A monkey
named Fifi, two bicycles, some cheese, bread and water may not sound like the
stuff of adventure novels, but for one writing couple, those items may have
saved their lives in a daring escape from the Nazis. Fifi the monkey wasn’t
literally a monkey, but a manuscript about a monkey whose name was changed later
to George.
Hans and
Margaret Rey, authors of the Curious George books, were German Jews who fled
Paris in June of 1940, just hours before the Germans arrived. With the sale of
a Fifi manuscript, they had purchased enough parts to make two bicycles. The
Reys rode them for four days to reach Spain, where they sold the bikes for
train fare to Lisbon. Fifi saved them again on the train when Hans was asked to
empty his briefcase by officials who suspected him of spying. Fortunately, there
were no secret documents, only Fifi manuscripts.
From Spain,
the couple traveled to Portugal, then Brazil and finally New York, where they
lived and published Curious George books
for many years. By the way, it was the publisher’s idea to change the name from
Fifi to George.
Makes me
think a little differently about the man in the yellow hat.
Write soon,
Mary
References
Conradt,
Stacy. Mental Floss. Curious George’s Great Escape. Oct 2012. Print
