Evening star., 1940-12-08
Mate Acquired for Gorgontuo,
6OO-Pound Circus Gorilla
Air-Conditioned Cage
Is Awaiting Female
Bought in Cuba

By the Associated Press.
SARASOTA, Fla. Dec. 7-Out in
the big blacksmith shop at the
Ringing Brothers-Barnum & Bailey
Circus winter quarters, they're put
ting the finishing touches on huge,
cleaning. lotion air-c conditioned
cage wagon with big rubber-tir
wheels and glass sides backed by
cFilled-steel bars.
There is lust one other vehicle like
It in the world. The duplicate stands
a few wards away under a closely
guarded tent, and from it there ema-
nate intermittent roars, snarls and
thUmpings.
The occupant and author of the
eerie noises is Gargantua the Great,
the 6-foot, 600-pound, l0year old
African gorilla which has grudgingly
borne the awe-struck gaze of some
100000 people on national tours
the last three years.
The newly constructed cage could
be for only one purpose-to hold
another gorilla, and that's what it's
going to do.
Mate Coming from Cuba.
In a few days, if plans unfold
smoothly. a boat from Cuba will
dlsgorge at Miami more amiable
female gorilla of $50 pounds named
Toto. which for several years has
been thrashing around the Havana
estate of Mrs. Kenneth Hoyt, widow
of an African explorer.
Toto has been bought by the circus
as a mate for Gargantua.
The union-all press-agent super
latives aside-will be epochal in
American geological history. The ac-
QUESTION of a mate is an important
gorilla's: and Gargantuas entry into
the domestic state is unusual because
Gargantua is unusual.
Gorillas thriving in captivity are
rarer than Stradivarius violins. Cap
tured, they die quicker than any
other animal.
There are only about a dozen
gorillas living in captivity in the
world. The number of instances
where they have been transferred
successfully from jungle life to civil
lied surroundings is nearly as small
rs the number Of Gutenberg Bibles.
and the cases are as meticulously
recorded.
A gorilla was brought to Boston
on a ship in May, 1897, and died
five days later. Just before the
World War, Prof. R. L. Garner
tried twice to install small living
gorillas in the New York Zoo. but
both died.
Animal Taken to Apartment.
There had been only six brought
to this country by 1921, when there
arrived the most celebrated up to
Gargantua's time, the famous John
Daniel
John Daniel was probably the
most intelligent animal in his
adaptation to human life. that ever
lived. Captured as a baby in his
native African forests during the
World War, he was sold to a LOW
don department store When he was
2 years old, and weighed only
81 pounds, he was bought by Mai.
Rupert Penny of the R. A. F.. and
taken to live in his London apart
ment
Under the tutelage of the majors
aunt, Miss Alyce Cunningham, an
expert in training apes, John Daniel
fitted in quickly to family life. He
YISai fo
learned to turn on the water fau-
Get when he wanted a drink and
turn 1t off when he was through.
Every night, promptly at 8 o'clock,
he retired to a regular bed and
pulled the covers up over him.
When he was 4 years DID, weighed
112 pounds and stood feet, inches,
he was bought by John Ringing and
brought to New York for the open
ing of the circus season in Madison
Square Garden. He was feted like
a distinguished foreign parsonage
and visited by many celebrities, in
Guiding Jack Dempsey, who re-
marked, II wouldn't fight that bird
for any price"
Sulked and Became iii.
But, separated from Miss Cum
ninghaln, Jonn Daniel got lonely,
sulked and became ILL Gorillas are
close enough to humans in their
makeup that their emotional state
deeply affects their physical we'll
being. Miss Cunningham hurried
across the Atlantic, but before she
arrived, John Daniel died.
She went to Africa and got an
other baby gorilla, John Daniel II,
trained him for a year and brought
him to the circus. Ensconced in
a suite at the McAlpin Hotel in
New York, John Daniel II even
answered the door when visitors
called. Miss Cunningham stayed
with him to take care of him but
he got sick in the middle of the
circus tour and died.
With these two diScouraging eX-
periences, ventures with gorillas
were abandoned. 1t seemed impos-
sible to keep one alive on tour. For
IA years, no one tried it again.
Then John Ringing North, as
Stunning the presidency of the circus
after his uncle died, heard about
Gargantua.