When i was growing up, back in the 1950's, they always had big ads on the inside covers of comic books, advertising Squirrel Monkeys, and I used to want a monkey really bad. One of the top movies back then was the Adventures of Tarzan, and of course, he always had Cheeta , his pet Chimpanzee along , and Cheeta would always do something wonderful and save the day for Tarzan.
I was an only child, so I played by myself most of the time, and the idea of a little Human-looking monkey to ride along on my shoulder was always so appealing to me.
Even though they only sold for about $20 at that time, my mom would not let me have one. I don't know where they came from, or if they even arrived alive and healthy for that price.
I have since learned that they are messy pets to have, and can also bite very hard, and the larger monkeys have even killed people; so I no longer want a monkey, but I do still like to watch them in movies or at the zoo.