back lot charlie wrote:
The 'gorilla running amok' bit was a circus standard back then- I remember seeing it three separate times at three different circuses (large to small). The most memorable was at a small 'tent' circus in a small midwestern farm town. I would guess 300 people in the audience, tops. When the guy-in-the-suit ran up the center aisle, pandamonium broke loose, and my little brother (who loved monkeys-and still has a pet one) about crapped his pants. I remember that like it was yesterday.


What great fun! The closest I saw to that was a guy who had a few mad lab props on the stage while lightning was projected on the screen behind him. He mixed up something in a flask, drank it, turned his back to the audience, flailed about for a little while as thunder cracked on the looped soundtrack, and then turned around wearing a monster mask and jumped into the audience. He got a similar reaction to the ape gag you saw, Charlie.