CURIOUS GEORGE

THE MAN IN THE YELLOW HAT
THIS HERE GIRAFFE
DO YOU REALIZE?
FIGHT TEST
ZAIREEKA
THE SOFT BULLETIN
A BAG OF POPCORN, A BARREL OF MONKEYS

THE MAN IN THE YELLOW HAT

In the early days when Curious was kicking it in the jungle, he crossed paths with a man in a tall yellow hat. Curious tried to get an angle on this new stranger, but only found his infamous hat in a clearing. As Curious as he is, he rushed in without much hestitaion, taking the bait the man had left. The yellow-hatted man swooped in, placed his hat upon his head and whisked Curious off the land of big shiny things. You might think that Curious was angry about being duped and taken from his natural home, but he wasn't. He lived for adventure and if someone was willing to bring him along, all the better.

THIS HERE GIRAFFE

Kids everywhere have been living vicariously through George and his wacky adventures. He did all the crazy things kids wish they could do and the coolest thing about George was that no matter the trouble he found himself in, he always came out of it with a new friend. As a matter of fact, Curious started first by tagging along with another character before he got his own book.

DO YOU REALIZE?

Curious first appeared in a book with eight other wacky monkeys and a giraffe named Cecily G (originally known as Rafi). Soon after it was clear that Curious was a stand-out and the clever monkey was deserving of his own stories. So creators Margret and Hans Augusto Rey wrote him his first solo story, naming him and the book Curious George.

FIGHT TEST

Times were tough back when Margret and Hans Augusto Rey set upon the idea of first writing and publishing a Curious George book. You see, it was 1940 and they were in Paris. A great city, but a bad year to be there. They had to flee the advancing Nazis bent on destroying most of Europe. Arriving safely in New York with the manuscript intact, the first Curious George book was published only a year later by Houghton Mifflin in 1941.

ZAIREEKA

"He was a good little monkey and always very curious..." This little monkey is an international ambassador of mischief. All seven of the Curious George books have been published around the world in nearly a dozen different languages.

THE SOFT BULLETIN

This article, written just prior to Margret Reys' death, came from The Times Picayune Newspaper: Before Curious George, there was Zozo the chimp. Or was it Coco? As she turns 90, Margret Rey can be excused for forgetting the particulars. "It was something very foolish. One of those cutesy names," Rey said in a recent interview, retelling the story of how the children's classic about a naughty monkey came into being. The seven Curious George books have sold 12.5 million copies. An anthology of the seven-issued last year, "The Complete Adventures of Curious George," is in its second printing. After their marriage, she and her husband, Hans Augusto Rey, settled in Paris, where they collaborated on the 1939 book "Rafi et les Neuf Singes" (translates to: Rafi and the Nine Monkeys). One of the "Nine Monkeys" of the title was a prototype for George. They fled France in 1940, just ahead of Nazi forces, and moved to the United States. Houghton Mifflin Co. bought "Curious George" during their first week in the United States. It was published in 1941, and the Reys wrote seven Curious George books over the next 25 years. "He became very much a figure of his own. He knew what he could do and couldn't do. He became a person," Margret Rey said. The Zozo or Coco chimp she is referring to is none other than Koko the Gorilla, another T-Shirt King favorite.

A BAG OF POPCORN, A BARREL OF MONKEYS

Curious George has been adapted into a animated television series in the early 80's, but has yet to get his own major motion picture deal. Now with the increased interest in animated films like, "Finding Nemo" and the "Toy Story" films, Universal has been trying to get a Curious George film up on the silver screen. Ron Howard, who also directed "The Grinch", is the major drive behind the idea and with any luck audiences the world over will finally get to see their favorite monkey dancing across the big screen sometime in the couple of years. "In the president's office George had to sign a contract. Now he was a movie actor!"