40 Years of "Godzilla 1985"

It is hard to believe that 40 years has passed since the release of the Americanized Godzilla 1985 (an edited version of Return of Godzilla (1984) by Toho Co., Ltd.) was released to U.S. theaters. The U.S. release was on August 23, 1985 by the now-defunct New World Pictures.

It featured Raymond Burr reprising his role as Steve Martin from Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956). 

It was in August 1985 that I was house-sitting a friend's condo in Canoga Park. I found that Godzilla 1985 was being shown at the Van Nuys Drive-In. So, I headed there to see it during its 10:00 PM screening. It was the first Godzilla movie that I saw in a theater since I saw King Kong vs.Godzilla in 1963. The rest I saw on television.

Since then, the Van Nuys Drive-In has been demolished in the late 1990s.

As for Godzilla 1985, it has not seen a video release since VHS days as the rights to the movie are in limbo. It was released in VHS format several times and paired with Bambi Meets Godzilla, an animated short. I have a copy of one of these versions. It has never seen a DVD or Blu-ray release.

Tokyo Imperial Hotel To Be Rebuilt

Above, the dinner party I hosted at the Imperial Hotel in 2015.

Reporter Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) stayed there in Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) (talk about a "shameless plug") and it hosted celebrities like Albert Einstein and Marilyn Monroe, and I hosted a dinner party there in 2015 for friends from Toho Co., Ltd.

Now it has been announced that Tokyo's Imperial Hotel is going to be rebuilt.

The Japan Times reported:

Imperial Hotel Ltd. said Thursday that it will rebuild the Imperial Hotel Tokyo in the Japanese capital’s Chiyoda Ward by fiscal 2036, in anticipation of a tourist demand recovery after the coronavirus pandemic ends.

Imperial Hotel aims to boost its brand power through the replacement project. While the traditional upscale hotel has a global reputation, it is facing intense competition from foreign-brand luxury hotels and other venues.

The hotel was established in 1890. Its current Main Building, the third in its history, was opened in 1970, and the adjacent Tower Building in 1983.

The hotel will remain open during the rebuilding.

To read more, go here. 

Godzilla Plaque At Historical Marker Database

Above, the Godzilla plaque. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Back in 2006, the Godzilla Society of North America and the Platrix Chapter No. 2 of E Clampus Vitus dedicated a plaque commemorating the 50th anniversary of Godzilla, King of The Monsters!, starring Raymond Burr.

The plaque marks the spot where the small studio, Visual Drama, that was used for Burr's insert scenes for the movie. The location is now the Frank Del Olmo Elementary School (originally the Belmont Elementary School).

The Historical Marker Database has added the plaque last year and here's the location according to the plaque's page:

Location. 34° 4.413′ N, 118° 17.568′ W. Marker is in Los Angeles, California, in Los Angeles County. Marker is on North New Hampshire Avenue north of 1st Street. At Frank Del Olmo Elementary School, mounted to one of the columns at the top of the steps. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 100 N New Hampshire Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90004, United States of America. Touch for directions.

To see the full page, go here. 

Tokyo's Imperial Hotel Named Best Japan Hotel For Customer Satisfaction

Above, our 2015 dinner party at the Imperial Hotel.

Intrepid reporter Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) said he was staying there in Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) and in 2015, I hosted a little dinner party for friends with Toho Co., Ltd. there.

What am I talking about? I am talking about Tokyo's Imperial Hotel that was founded in 1890 by the Japanese aristocracy.

According to an article in Japan Today, the Imperial Hotel was named best hotel in Japan for customer satis faction.

They wrote:

TOKYO - For the second year in a row, Tokyo's landmark 128-year-old Imperial Hotel has been ranked the best hotel in Japan for customer satisfaction in J. D. Power's Japan Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Survey, 2017. Out of 25 of the hotel brands surveyed, The Imperial was ranked top in the segment of guest room rates of 35,000 yen or more per night, receiving a score of 773 points out of a possible 1,000 points. 

