Every Picture Tells A Story

Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Merian C.Cooper's KING KONG

(This article appeared in the 2008 Comic-Con International Souvenir Program)

RESURRECTING KONG
by Lee Cohen

The original visions of King Kong had not been seen in their true state and artistic beauty in over seventy years. Seemingly, an unbelievable statement, but, as of just a few years ago, it was a fact.

The original 1933 King Kong production and concept art -- hand drawn in great detail by the film’s designers Willis O’Brien, Byron Crabbe and Mario Larrinaga -- was gathering dust, fading and crumbling away in a vault in Southern California.

It was at Comic-Con 2005, that I was first told of the plight of the Kong art by illustrator Joe DeVito, who was, himself, working on contemporary Kong pieces. Joe had been intrigued by our company, Every Picture Tells A Story, because we had begun to publish and exhibit the production art of special effects master, Ray Harryhausen. Of course, the art of King Kong had been a major influence on Harryhausen’s life and work.

Through Joe DeVito and film historian Arnold Kunert, I was introduced to Col. Richard Cooper, the son of Kong’s creator, Merian C. Cooper. Col. Cooper and his family were excited by the Harryhausen art and he kindly offered to open the family vaults and bring to us the original Kong artwork.

The art arrived at our Santa Monica location in a surprising state. The production art that had survived numbered nine pieces in all. They were, for the most part, unwrapped and packed in old cardboard boxes. Some of them, notably a jungle scene, were incredibly fragile and crumbling at the edges. Others had faded -- grown dark and obscured.

Our job would be to photograph -for the first time -- these precious pieces in a state of the art digital process.

Over the years, there had been photos and reproductions of many of these images, but these representations were far from accurate. None of the reproductions had ever captured the myriad of details, the pathos and the horror that these gifted artists had been inspired to create. In the “Kong in the Window” piece, the frightened girl’s image is subtly reflected in Kong’s eye; in the “Kong in the Street” art, the terror is reflected on the individual faces of the victims. So many of these fantastic details had been lost in the dark and cropped repros seen over the years. But there was yet one more detail, one more discovery that proved the most revealing of all.

Joe DeVito had been helping us determine which of the trio of illustrators had created each of the pieces. But when it came to identifying the artist who had created the most famous Kong image -- arguably, the most iconic film image of all time -- we uncovered a singular mystery: none of the Kong scholars could ever agree on which of the film’s designers had drawn Kong atop the Empire State Building -- clutching Ann Darrell, fending off the oncoming bi-planes. There was no studio record and no research anywhere that indicated its creator.

And so...as we did with each of the images, we gazed in awe at the detail the newly digitized drawing had revealed: the shadings in the sky, the rich Manhattan landscape, the Empire State’s dome (drawn before the completion of the real life building!) and the figures within it. It was a fantastic piece of art, well worthy of its imperial reputation in film history.

And then we saw it.

In the right hand corner, what had been blackened by age in the original art and hidden for years, was now clearly revealed: the scrawled signature of production designer Mario Larrinaga! Mystery solved!

The original Kong production art was returned to the Cooper family for long term preservation and restoration. The Kong digital images were reproduced as fine art, limited edition prints and made available to the public. We were proud that our company could play a small role in the preservation and history of one of the greatest classics of the cinema -- and in doing so, pay tribute to the artistic achievement of its creators.

Happy 75th Birthday, King Kong! May you roar for generations to come!