What examination of Hollywood monkeys could begin with any monkey other than the greatest Hollywood monkey of all, King Kong, star of the classic 1933 horror movie of the same name? Contrary to popular belief, King Kong was not a real giant monkey, but in fact was a combination of a small model of a monkey that was shot in the stop motion format, and a series of giant-sized mockups of hands, feet, and other assorted body parts. Indeed, the famous "Empire State Building scene" was, in fact, actually done entirely with models. It is generally thought to-day that the scientific impossibility of ever finding a 40-foot-tall monkey precluded the filmmakers from using a real monkey in the filming of the movie, but in truth, when pre-production of the film began in early 1931, the film's simpler, less worldly [i.e. stupid - ed.] producers actually pondered the possibility of finding and recruiting a giant gorilla for the title role, and even sent expeditions to the remote areas of the Belgian Congo and the Dutch East Indies to find such a creature. However, the Depression-era filmmakers soon realized that the financial difficulties involved in feeding, housing and disposing of the poop of a 40-foot-tall monkey would be next to impossible, and therefore opted towards the more efficient and less smelly miniature model instead. Some will say that the results speak for themselves, but as you will see, there is more to this story than meets the eye.

      More importantly, though, King Kong is one of the most controversial Hollywood Monkeys of all times. Besides spawning a series of horrible sequels, knock-offs, and remakes that spanned well into the eighties (his only real shining moment came in the 1962 film King Kong vs. Godzilla wherein he trashed his reptilian rival royally), the legendary troubles that faced the making of his debut picture are the stuff of Hollywood legend. Numerous scenes too gruesome and disturbing to be shown to 1930s audiences were cut, production costs were enormous, and ingˇnue Fay Ray could barely be forced to keep her clothes on, often scandalizing the crew with her nude romps among the various models and mockups of the monster Kong. However, the most controversial Kong legend is a long rumored story that there really was a giant monkey set to play the part of the mighty beast, but the giant, who is known to have been at one point the personal property of King Leopold II of Belgium, is said to have left the set early in the filming due to "creative differences" with the directors. The story goes that he strongly objected to a proposed poop-throwing scene as being too "stereotypical". This rumor can't be confirmed, of course, but there is strong support for the theory that he went on to win the title role in the film The Mighty Joe Young.

      Whatever the controversy surrounding the film, it cannot be denied that King Kong was a truly inspirational and gifted monkey who broke new ground for other, successive, generations of monkey performers, and set a standard for monkey performance that, sadly, his later imitators could never match. Perhaps filmmaker Dino De Laurentis summed it up best when, perplexed as to why his 1976 remake of King Kong failed so miserably at the box office compared to the other big monster movie of the season, Jaws, he said "Nobody cry when the shark die." I guess he didn't have that excuse when Dune came out. At any rate, we salute the first great Hollywood Monkey: King Kong!

      And for you interactive types, here is a really great King Kong web page that has all kinds of neat pictures and sounds and everything else a disgustingly [good] web page should have:http://www2.netdoor.com/~campbab/kong.html