Rome -- "They said it couldn't be done!"
That familiar commercial statement, along with the obvious answer, sums up the most recent success of a native Roman, Nick Carrado, whose father and brother live at 116 1/2 Mill St.
Carrado, a professional magician, is the owner and trainer of Kokomo Jr., a very talented chimpanzee of television fame.
The chimp long ago mastered such refinements as kissing a lady's hand without nibbling it, sleeping on a bed under a blue coverlet instead of in a cage and eating daintily with a fork instead of his fingers, but Carrado wasn't satisfied.
The ex-Marine had an idea and a year ago took Kokomo Jr. to psychologists and speech therapists, only to be told that "chimps just don't talk." Carrado, however, refused to accept that as final.
Finally, Carrado succeeded in getting the chimpanzee to say "Mama."
"It took four months to get him to make a sound with his vocal cords. That was the hardest," says Carrado. "Then another three months to make him shape his lips, mouth and jaws.
"I found he couldn't make the 'm' sound, without overlapping his upper lip with his lower lip by about half an inch."
By learning to "talk," even if it is a one-word vocabulary, Kokomo Jr. has outstripped his dapper predecessor on Dave Garroway's "Today" show, J. Fred Muggs. Kokomo Jr. replaced Muggs on the nationwide show in March, 1957.
The chimp left the show about three months ago because the early morning hours were ruining his night life. He's training now to star in commercials.
Like every TV star, he has a huge wardrobe of 48 custom-made suits, including a tux from Brooks Brothers, a cowboy outfit, Marine uniform, academic robes and a simulated leopard skin lounging robe.
"The pants have to be cut shorter and the sleeves cut longer, otherwise he's about the size of a five-year-old child," Carrado explains.
Carrado's feat of making a little gentleman out of the chimp can best be appreciated when you realize that it took four men and a trainer to drag Kokomo Jr. out of his cage when he arrived, nine months old, from the wilds of the Belgian Congo. The magician purchased the chimpanzee for $1,000.
Kokomo Jr. can also claim another "first" in the animal world. A series of Hallmark birthday cards, recently put on the market, carries a color photograph of the chimp -- the first live animal ever utilized by the card company.
photo caption
CHIMP IS NO CHUMP -- Kokomo Jr., simian television star, fondly
eyes his master, Nick Carrado, former Roman and professional magician as
pair "ape" it up for benefit of cameras. Carrado claims his chimp
has mastered one-word vocabulary, feat psychologists and speech therapists
said was impossible.