I was reading THE MAKING OF KING KONG by Goldner and Turner*, and was reminded that Charles Gemora played King Kong in the 1934 spoof THE LOST ISLAND. Orville Goldner, co-author of the King Kong book, was the production manager.
Charles Gemora as King Kong, with Mae West marionette.
The "human" characters in this film were all marionettes, and included Mae West in place of Fay Wray, as well as the Marx Brothers**. Unfortunately, this film was never completed.
* The original book by that title. After the latest "remake" of KING KONG a book was written about that movie with the same title, after which they came out with another version of the previous book with the title SPAWN OF SKULL ISLAND. I've still got the original book. I'll stick with it, and the original version of the movie, too.
** Mae West and the Marx Brothers were also depicted together in the Flip the Frog cartoon SODA SQUIRT, but did not actually work together in the movies.
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I spoke directly with Wah Chang about his involvement in The Lost Island. He said he played the T-Rex (in costume) and passed out a few times because of the hot lights which were required to expose early Technicolor.
ReplyDeleteI spoke directly with Wah Chang, who played the T-Rex (in costume). He said he passed out a few times from the hot lights required to expose early Technicolor.
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