25th October 1960, Tuesday

[Graeme]

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[Private Presley]

October 25, 1960

In "Tiger Man," Elvis Presley sings that he's the "king of the jungle" - and that's a pretty accurate description of the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Elvis loved animals of all kinds. He had many pets during his lifetime - so many, in fact, that it would be pretty difficult to name them all.

When Elvis purchased Graceland in 1957, he bought not only the house, but 13.8 acres of the surrounding land. That provided for a nice little farm for the Presley family. Elvis' mother, Gladys, had some chickens, and Elvis owned a turkey named Bowtie. Vernon, Elvis' father, raised hogs!

Elvis once had a mynah bird that would repeat the excuses it heard about why Elvis couldn't come to the phone: "Elvis is asleep," "Elvis isn't available," "Elvis isn't here." One day the bird began repeating all of the phrases, over and over, which Elvis thought was hilarious.

There was even a wallaby, a gift from fans in Australia, peacocks, horses and of course, dogs. In fact he had a basset hound named Sherlock! But one of his favorite pets was a chimpanzee named Scatter that he purchased on October 25, 1960 Elvis at Katz Drug Store for $125.35, adding to the menagerie.

Scatter was a chimpanzee that had previously been owned by a Memphis TV personality, Captain Bill Killebrew. Scatter hung out with Elvis and his friends, and Scatter even wore his own human-like clothes. The chimp's behavior eventually became harder to manage. One day, Scatter ran away from Elvis and into producer Samuel Goldwyn's office, which he then destroyed. Scatter was escorted out by security and was sent home to Graceland.

[Private Presley]

I am not sure when these photos were taken.

[ColinB]

Another one:

[Alan]

A couple of alternates and another shot. All taken on the set of Girls! Girls! Girls! as far as I know.

[Alan]

I couldn't find any photo scenes with a brief search of Elvis wearing that shirt in Girls! Girls! Girls! so might have to watch the film.
      
I'd never heard of Elvis buying Scatter from Katz Drug Store before, yet alone with how much he paid as well.
      
There's the story that the ape was originally part of a local, Saturday morning TV show in Memphis hosted by “Cap’n Bill” Killebrew. Sponsored by Hart’s Bread, Killebrew decided he wanted to have one less chimp on the program, and somehow Alan Fortas got Elvis to take him.
      
A similar story goes that Bill Killebrew, who featured both Scatter (and his brother Chatter) on a Memphis children's show, wanted to pare down the act and approached Elvis about buying the chimp as a companion. 'I guess he figured Graceland was the kind of untamed place where a monkey would feel at home', remembered Alan Fortas, and Elvis, who'd adored Scatter's earlier incarnation, Jayhew, was an easy mark.

[Private Presley]

From ELVIS DAY BY DAY by Peter Guralnick and Ernst Jorgensen:

I cannot understand why the photo is not upright.

[Alan]

Well I'll take that, I know Ernst had access to the more mundane documentation of Vernon's office receipts so I'd say that's a slam dunk

[ColinB]

From ELVIS DAY BY DAY by Peter Guralnick and Ernst Jorgensen:
I cannot understand why the photo is not upright.

When the thumbnail is clicked on, the larger photo displayed is the right-way-up...