Zip is the reason I've taken such an interest in our animals!

Once upon a time... years ago... Loraine would often visit the Detroit Zoo with her family. The first place they would head for was the grand Chimpanzee show! The chimps would be dressed in costume... cowboys, fancy dresses as they road their pony around the ring.Bikes, motor scooters... oh my they were all so talented!

Then... one special day... Loraine received a gift from her parents... ZIP! ... her very own baby chimp! This was one of the best gifts ever! After several years of play... Zip became wore out and ended up in stuffed animal heaven.

Zippy is by far the hardest character to find toys from, since he came
to be at the tail end of the Howdy Doody Show's existance.

Zip was a live chimp from the Howdy Doody Show. Due to his popularity, they made toy Zip chimps

The Zip... up above... left side... this zip is about 45 years old (created in the 1950s). About 30 years later the Zip to the right was made (about 1984) by the Dankin Company. Can you see the difference in the two Zip? Both are very cute! Loraine drew the Zip up there with Billy Bear... they are now best friends!

Ed Sullivan, Zippy the Chimp who was a pet of Lee Ecuyer
Carole is holding the hoop for Zippy!

David Letterman and Zip Mar. 19, 1986

Zoos have changed over the years... they have improved on the natural habitat areas for our animals. This makes it nice for us to watch the animals as they would be in the wild. This gives us the chance to see animals we may never have the opportunity to see and watch grow. The Detroit Zoo no longer has these chimpanzee shows, instead their primates have larger areas to live as they would in their natural habitat. Honestly.... Loraine misses watching the cute dressed chimps as they showed off their talents.

More of the Zip family... Chip is smaller, felt ears, no shoes. Tippy is white, red dress, red bow in hair. She is either Zip's girlfriend or sister (I've heard both statements made) hang tag says 1978. A variation of Zip (3rd photo) with Zip on his shirt. Hero Zip in his cape with a big Z on his chest. Zip Puppet, Vinyl MFG painted head with cloth body. Measures about 9" x 8 1/2". Look for the tags and the copyright on shoes (shown below).

The different sizes of Zip

Hang Tag says The Rushton Company    Atlanta, Ga.
Bottom of shoe says Copyright The Rushton Co.

Tag (top left) Hero Zip - (top right) #86 22 inch Zip
(left) Zippy - (right) Tippy

2 button pants on 1950s Zippy

2 button pants on 1960s Zippy

This is what Zip looks like w/o his clothes. *blush*

Hang tag says 1984 Lee Ecuyer Fun Farm by Dakin

50s version Zip wore a hat with Howdy Doody hat. Zip was released again in the 60s (very similar to the one made in the 50s)...and again in the 70s. In the 80s Zip was created by the Dakin Co. (there seems to be a little difference in the face features)

Zip wearing his Howdy Doody hat.

The Boxes of Zippy & Tippy 1978

 

Years later.... I got to hold my first chimpanzee! Oh yes I was happy!
Sure... ever since I had my Zip... I wanted REAL Chimp! Ohhhhhh so badly. But... in learning what it takes to raise a chimp, the care, the expense, where they lived, what they needed to live, I found it so much better to adopt a chimp. You will find places acrosse the states that take in X-pets, X-movie stars, X-astronauts, X-roadside zoos, X-circus animals, X-experimental lab animals...and so on... adoption to help care for our chimps is so much better! Once place I have come to love is Suncoast Primate Sanctuary Foundation Inc
Cheetah Mike lives there... Cheetah...from the ol' Tarzan movies!

 

 

Larger Tippy 22" - Smaller Tippy about 16" in original dress.

Tippy... Zip's Girlfriend Second photo shows 3 of the original outfits that Tippy wore.

Mrs. Rushton decided that Zippy needed a girlfriend... viola... Tippy. The truth comes out... Tippy... aka Snow... is really a "HE" dressed in a dress. "He" was so pretty that they called he "she". Snow lived with Zip, but never became as popular as Zip.

 

One of Zip's Paintings... MORE INFO

 

Sometimes you see this toy listed as Zippy... this is Mr. Bim.
Years later... I got to hold my very first chimp!

 

Willie B was born in Africa in 1958. He is one of the oldest gorillas in captivity. Willie B lived in a cage without any contact with other gorillas for 27 years. In 1988 Atlanta Zoo (The earlier Zips were from Atlanta) opened the Ford African Rain Forest, a large natural habitat area for Willie B and other gorillas. Since then many other zoos have created better habitat areas for our animal friends. ...and most of our animals in the zoos now are born in the states NOT brought in from other countries as they once were.

I remember tossing marshmallows to the polar bears during our visits. Attention is now given to a strict diet so our animals live longer with healthy foods.

You'll see more of Zip and Rozi now that they will become a part of this Zoo journey on this website! We hope you can learn from them.

 

A tidbit about the real Zip Chimp... Zip is a real cutie, based on the remarkable story of monkey born in Africa, brought to live with Bonnie and Lee Ecuyer at 3 months old. He was trained by Lee to eat at a table, brush his teeth, use a fork and spoon, drink from a glass, and even dress himself. He was treated just like any other child. He became famous as a TV performer on Ed Sullivan, Garry Moore, Howdy Doody and other TV shows he appeared on. Books about him, like Zippy Goes To School were printed by Rand McNally Elf Books. Zip comic books also hit the stands.

Zip Movie - Zippy the Chimp Comedies Castle Films No.841 'ZIPPY THE CHIMP - HOT SHOT HERO' 16mm film with box. Complete edition in black and white on 7" reel. Box marked for 'sound or silent' projectors.

Book about Zip by Carole Womack... Zip's mom!

NOTE: Many of the photos you see here on this page... to my SURPRISE...they are included in Carole's book... no credit was given to us. It is a great imfomitive book... if you have the chance... Grab a copy!

Same Photos... what do you think?

There are a few more pages with the photos from this page in the book.

No, no... I did not take the photo of Howdy Doody... it was one of a few I've collected over the years.
Maybe one day I will post more of Zip's photos for you all to see.

 

 

 

Movie to watch...
An Afternoon with Zippy the Chimp - 1988
This lil' clip is of Zippy in his back yard...giggle fun!

Tarzan's Hidden Jungle Movie

Tarzan -- Gordon Scott (the second Tarzaon afterJohnny Weissmuller's retirement), 1955
Zippy played the role of Cheta (along with another chimp named Lucky)
Cheetah, Cheeta, Cheta... you will see many spellings.

I met Cheeta Mike, from who played the role with the first Tarzan!

Cheetah-Mike, a male chimpanzee owned by Suncoast Primate Sanctuary after being donated from Noell's Chimp Farm in Palm Harbor, FL. Alleged to have been born about 1931 (claimed age in February 2008 was 77), 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."

 

GAMES & STUFF

Draw Zip... step by step instructions
Play TicTacToe with Zippy

 

Zip is a bit to old and fragile to travel with us...

We introduce our chimp...
Rozi's Page

Stuffed Animals make GREAT pets!

Rozi is from Axtell's puppets... these chimps were made to appear in the Planet of the Ape movies!

 

Wild Animals do NOT make good pets