December 30, 2011--Cheetah R.I.P.

On his Facebook page, my friend Stan, who is up on more things than anyone I know, posted a notice about the recent death of Cheetah, the chimp who, during the 1930s and 40s, costarred in a number of Tarzan movies. He was seen bounding through the jungle alongside an early Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller, in such classics as Tarzan the Ape Man and Tarzan and His Mate.

Cheetah romped so intelligently beside the King of the Apes and his"mate" Jane, played by Maureen O'Sullivan, that he made them by comparison look, well, primitive. Tarzan, after all, was at his most eloquent when grunting, "Me Tarzan; you Jane."

Playfully snarky as Stan is quite capable of being, not only did he take note of Cheetah's passing, but he also took a gentle swipe at Cheetah's costars. Stan wrote:

Amazing . . . he was alive all this time . . . and one of the best actors in those movies, to be honest. Happy trails, Cheetah!



But like so much else these over-hyped days, the chimp who died down here in Florida at the Suncoast Primate Sancturary in Palm Harbor is unlikely to have been the redoubtable Cheetah since for it to have been the actual movie-star chimp he would have had to be at least 80 years old and chimps in captivity have not been known to live longer than 70. More typical is 40 to 50.

But still, people who knew and revered Cheetah are preferring to accept that the little fellow who died the other day is the real him.

The person who looked after the alleged-Cheetah described him in almost homo sapien terms: "He was very compassionate," said Debbie Cobb, outreach director at Suncoast, "He could tell if I was having a good day or a bad day. He was always trying to get me to laugh. He was very in tune with human feelings."

In the New York Times, she is quoted as claiming that Cheetah was "soothed by Christian music and also enjoyed finger painting and watching football, though she was unsure if he had a favorite team."

Sounds just like half the Florida snowbirds I know.

But, as with all Hollywood legends, there is another side to Cheetah. Mia Farrow, who is Maureen O'Sullivan's daughter, in addition to extending condolences, said that her mom always referred to him as "that bastard" because he bit her at every opportunity.

That's my Cheetah. What a ham!