LEGENDARY HEROES #41

CONGO BILL


Congo Bill was created for DC comics by writer Whitney Ellsworth and artist George Papp and was reminiscent of Alex Raymond's comic strip "Jungle Jim".  Congo Bill first appeared in More Fun Comics #56 in June 1940 where it enjoyed moderate success.  It ran in More Fun Comics until issue #67 in May 1941 and then moved to Action Comics #37 in June 1941, the same title that featured "Superman".  Congo Bill was William Glenmorgan, born in 1898 and was the son of a Scottish gamekeeper.  At one point he was a member of the IRA and during WWI he fought in the Battle of the Somme in France and Flanders Field in Belgium.  He became a spy in Austria.  After the war he was a globe trotting adventurer and for a time worked for the Worldwide Insurance Company protecting policies they had written and saving the company from fraudulent payouts.  He then settled in Africa where he befriended the witch doctor Chief Kawolo.  In Action Comics #191 (April 1954) readers were introduced to Janu the Jungle Boy as Bill's sidekick.  Janu was a young boy brought up in the jungle after his father was killed by a tiger.  In 1954 DC Comics gave Bill his own title that lasted for seven issues until September 1955.  In Action Comics #224 (January 1957) Bill encounters a legendary golden gorilla named Congorilla.  In Action #248 (January 1959) the witch doctor Chief Kawolo is injured in a fall and about to die when he summons Bill to give him a magic ring.  Rubbing the ring transfers Bill's consciousness into the body of the legendary Golden Gorilla.  Congo Bill became Congorilla and these new adventures ran until Action Comics #261 in February 1960, then moved to Adventure Comics #270 (March 1960) until #283 in April 1961.  During the Congorilla period Bill decided to use his new powers as a gorilla to fight crime in the jungle.

Congo Bill was made into a 15-chapter serial by Columbia Studios in 1948 with Don McGuire as Bill and co-starring Cleo Moore.  The serial was reissued in 1957 after Cleo Moore became "famous".  The serial was banned in Finland in 1954 for excessive violence.  Don McGuire would enjoy later success as a producer-director-screenwriter.  He wrote the adaptation of the screenplay for Spencer Tracy's 1955 film "Bad Day at Black Rock", and directed Jerry Lewis in the 1957 film "The Delicate Delinquent".  McGuire was nominated for an Oscar in 1982 for writing the story on which the Dustin Hoffman film "Tootsie" was based.

Cleo Moore was 19 at the time that the serial was made and was her first credited film appearance.  A native of Louisiana, her Southern accent seemed out of place in the jungles of Africa.  At the age of 15 she eloped with Palmer Long, youngest son of Huey "Kingfish" Long, the assassinated governor of Louisiana.  The union lasted about six weeks.  Then she moved to California where Columbia decided to make her a star in the mold of Marilyn Monroe and dyed her hair platinum blonde.  She made fewer than a dozen movies over the next ten years, most of which were B-grade film noir pictures for director Hugo Haas.  When Kim Novak was signed by Columbia in 1954 Miss Moore was pretty much forgotten.  She made her last movie in 1957 titled "Hit and Run".  She announced in 1956 her intention to run for Governor of Louisiana, but everyone figured it was just a publicity stunt.  She achieved a cult following in the 1980s with airings of her movies on TV and was dubbed "Queen of the B-Movie Bad Girls".  After her film career ended Cleo Moore became a real estate agent, married well, and died in her sleep of a heart attack in 1973.  She was only 43 years old.  Though Hollywood had forgotten her, Cleo Moore died a Beverly Hills socialite.



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