Having grown up outside of Milwaukee, Samson is really just another gorilla to me. I'm sure I saw him at the zoo during visits to Milwaukee as a kid, but I also saw gorillas at the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo and at Jersey's Jungle Habitat, so I can't say Samson really stuck out for me.
But seeing the "Samson Remembered" exhibit currently on view at the Milwaukee Public Museum, reminded me of how much he meant to Milwaukee and how much it says about Milwaukee's homey, almost small town vibe that everyone loved the local monkey, even though he struck terror in the hearts of many.
Asking around the office, I learned that Jeff Sherman cried when Samson died and that Molly Snyder Edler still thinks about him to this day (see her ruminations on his emotional state here).
Reading the visitors' comments on the wall in the exhibition dishes up further proof. More notes from people brought to tears by news of his death, notes from little kids whose parents told them about seeing Samson when they were young.
So, I guess the exhibition should come as little surprise. There is Samson's skeleton, tons of photos and other memorabilia (Samson's face adorned all sorts of ephemera during his stay in Milwaukee, which ended with his death in 1981).
His caretaker and close friend Sam LaMalfa (Samson apparently became petulant and reserved whenever LaMalfa wasn't around) appears daily at the exhibition to talk about his furry friend. Further proof of the power of this gorilla with the killa stare.
But perhaps the greatest exhibit-related labor of love is being performed by MPM taxidermist and artist Wendy Christensen-Senk, who -- for the next year -- will painstakingly and publicly finish a life-sized, extremely life-like re-creation of Samson.
Using sculptural techniques and drawing on her knowledge of anatomy, zoology and taxidermy techniques, Christensen-Senk's job is part artist, part MacGyver, tinkering and testing and creating parts and techniques where none already exists.
For example, she custom made Samson's eyes and she had to adapt the gorilla skeleton she bought "off the rack." On the day I visited she was testing a new tool and technique she created to put the hair on Samson's face and head.
"A taxidermist is an artist," Christensen-Senk told me. "My job is so cool because it is a little bit of everything. It's hard to explain because obviously we have to have a lot of art skills and talent but I also have a lot of ability to understand and interpret anatomy. But then I do all kinds of mold making and casting."
Much of what she learned, Christensen-Senk sais, she taught herself on the job or learned from her mentor at the museum, Floyd Easterman.
"I've been here for my whole career. I've been very very fortunate. I applied (for the job at MPM) when I was 17 and the examination process was very very rigorous. It took a year and a half just to get everything done for the exam. I had to bring in physical pieces of all kinds of artwork. I started doing taxidermy when I was 12. I got my first oil painting kit when I was 8."
So you could say that, Christensen-Senk, whose husband Garry is a commericial taxidermist, lives and breathes her art -- even if her subjects don't live and breathe much of anything.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
