Will Cuppy Tonight: "The Gorilla" from "How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes"

"Young Gorillas are friendly but they soon learn."

Having finished up the antecedents of Homo sapiens Tuesday night with "The Modern Man," last night we began the title section of the book, "How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes, or A Monkey a Day," beginning with "The Chimpanzee." Tonight we move on. -- Ken

The Gorilla

AFTER A CHIMP THE GORILLA is a great relief. He is fierce and brutal and is not a mimic. He weighs 450 pounds and is named Bobby. Young Gorillas are friendly but they soon learn. When a banana is placed in a trick box within easy reach the Gorilla will bite the professor's cousin. Guess what that proves. The Gorilla is becoming extinct but there are plenty of professors. In affairs of the heart the male Gorilla is slow but sure. He appears to be stolid and indifferent but that may be part of his system.¹ Believe it or not he is shy. The Gorilla is an introvert. Married females and their children sleep in trees and the male sleeps on the ground. The meaning of this is unknown. The Gorilla could do with more brains. His corpus callosum is not very good but the hippocampus major is O.K. The hallux is fair. Gorillas like sugar-cane, hay, watermelons, ragout of chicken, raw ham, dandelions and lolly pops. They are subject to inflammation of the gums. Female Gorillas are likely to bump into passing objects and have trouble with revolving doors. I am in favor of Gorillas. They live in Africa.²

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¹The Gorilla is said to have hidden depths, but if they are so hidden what good are they? He has small ears, generally a bad sign.
²They have a nasty habit of biting shotguns.


IN TOMORROW NIGHT'S SUNDAY CLASSICS PREVIEW, we take another listen (or two) to music we've already heard, the haunting slow movement of the Brahms First Symphony, targeting a goal that will become clear in Saturday night's preview


SUNDAY IN WILL CUPPY TONIGHT: "The Orang-utan" from How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes, as we continue to work out way through the section "How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes, or A Monkey a Day"

AND NEXT SUNDAY IN RING LARDNER TONIGHT: It's the start of a week of You Know Me Al II -- "The Busher Returns"


THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, BOB AND RAY, E. B. WHITE, JEAN SHEPHERD, and PERELMAN TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

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