WHO DID WHAT FOR THE ORIGINAL KING KONG

 A guide to the artists who created a classic.

Merian C. Cooper

Created the character of Kong and the basic story concept for the film. He convinced RKO to make the film and co-produced it with Ernest B. Schoedsack. Cooper directed the live action portions of the jungle sequence and of most of the New York scenes following Kong’s breakout from the Broadway theater with the exception of the final scene atop the Empire State Building. Directed all of the special effects and animation sequences. Appeared in the final sequence as the pilot of the bi-plane that kills Kong and supervised the film’s release as RKO’s new Vice President in Charge of Production.

Ernest B. Schoedsack

Co produced the film with Cooper and directed all of the live action scenes except for the chase through the jungle and the scenes of panic in New York after Kong’s escape. Also directed the original version of Carl Denham delivering the “It was beauty killed the beast” line, which was set atop the Empire State Building. Cooper directed the final version, set in the street in front of the fallen Kong. Schoedsack was married to the film’s co-writer, Ruth Rose and played the gunner who fires the kill shot at Kong in the final scene.

David O. Selznick

Vice President in Charge of Production for RKO, Selznick bought Cooper’s pitch for the film, convinced the RKO board to back it, and approved it for production. Was replaced by Cooper in February 1933.

Archie F. Marshek

The film’s associate producer, Marshek served as a liaison between Cooper and the production and between the production and the optical effects company that produced the film’s composites.

Walter Daniels

The film’s production manager, Daniels worked with Schoedsack to organize and schedule the production.

Edgar Wallace

A famous British mystery writer hired by RKO to write screenplays, Wallace wrote the original script for Kong based on Cooper’s story. Wallace’s screenplay contained most of the set pieces that appear in the final film, although much of the actual story and the characters were quite different (for example, Denham is a big game hunter, Jack the leader of a group of escaped convicts, and Ann -- called Shirley -- was a young shipwreck survivor captured by the convicts). Wallace died in January 1933, soon after completing his draft.

James A. Creelman

RKO contract writer who replaced Wallace as the film’s writer. Working with Cooper, Creelman revised both the story and characters until they more closely resembled those in the final film.

Horace McCoy

Another RKO contract writer who worked on several drafts of the script when Creelman had to leave to finish work on the script for The Most Dangerous Game. During McCoy’s tenure, the concepts of the native tribe, the Great Wall, and the human sacrifice were first created and inserted into the script.

 Ruth Rose

Wrote the final draft of the script. Revised the characters to more closely resemble their real-life counterparts (Denham = Cooper, Jack = Schoedsack, Ann = Rose) and wrote most of the dialogue that appears in the final film. Rose also created the opening sequences of the film, in which Denham discovers a starving Ann in the streets of Depression-era New York City.

Willis H. O'Brien

A stop motion pioneer, O’Brien designed all of the special effects shots and sequences in the film, supervised their execution, and did most of the animation.

Mario Larrinaga & Byron L. Crabbe

With O’Brien, did the concept paintings and continuity sketches (storyboards) for all of the special effects sequences. Also painted the glass backings used in the miniature sets.

Marcel Delgado

Constructed all of the animation models used in the film, including four different versions of Kong. Detailed the film’s large props – the big Kong head, the big hand, and the lower portions of the Pteranodon.

Carroll L. Shepphird

Devised all of the technical specs and plans (set dimensions, camera placement, lenses, film speeds, light placement, etc) for each shot.

E. B. Gibson

O’Brien’s assistant, “Buzz” Gibson helped O’Brien animate most of the major sequences and animated some sequences on his own – most noteably Kong’s climb up the Empire State Building

W. G. White

Constructed the frameworks for the miniature sets.

Orville Goldner

Painted and detailed the miniature sets. Occasionally assisted the animators and animated many of the birds himself.

Fred Reefe

Created the mechanical devices and support systems used in the miniature sequences. Occasionally assisted with the animation.

