subgenius wrote:subgenius wrote:February 25, 1751
Edward Willet displayed the first trained monkey act in the U.S.
bump, just because.
I'm glad you bumped that sub because I missed it the first time.
Who could forget the wonderful stories about John-boy Winkers in elementary school history class?
Well, actually, I did forget them so I looked it up.
There may be more to the story than you know. I found this:
http://potwfl.com/2011/02/25/february-25-1751/
On February 25, 1751 Edward Willet displayed the first trained monkey act in the U.S. For one shilling, the audience watched the monkey, known as John-boy Winkers, walk a tightrope, dance and ‘exercise’ a gun.
The son of John-boy later served in the American Revolution as an aide to George Washington.
Senator John McCain claims to trace his lineage back to this patriotic Tufted Capuchin, without whom General Washington would rarely have had toilet paper or remembered his dry cleaning.
You've done us all a service by reminding us of the contributions made by Simian Americans to the Revolutionary War.