It was created by Leonard Marks and Milton Dinhofer in 1961, and in 1964, Herman Kesler partnered to sell it to Lakeside Toys, which released it in 1965.

Milton Bradley's editions consisted of a toy barrel in either blue, yellow, red, purple, orange, gray or green.

As he waited for Robert Gilbert, the shop owner, he fiddled with an open box of snow-tire-replacement chain links.

He created the first full-size wearable toy space helmet which made the covers of both The Saturday Evening Post (November 8, 1952) and Collier's magazine (April 18, 1953).

When Marks met Dinhofer at his home in Roslyn, New York, he brought a pile of red, s-shaped hooks made from 1/4" plastic rod.

Once that was achieved, Dinhofer hired A. Santore of A. S. Plastic Model Company to carve a sample under his supervision.

(Lakeside would eventually add a little more hair to the bodies and decades later change the designs completely).

Then, in 1964, Herman Kesler agreed to join the partnership and pitch Barrel of Monkeys to Lakeside Toys where he had connections.

In November of that year, Kesler met with Zelman Levine, the CEO and President of Lakeside Toys at the Essex House in New York City.

Barrel of Monkeys was quickly released in 1965 as a Lakeside toy allowing Marks, Dinhofer and Kesler to receive ongoing royalties.

The only unusual characteristic of the monkey is that its arms, legs, hands and feet are able to twist around each other to form many stable links.

The resulting assemblies simulate biologically important structures, but their symmetry follows general geometric principles.

Barrel of Monkeys is also called as Bandar Keela and is famous in south Asian countries.