89th Anniversary of the Premiere of "King Kong"

Above, a display of Kong atop the Empire State Building at
 the 2017 Art of King Kong event. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Earlier this evening, I was reading at Twitter that today marks the 89th anniversary of the premiere of King Kong (1933) in New York City.

King Kong was something nobody even expected to see and it remains a classic motion picture today.

Above, a striking painting of Fay Wray at the Art of King Kong event. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It reminds me that my mom would also be 89 years old this month (on March 11). When the 50th anniversary of King Kong was celebrated in 1983, my mom groused that it reminded her of her age.

Above, yours truly with Don Glut at the Art of King Kong event in 2017.

I guess it would be appropriate to raise a glass in salute to King Kong on his 89th anniversary.

Cheers, big guy!

Freedom Tower Surpasses Empire State Building Today

Today, the Freedom Tower ( left) under construction in New York's World Trade Center will be taller than the Empire State Building (above right).

The New York Post reports:

The owners of 1 World Trade Center — which will surpass the height of the Empire State Building today — are waging an all-out business war against its Midtown cousin, The Post has learned.

WTC operators want to steal business from the Empire State Building by promoting their observation decks and winning back broadcasters that beam their signals off of the Midtown skyscraper’s massive antenna.

The Empire State Building stands at 1,454 feet with 102 stories.  The Freedom Tower will stand at 1,776 feet with 104 stories when completed.  The Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world until 1972.  It was completed in 1931.  It was visited by King Kong in 1933 (below).

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/scrappy_scraper_an_empire_buster_Zt6wge8P65Gx0IaOMdb3hP#ixzz1tYM3qfED