The Imperial's high ranking was based on high scores received in the areas of reservation, check-in/check-out, guest room, food & beverages, hotel services, hotel facilities, and cost & fees. Replies were received from 26,729 respondents to the August, 2017, internet survey of 166 hotel brand chains and groups throughout Japan. The respondents, aged 18 and above, were asked about their degree of satisfaction with their experiences and services at hotels they had stayed at during the preceding one-year period.

Maybe cheesecake is a little hard to find at the Imperial (former Toho President Shogo Tomiyama did locate some), but the food service we had was excellent.

By the way, the Imperial Hotel is just a short walk from the Shin Godzilla statue in Hibiya.

To read more, go here.

"A Monster of A School"

Above, LAUSD's Yonah Hong and Armand at the plaque on dedication day. Photo by Richard Pusateri.

It is hard to believe that it has been 11 years since the Godzilla, King of the Monster! plaque was dedicated at the then-new Frank del Olmo Elementary School.

The school itself was dedicated in a big ceremony in November 2006 and I was invited to say a few words on the school's site's history with Godzilla.

Above, the school's ribbon-cutting. Photo courtesy of the LAUSD.

The Los Angeles Times covered the event and here is their article from November 2, 2006:

The new campus on the edge of Koreatown occupies the site where the first American version of "Godzilla" was filmed. So one early suggestion for a name was Godzilla Elementary, which would go with the motto: A monster of a school. 

But Principal Eugene Hernandez and the naming committee inclined another way. And on Wednesday morning, an array of dignitaries, including some "Godzilla" fans, dedicated Frank del Olmo Elementary School in honor of the Los Angeles Times associate editor and columnist who died in 2004 at 55. 

The speakers included Del Olmo's wife, Magdalena Beltran-del Olmo, who said that when she was approached about the honor, "My jaw dropped; I was touched." 

"When I found out the location of the school, it was more poignant," she said, "because Frank fought so hard for the Belmont area to get more schools to serve these kids who have been dealing with overcrowded conditions." 

The three-acre, $42.9-million school opened in August, more than a year behind schedule, at 100 N. New Hampshire Ave., a block west of Vermont Avenue south of the Hollywood Freeway. An important cog in a $19.3-billion school construction program, it adds 975 seats to one of the most crowded student corridors in the Los Angeles Unified School District. 

Del Olmo's first column was about education, and among his last causes was advocating to finish the star-crossed Belmont Learning Complex, which he championed even after the project was abandoned. That school, resuscitated under Supt. Roy Romer, is expected to open in about 18 months. 

Romer spoke briefly, along with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Also on hand were Del Olmo's daughter, Valentina, a county psychiatric social worker, and son, Frankie del Olmo Jr., whose struggles with autism became a periodic subject of his father's columns.
Frankie, 14, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, stood quietly to one side during the 90-minute ceremony. 

"Frankie is doing a lot better," his mother said. "That first year and a half was brutal. He missed Dad. He couldn't cry for him. He couldn't express his emotions. He couldn't talk.
"It's wonderful that my little boy has gotten to a point with his autism [where] he can hang with a ceremony like this -- not only its length and the noise and many people talking, but just the emotion of it," she said. "It's about his dad." 

Villaraigosa and others described a columnist who was eloquent, relevant, fearless and just -- and always demanding of public officials. 

"I remember some [columns] that were not too kind to me," the mayor said. After reading about Frankie, "my perception about [del Olmo] completely changed.... I saw a father with love so deep for his son. I just waited for those pieces." He said he was also moved when the columnist decided to stop writing about his son, to give him some privacy. 

Early in his career, Del Olmo almost single-handedly represented people of color at the newspaper. He helped change the face of the newsroom. 

Even Armand M. Vaquer, the representative of the Godzilla Society of North America, had to agree that the new campus' name was fitting -- while also noting the school's site as the very place where actor Raymond Burr uttered the immortal phrase: "Look at the size of those footprints." 

On Wednesday, those words applied metaphorically to Del Olmo, who would have appreciated the public officials who spoke in Spanish and English, as well as the child mariachis and the school chorus, which sang a Swahili unity ditty and a new school song whose lyrics include the line: "We are Frank del Olmo. We love to show our pride."