John Cerisoli

Studio sculptor, Cerisoli carved the wooded human figures used in the animation sequences. He also carved wooden stand-ins for the animation models (which were used to do lighting tests to prevent the rubber skin of the actual models from drying out under the hot lights) and wooden skulls for some of the dinosaur models.

Juan Larrinaga, Victor Delgado, Zachary Hoag

Technical artists who assisted in the creation of the miniature sets and oversized props. 

Max Steiner

Famous composer who created the film’s groundbreaking score, considered by many to be the first official film score of the sound film era  and one of the most influential film scores in history.

Eddie Linden

The film’s main director of photography, Linden photographed most of the live action and animated sequences.

Kenneth Peach

Uncredited alternate director of photography, Peach filled in for Linden when Linden was needed elsewhere.

J. O. Taylor

Alternate director of photography, Taylor filmed most of the live action scenes shot by Cooper, including scenes of Kong stomping on natives and chewing on natives and Manhattanites, the hotel room scenes in which Kong terrorizes the sleeping woman and recapturing Ann, and the scenes of panic aboard the elevated train.

Vernon Walker

Photographed most of the film’s optical process work, including the rear screen shots and the Dunning blue screen material.

Linwood G. Dunn

Assisted by Cecil Love and William Ulm, Dunn created most of the film’s optical effects, including most of the matte shots, double exposures, dissolves, etc.

Sidney Saunders

Created the innovative rear screen used to combine full scale and miniature footage into a single composite. Used heavily throughout the film and showcased in the T-Rex scene.

C. Dodge Dunning

Created the in camera blue screen matting process used to combine miniature and full-scale footage into a single composite. This process was used primarily in the log sequence. 

Frank Williams

Created the optical printer-based blue screen matting process used to combine miniature and full-scale footage. Supplanted the Dunning process for most of the filming. Seen to great advantage in the sequence in which Kong pushes open the gates of the Great Wall.

Ted Cheesman

 The film’s editor.

Murray Spivack

Assisted by Walter Elliot, created the film’s pioneering and innovative sound effects.

Van Nest Polglase

The head of RKO’s art department, Polglase supervised the creation of the films sets by Art Directors Carroll Clark and Art Herman.

Carroll Clark

Art director for The Most Dangerous Game, Clark designed the swamp set that he then reconfigured for use in Kong, where it appeared as the jungle on Skull Island.

Al Herman

Art director who created the rest of the sets on King Kong, including the reproduction of the Empire State Building, which he created from the blueprints of the actual building.

Walter Plunkett

Head of RKO’s costume department supervised the creation of the film’s costumes.

Harry Redmond Jr.

Redmond was in charge of all of the physical and mechanical special effects used in the film, including the fog that envelops the Venture and the jungle.

Duke Krantz and George Weiss

Pilots who flew the camera planes that filmed the live action scenes of the bi-planes attacking Kong.

Who Did What On the 1976 Kong

An overview of key production personnel.

By Ray Morton

Dino De Laurentiis (Producer): 
De Laurentiis conceived the idea of remaking Kong, sold the idea to Paramount Pictures and a group of European investors, supervised the entire production, supervised the publicity campaign, and promoted the film tirelessly.

John Guillermin (Director):
Guillermin, who also directed The Towering Inferno, worked with the actors, visualized the shots, and creatively supervised all of the technical crews.

Lorenzo Semple, Jr. (Screenwriter):
Semple updated and adapted the original story and wrote the film’s screenplay.

Federico De Laurentiis (Executive Producer):
De Laurentiis was Dino De Laurentiis’s 21-year-old son and point man on the production. He was on the set every day, representing his father, helping out, and filming documentary footage that chronicled the making of the film. He also took a photo of a gorilla in the San Diego Zoo named Bum that Carlo Rambaldi used as the basis for his design for Kong’s face.

Christian Ferry (Executive Producer):
Ferry was Guillermin’s point man on the production (Ferry produced Guillermin’s film The Blue Max). His primary roles were to act as a go-between between Guillermin and De Laurentiis and to negotiate for the production when necessary. He is credited with the negotiations that allowed the film to shoot at the World Trade Center.

