You know, for kids!
Here’s a little “vertical video” to brighten your day. …Which happens to be National Sock Monkey Day.
Backstory: It takes a (Monkey) Village
One does not simply wake one day and decide to make a 30+ second ode to joy, primates, and footwear. These kinds of issues can fester for years—15, in this particular case. What you see above is the condensed tease that began as a notion for a children’s TV series predicated on the premise that certain a brand of socks come from the pelts of an endangered species of sock monkey (versus the other way around).
Morbid? Yes, but no more so than the ouvres of Shel Silverstein or Edward Gorey. Maybe I’m carrying unprocessed Gen X children’s book trauma — I mean, really, The fucking Giving Tree? Yipes.
My monkey business started when my pal Mundo Murgia asked what I was working on and I shared my vision for a branded entertainment empire—a term I’d learned only weeks prior during a chance encounter at the Lions Gate offices in Marina del Ray.
Flashback: I had a go-nowhere meeting on a go-nowhere project that went nowhere. Somehow, I shared as much with the gentleman with whom I was descending in the Lions Gate elevator. He happened to be media mogul Rolfe Auerbach, whose shingle, Brand-In Entertainment, bills itself as a “matchmaker of Hollywood and Madison Avenue.” Of course, I thought, two great tastes that taste great together.
I was in.
In the 45 seconds, I shared with him, Auerbach gave me a crash course in the seamless integration of brands into narrative experiences, which is ubiquitous now, but novel then.
Back in Sonoma: “You know what you should do, man?” Mundo began. I usually dreaded these kinds of suggestions. But then he said, “Sock monkeys.”
Smart. Seemingly original IP that was also public domain. Again, I was in. But this time, I would find a brand partner. This is what transpired…
I initially pursued Fox River (the company that proffers the “original” Rockford Red Heel sock from which the finest sock monkeys are made) and Schylling, the toy company (not the spice company, which is spelled “Schilling” and led to some interesting early conversations).
Then I had a kid and everything came to a grinding halt. Other projects eventually took precedence, life went on. Now and again, I’d glance over the bits and pieces of the Sock Monkey Cinematic Universe I had accrued (mostly socks) and silently vow to bring them to fruition. But first, another glass of wine…
Seven years later, when the kids elected to both be sock monkeys for Halloween, my wife and producer Kary, made them a pair of matching sock monkey costumes, which I had the foresight to capture (if fleetingly) in two clips that can be seen in the video above. Was it time to pursue the Sock Monkey dream? Perhaps. But first, another glass of wine…
Last month, I again came across the sock monkey elements—the tune courtesy of composer and producer Jason Carmer (lyrics by moi); the vocal performances of Scott Blonde and Orion Letizi; the images of sock monkeys with Teddy Roosevelt, Buckminster Fuller, Bob Hope, and Marilyn Monroe Photoshopped by the late Brodie Giles; Raymond Daigle’s footage of our puppet, which Fraggle Rock and Being John Malkovich veteran Lee Armstrong created and operated.
The final element, however, only came to me recently. I happened to learn, whilst researching another project, that March 7 is National Sock Monkey Day. That’s just what I needed— a deadline.
And so, with the inexorable march of time and the grace of the calendar gods, here we are—at long last, a sock monkey saga 15 years in the making, stitched together with nostalgia, procrastination, and just enough absurdity to make it worth the wait. Here’s to soldiering on with unfinished business. — DH
Sock Monkey Superstar — Extended mix with alternate verses:
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