In the early sixties, Elvis Presley's 'Memphis Mafia' (a bit of editorial license taken here) took on its most problematic and entertaining member, a forty-pound chimpanzee named Scatter.
However, before Elvis, Scatter was a TV star, on local Memphis station WMC-TV. The program hosted by 'Captain' (actually, he preferred it spelled 'Cap'n') Bill Killebrew - well actually he wasn't really a captain of anything, kinda like 'Colonel' Tom Parker, well except Elvis' manager was an honorary one!
Somewhere, somehow Bill acquired a cute little chimpanzee called Scatter, and he began to appear on the show, quickly becoming the star attraction. According to the Press-Scimitar, 'Scatter is presented in a variety of roles and situations - as a business executive, as a baseball player, as a banquet speaker - all designed to show how ridiculous some people business can be'. 'Scatter's World' was incredibly popular with Memphis audiences, and any children who wrote in could become members of the Scatter Club.
After about a year, Bill Killebrew, who featured both Scatter (and his brother Chatter) on a Memphis children's show, wanted to pare down the act and approached Elvis about buying the chimp as a companion. 'I guess he figured Graceland was the kind of untamed place where a monkey would feel at home', remembered Alan Fortas, and Elvis, who'd adored Scatter's earlier incarnation, Jayhew, was an easy mark.
The chimp even went along when Elvis went to Hollywood, and that prompted Bill to complain to reporters, 'I've been on television for 11 years. That dad-blamed monkey was only on television for one year. Now he's in Hollywood, and I'm still a broken-down bread salesman. (A joke based on his show being sponsered by 'Hart's Bread'). It's just a monkey's world'. ('Kid Galahad' was Scatter's first trip to Hollywood).
see also
https://www.biography.com/musicians/a65 ... nd-animals
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/scatter-el ... himpanzee/