this photo was "doctored" by the PR Department to make old "Gargy" look more sinister than he appeared in real life.
Oh, he looks frightening alright.
As a youngster, Gargantua was being transported on a steamer. Somewhere in mid-ocean, a crewman got it in for the captain and decided one way to get back at him was to damage his cargo. He threw acid in the young gorilla's face, causing scarring about his mouth that resulted in the lip-curling of a permanent sneer. So Gargantua needed no help from Roland Butler to look menacing, but in his artwork, as we see, Mr. Butler carried this feature to his customary extreme.
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