HOLLYWOOD “STARS” ARRIVED TO-DAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 260, 24 January 1928, Page 13

HOLLYWOOD “STARS” ARRIVED TO-DAY

I FAMOUS CHIMPANZEES MAX, MORITZ, AND AKKA Max, Moritz, and Akka, the three moat famous chimpanzees in the world, had a wretched trip across the Tasman. They were not properly cheered until the,y saw the children on the wharf, and the flowers, bunches and bunches of them, brought as tributes to the “stars,” whose sakir.y and expenses run into £SOO a wesk. Looking after Max and Co. are Messrs. R. Castang and Charles Judge, two Englishmen, who spent a year in Sierra Leone Protectorate, and caught 2" chimpanzees on the border of Liberia, in nets. This wfes in 1920, when influenza was rife, and the disease kill,ed 23 of the monkeys. The remaining six were taken to England, and trained, and Max, Moritz, and Akka are the only survivors. Max and his brethren have appeared before the “crowned heads of Europe,” and played seasons in the Brithish Isles, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Canada, U.S.A., -md Australia. At Hollywood they became "movie stars" for four years, appearing in the Fox and Pathe cofhedies which have made them famous alt over the world. Mr. Castang, who has trained ail kinds of animals, and who controlled the “biggest” animal act ever held at the Hippodrome, New York—a team of 12 performing elephants—says that the chimpanzees are the nost intelligent of the anthropoids. “Gorillas are surly, and orangoutangs are lethargic, but chimpanzees are just happy-g'o-lucky,” said Mr. .Castang this morning. “We call them nature’s comedians.” Max, Moritz,, and Akka arc under engagement to appear at he Regent Theatre, under J. C. Williamson, Ltd., but they will need a day or two to recover from mal de mer. They also need a “bob” before the? appear in public, all being devotees of clipped hair.