"Chunky Monkey" Creator Visits IPPL

May 2004

Pauline sketches Courtney Gibbon, as others look on (left to right, IPPL staffers Sharon and Donna with Pauline’s daughter Linda)

Pauline Comanor, the cartoonist who created the Chunky Monkey character, visited IPPL Headquarters last March as part of IPPL’s Members’ Meeting. She was accompanied by her daughter, Linda Bonvie. After the conference was over, Pauline asked to be able to make a picture of Courtney, IPPL’s two-year-old hand-raised gibbon, who had caught the attention of many of the weekend’s visitors.

Sitting down with a large pad of paper and various pens and pastels, Pauline quickly made a sketch of Courtney as she was being cradled by one of IPPL’s staff members, who was kissing the squirmy little ape’s toes to keep her (relatively) still. In short order, Pauline produced an extra-large valentine of the little gibbon and her human friend. Pauline also jotted down some ideas for a rhyming poem about Courtney, but that was harder to do - after all, what rhymes with "Courtney"?

Web site offers creative, animal-friendly experiences for children

Pauline’s Web site (www.chunkymonkey.com) is the home of the Chunky Monkey fan club. A wonderful site for children, it offers drawing lessons, coloring pages, cartoons, stories, and rhymes. The site is full of positive, creative, animal-friendly messages, and without a lot of commercialism.

"The method I use in teaching children how to cartoon is to give them a bit of technique, and allow their natural aptitude and creativity to come through," said Pauline. "I have always believed that art is one of the most basic forms of communication, especially for kids." Her creative approach allows children to consider important environmental issues, too, such as rainforest destruction.

Years of experience produced Chunky Monkey

Pauline has been drawing cartoon characters since the 1930s. She worked with Paramount’s cartoon studio head Max Fleisher, who promoted characters like Betty Boop and Popeye. In 1974, she invented a character named Chunky Monkey, a rotund fellow with a long tail and a big grin, based on a rather hefty monkey she had sketched in a zoo. This engaging fellow is 30 years old this year!

In cooperation with Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream (which produces a "Chunky Monkey" banana flavored ice cream), she designed a stuffed Chunky Monkey doll, which she sells on her Web site. Proceeds from the sale of the toy benefit IPPL.

Part of the "Kids for Primates" mural

"Kids for Primates" mural

In 1998, Pauline launched a "Kids for Primates" group mural project on her Web site. Children six to fifteen years old were to contribute the pieces-trees, animals, and other elements of a tropical rainforest. Pauline posted drawing lessons on her Web site (and they are still available there) for making flowers, leaves, bugs, and primates. The gibbon lesson features IPPL’s own former lab gibbon, Arun Rangsi.

A year later, the final mural was assembled by the Chunky Monkey team. It was 40 x 75 inches and toured all over the US, appearing with Pauline and her daughter at malls for workshops and shows. "Kids really enjoy seeing the work of other kids," said Linda, "and I also think it helps them in their own drawings." At the IPPL Members’ Meeting in March, Pauline brought the mural with her, which is now on display at IPPL.