I recently came across FelixinHollywood's sensational posting about RKO's 1931 film sensation INGAGI about an ape-worshipping tribe of savages, their half breed furry children and the white safari leaders who saved a beauty from the beast. Turns out it was all just SAFARI-SPLOITATION 1930s style...a film posing as a documentary using old footage and filmed at LA's (now defunct) Selig Zoo. Despite their highly publicized "embarassment" over the fraudulent taboo travelogue, RKO knew that movie goers would never fully shake their jungle fever. They created KING KONG and its sequel SON OF KONG which spawned MIGHTY JOE YOUNG and all the remakes with blonde starlets getting fingered by the big guy.
Audiences will always pay to see untamed lust and unnamed desire. Whether it's in the form of Germany's answer to Bardot as LIANE the JUNGLE GODDESS (1959)
or BO Derek getting her boob sucked by a chimp in 1980's TARZAN the Ape Man.
For myself and many other pre-adolescent gay boys watching TV reruns, the idea of being carried away by Tongo the Ape Man on Gilligan's Island was an ideal scenario. That lucky bitch, Ginger!
American television director David McDearmon (1914 - 1979) (left) talks to actor Bob Denver (1935 - 2005) (right) on the set of the episode 'Our Vines have Tender Apes' (broadcast January 30, 1967) of the CBS sitcom 'Gilligan's Island' as guest star Denny Miller (as Tongo the ape man) and regular cast member Tina Louise stand in the background, Studio City, California, November 16, 1966. (Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)
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And speaking of SON OF KONG, Have you seen SON OF GILLIGAN ??!! It's uncanny !
