BRJSpring26Web - Flipbook - Page 10
A Few Good MArines
It Wasn9t Beauty
that
KIlled the Beast
By C.G. Wolfe l Photos Courtesy of James CummIns BooKseller
t
he final scenes of the original 1933, RKO version of King
Kong are unforgettable! (Spoiler alert.) Clutching Ann (Fay
Ray) in one hand, Kong scales the Empire State Building
as a squadron of biplanes approach with the rising sun. He places
Ann on a ledge and roars in defiance as he swats at the swooping
fighters, sending one pilot to a fiery death. But the aerial attack is
relentless and Kong knows that he9s doomed. He gently picks Ann
up for one last loving gaze before being riddled by another machine gun volley. Weakened, Kong sways atop the towering edifice,
loses his grip and plunges to his death on the street below.
King Kong was groundbreaking in its use of special effects and
the epic scene was shot using real planes, miniatures, and a fullscale mock up, which was employed for the close-up shots of the
pilots - who weren9t really pilots at all but cameo appearances by
the film9s directors and producers, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest
B. Schoedsack. the men who did the real flying were three
Marines from Floyd Bennet Field in southeast Brooklyn, including
the late Major general John Lloyd Winston, a decorated WWii
aviator, and former director of Brooks Brothers, who grew up
on his family9s
