King Louie
Encyclopedia
King Louie is a fictional orangutan
who kidnaps Mowgli
in Disney's 1967 animated musical adaptation of The Jungle Book
. He is voiced by Louis Prima
in the film and therefore has his same mannerisms. Initially, the producers considered Louis Armstrong
for the role, but to avoid the likely controversy that would surround casting an African-American to voice an ape, they instead chose Prima.
's original book
, as orangutans are not native to India
. Also, Kipling insists that the Bandar-log
or monkeys have no king, or any effective leadership. In the book, Mowgli is abducted by a band of nameless and leaderless Bandar-log
(monkeys), but the rest of the scene plays out very differently from Disney's version. Bill Peet
's original story for the film did not feature King Louie, but did have a bigger Bandar without a tail, who was perhaps meant to be their king. Peet left the Disney company over a dispute regarding the contents of his script so his ultimate vision for the king of the Bandar-log remains unknown. Development of the story continued following Peet's departure, with his darker story giving way to a new emphasis on lightheartedness and jazzy tunes. In this company milieu King Louie eventually came into being, given life through the voice and personality of popular performer Louis Prima
. Personality was also given to Louie by Milt Kahl
, Frank Thomas
, and John Lounsbery
, three of Disney's Nine Old Men
who animated the character. Kahl animated Louie's interaction with Mowgli, Thomas his solo song and dance portions, while Lounsbery animated his memorable duet with a drag
-wearing Baloo
.
As an adult, King Louie is an orangutan
and lives in the ancient ruins located in the far east of the jungle. He kidnaps Mowgli to obtain knowledge of fire and to be like Man. In the song "I Wanna Be Like You" he refers to himself as the King of the Swingers and the Jungle VIP. His city is destroyed during the rescue of Mowgli by Baloo
and Bagheera
. Little is known of King Louie after these events, although in the sequel
, Baloo states that he "split".
portrayed King Louie in the film. Louis Prima considered playing King Louie as one of the highlights of his career and felt he had become "immortal" thanks to Walt Disney and the entire studio.
, Louie owns the island nightclub and motel Louie's Place, located near but outside the protection of Cape Suzette. It also serves as a refueling station/pit stop area for pilots. He is Baloo's best friend but competes with him in monetary matters.
King Louie did not appear in The Jungle Book 2
due to a legal dispute with Louis Prima's widowed wife Gia Maione
(though a shadow puppet of him can be seen at the very beginning of the movie, and Baloo stating that he "split").
The Jonas Brothers
have adopted the song that King Louie sings, "I Wanna be Like You," into their collection, and sing it in a style that is more rock than jazz.
Q.T., an orangutan who looks very similar to King Louie, is one of the main characters in Dumbo's Circus
.
Louie's very identical twin brother Larry appeared in an episode of House of Mouse.
government out of resentment at the apparent second-class status of non-human-appearing Fables. Due to his peripheral involvement, he is given a sentence of hard labor---twenty years, reduced to five years conditional on good behavior. In this story, he is called a "Kipling" character, which is incorrect. He is a Disney character, with no counterpart in the Kipling original.
Viewers have also speculated that King Louie's scene contains an underlying subtext about evolution
. In his song "I Want To Be Like You," the character explains that he has grown unhappy with his animal lifestyle and wishes to become a human – a feat that he can only accomplish by mastering the creation of fire. Furthermore, King Louie’s position as an ape ruling over monkeys while remaining inferior to humans is thought to represent evolutionary hierarchy in the primate
family. Disney has never confirmed nor denied the presence of such a subtext.
Orangutan
Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...
who kidnaps Mowgli
Mowgli
Mowgli is a fictional character from India who originally appeared in Rudyard Kipling's short story "In the Rukh" and then went on to become the most prominent and memorable character in his fantasies, The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book , which also featured stories about other...
in Disney's 1967 animated musical adaptation of The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book (1967 film)
The Jungle Book is a 1967 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Released on October 18, 1967, it is the 19th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was inspired by the stories about the feral child Mowgli from the book of the same name by...
. He is voiced by Louis Prima
Louis Prima
Louis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...
in the film and therefore has his same mannerisms. Initially, the producers considered Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
for the role, but to avoid the likely controversy that would surround casting an African-American to voice an ape, they instead chose Prima.
