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The Reys This article came from The Times
Picayune Newspaper (written prior to Margret Reys' death):
Before Curious George, there was Zozo the chimp. Or was
it Coco? As she turns 90, Margret Rey can be excused for
forgetting the particulars. "It was something very foolish.
One of those cutesy names," Rey said in a recent interview,
retelling the story of how the children's classic about
a naughty monkey came into being. The seven Curious George
books have sold 12.5 million copies.
An anthology of the seven issued last year, "The Complete
Adventures of Curious George," is in its second printing.
After their marriage, she and her husband, Hans Augusto
Rey, settled in Paris, where they collaborated on the 1939
book "Rafi et les Neuf Singes" (translates to: Rafi and
the Nine Monkeys). One of the "Nine Monkeys" of the title
was a prototype for George. They fled France in 1940, just
ahead of Nazi forces, and moved to the United States. Houghton
Mifflin Co. bought "Curious George" during their first week
in the United States. It was published in 1941, and the
Reys wrote seven Curious George books over the next 25 years.
"He became very much a figure of his own. He knew what he
could do and couldn't do. He became a person," Margret Rey
said.
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