"Meet Zira and Cornelius" was a traveling
road show featuring
Paula Crist
and
Bill Blake
in makeup and costumes
as Zira and Cornelius. These productions were official 20th Century Fox promotional
events. They traveled around the
country for several years, and they were the subjects of articles in issues
12 and 13 of Marvel's
Planet of the Apes magazine. Paula also wrote about her
experiences in issue 14
of Simian Scrolls.
In September 2021, there was an eBay auction for a Super8 movie, with sound,
that included, among other things, footage of a "Meet Zira and Cornelius"
show! I took a gamble, won the auction, and had the footage digitized. The
end result can be seen below.
One note: the show was performed in a gymnasium or convention center, and the
audio was recorded using the camera's built-in microphone. The audio isn't
the greatest, but I cleaned it up quite a bit, boosting the volume, applying
some EQ, and applying some light noise reduction. It's not great, but it's
listenable.
This appears to have been filmed in Canada in 1975 or 1976.
Mark Graham sent in these contact sheets from the photoshoot with Paula Crist
and Bill Blake for the Marvel article. These have never been released
anywhere else, as far as I know.
Rob Amantea saw one of these performances and had Paula and Bill sign
his copy of the paperback novelization of Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
These are scans of his book and their autographs.
Signed photo and convention badge from Greg Champy
Greg Champy recently acquired this promotional photo signed in person
by Paula and Bill at Star Con 2, a Star Trek and Science-Fiction convention
that took place July 19–21, 1974, at the Sheraton-Cadillac Hotel in
Detroit, MI.
At about 6 pm it was announced that the five Ape movies scheduled for the
evening had been waylaid in Cleveland and would not arrive until 1 am.
Fortunately for the committee, Jimmy Doohan and George Takei had arrived and
did a panel with Kelly Freas and the two apes Paula Kist (sic) and Bill Blake.
[...]
The apes gave a little insight into their makeup and popular reaction to it on
the street. They put the makeup on for a convention and don't take it off for
the whole con. Bill Blake said that it's pretty painful for a guy, as his beard
grows right into the soft latex appliances, and taking it off after three or
four days can be agony.
From Brian Brady: They were on State St. in Chicago to promote their
live show "Meet Zira and Cornelius," which was part of the
International World of Wheels Custom Car Show at McCormick Place.