Frederic M. Sidewater (Assistant to the Producer):
Sidewater was the vice president of De Laurentiis’s production company. He helped De Laurentiis negotiate with RKO to acquire the rights to remake Kong. He also handled most of the film’s financial and contractual negotiations and, after the film’s release, negotiated the deal with an Argentinean amusement park to feature the 40-foot-tall Kong robot as an attraction in the summer of 1977.

Richard H. Kline, A.S.C. (Director of Photography):
Kline lit the sets and photographed the film. Together with Guillermin, Kline determined that the film should have a softly lit and softly filtered look to enhance its fairy tale quality.

Jack Grossberg (In Charge of Production):
Veteran production manager Grossberg hired the crews, negotiated all of the location and equipment deals, and drew up and supervised the film’s budget.

Terry Carr (Production Manager):
Carr scheduled the day-to-day filming and coordinated the activities of the full-scale and miniature units so that the work of each unit would complement the other. He also assembled the photographic formulas required to match the full-scale footage and the miniature work.

Brian Frankish (Unit Production Manager -- Hawaii:
Frankish was hired as the film’s research assistant and located the two ships – the oceanographic research vessel U.S.S. Melville (the Petrox Explorer) and the Susanne Onstadd (the supertanker) – used in the film. Frankish then coordinated the Hawaiian shoot. His duties included coordinating the helicopters that were used to fly the cast and crew to the various island locations and opening and running an abandoned hotel for the cast and crew to stay in. Once the unit returned to the mainland, Frankish worked in a variety of capacities on the production for the duration of the shoot.

George Goodman (Unit Production Manager -- New York):
Goodman scheduled and coordinated all of the New York filming.

Jeffrey Chernov, Michael Winter, Scott Thaler:
These three young men were the film’s production assistants at MGM Studios.

Joyce Selznick:
the niece of the original Kong’s executive producer David O. Selznick, Joyce helped Guillermin find and audition the actors used in the film.

John Barry (Music Composer and Conductor):
Barry wrote and conducted the film’s musical score.

Ralph E. Winters, A.C.E.(Film Editor):
Academy Award winning editor assembled and fine-tuned the footage.

Phil Tucker (Postproduction Supervisor):
Director of the cult classic Robot Monster, Tucker ran and scheduled the editing department.

Robert Pergament (Assistant Film Editor):
Pergament assisted Winters in the editing room.

Margo Anderson (Assistant Film Editors):
Anderson served as the liaison between the editing department and the optical effects lab. She also coordinated the various elements used to create the special effects shots.

James J. Klinger (Sound Effects Editor):
Klinger created and edited the various sound effects used in the film, including Kong’s distinctive roar.

Mario Chiari (Production Designer):
Veteran Italian production designer Chiari was hired to choose the film’s locations and design its sets by his friend Dino De Laurentiis. Unfortunately, Chiari and John Guillermin didn’t see eye to eye. Also, Chiari had difficulty adapting to U.S. production methods, so he was eventually reassigned. His primary duties were then to help Carlo Rambaldi design the various versions of Kong used in the film.

Dale Hennesy (Production Designer):
Oscar winning art director Hennesy replaced Chiari and designed most of the sets used in the film.

Mentor Huebner, David Negron (Production Illustrators):
Huebner drew the film’s storyboards. Huebner and Negron drew the concept drawings for each set and for key scenes in the film.

Gary Martin (Construction Coordinator):
Martin supervised the construction of the film’s sets, including the Great Wall.

Aldo Puccini (Miniature Coordinator):
Grandson of the famous composer, Puccini supervised the construction of the miniature sets.

Rick Baker:
Make-up whiz Baker sculpted the miniature Kong’s body and face, collaborated on building the Kong suit with Carlo Rambaldi, and fabricated the Kong masks. He also played Kong in the film.

Carlo Rambaldi:
Special effects creator Rambaldi did the original design for the mechanical Kong and the mechanical hands, collaborated with Rick Baker on the Kong suit, and created the cable controlled mechanisms used to animate the Kong face masks.

