Jimmy the Chimp

Jimmy was born in Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique) around 1952. He was recruited from the wild by John Calvert to appear in his ‘white hunter’ epic Dark Venture – made on location in 1953, but not released until 1956.

After the making of Dark Venture Jimmy accompanied Calvert and his actress wife Anne Cornell back to California where he settled into his own studio apartment on Wonderland Park Avenue in the Hollywood Hills. Here Jimmy led a pampered existence, hobnobbing with Hollywood royalty, terrorising the servants, and getting into some bad habits.
 

In 1957 Jimmy set sail with Calvert and entourage on a tour of the Pacific in the luxury yacht Sea Fox. The tour’s first port-of-call was Honolulu where Calvert put on a number of shows. From there, they sailed to Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and finally to Darwin in June 1959.

Jimmy was not much of a sailor. By now he was a young male adult, not fully grown but a handful at 140cms and 120kgs – much stronger than any full-grown man. One crew member recalled Jimmy’s behaviour on the Singapore-Darwin leg. One day when ‘taking the air’ Jimmy slipped his leash and bit his handler who took off over the side. Jimmy then chased the pilot out of the wheelhouse and set about hunting down the rest of the crew, all the time ignoring Calvert’s commands. Calvert beat Jimmy with a flagpole, hitting him about ten times before the chimp dropped to the deck whimpering. He was quickly put back in his cage.
 

John Calvert (1911-2013) was always interested in magic, performing tricks at school and taking his first show on the road when only 18 years old.

As Calvert’s star rose, he developed an acting career, appearing as debonair detective “The Falcon”. He also wrote, directed and produced a number of feature films, most notably Dark Venture, which was released in 1956.

But Calvert was a showman – confident, pushy, and brash – and for another half century he toured the world, firstly in a DC3 aircraft and then in a series of luxury yachts, including the Sea Fox.

Calvert was also a great self-promoter and sometimes it was hard to tell if his stories were true. His claim that Jimmy was Cheetah in the Johnny Weissmuller ‘Tarzan’ movies was certainly not true. The last of the Tarzan films was released in 1948, several years before Jimmy was born.
 

Jimmy, Calvert, and the Sea Fox’s entourage arrived in Darwin early in June 1959. Unfortunately, Jimmy could not come ashore as quarantine officers warned that he would be put down.

Calvert could see that this was going to be an ongoing problem in Australia and so he arranged with Taronga Park Zoo to take Jimmy when they arrived in Sydney. The zoo was delighted to receive a young male chimpanzee.

Calvert had already put around the story that Jimmy was Tarzan’s Cheetah (not true!) and now his star attraction was confined to ship. Undeterred, Calvert implemented a contingency plan – he drove a car blind-folded around Darwin streets. The stunt was a great hit and people flocked to see Calvert’s magic shows at the Town Hall.

Despite this apparent success, Calvert was feeling the pinch. When billed for his laundry, he quipped that he might have to marry the washerwoman.

Although something of a rogue, Calvert endeared himself to Darwin people by also putting on a free show at the Channel Island Leprosarium. Residents were said to be ‘baffled’ by Calvert’s magic.
 

The Sea Fox and its motley crew sailed from Darwin on 30 June, bound for Sydney, but trouble soon struck. In the Arafura Sea the yacht started taking on water and the pumps failed. Calvert sent out a distress signal.

Unfortunately, he could not give his exact location because of a faulty sextant. A huge air-sea operation was mounted. An area of some 32,000 square miles of ocean was searched by a number of RAAF planes. After a few days, HMAS Emu was directed to the stricken yacht and she was towed to Elcho Island.

Then the fun began.

The Sea Fox was a luxury yacht, said to have once been owned by Edsel Ford, son of car pioneer Henry Ford. But the Sea Fox had seen better days. Having been towed to Elcho Island, the yacht was beached, but when the tide went out, the yacht promptly fell onto its side and cracked a number of ribs.

Calvert and entourage flew to Darwin and then on to Sydney. Jimmy and the Sea Fox were left at Elcho. Sir Edward Hallstrom of Taronga Park Zoo flew to Elcho to retrieve Jimmy. Sir Edward described Jimmy as a fine chimp but he would need some reforming – no more drinking and only the occasional cigarette.

The Sea Fox was repaired by the king of salvage, Carl Atkinson, who then sailed the yacht back to Darwin. Almost inevitably there was a dispute between Atkinson and Calvert over costs, so Atkinson claimed the yacht and then sold it on. For many years the Sea Fox sat on the beach at Doctors Gully, but in 1964 it was burnt by the new owners and its lead ballast recovered.
 

The arrival of Jimmy and Calvert on Elcho Island excited the locals. They were astounded by a man who could make things disappear before their eyes, but for most Jimmy was the star of the “monkey ship”. There was even talk of creating a “monkey ship” corroboree.

When photographer Douglas Baglin visited the island in the late 1960s, people were still talking about the “monkey ship” and its fantastical creatures. By this stage both Jimmy and the “monkey ship” had entered the local rock art repertoire.

Another 25 years on, Jimmy was still an amusing memory for locals. Robert Hillman (Gurrumul, 2013) tells of a conversation between Gurrumul and his father Mark. Mark called Gurrumul on his mobile to tell him there was a mutual friend down on the beach. ‘Who’s that?’ asked Gurrumul. ‘You’ll never guess. Very famous fella.’ ‘Famous fella? Who’s that?’  ‘Jimmy the Monkey.’

Jimmy spent three years at Taronga Park Zoo from 1959 to 1962. The zoo hoped he would contribute to its breeding program, but Jimmy was highly socialised and was not interested in mating. He was still a big hit with visitors. The story that Jimmy was actually Tarzan’s Cheetah was widely believed, and Jimmy was also an eccentric in his own way – smoking, drinking and flirting.

Being a failure in the breeding stakes, Jimmy was transferred to Perth Zoo in 1962. Here he had his own ‘birdcage’ enclosure and was the centre of attention. Today many contributors to the zoo’s Facebook page still remember Jimmy fondly. Jimmy continued his smoking, often encouraged by visitors, and in May 1968 he passed away at only 16 years of age. A post mortem revealed the cause of death to be a heart attack.

Jimmy’s body was offered to the Western Australian Museum. A preparator made a death mask and then Jimmy was skinned and de-fleshed. The top of his skull was taken off and the brain removed. Today, his death mask and skull survive in the collection.