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!

Original "King Kong" Coming To Theaters March 15

Above, King Kong squares off against a tyrannosaurus rex in 1933. RKO General photo.

The original King Kong (1933) hasn't been in theaters since 1956 (when I was two years old). But all that is going to change when the great ape is presented on the big screen next month.

From Comicbook.com:

When it comes to movie monsters, it doesn't get much bigger, figuratively or literally, than King Kong, with the 1933 original film returning to theaters nationwide on Sunday, March 15th, marking the film's first theatrical screenings since 1956. Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies is hosting the event on behalf of the TCM Big Screen Classics series, which will also include A League of Their Own, Airplane!, Psycho, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. You can head to Fathom Events' official website to learn more about the screenings, which will be featured in more than 600 theaters. 

The site describes the film, "Traveling to an uncharted South Pacific island with an adventurer following tales of a God-Ape, Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) is captured by the island's natives to serve as a human sacrifice to Kong. But when Kong, a giant ape, sees Darrow, it is overcome with love — and eventually captured by the adventurers. Taken to New York and put on display, Kong breaks free and pursues Darrow through New York in one of the most famous scenes ever filmed."  

The upcoming event is sure to excite fans of the monstrous ape, but, luckily, fans won't have to wait much longer to see the character grace the big screen again, as he will take center stage later this year when Godzilla vs. Kong hits theaters on November 11th.

To read more, go here.