Origin of tiki monkey

i bought this pack o' fez monkey swizzle sticks about 20 years ago. Still have a few. There's one on my home bar as we speak:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Accoutrements-Cocktail-Swizzles-Plastic-Monkey-With-Fez-Swizzle-Stir-Sticks-/401707451517

Hamo wrote:
I have Robert's print of Groucho Marx in a fez, which beats a monkey (or a mole) in a fez hands down.

There is no doubt Groucho Marx wearing a Fez beats a monkey in Fez.

I pray the Tiki gods welcome Fez Groucho into the pantheon of Tiki idols.

Yeahhhh, I don't know where/when the whole monkeys in tiki started. It does seem to be a thing though. I'm guessing they will be accepted into the canon of what is a tiki bar by the present set of tiki bar establishments and patrons (along with an assortment of other non-tiki things).

I am partial to monkeys and the whole jungle aesthetic.
I do not have monkeys in my home tiki bar/lounge.
I do have a coconut monkey lamp in my home office.
I do make coconut monkey lamps (for fun & profit) occasionally.
But, yeah, have to agree: monkeys are not tiki.

Could it be that the problem with newer tiki bars that incorporate monkeys (fezzes, parrots, etc. etc.) is mostly about the bar not being Tiki enough in the first place? If the bars that are currently found wanting were actually perfect in every other way, but had one lone monkey (wearing a fezz on which a parrot was resting) in the corner somewhere, would we even have this thread?

Are the monkeys just symptomatic of the whole "tiki devolution" trend?

I wonder how much of the monkey-fezz-parrot issue is merely a byproduct of bars wanting to cash in on the tiki trend without spending the time to do their homework (or not having budgets to do so)?

Hey show some of your Coconut Monkey lamps that sounds cool!

"If the bars that are currently found wanting were actually perfect in every other way, but had one lone monkey (wearing a fezz on which a parrot was resting) in the corner somewhere, would we even have this thread?"

See the Kahiki had "tiki" lots of it from Mexico, and it by itself was not that great, but altogether it was great.

"Are the monkeys just symptomatic of the whole "tiki devolution" trend?"

I think yes.
It's all getting away from realistic and going towards cartoony.

On 2019-05-15 12:47, TheBigT wrote:

I wonder how much of the monkey-fezz-parrot issue is merely a byproduct of bars wanting to cash in on the tiki trend without spending the time to do their homework (or not having budgets to do so)?

Hahaha. It's funny you should say that. You should see what's going on over on Facebook right at this moment. Someone posted pictures of the new bar "The Lost Lei" in Austin, TX and it is a straight rip-off of Three Dots and a Dash, using counterfeit mug designs of theirs and one of Crazy Al's and also aspects of the interior.

Have always wondered what is ok to "rip" off.

Tikiboob can and has been ripped off to death.
Shag is a definite no no that people will flip out over.

If you don't make your own style you won't be timeless.
When you see a Bosko you know it's his work.

Always felt that if you are doing the rip off for your own home or self, that's not so bad, but if you start selling your version of the idea that somebody else came up with that helps them take money away from you with your creation.

There was a guy that ripped off Wayne Coombs style that not much was ever said about on TC, and I think that guy worked for and Wayne even showed him how to do it.
There's a nice thank you all wrapped up in F-you.
But many did not care for Wayne till he died so it was overlooked.

It seams to depend also on who is doing the rip off and who is being ripped off, it helps to be connected.

So steal my ideas at will nobody will say anything.

They say originality is in the ability
to hide your resources.
May be.

[ Edited by: Will carve 2019-05-16 06:23 ]

[ Edited by: Will carve 2019-05-16 06:24 ]

Somewhat, but it's what you do with the influences you see.
It's all about the twist you put on it as lots of it has been done already.

I have asked people if I could use an idea from a painting they did and wanted to make a light like the one they painted, (never did make it)
But give the art that inspired you credit when you use their idea.

And lots of times we have no idea who did it at all.

The Kahiki guys went to other tiki bars at the time and made their version of what they saw and did a great job, with their own twist.
AND said they went to those bars and got ideas.

Have had more than a few of the ideas I have come up with and the people go, "oh I have never seen your lights" a long time TCer.
Or "I made that years ago", yet there is no TC post of it.

Not s big deal but it kinda burns your butt after awhile, yer not getting rich you might as well get some credit for what you do/did.

I guess in time like the fez Chimp it will be so old that nobody will remember who did what. (see I got on topic right there)
But then that is part of what TC does is document who did what/when.

