Evening star., 1933-01-22
Coming Film Is Called
'Technical Masterpiece
King Kong, Eighteen Months in the Making. Is
Tribute to Hollywood Wizardry in Accomplish
ing What Was Considered the Impossible.
Bv Mollie Merrick.

| who had done considerable work fol
the American Museum of Natural HIS.
tory in New York, q great artist anc
the greatest technician In the motor
picture industry today. AS an artist
scientist O'Brien appreciated all phases
of the work required; as q paleontolo-
gist of note, he supervised the making
of the eight prehistoric monsters to be
seen in the completed film. A dozen
sculptors assisted him in making those
ancients so true to known facts that
they form the most scientifically valu-
able collection Of paleontology In the
world today For one year these mon
sters were builded upon skeletons ex-
actly duplicating those to be seen In
various museums throughout the coun-
try:
But O'Brien's real work began when
the cameras were set up, since his Is
the task of animating these monsters
so that they simulate the movements
made in life. I won't attempt to reveal
all that secret. 1t took us seven weeks
to produce in film the fight between
movement was photographed separately
"a Job which took patience. When 1t
came to make the sequences Of the ape
running amuck in New York's down.
town sector, no miniatures were al
lowed. The planes are actual fighting
planes and the shots are actual shots
of downtown New York. Sometimes
seven different sequences were blended
to make one shot. Some of the methods
used will be kept secret for many
years."
One of the greatest difficulties en-
countered by the makers of king
Kong" was reproduction of sounds
made by prehistoric animals, since
there was no scientific data available
to be used as q guide. DR., Lytle, ver-
tebrae paleontologist of the Los Angeles
Museum, furnished the key for the
sound effects: For the dinosaur ]
would suggest that you reproduce va
riouS degrees Of Kissing sounds and for
the mammals an admixture OF grunts
and groans," he said. 1t took 40 sound
making instruments to reproduce the
menacing Kisses.
For vocalizing the arsinoitherium
prehistoric Egyptian mammaD the
technicians blew column OF air
through vox humana pipe from an old
organ. This was next re-recorded at
subnormal speed which made the re-
sultant sound an octave lower and with
a definite note Of terror. A reversal OF
the sound track turned this somewhat
familiar sound into hitherto unheard
Of bull-like groan which in turn was
slowed down in recording and lowered
still another octave If you're still with
me on all this you have some small
idea of the difficulties involved and the
expert work of technicians.
Growls of cougars, lions, leopards and
other wild animals were recorded and
reversed for other sounds in the pic
ture. An assortment of gorilla cries
were assembled by Chief Technician
Spivack for the ape itself. and these
were run backward at slow tempo.
The effect was tremendous From the
first picture problem presented makers
of gelatin entertainment to the fin
ished product of this Cooper-Wallace-
Schoedsack tale is a whole world Of
scientific research and practical expert
ment.
1t is interesting that, in a day Of
dialogue, the screen suddenly asserts
itself most forcibly from its technical
angle and in this weird nightmare tale
in which the principal actor-a giant
ape-carries some of the following
! measurements:
Height, so feet: face, 7 feet: nose, 2
feet; lips, feet from corner to corner;
brows, 4 feet 8 inches; mouth, feet
when stretched in a smile; eyes, each
10 inches long; eye teeth, 10 inches
high; arms, % feet Good night
little kiddies Sleep WE'LL