KING KONG LOST & FOUND |
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| Click HERE for an examination of various KONG NOVEL- IZATIONS |
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If you're looking for Halloween costumes, check out this Gorilla costume selection.
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.
THE MAKING OF KING KONG is the best source for information on the classic 1933 film and its sequels. Co-authors George Turner and Orville Goldner go into considerable detail about each step in the creation of an American classic (including a list of all sound effects used), and the behind-the-scenes photos are truly revelatory.
I've learned recently that George Turner had no access to RKO records and files or the papers of Merian C. Cooper, yet his reporting is very, very good. For many people, this book and various issues of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND provided their only glimpse of Kong stills and behind the scenes photographs.
Unfortunately (and inexplicibly), THE MAKING OF KING KONG is long out-of-print. You can buy a USED COPY at my online store (I have a VERY LIMITED SUPPLY) for $30 + shipping HERE.
Doug Turner, son of the late George Turner, is currently selling a CD-ROM containing outtakes and enhanced photos from his father's project (click HERE for a look).
UPDATE: There is now available an expanded version of Turner's original book entitled SPAWN OF SKULL ISLAND. I was surprised to find some of my above comments about MAKING OF KING KONG, along with my name, cited on the back cover and promotional material for the book. I'm flattered, but I wasn't consulted beforehand, and as of this writing I've not seen the new book. The publisher merely referred me to author Michael Price when I asked if I might see a copy of what it is that I "endorsed".
CINEFEX NUMBER SEVEN devotes the whole of its contents to a fascinating look at the tragic life and career of King Kong's creator, Willis O'Brien.
Writer Dan Shay provides depth and background the rest of us will refer to for years to come in any serious study of OBie and of his films. Great photos throughout; a real treasure. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Look for it popping up on eBay periodically at $15-$35.
CLOSEUP NUMBER 3: IN MEMORIUM, THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD is an overlooked gem for its comprehensive (and highly critical) coverage of the 1976 film just as it was hitting theaters. Rick Baker, who has been studiously silent about his involvement with the remake, gives an extensive interview that pulls no punches ("The thing is, when I found out Carlo [Rambaldi] was going to Dino [De Laurentiis] with my ideas, and saying they were his, I just stopped contributing ideas to the picture."). The inside front cover shows a picture of the Kong armature before it became part of Bob Burns's collection.
Among other highlights, CLOSEUP also reprints a wonderful string of correspondence between college student Wayne Schulz and George Turner, which eventually deliniates the genesis of Turner's book, THE MAKING OF KING KONG (see above). Turner's side of the "conversation" contains notes on his interviews with Marcel Delgado, Ernest B. Schoedsack ("One of the animators was a real bastard. I can't think of his name right now."), Ruth Rose, and Orville Goldner.
An issue will pop up on eBay now and then for $15-ish. For completeists out there, be aware that glossy and matte (closer to newsprint) versions exist.
Until a real "behind the scenes" book exploring the production, marketing, and aftermath of the '76 film can be done, we must be satisfied with THE CREATION OF DINO DE LAURENTIIS'S KING KONG - - which is your basic propoganda film tie-in (written by the publicist for the production). The b/w photos scattered throughout are pleasant but hardly illuminating.
Predictably, Some of my conversations with principals involved in the production contradicts material in this book.
Read between the lines, however, and you'll catch author Bahrenburg allowing some of Dino's more bombastic utterances to speak volumes. Names like Katzenberg, Diller, and Eisner pop up in the (ironically) short marketing discussion.
Bruce Bahrenburg, a unit publicist who also wrote "making of" books for The Great Gatsby and The Candidate, would have been a great interview for background on the making of the film; unfortunately, he died in 1989 at age 59.
(Out of print)
AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, JANUARY 1977 contains a series of virtual press releases for the Kong remake - - a complete whitewash (many of the half-truths and exaggerations are revealed in CLOSEUP above).
Sample lead paragraph:
"On a film like 'KING KONG' which employed dozens of the most highly skilled, hand-picked cinema technicians in the world, it might seem that word 'genius' would crop up now and then."
And believe me, it does.
What makes the magazine worthwhile, however, are some great color on-set photos and production art.
Also included is an excerpt from George Turner and Orville Goldner's MAKING OF KING KONG, wherein the photos reproduce much better than in the actual book.
This one's a tough piece on eBay - usually $35+.
THE GIRL IN THE HAIRY PAW is a mixed bag of fiction and non-fiction pieces related to the Kong mythos. There are occasional lapses (misidentified pictures, etc.), but the chance to read Phillip Jose Farmer's straight-faced account of what happened "After Kong Fell."
This is the book that led me to fellow Wisconsinite CLARK WILKINSON, who is erroniously cited in HAIRY PAW as owner of a Kong armature (he actually had a Mighty Joe Young armature in great condition, before selling to "a young fella from California.").
(Out of print)
UPDATE: KING KONG COMETH is an excellent update of the HAIRY PAW Kong anthology formula
FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #132 (1976)
Had he simply placed the Kong logo beneath Basil Gogos's portrait of the Dino de Laurentiis mechanical Kong, Forest Ackerman could have created a stylistic companion issue for #108, which featured a closeup of the original Kong.
A good source for pictures of the life-size Kong props, as the two Kong features inside have an "I was an extra in proximity to a giant furry Kong" theme: Ackerman features two shots of himself (both pictures more than a half-page) with the anemic mechanical Kong on the night of crowd filming, and a staff writer provides a first-person account of filming at the foot of the World Trade Center tower with the Dead Kong prop.
Also interesting; this is the issue wherein Ackerman's early enthusiasm for the film began to noticably subside (lest we begin to consider Forry a tastemaker - it would only a matter of time before the Jaws-Kong shlock hybrid A*P*E got on the cover, touted as the greatest thing since Birth of a Nation.).
A fairly easy issue to get on eBay for under $10.
JAPANESE KING KONG PROGRAM (1976)
While not informative in the traditional sense -- the text is in Japanese, after all -- the program sold at the Japan premiere is a visual feast. Also, a couple PG-13 shots of Jessica Lange (semi-topless stills that did not appear in the film) reveal that marketers in Japan were unconstrained in trumpeting "King Kong" as an adult feature.
This is an item that you have to get more than once, as printing quality varies from copy to copy. The cover is always soft, however, looking as if the original artwork they used was too small.
A fairly easy issue to get on eBay for under $15, unless you buy from an overseas seller (and need to deal with shipping). A seller named "Davidinjapan" evidently has a stockpile of these, as he always seems to have one for sale.
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