If it was left up to Tiki news, Tiki Mag, Tiki Mag and more, and that new tiki Mag or even the books written so many of the other tiki stuff/art would be left out and never documented.

"and that new tiki Mag" so did that bug you a bit to be called "that new tiki Mag"
See that's how it feels.

On 2019-05-15 12:58, tikiskip wrote:
Hey show some of your Coconut Monkey lamps that sounds cool!

Talk about derivative/ripoff... I didn't make the monkey. I didn't make the lamp. I just put the two together. I didn't even have this idea first. I saw someone else do it a long time ago and thought it was really cool. LOL

Makes a cool lamp though.

Good job.

I like the coconut sailors you got there too.
You should start a coconut Monkey/other thread.

Lots of people here collect them, I pass on them all the time and see lots.

On 2019-05-16 12:17, tikiskip wrote:
Good job.

I like the coconut sailors you got there too.
You should start a coconut Monkey/other thread.

Lots of people here collect them, I pass on them all the time and see lots.

thanks! I buy them when i run into one that i think is cool (and cheap). :D :D

We actually have a couple of the coconut pirate heads hanging from the ceiling in the home bar.

the coconut thread..... i like it!

TheBigT wrote:

We actually have a couple of the coconut pirate heads hanging from the ceiling in the home bar.

All I ever find are coconut monkeys. I'd love to find a coconut pirate.

On 2019-05-15 12:47, TheBigT wrote:
Could it be that the problem with newer tiki bars that incorporate monkeys (fezzes, parrots, etc. etc.) is mostly about the bar not being Tiki enough in the first place? If the bars that are currently found wanting were actually perfect in every other way, but had one lone monkey (wearing a fezz on which a parrot was resting) in the corner somewhere, would we even have this thread?

Considering that a LOT of people, myself included, first encountered Tiki through a quartet of parrots singing 1930's Big Band tunes... Yeah, I think the parrots are a lost cause of Tiki purists.

I think parrots are shunned by some on TC because of the Jimmy Buffet connection.
People were really wanting one of the Bahooka parrots.

And all those things don't ruin a tiki bar if just a few are there, but then I don't think a coconut monkey would have worked in the Kahiki.
Parrots were in the Kahiki.

Maybe a code for a whack tiki bar, or just be honest when you do a review of one next time that would work.

Damn five pages on this little topic.

Last year at Tiki Oasis I did a symposium about the South Seas on film. I showed a clip from Hell Ship Mutiny (1957) where the white sailors approach a Polynesian village and see that the natives have what appears to be a giant carved coconut monkey as their God. I am assuming the coconut monkey tourist carving came before 1957 and the Art Director used it as inspiration.

Rongo

bongofury wrote:
Last year at Tiki Oasis I did a symposium about the South Seas on film. I showed a clip from Hell Ship Mutiny (1957) where the white sailors approach a Polynesian village and see that the natives have what appears to be a giant carved coconut monkey as their God. I am assuming the coconut monkey tourist carving came before 1957 and the Art Director used it as inspiration.

Rongo

Now I am curious when carved coconut monkeys first appeared in film and popular media. I wouldn't have expected to see them in a movie from 1957. Does anyone have earlier references?

tikiskip wrote:
Damn five pages on this little topic.

This is clearly an important topic.

"I wouldn't have expected to see them in a movie from 1957. Does anyone have earlier references?"

I was thinking the same thing.
Wonder if these were early souvenir items.

That would make them tiki indeed.

Just not my style.

Not sure how helpful this is, but there's a whole thread around coconut monkeys here: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=16376&forum=5. Some of the posts in that thread push the phenomenon back to the 1930s (but no indication I saw of when they started popping up in movies or tropical-themed bars).

There is some evidence coconut monkeys were appearing in tropical-themed bars by no later than 1953, if the provenance around the photos I posted in this thread is accurate: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=52658&forum=2&13. That said, I suspect (based on no evidence other than my own hunch) they appeared in tropical bars much earlier than that.

Edit: Thanks Scott for the assist with the link!

[ Edited by: HotelCharlieEcho 2019-06-04 11:47 ]

Thank you HotelCharlieEcho for those links!

The first link didn't work for me until I shortened it to http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=16376&forum=5.

I was startled to find a post from me in the first thread. I'm happy to say, I still have the coconut monkey I liberated 13 or so years ago. In addition, I have our bar tab from that night. I had stuffed it into the monkey as we snuck out of the bar with our purloined goods.

Edit: added link to my post.

[ Edited by: Scott McGerik 2019-06-02 18:30 ]

[ Edited by: Scott McGerik 2019-06-02 18:31 ]