I'd kind of grown up around Frank and I had the feeling he essentially accepted me for who I was. I didn't have to put on any airs or pretentions. How could I? He'd seen me as a kid watching Jungle Jim on television, and he'd be watching it, too, with the whole family. And Captain Midnight. And Captain Gallent of the French Foreign Legion because the theme song was good and there were a lot of desert shots with sand blowing around, even the show was filmed in French Morocco until it got too dangerous.


I thought Jungle Jim was a bit crass. If it were a white explorer in the jungle, of the two available to me at the time I much preferred Ramar of the Jungle. And I'm here to tell you this is where one of Frank's early song titles came from. But you probably already knew that by now, didn't you? Just me mentioning Ramar of the Jungle made you immediately think of the wily native Willy and his pet monkey, Babette, didn't it.

In one episode, I know not which, I think this was it: Willy was asleep under mosquito netting and Babette chirping as small monkeys do stole in under the curtain and settled next to him on the pillow, and began gently cuddling and kissing him awake. And Willy was enjoying the experience until he opened his eyes fully and discovered his sensation was arising from his little pet monkey, a somewhat romantic rhesus in that scene at least.

http://dtaylor.tripod.com/

Frank changed Babette into a dog for his song.  ¶ 1/01/2011 02:57:00 PM