Well, I just cried. I read this bit from a fan that reads the site and went and saw Fay Wray and King Kong at the Smithsonian last week. Is the writing that great? No, but I can feel the geeky coolness in every sentence, I can share this experience in my mind's eye. I wish I had been there. Well, I will be speaking on the same stage that Fay Wray and George Lucas spoke on, on July 23rd. That's right, I'll be at the Smithsonian with my own night. What are they? Crazy? I don't know, but it'll be me, dinosaur skeletons and the nation's treasures. Ahhhh my plan to take over the world is coming full circle.... It's part of a series they are doing called CRITICAL MASS: SIX CRITICS ON MODERN CINEMA. Sheesh that sounds legit, eh? Well, I'll go up and uh speak like uh the great um speaker th th that I uh am. Though in a million years I won't be worthy of one iota of the coolness of FAY WRAY. But to just know she occupied the same space... well I'll start flipping out something fierce. Maaaaaaaaaaan, where's my Time Tunnel when I need it?
Harry --
Just wanted to drop you a quick note about the incredible Smithsonian event on April 29th, `The Magic of Fay Wray,' held in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
Here, not far from prehistoric fossils that are surely cousins to the giant creatures of Skull Island, a packed audience had the privilege of viewing the 1933 masterpiece `King Kong' with Ann Darrow herself, Fay Wray. After the screening, Ms. Wray was interviewed by NPR's Murray Horowitz, which was followed by an interesting Q & A session. It was truly a night to remember, and I'll briefly share a few highlights with you:
-- It was indeed surreal watching `Kong' with Fay Wray in the theater ... I'd keep glancing over to her (she was seated in the front row), and just knowing that she was watching the film with us was a remarkable feeling. As the interviewer said after the film, we can all now tell our grandkids we watched `King Kong' with Fay Wray!
-- After the film ended, the movie screen was slowly raised, and out walked `Beauty' herself -- and Fay Wray received the first of several standing ovations of the evening. Ms. Wray was incredibly gracious, open and kind (she said the pleasure tonight was all hers, that it was her privilege to watch `Kong' with us) -- and, despite the years that may have passed since Carl Denham's fateful expedition, she still has the presence and radiance of a major film star.
-- Asked about the "infamous" (now lost) spider sequence that was deemed too gruesome and cut after the initial showing, Ms. Wray said she was unaware of such a scene -- that she wasn't involved with it. She did say that on her first viewing of the completed `Kong,' she thought there was too much screaming and remembered being very impressed with Willis O'Brien's landmark special effects work. She said she never actually met O'Brien, put did remember seeing him on the set. Ms. Wray also said Robert Armstrong was a pleasure to work with, a real gentlemen and great guy.
-- Ms. Wray said she didn't realize `Kong' would become the cinematic institution it now is until 10 years after its release. She was in Los Angeles, taking a walk with her baby in a stroller, when a little boy walked passed her and stopped. He ran back up to her and shouted, "You were in `King Kong!'" She then knew `Kong' was no ordinary film.
-- She said, during filming, the buzz about `Kong' was so strong that other studios, banking on the stardom that `Kong' would surely bring her, cast her in several other genre films (including one of my all-time faves, `Mystery of the Wax Museum' and `Dr. X'). She was also filming `The Most Dangerous Game' simultaneously with `Kong' (on the same sets).
Bottom line, Harry, it was a great and memorable evening -- and Ms. Wray emphasized that above all, she is a lover of film and a strong believer in its ability to bring people together. Watching her on that stage last night, with Merian C. Cooper's black and white world still fresh in our minds, you could definitely see how the mighty Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World, would fall head-over-heels for this most beautiful and gracious woman. Thanks to the Smithsonian for making this possible -- and thanks to you, Harry, for your incredible site.
You can call me Ivan Igor, deranged sculptor of wax figures ...
