American Cinematographer - August 1983 - 100

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Although he was drooping from the
side of the tower, a pathetic imitation
of his mighty progenitor, Vicino and
company remained optimistic about
placing the blimp back on his rightful
roost by Sunday, April 10-the anni¬
versary date of the film's national

RCA seized the occasion to promote

release.
For ardent KONG enthusiasts, the

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KONG, and TV monitors played the

State

film's finale every hour on the hour.
Serioous students, of course, took
their time gaping at the studio docu¬

lobby of the Empire
Building seemed far more re¬
warding. Fay Wray, who was sched¬
uled to appear but couldn't, offered
her statement (read by proxy): "It
was graceful destiny that brought the
Empire State Building to completion
in the same year that KING KONG
was being written. I've always had a
continuing attachment to the building
and feel

a

rush of excitement, even

possessiveness, everytime I see it.
My best wishes to all for an abso¬
lutely splendid weekend.'' (In a "P.S.,"
she said she had just been handed a
message from a courier from Skull Is¬
land saying that all the folks at home
felt the same way.)
Darlyne (Mrs. Willis) O'Brien made
a

brief but welcomed appearance, ac¬

companied by diehard Kongophile
Robert Flarvey. Surprisingly, it was
her first trip to New York. Her gasps of
awe as she viewed the metropolis
from the 102-story Observation Deck
seemed, in a way, to immortalize for
all time the incredible illusion wrought
by her late husband a half century
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ments as

though they were the Dead
majority of passersby consisted of lunchbreakers
mildly intrigued by the calamity and
the big balloon. Others merely strolled
in to get out of the rain.
What was sadly missing from New
Sea scrolls; but the

York's salute to KING KONG, iron¬

ically, was a grand screening of the
film itself, independent of anything
that had to do with Empire State
Building public relations. Radio City
Music Hall achieved this in 1973 when
the theatre flaunted its Art Deco

Expo, and the experience was tanta¬
seeing the movie in its origi¬
nal glory. That didn't happen this time
around
Radio City is presently
housing a stage revival of PORGY
AND BESS, and the old Roxy Theatre
had been demolished years ago. Only
mount to

-

the reverent but rundown Thalia on
the upper West Side ran a print on
March 2 in celebration of the initial
Radio City/Roxy KING KONG blitz.

principal lobby curio was a min¬
Kong by Marcel De¬
lgado done during his later years-
hardly a likeness of the original, but
fascinating nonetheless. Glass cases
displayed historical treats from the

somewhat tacky
Fay Wray Screaming
Contest masquerading as the main
event. Nothing to compare with a
screening of David O. Selznick's per¬
sonal nitrate print, rumored for pre¬

RKO Archive: closure notices for the

sentation at the Chinese Theatre in

animators dated

Hollywood late in May.

iature rendition of

why should

their Selectavision disc of KING

exhibition in the

ago.

-and

ourselves.")
Pristine publicity pasteups with all
the seams showing-later duped into
the ubiquitous stock stills present in
everyone's Kong collection-were
fascinating to inspect, as were origi¬
nal lobby cards and souvenir items.

January 31, 1933; a
payroll record citing their salaries; a
frantic

memo

from RKO

exec

Ned De-

pinet to studio watchdog B.B. Kahane regarding the spiraling costs for
the picture, known then as THE
BEAST; telegrams indicating cash
flow problems; daily requisitions for
crowd extras; final budget break¬
downs ($538.62 for construction of
each animation model, $672,154.75
for the completed picture, including a
hefty 30% overhead); and the RKO
pay record for the stunt pilot who
"shot'' kong-a whopping $25. (For
the closeups in the film, Cooper and
director Schoedsack hopped into a
plane mockup in front of an aerial pro¬
cess plate and performed the actual
feat, based on Cooper's suggestion.
"We should kill the sonofabitch

But

even

this

affair, with

was a

a

What of the 84-foot

Kong? By
Wednesday, April 13, the promoters
once again perched their vinyl marvel
on the Empire State's
lofty tower
after

extensive

plastic surgery.
by Friday, the combination of rain,
rigging and broken glass had worn
the patient down. Despite heroic sur¬
gical efforts, the prognosis was poor,
and Kong was reduced to plastic
wrap billowing against the parapets,
looking more like a big Hefty bag than
a great ape. For Robert Vicino, it was
some

But

the simian's

swan song. After a few
days of R&R in Central park, inflated
but hopelessly prostrate, the mighty

Kong was no

more.

"It wasn't the

airplanes; it was the
lousy wind." Or was it? Perhaps the
whole thing bordered on blasphemy,
AMERICAN

CINEMATOGRAPHER, AUGUST, 1983
American Cinematographer - August 1983

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