Gargantua (gorilla) - Circus Attraction

Circus Attraction

Ringling bought Buddy from Mr Lintz (for less than $10,000) and renamed him "Gargantua" at his wife's suggestion. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, in financial problems after the Great Depression, heavily advertised their newest attraction. Their extravagant claims included:

• "The Largest Gorilla Ever Exhibited!"
• "The World's Most Terrifying Living Creature!"
• "The Largest and Fiercest Gorilla Ever Brought Before the Eyes of Civilised Man!"
• "The Only Full-Grown Gorilla Ever Seen On This Continent!"

Regardless of the truth of these slogans, Gargantua attracted millions and single-handedly saved the circus.

A special cage was built for Gargantua by The Crane Company. It was air-tight and air conditioned, designed to keep Gargantua in and the spectators' diseases out.

His first public appearance was in April 1938 and was recorded by Time Magazine:

Appearing as Display No. 14 on the 26-item program, Gargantua was hauled round & round the Garden in a heavily barred, thickly glassed, air-conditioned wagon drawn by six white horses. Stocky & truculent, he stared menacingly out of his cage, was characterized by Frank Buck as "the most ferocious, most terrifying and most dangerous of all living creatures."

Gargantua stole the show.

Gargantua's supposed aggression and violence were emphasized in the Circus' publicity. For example, Time Magazine also wrote this earlier in the same year:

"Gargantua the Great, wrote Gargantuan Columnist Heywood Broun three weeks ago, "is the fiercest looking thing I have ever seen on two legs. And probably his power and truculence were all the more impressive because he did look a good deal like a distant relative. No one was allowed to go close to his cage, because Gargantua can reach about five feet through the bars and get a toe hold on a visitor whom he dislikes." Gargantua may not be the world's biggest captive gorilla—since the death of Berlin Zoo's monster, many zoos have claimed that honor for their gorillas—but he is one of the most vindictive. Last week the circus' executive vice president, young John Ringling North, nephew of the late John ("Three-Ring") Ringling, was inspecting the circus' Sarasota, Fla. winter quarters. Imprudently disregarding warning signs, he leaned against the bars of Gargantua's cage to rest. Gargantua reached through, got no toe hold but wrenched Circusman North's left arm into the cage, bit & wrung it until Trainer Richard Kroner, pounding the gorilla with an iron stake, distracted its slow attention.

In 1941, he was paired with another gorilla, Toto (short for Mitoto or M'Toto), who was advertised as "Mrs Gargantua". Nothing ever came of the relationship, however, and both lived in separate cages.