Conception and creation
As the Disney movie is "inspired by" rather than "based on" the Kipling stories, the character King Louie does not appear in Rudyard KiplingRudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
's original book
The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book is a collection of stories by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–4. The original publications contain illustrations, some by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. Kipling was born in India and spent the first six...
, as orangutans are not native to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Also, Kipling insists that the Bandar-log
Bandar-log
Bandar-log , a term used in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book to describe monkeys - specifically, Langur monkeys.In Hindi, Bandar means 'monkey' and log means 'people'. The Bandar-log feature most prominently in the story "Kaa's Hunting", where their scatterbrained anarchy causes them to be treated...
or monkeys have no king, or any effective leadership. In the book, Mowgli is abducted by a band of nameless and leaderless Bandar-log
Bandar-log
Bandar-log , a term used in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book to describe monkeys - specifically, Langur monkeys.In Hindi, Bandar means 'monkey' and log means 'people'. The Bandar-log feature most prominently in the story "Kaa's Hunting", where their scatterbrained anarchy causes them to be treated...
(monkeys), but the rest of the scene plays out very differently from Disney's version. Bill Peet
Bill Peet
Bill Peet , was an American children's book illustrator and a story writer for Disney Studios...
's original story for the film did not feature King Louie, but did have a bigger Bandar without a tail, who was perhaps meant to be their king. Peet left the Disney company over a dispute regarding the contents of his script so his ultimate vision for the king of the Bandar-log remains unknown. Development of the story continued following Peet's departure, with his darker story giving way to a new emphasis on lightheartedness and jazzy tunes. In this company milieu King Louie eventually came into being, given life through the voice and personality of popular performer Louis Prima
Louis Prima
Louis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...
. Personality was also given to Louie by Milt Kahl
Milt Kahl
Milton Erwin Kahl was an animator for the Disney studio, and one of Disney's Nine Old Men....
, Frank Thomas
Frank Thomas (animator)
Franklin M. "Frank" Thomas was an American animator. He was one of Walt Disney's team of animators known as the Nine Old Men....
, and John Lounsbery
John Lounsbery
John Lounsbery was an American animator who worked for The Walt Disney Company. He is best known as one of Disney's Nine Old Men....
, three of Disney's Nine Old Men
Disney's Nine Old Men
Disney's Nine Old Men were the core animators at The Walt Disney Company who created some of Disney's most famous works, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs onward to The Rescuers. Walt Disney jokingly called this group of animators his "Nine Old Men," referring to Robert S...
who animated the character. Kahl animated Louie's interaction with Mowgli, Thomas his solo song and dance portions, while Lounsbery animated his memorable duet with a drag
Drag (clothing)
Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...
-wearing Baloo
Baloo
Baloo is the fictional bear featured in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book from 1894 and The Second Jungle Book from 1895.-Name and species:He is described in Kipling's work as "the sleepy brown bear"...
.
Character
As a youngster, Louie was a fun-loving practical joker, often playing tricks on Bagheera. He was best friend with Baloo the Bear as the two shared similar qualities and personalities and could often be seen helping Baloo gain fruit for their regular feasts.As an adult, King Louie is an orangutan
Orangutan
Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...
and lives in the ancient ruins located in the far east of the jungle. He kidnaps Mowgli to obtain knowledge of fire and to be like Man. In the song "I Wanna Be Like You" he refers to himself as the King of the Swingers and the Jungle VIP. His city is destroyed during the rescue of Mowgli by Baloo
Baloo
Baloo is the fictional bear featured in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book from 1894 and The Second Jungle Book from 1895.-Name and species:He is described in Kipling's work as "the sleepy brown bear"...
and Bagheera
Bagheera
Bagheera the black-toned Indian Leopard is an animal fictional character in Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book...
. Little is known of King Louie after these events, although in the sequel
The Jungle Book 2
The Jungle Book 2 is a 2003 American animated film produced by the DisneyToons studio in Sydney, Australia and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution. The theatrical version of the film was released in France on February 5, 2003, and released in the United States on February...
, Baloo states that he "split".
Portrayal
Famed jazz trumpeter and vocalist Louis PrimaLouis Prima
Louis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...
portrayed King Louie in the film. Louis Prima considered playing King Louie as one of the highlights of his career and felt he had become "immortal" thanks to Walt Disney and the entire studio.
