Cheeta (sometimes billed as Cheetah, Cheta, or Chita) is a chimpanzee character that appeared in numerous Hollywood Tarzan films of the 1930s–1960s, as well as the 1966–1968 television series, as the ape sidekick of the title character, Tarzan. Cheeta has usually been characterized as male, but sometimes as female, and has been portrayed by chimpanzees of both sexes.

While the character of Cheeta is inextricably associated in the public mind with Tarzan, no chimpanzees appear in the original Tarzan novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs that inspired the films. The closest analog to Cheeta in the Burroughs novels is Tarzan's monkey companion Nkima, who appears in several of the later books in the series.

Role

Cheeta's role in the Tarzan films and TV series is to provide comic relief, convey messages between Tarzan and his allies, and occasionally lead Tarzan's other animal friends to the ape-man's rescue.

Portrayers of the character

The character of Cheeta was a composite role created through the use of numerous animal actors, over a dozen according to one source. || Tony Gentry<br />Dan Westfall || Tony Gentry || 2007, 2014; 1930s–1950s claimed

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More details about these performers:

  • Jiggs, a male chimpanzee born about 1929 owned and trained by Tony and Jacqueline Gentry, originated the role and appeared in the first two Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films, Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) and Tarzan and His Mate (1934), as well as the Tarzan serials Tarzan the Fearless (1933), starring Buster Crabbe, and The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935), starring Herman Brix, which was also released in feature-film form as Tarzan and the Green Goddess (1938). In the Brix films, which were more faithful to Edgar Rice Burroughs' original stories than the Weissmuller ones, Jiggs was cast as Nkima, not Cheeta. He also appeared in the Laurel and Hardy film Dirty Work (1933), and Her Jungle Love (1938), starring Dorothy Lamour, his last film. Jiggs died on February 28, 1938 or with Mr. Jiggs, an orangutan who appeared in The Jungle Book (1942) and numerous other films, that was retired in May, 1943.
  • Jacky I, a male chimpanzee owned by Gertrude Davies Lintz for two years before appearing with Johnny Weissmuller in the latter's first Tarzan film
  • Cheetah-Mike (also known as Org) was a male chimpanzee owned by Suncoast Primate Sanctuary after being donated from Noell's Chimp Farm in Palm Harbor, Florida. to have been acquired from the estate of Johnny Weissmuller in 1957, and to have been "one of the original 'Cheetahs' from Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan movies." It has been speculated that this chimpanzee, if he indeed has any connection to Weissmuller, may actually have come from a Florida tourist attraction the actor once launched that included chimpanzees, rather than having appeared in any of his Tarzan films. According to journalist Andrew Woods, this Cheeta was also known as Org. He died in Palm Harbor, Florida, of kidney failure on December 24, 2011.
  • Jiggs, Jr. (also known as Jiggs II) was a male chimpanzee born about 1935 owned and trained by Tony and Jacqueline Gentry, alleged to have appeared in a number of Tarzan films and possibly other movies. possibly the same as the above. This Cheeta's last film was presumably Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943), as the first film of its successor was Tarzan and the Amazons (1945).
  • Jacky III was a male chimpanzee formerly owned by Gertrude Davies Lintz, that appeared "in the 'Tarzan' film released in early 1942" (presumably Tarzan's Secret Treasure, released December 1, 1941, or Tarzan's New York Adventure, released in May 1942). so presumably this Cheeta played in these films and the intervening Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948); Antonucci himself was stated to be slated for an acting role in the next Tarzan film, to be titled Tarzan and the Golden Lion, presumably a working title for the actual next film in the series, Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950), but if so, his role was uncredited or performed under a stage name. Whether he continued to serve as Cheeta's handler in that film, or indeed whether "his" Cheeta was the one who appeared in it, is unknown.
  • Harry was a male chimpanzee born about 1944, possibly the same as the above, stated to be playing Cheeta in the Tarzan films in May, 1948.
