Gorilla suits or ape suits are full-bodied costumes resembling gorillas or other large primates.
Gorillas are a source of awe and horror, but also humor. The common gorilla suit is a popular Halloween and masquerade party costume. It has extensive use in media, sometimes to symbolize a "real" gorilla. It may be used for as gag in which a character wears a gorilla suit, and at some point, becomes entangled with the real thing.
The early history of the art of gorilla impersonation dates at least to the late 1920s, with the rise of Charles Gemora, an early practitioner of the art in such short films as Circus Lady and the Our Gang entry Bear Shooters. In later decades, in addition to abounding in B movies such as Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, the gorilla suit came to prominence in television, in a wide range of series, from 1960s sitcoms like The Addams Family and The Beverly Hillbillies, which typically attempted to present their gorillas as "real," to more recent series such as L.A. Law and Scrubs, which have contrived to have regular characters don the primate costume.
In 1869, Noah Brooks' short story , "Mr. Columbus Coriander's Gorilla" appeared in Bret Harte's "Overland Monthly Magazine." The story concerned a young man employed at a menagerie dressed in a gorilla suit. It is mistakenly credited to Max Adeler.
Gorilla suits are recognized through National Gorilla Suit Day, January 31. The holiday was concocted by MAD cartoonist Don Martin in a 1964 paperback Don Martin Bounces Back!. The most notable story in the tome revolves around a hapless fellow named Fester Bestertester, who dares to mock the concept of National Gorilla Suit Day and is thus repeatedly pummeled by gorillas. The holiday was recently promoted on comic book writer Mark Evanier's news from me blog until Don Martin's widow request that all references to the holiday be removed in late 2007.
Gorilla suit performance involves pantomime, wearing a heavy costume, broad physical comedy skills, and a partial suspension of disbelief, while still playing on the very artifice involved. In this respect, gorilla suits are not far removed from puppetry. Jim Henson utilized typical gorilla suits, and never a full-bodied gorilla Muppet, in several productions. The person inside the gorilla suit is often uncredited.
In recent decades, the work of performers or designers have altered the mechanics and effect of gorilla suits, often using animatronics, taxidermy eyes, realistic fur, and other aides. Jim Henson's Creature Shop has contributed to this development in its own way, through work on Buddy and George of the Jungle, and many suit performers of Henson creatures portrayed gorillas in other productions.
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