TaleSpin
In the animated television series TaleSpinTaleSpin
TaleSpin is a half-hour American animated television series based in the fictional city of Cape Suzette, that first aired in 1990 as part of The Disney Afternoon, with characters adapted from Disney's 1967 animated feature The Jungle Book. The name of the show is a play on "tailspin", the rapid,...
, Louie owns the island nightclub and motel Louie's Place, located near but outside the protection of Cape Suzette. It also serves as a refueling station/pit stop area for pilots. He is Baloo's best friend but competes with him in monetary matters.
Appearances in other media
A slightly different King Louie character appeared in the Disney 1994 live-action Jungle Book movie starring Jason Scott Lee. Once again he is an orangutan, and the 'leader' of a group of monkeys that make their home in an abandoned human city. His name arises in this version from the vast wealth that humans left behind in the city, and in particular to his habit of wearing a crown similar in appearance to that worn by the King of France, Louis XIV. Kaa appeared to serve him, being summoned with a clap of his hands, Louie using Kaa to ward off or even kill intruders, the latter for his own amusement.King Louie did not appear in The Jungle Book 2
The Jungle Book 2
The Jungle Book 2 is a 2003 American animated film produced by the DisneyToons studio in Sydney, Australia and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution. The theatrical version of the film was released in France on February 5, 2003, and released in the United States on February...
due to a legal dispute with Louis Prima's widowed wife Gia Maione
Gia Maione
Gia Maione is an American singer and widow of singer Louis Prima born 1941.Gia Maione is a 1959 graduate of Toms River High School . She first gained notice in 1962, when she was signed to sing lead female vocals for Prima and his band. Prima had divorced Keely Smith, his former lead vocalist, the...
(though a shadow puppet of him can be seen at the very beginning of the movie, and Baloo stating that he "split").
The Jonas Brothers
Jonas Brothers
The Jonas Brothers are an American boy band. The band gained its popularity from the Disney Channel children's television network. From the shore region of New Jersey, the band consists of three brothers: Paul Kevin Jonas II , Joseph Adam Jonas , and Nicholas Jerry Jonas...
have adopted the song that King Louie sings, "I Wanna be Like You," into their collection, and sing it in a style that is more rock than jazz.
Q.T., an orangutan who looks very similar to King Louie, is one of the main characters in Dumbo's Circus
Dumbo's Circus
Dumbo's Circus was a live-action/puppet television series that aired on Disney Channel, featuring the character of Dumbo from the original film.Many of the show's cast went on to star is the popular Christian radio series, Adventures in Odyssey....
.
Louie's very identical twin brother Larry appeared in an episode of House of Mouse.
Non-Disney works
King Louie appears in the Fables comic series published by Vertigo comics. He is one of the revolutionaries who wish to overthrow the FabletownFabletown
Fabletown is the fictional, clandestine community of "Fables" resident in New York in the Fables comic book universe. It exists in two locations, one being Bullfinch Street in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and the other on a large farm in upstate New York, protected with magical spells that...
government out of resentment at the apparent second-class status of non-human-appearing Fables. Due to his peripheral involvement, he is given a sentence of hard labor---twenty years, reduced to five years conditional on good behavior. In this story, he is called a "Kipling" character, which is incorrect. He is a Disney character, with no counterpart in the Kipling original.
Reception
The characterization of King Louie has frequently been cited as an example of racial stereotyping in Disney films. However, in his 2004 book The Gospel According to Disney, Mark Pinsky asserts that a child in the current environment (as opposed to in the late 1960s) would not discern any racial dimension to the portrayal. Pinsky also relates Orlando Sentinals film critic Jay Bogar's assertion that "the primates could be perceived as representing African Americans in a time of turmoil, but [that Bogar] saw no racism in the portrayal." (Pinsky offers neither a quotation nor a citation for this assertion.)Viewers have also speculated that King Louie's scene contains an underlying subtext about evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
. In his song "I Want To Be Like You," the character explains that he has grown unhappy with his animal lifestyle and wishes to become a human – a feat that he can only accomplish by mastering the creation of fire. Furthermore, King Louie’s position as an ape ruling over monkeys while remaining inferior to humans is thought to represent evolutionary hierarchy in the primate
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
family. Disney has never confirmed nor denied the presence of such a subtext.