  • Cheeta was a chimpanzee owned and trained by Pinky Jackson, who made personal appearances in promotion of the Tarzan films at six Sidney Lust theaters in Maryland in early December, 1950. Possibly, he was the Cheeta that appeared in the then-current Tarzan film, Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950), or may have been retained only for the promotional appearances.
  • Cheeta, a female chimpanzee born about 1948 owned by Ed Rogers, is stated to have appeared in 42 films, including Tarzan films as Cheeta and the television program Truth or Consequences as Beaulah. She died at age 9 on September 6, 1957, in Cypress, California, shot by deputy sheriffs after breaking out of her cage, attacking her owner, and charging at a group of children.
  • Zippy was a male chimpanzee born about 1951, owned and trained by Ralph Quinlan, and is stated to have appeared as Cheeta in Tarzan films of the mid-1950s, including the Gordon Scott film Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955). both movies were filmed in 1965. She bit Mike Henry, the actor playing Tarzan, during the filming of the latter, after which she was put down; Henry later sued the producers for this incident and other unsafe working conditions on his three Tarzan films.
  • Cheetah was the chimpanzee appearing with Ron Ely in the 1966–1968 Tarzan TV series, said to be the only trained animal on the show.
  • C.J., a male orangutan, is stated to have played Cheeta in the 1981 remake Tarzan, the Ape Man, and (more famously) Clyde in the 1978 Clint Eastwood film Every Which Way But Loose; however, the Clyde role has elsewhere been attributed to Manis, a different orangutan.
  • Cheeta (also known as Jiggs IV) was a male chimpanzee born about 1960, formerly owned by Tony Gentry and had resided at the C.H.E.E.T.A. Primate Sanctuary (Creative Habitats and Enrichment for Endangered and Threatened Apes) in Palm Springs, California. He was claimed by Gentry to have been born in 1932 or later in the 1930s, and to have portrayed Cheeta in most of the Johnny Weissmuller and Lex Barker Tarzan films, and for that reason long celebrated as the longest-lived chimpanzee on reaching the supposed age of 64 in 1996 (chimpanzees typically live to be 35 in the wild). Both claims were debunked by journalist R. D. Rosen in 2008 in an article that settled the animal's true age and established that he had not appeared in any movies, let alone in the role of Cheeta. and the documentary See No Evil in 2014. According to journalist Andrew Woods, who "interviewed" this Cheeta in 2008, his "offstage" name was Jiggs IV. Other accounts of Cheeta's origins from Gentry include having found the animal himself in the Belgian Congo in 1932 or having bought him in Santa Monica about 1938 or in the late 1940s. This would have gien Jiggs IV a film career as Cheeta extending from 1934 to 1953, a period prior to his actual birth, and during which several other chimpanzees are known to have portrayed the character. Journalist R. D. Rosen, who investigated this story, stated that Jiggs IV never in fact appeared in any Tarzan film.

His birthdays, calculated from the date of his supposed 1932 arrival in the United States, were regularly celebrated. In 2006, coinciding with his "74th" birthday, Cheeta received an award for his supposed film career from the International Film Festival of Peñíscola Comedy. Later that year, the 4 October 2006, edition of the Palm Springs newspaper, The Desert Sun, reported that he had received his first-ever visit from famed primatologist Jane Goodall the previous day. His "75th" birthday was covered by National Geographic.

Since 2004, unsuccessful attempts have been made to secure a star for Cheeta on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and as of 2008, filmmaker Matt Devlen was continuing the effort. Attempting for the seventh time to get a sidewalk star, the handlers of Cheeta/Jiggs IV launched an online petition to get supporters to urge the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to give a star in 2009. The petition was unsuccessful.

Influences

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The character of Chemistry, from the Doc Savage stories, is said to have been inspired by Cheeta.

See also

  • List of individual apes

References

Further reading

  • "Jesse" http://www.northernrhodesia.org/boma/Jesse
  • "Cheetah dead at 80, but was chimp really Tarzan's sidekick?" https://web.archive.org/web/20120107225927/http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Cheetah%2Bdead%2Bchimp%2Breally%2BTarzan%2Bsidekick/5922661/story.html