Re: the George Turner book

[Danvarner@aol.com]

In a message dated 11/25/01 7:09:18 AM Pacific Standard Time, StephanPickering@cs.com writes:


<< Having spent nearly 15 years on my own book, Alfred Russel Wallace's KING KONG, it should be pointed out that Merian Cooper did not create the concepts: the original plot-line was a collaborative effort between Harry Hoyt and Willis O'Brien for their Creation. >>

    I don't recall a giant gorilla nor a rampage in New York City in Creation. Kind of important. 

<< Virtually all of the Kong sequences were created by OBie >>

    They had to be, as there was no final script for most of the time. Most of the morning on the island with the dinosaurs was shot as a "test".

  << the! ! only thing Merian C. Cooper ever supplied to the creative process was the 
name for his "killer gorilla". >>

    Goldner/Turner quote from Wallace's diary from December 29, 1931: "An announcement has been made in the local press that I am doing a super-horror story with Merian Cooper, but the truth is it is much more his story than mine."
Is this a misquote? Also, in fairness to the late Mr. Goldner and Turner, I do not believe they made much of an emphasis on Cooper's role in creating the film. In fact, as a chapter heading, Goldner and Turner quote co-director Schoedsack, "Kong was the product of many contributions."

  << Alas, George Turner perpetrated so many misconceptions and rumours as "fact" for his book that, even now, it is not historically useful for research on the film (Mr Turner's photographs came from Orville Goldner, in the main)...30 years after its publication, the book should have been totally abandoned. >>

       Of course the photos came mainly from co-author Goldner, he WORKED on the film! They were his photos.The last statement here is most difficult to swallow. In the 26 years since its publication, the Goldner/Turner _The Making of King Kong_ has been the last word in the story of this film and is a treasury of wonderful images of the work of some of film's greatest artists who got together a million years ago and made my favorite dinosaur film out of metal, rubber, glass and paint. It also helped keep the names O'Brien, Delgado, Larrinaga, Crabbe alive through all those years. That's what's important. It deserves to be in print always. DV