"MONK" MISSES STAGE TREE.
Chimpanzee Mistakes Painted Limb for Real One and Falls.
The Jamaican Jungle training of "Napoleon," a trick vaudeville chimpanzee, nearly proved his undoing last night at the Electric theater in Kansas City, Kas., when he mistook a painted tree on the scenery for the real thing and fell on the stage after making a leap of about ten feet to one of its branches. Before Napoleon was captured seven years ago he lived with his family in the jungle. Leaping from tree to tree was Napoleon's principal occupation.
Perched on the the wood and canvas limb of one of the stage settings, the chimpanzee spied a perch on one of the "trees" on the back drop of the setting. Not trained to look before leaping, Napoleon sprang at the "limb." He crashed against the curtain and fell to the stage on his back.
For a moment he was still. His eyes flashed defiance and his demeanor changed. Clattering across the stage on all fours, he butted his head against the "trunk" of the tree. With his hands he attempted to gain a hold of it. Finally he gave up in despair, chattered disgustedly and walked off the stage. Napoleon's act was finished. He could not be induced to complete his part in the programme.
