Re: Dinosaur TV Week

[Richard W Travsky <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

On Sat, 13 Mar 1999 Danvarner@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 99-03-13 15:40:03 EST, you write:
> << >The Valley of Gwangi
>  >Watch as a piece of clay sculpted by Ray Harryhausen outacts James
>  >Franciscus.  Cowboys and dinosaurs.  Fun.
>  
>  <snip>
>  
>  I beg to differ! It was actually a piece of Harryhausen-sculpted and 
>  cast foam latex over a metal ball-and-socket armature that outacts James 
>  Franciscus. ;0)
>  --Kevin >>
> 
>   Not sure of the spelling, but wasn't Arthur Hayward the sculptor of the
> Gwangi model in Harryhausen's Gwangi? I know dinosaur sculptor Tony McVey was
> responsible for the baboon model in one of the later Sinbad films.

My Maltin's guide simply says Harryhausen. I *must* get a book on
Harryhausen's work.

>   The original Gwangi was crafted ever so skillfully by the original Lost
> World and Kong maestro Marcel Delgado. I understand that model was stripped
> from the armature and replaced by the "allosaurus" ( they are all allosaurus)
> for _The Beast of Hollow Mountain_. Dan Varner.
 
Gwangi was a 1941 project of Willis O'Brien's. Steve Archer's book on 
Willis O'Brien says leftovers were storyboards, photos of the animation
model, a script, and "other" material. Harryhausen is quoted as saying
the Delgado allosaurus and that O'Brien sold it to Eddie Nassoour
who "promptly dismembered it". The references in the book to _Beast_
do not mention where the model came from, just that Henry Sharpe did
the special effects. There is no entry for _Beast_ in the IMDB.

rich