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KING KONG Published Fiction,
Pre-2005
An ongoing and updated guide to novelizations and alternate tellings of KING KONG.
The book version of KING KONG, written by Delos Lovelace, was actually published December 27, 1932, a bit in advance of the 1933 release of RKO's film, and contains some alterations from the final screenplay resultant of the on-the-fly changes being made in the shooting script. (The fact that Lovelace includes "the spider scene" encourages belief that the never-seen sequence was shot and later cut.)
Co-billed writer Edgar Wallace contributed little to the eventual screen story, but his name carried sufficient weight to be included prominently on the earliest book covers. At the same time, well before the release of the film, Merian C. Cooper aggressively maintained his authorship stake in the property. Wallace died of pneumonia on February 10, 1932. A reply memo from RKO lawyer Gordon Youngman dated February 13th, 1932 advised Cooper in very specific terms that "you should use some notation as the following:
By Merian C. Cooper
Based upon (or transcribed from or adapted from ) original scenario by EDGAR WALLACE"
In a memo to David Selznick dated July 20, 1932, Cooper asserts his will in characteristically forceful style:
The present script of KONG, as far as I can remember, hasn't one single idea suggested by Edgar Wallace. If there are any, they are of the slightest.
The book will be signed by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper, and I think New York should advertise it as based on a story by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper, if you want to use Wallace's name.
One can imagine the handwringing in the composition room as the credit construction evolved. A slipcover from the personal archive of artist Glenn Cravath reads as follows:
From the Screen Story by
EDGAR WALLACE and
MERIAN C. COOPER
Novelized from the Radio Picture by DELOS W. LOVELACE
Later published copies were clumsily amended (including the double "by") to read:
Conceived by
by EDGAR WALLACE and
MERIAN C. COOPER
Screen Play by
JAMES A. CREELMAN and
RUTH ROSE
Novelized from the Radio Picture by DELOS W. LOVELACE
Conceived by
EDGAR WALLACE and
MERIAN C. COOPER
Screen Play by
JAMES A. CREELMAN and
RUTH ROSE
Novelized from the Radio Picture by DELOS W. LOVELACE
There has been considerable confusion about the identity of the book's writer, Delos Lovelace. Forrest Ackerman's Famous Monsters of Filmland ran the following information in numerous issues, yearbooks and at least one paperback compilation:
"King Kong" was the last fictional work of the noted mystery writer, Edgar Wallace, Later, Cooper's wife, under her maiden name of Delos W. Lovelace, turned the story into a 249 page book, a collectors' item much sought after today by fans of Kong who want to read every word about their Hero.
A correction eventually followed (Forry reported that Cooper himself pointed out the error, and further reported that Lovelace got $600 for the job), but not before the misinformation traveled to other publications.
As of this writing (3/04), there is NO current published version of the Lovelace novelization available.
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KING KONG
LOST & FOUND
Whatever happened to all of those great props from the 1933 film?
Further Reading
King Kong: The Eighth Wonder of the World:
One heck of a website homage to the King.
One man's guilty pleasure is another man's full-on object of desire. Jeffrey Blair Latta unreservedly digs the Dino De Laurentiis remake of King Kong and doesn't mind telling you. And you won't mind reading about it.
Visit KONG'S STOMPING GROUNDS, a site devoted to the original and 1976 Kong, as well as various sequels.
RHINO RECORDS has produced the definitive KING KONG soundtrack recording - - including some classic line readings from Robert Armstrong and Fay Wray - - that you can purchase HERE at Amazon.com.
 .
.. And this really is a movie you have to own. Click here.
Back to THE GILL NET HOMEPAGE
Contact John Michlig
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The Original Hardcover
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Evolution of the credit line
The slipcover was illustrated by Glenn Cravath, and for collectors represents the majority of value in locating an original hardcover.
The speciman at top is from Glenn Cravath's own archive, and was accompanied by a copy of a July 17, 1933 letter he sent to publisher Grosset & Dunlap requesting one-half of his $100 fee. The other $50 was to be paid by RKO. Whether or not this version was ever actually printed and published is unknown.
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Later Published Versions of KING KONG
 Grosset and Dunlap, 1976, hardcover
 Fairly standard reprint issued in time to take advantage of Kong-mania surrounding the DeLaurentiis remake. Exterior painting - - looks like a rush job - - by Walter Papp, who also did a few covers for the STARTLING STORIES pulp.
Interior art is unsigned; approximately 14 stipple-type drawings, some of which are particularly evocative.
 KING KONG: A PICTURE BOOK, Grosset and Dunlap, 1976, paperback
Very nearly a coloring book in look and feel, this large format paperback includes minimal text and illustrations on each page by artist Richard Powers. Obviously coordinated with the hardcover above, as each illustration from the larger book is slavishly re-created in a loose-line style by Powers (or it might be the other way around).
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Futura Publications Limited, 1977, paperback
Standard low-cost paperback for Great Britain, unexceptional except for a striking, Kong-against-a-blue-sky cover by an unknown artist. Once again, released in conjunction with the DeLaurentiis remake.
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  "STEP-UP ADVENTURES," Random House, 1983, hardcover
This version is illustrated by MICHAEL BERENSTAIN - - the very same person who does the BERENSTAIN BEARS series, oddly enough. Re-written for younger readers by Judith Conaway, this slim volume is actually pretty stylish, thanks to Berenstain's slightly offbeat pictures throughout.
  Piccoli Lettori, 1993, paperback
Now THIS is an oddity: A slim Italian book entitled KING KONG, with illustrations that seem to evoke the story as we know it, but the characters have names like "Jeremy Colby," "John Spencer," and "Julie." Edgar Wallace is listed as author (though Wallace didn't live to see the Kong scenario in anything near its final form).
I can't read Italian (and if anyone out there can, please let me know), but it appears that the ending has been changed - - there's a picture of Kong with a NET descending on him, and the final chapter is entitled "Kong Allo Zoo Di New York." "Kong at a zoo in New York?" There are also quiz questions in the back for the bambini.
© 2005 John Michlig
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NEW KONG BOOKS
With the release of Peter Jackson's 2005 KING KONG remake comes the inevitable flood of novelization re-issues - - the book is in the public domain. Now you can read the Lovelace book without that musty smell!
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Random House/
The Modern Library - $10.95
Great cover, outstanding preface and foreword (by Mark Cotta Vaz and Greg Bear, respectively) make this softcover a keeper.
Grosset & Dunlop - $7.99
It's hard to believe that a major publisher could release something like this. The photomontage cover is bad, there is no added foreword, and the book features "a four-page photo insert including two never-before-seen images from the original movie!" The pictures they refer to aren't even remotely rare. Save your money.
The following books are illustrated "reinterpretations" of the classic Kong tale by Joe DeVito and Brad Strickland.
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