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King Louie is a fictional character in Disney's 1967 animated musical adaptation of The Jungle Book. He is voiced by the late Louis Prima in the film. 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.^[1]

Conception and creation[link]

As the Disney movie is "inspired by" rather than "based on" the Kipling stories,^[2] the character King Louie does not appear in Rudyard Kipling'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.

Portrayal[link]

Famed Sicilian-American and New Orleans native Louis Prima 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.^{[citation needed]}

TaleSpin[link]

In the animated television series TaleSpin, 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[link]

A slightly different version of the character appeared in the Disney 1994 live-action movie Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book 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. At first, he acts a a rival to Mowgli, but later warms up to him after seeing him defeat Kaa. Louie would later on appear during the battle between Mowgli and Captain William Boone (the villain of the film), as he is seen cheering for Mowgli. Following the defeat of Boone, Louie happily summons Kaa, who then kills Boone in the moat.

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.

Non-Disney works[link]

King Louie appears in the Fables comic series published by Vertigo comics. He is one of the revolutionaries who wish to overthrow the Fabletown government out of resentment at the apparent second-class status of Fables. Due to his peripheral involvement, he is given a sentence of hard labor---twenty years, reduced to five years conditional on good behavior.^{[citation needed]} 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[link]

This section requires expansion.

The characterization of King Louie has frequently been cited as an example of racial stereotyping in Disney films.^[3][4][5] 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 Sentinal's 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." ^[4] (Pinsky offers neither a quotation nor a citation for this assertion.)

References[link]