How many of you remember watching J. Fred Muggs on TV?? Do you even know who he is??
I was a little kid. Six years old when J. Fred Muggs first appeared on the Today show. The Today show wasn't doing well in the ratings. When the network added Fred, he made the difference and the Today show took off. I have read that Dave Garroway HATED Fred. I can kind of see that attitude. Dave wasn't a good enough host to win an audience so they had to add a chimp to get your audience going. That would be humiliating!😁
Some of the things I remember hearing about J. Fred Muggs when I was a kid were Fred was exceptionally intelligent for a chimp and also had a nasty personality.
-
Just for curiosity I Googled J. Fred Muggs. He was born in Cameroon, Africa in 1952 and was still alive at the start of 2022. I'm pretty sure if Fred is still alive that makes him 70 years old but I might be wrong because I didn't use Common Core Math. 🤣
3 -
Median life expectancy for a wild chimp is about 33 years. 70 is fairly remarkable even for a captive chimp. I know of one zoo chimp that lived to 72. He retired from acting in 1975, so has enjoyed 47 years of retired indolence. I aspire to that, but I doubt I will live another 34 years, maybe if you all toast my health. Drink up guys and gals!
0 -
Him and Kukla Fran and Ollie....
0 -
dose not ring a bell 🤨
but Tv would do any thing for ratings but being on a talk show my parents never watched any of them if it was not country western with few exceptions we did not watch it us kids did take over when it came to cartoons and kid shows
I do remember seeing Kukla Fran and ollie few times .
also remember bunny rabbit on capt kangaroo, and seems like a few more puppets but I can't remember there names
sorry I had to look up Fred
J. Fred Muggs - Wikipedia
J. Fred Muggs (born March 14, 1952) is a chimpanzee born in the African colony of French Cameroon that forms part of modern-day Cameroon. Brought to New York City before his first birthday, he was bought by two former NBC pages and eventually appeared on a host of television shows on that network including NBC's Today Show where he served as mascot from 1953 to 1957.0 -
Chimps were made pretty famous in the 60's. From Judy the chimp on Daktari to Debbie the bloop in Lost In Space. Even NASA had a hand in making them famous; A Brief History of Chimps in Space | Discover Magazine
0 -
I remember J Fred Muggs and I remember standing outside the studio window wall watching a live broadcast one day. Periodically they would scan the window wall showing the people on the outside looking in.
0 -
Itcdoty-Burr Tillstrom, Fran Allison and of course Madame Oglepuss🤣
3 -
Did you know Fred's girlfriend was Phoebe B. Beebe??
0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
8 comments