Glen Robinson:
Mechanical effects expert and theme park ride designer Robinson created the final design for the Big Kong and the Big Hands, supervised their construction, and headed up the team that operated the mechanisms. Along with fellow mechanical effects man Joe Day, he also designed many of the film’s mechanical effects, including the log, the elevated subway train, and the giant snake.

Don Chandler (Sculptor of Kong):
Studio sculptor Chandler sculpted the initial model and the various body pieces for the Big Kong.

Michael Dino (Hair Design for Kong):
Wigmaker Dino assembled thousands of pounds of horsehair and attached them to rubber panels. Those panels were then used to cover the Big Kong, the Styrofoam Kong used at the World Trade Center, and the Big Hands.

Eddie Surkian (Mechanical Coordinator for Kong):
Surkian installed the various mechanical and hydraulic systems used to operate the Big Kong and the Big Hands. He also traveled with the Big Kong on its journey to Argentina.

Frank Van Der Veer, A.S.C. (Supervisor of Photographic Effects):
Van Der Veer supervised the blue screen filming and optical work for the film.

Barry Nolan (Photographic Effects Assistant):
Nolan assisted Van Der Veer and devised the revolutionary video alignment and playback system used to match the foreground action filmed in front of the blue screen with the action on the background plates.

Lou Lichtenfield (Matte Artist):
Veteran Hollywood matte painted Lictenfield -- who also did many of the matte paintings for the original Mighty Joe Young – designed and painted the matte paintings used in the film, including the long shots of the Great Wall, the chasm beneath the log, and some of the interiors of the supertanker sets.

William Kronick (Second Unit Director):
Kronick directed several sequences featuring the miniature Kong, including Kong’s smash through the Great Wall. He also directed the long shots of the various ships, as well as much of the background plates and insert shots for the New York sequences.

Harold Wellman, A.S.C.:
A veteran cameraman who worked on the original King Kong, Wellman was credited with Additional Photographic Effects in the film’s closing credits. This is a somewhat misleading credit. In actuality, Wellman, who was an expert in miniature photography, consulted with Richard Kline on the photography of the miniature sequences. He also served as the director of photography for the Second Unit.

Will Shephard:
Shephard was an actor who played Kong in certain key action sequences in the film. He worked mostly with the Second Unit.

Moss Mabry (Costume Designer):
Mabry designed the primary costumes seen in the film.

Anthea Sylbert (Costume Designer).
Sylbert – who would later become a producer – designed the native gowns and costumes, including Jessica Lange’s sacrificial dress,

 Claude Thompson:
Thompson choreographed the native’s sacrificial dance.

MORE ABOUT THE BOOK

My book is called King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon. It covers the making of the seven King Kong films made to date, including The Son of Kong (1933), King Kong Versus Godzilla (1963), King Kong Escapes (1967), King Kong Lives (1986), and King Kong (2005). It also includes a chapter on the many Kong spin-offs, rip-offs, and spoofs, a chapter on the Kong films that were planned but never made, and a chapter on Kong merchandise and memorabilia. The centerpiece of the book, however, are two extensive chapters – one on the making of the original 1933 King Kong and one on the making of Dino De Laurentiis’s 1976 remake. The making of the original film has been well documented over the years, but there have always been a few gaps in the story. In the course of my research, I came across some fascinating bits of information that filled in a lot of those gaps, especially those concerning the development of the initial concept and the original screenplay. The making of the 1976 King Kong has been less well documented and, as many fans know, much has been written about the film has been at best inaccurate and at worst just plain wrong. To correct these mistakes, I interviewed many of the people involved in the making of the film, including: Jeff Bridges, Rene Auberjonois, Jack O'Halloran, Ed Lauter, Lorenzo Semple, Jr. Richard H. Kline, Rick Baker, Carlo Rambaldi, Will Shephard, Barry Nolan, Terry Carr, and Brian Frankish. I am confident that this chapter is going to be the most detailed and accurate account of the film's making yet written. It is my hope that it will provide Kong fans with new insight into this under appreciated film and cause those that bash Kong ’76 to re-evaluate it and recognize it for the ground-breaking and entertaining blockbuster that it is. The book will be published by Applause Books in November 2005 and is currently available for pre-order at the link below:
 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1557836698/qid=1121989639/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-7343422-5539351?v=glance&s=books

