It’s true! Not only did the original king of the monsters celebrate his 85th anniversary back in March, but he’s returned to the Broadway stages of New York City where producer Carl Denham made the mistake of trying to exploit a giant gorilla with no acting experience who wouldn’t take direction. Hopefully, this time it’ll go better!
Tonight is the opening night for King Kong, a mega-budgeted musical stage adaptation of the creation of Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace. According to the Broadway magazine Playbill, it features a one-ton, six-meter-tall silverback gorilla puppet as its star, and is written by Olivier Award-winning book writer Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) with a score by Marius de Vries (Moulin Rouge) and songs by Eddie Perfect. It follows a 2013 world premiere in Melbourne, Australia. Sounds exciting, right?
But Kong hasn’t influenced only a Broadway musical—he also inspired all of us at StarWarp Concepts to add the story of the king of the simian monsters to our line of Illustrated Classics!
King Kong is an e-book-only republication of the 1932 novelization of the original movie classic. Written by Delos W. Lovelace, based on the story by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper and the screenplay by James A. Creelman and Ruth Rose, it includes scenes that didn’t appear in the final cut of the film—including the notorious “spider pit” sequence in which Kong’s human pursuers are attacked by horrific arachnids and insects. Our version features six original black-and-white illustrations by comics artist Paul Tuma, whose pulp-influenced style has appeared in the pages of The Twilight Avenger, Flare, and Dan Turner: Hollywood Detective.
Not familiar with the beauty-and-the-beast story of Kong and his “love interest,” Ann Darrow (who was played in the 1933 original by the queen of the scream queens, Fay Wray)? Well, here’s our edition’s back-cover copy to bring you up-to-date:
Ann Darrow was a down-on-her-luck actress struggling to survive in Depression-era New York when she met moviemaker Carl Denham. He offered her the starring role in his latest film: a documentary about a long-lost island—and the godlike ape named Kong rumored to live there. Denham needed a beauty as a counterpart to the beast he hoped to find, and Ann was the answer to his prayers.
Mystery, romance, a chance to turn her life around, even the possibility of stardom—to Ann, it sounded like the adventure of a lifetime! But what she didn’t count on were the horrific dangers that awaited her on Skull Island—including the affections of a love-struck monster…
King Kong (the 1932 novelization) is available directly from the SWC webstore, so visit its product page for ordering information.
And break a leg tonight, Kong! Just not for real, okay?