A MYSTERY SOLVED: THE FATE OF THE BIG KONG REVEALED

photo taken from Kingdom Kong

One of the great mysteries surrounding the 1976 Dino De Laurentiis version of King Kong is the fate of the full-scale King Kong robot built for the film. The creation and operation of the mechanical monster was the focus of most of the film’s pre-release publicity and the cause of much controversy (due to its awkward performance and limited on-screen appearance) once the film had premiered. Despite all of this attention, once the film had completed its run, the Big Kong appeared to vanish. In an interview in the January 1977 issue of American Cinematographer, producer Dino De Laurentiis reported that he had been approached by both the Walt Disney Company and Universal Studios with an offer to display Kong in their respective amusement parks, offers De Laurentiis claimed to have spurned, his reasoning being that he didn’t want the Big Kong to be overexposed because he was planning to use it again in a soon-to-begin-production sequel. Of course, that immediate sequel never materialized, at which point all discussion of De Laurentiis’s hydraulically controlled ape ceased. The creature was never used or seen again.

So, what happened to the Big Kong? When production on King Kong wrapped in October 1976, the Big Kong was broken down into pieces and placed in storage. (Actually, the Big Kong spent most of its life in pieces. Most of the scenes that featured the creature were filmed using bits of the creature – i.e. its legs, chest, shoulder, and head. The fully assembled ape was only used for one scene – the Shea Stadium Presentation Sequence – and also for a publicity photo shoot with Jessica Lange.) After it was disassembled, the Big Kong was initially stored in a work shed at MGM Studios, and then later moved to a warehouse in El Segundo, California (near the Los Angeles International Airport). It remained there until the spring of 1977, after which it was shipped to Argentina. Once he realized that he wasn’t going to be making a sequel anytime soon, De Laurentiis made a deal to loan the Big Kong to an amusement park in Buenos Aires. The price was $100,000 for a one-year lease. Eddie Surkian, who supervised the installation and operation of the creature’s hydraulic and mechanical systems during construction and shooting (tasks he also performed for the mechanical shark on Jaws and Jaws 2) accompanied the Big Kong in order to supervise the reconstruction of the creature and remained in Argentina for the entire year in order to keep the mechanical monster in tip top working condition. After the amusement park’s lease expired, the Big Kong returned to storage in El Segundo, where it remained for the better part of a decade, during which time the monster’s fiberglass shell, rubber skin, and horsehair fur began to deteriorate.

In 1985, De Laurentiis dissolved his private production company -- The Dino De Laurentiis Corporation – and started a new, publicly held company called The De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. As part of the deal, De Laurentiis sold the assets of his old company to his new one. One of those assets was the Big Kong. As part of his new venture, De Laurentiis built a new motion picture studio in Wilmington, North Carolina and had all of his assets shipped there.  The Big Kong, now missing most of its hide, was brought to the studio and rather unceremoniously dumped on the backlot along with a lot of other unused and unwanted props and materials. There, what was left of its exterior covering disintegrated completely until all that was left was the creature’s duraluminum skeleton. When the time came for De Laurentiis to produce King Kong Lives, the production team briefly considered using the Big Kong, but it was decided that the cost and effort required to refurbish the creature were too exorbitant and (given the creature’s poor performance in KK ’76) not worth it (although the molds used to fabricated the Big Kong’s exterior were used to create the big Kong mannequin used in Lives). The collapsing skeleton of Big Kong remained on the lot until De Laurentiis sold the facility in the late 1980s, at which point the new owners sent it to the junk yard. All in all, an ignoble end to a noble piece of movie magic.