Where's The "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" Plaque?

Above, the Godzilla plaque. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

This morning, some Facebook Godzilla fan friends asked me about the location of the Godzilla, King of the Monsters! plaque's location in Burbank. Since it has been a while since I've posted anything on the plaque, I figured that if anyone is going to be in the Los Angeles area making a pilgrimage to the plaque and other places of interest, I would post a blog to help them out.

Above, the plaque's location at the main entrance to the school. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

First of all, the plaque is not in Burbank. It is in Los Angeles, in the mid-Wilshire district. It is at the main entrance of the Frank del Olmo Elementary School (formerly Belmont Elementary, as that's the name of the school on the plaque). It is at First Street and Vermont Avenue. But, the actual address is 100 North New Hampshire Ave. (a half block west of Vermont Ave.). The main entrance is on New Hampshire Ave.

It was dedicated in 2006 as a joint project of the Godzilla Society of North America and Platrix Chapter No. 2, E Clampus Vitus to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Americanized version. The school was still under construction at the time of the dedication.

Above, the plaque dedication in 2006. Photo by Jean Carbajal.

Thankfully, when the school is closed, the plaque is protected from vandalism and theft by an iron gate, but visitors can still see it a few feet away.

The location was formerly the little studio called Visual Drama, where Terry Morse directed actor Raymond Burr for the insert scenes for the Americanized version of the 1954 Godzilla by Toho Co., Ltd. It was released here and worldwide as Godzilla, King of the Monsters! in 1956. The new Legendary Pictures Godzilla: King of the Monsters movie that is in pre-production pays homage to the Americanized version by its title.

References:

http://www.geekfieldguides.com/sci-fi-sites-godzilla-50th-anniversary-plaque/
http://www.vinylmaddness.com/Plaque.html
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/35337

Yen Surge Is Making The Imperial Hotel Nervous

Above, the dinner party at the Imperial Hotel last October.

In 1954, United World News reporter Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) was just "lucky" enough to be at the right place at the wrong time.

He was on his way to Cairo and stopped off in Tokyo for a nice, relaxing visit with an old friend, Dr. Serizawa. That visit never came about (unless they chatted aboard a boat in Tokyo Bay before Serizawa suited up for a fateful dive). The stopover in Tokyo was hardly relaxing either. Martin stated that he was staying at the Imperial Hotel before being led from the airport for "just questioning". It is unclear if he ever made it to his room at the hotel since a giant radioactive lizard decided to stroll through Tokyo, including the district where the Imperial Hotel stood.

Today, the Imperial Hotel doesn't have to worry about threats to its existence by radioactive lizards, but the surging Japanese yen has been cramping its style in recent weeks. And that is making the hotel's management nervous.

Bloomberg.com reported:

Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel, the luxury inn that counts Marilyn Monroe among past guests, raised room rates last year to levels it last charged before Japan’s bubble burst in the early 1990s. A surging yen now threatens those gains. 

With signs of spending from foreign tourists starting to wane as a result of the stronger currency, the hotel is looking to boost wedding banquets and turn those younger guests in to repeater clients, said Hideya Sadayasu, the president and general manager of Imperial Hotel Ltd.

Last October, I hosted a little dinner party for Toho Co., Ltd. friends at the Imperial Hotel. We had a splendid window table that had a view of the Imperial Palace and the National Diet Building. At that time, the dollar/yen exchange rate in Tokyo I received was ¥116.99. Today's exchange rate in Tokyo is hovering around ¥100. But that "catch" is, that rate is only available to "high rollers". Ordinary visitors will receive considerably less in exchange.

With the yen performing stronger, it makes visits to Japan and the cost of goods and services there more expensive. Unless things turn around soon, the Japanese government may be forced to step in to devalue the yen. We shall see.

To read more, go here.

Travel Guide Facebook "Cover" Change

Yesterday, I decided to change the "cover" photo for the Facebook page for The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.

The prior one, a shot of Godzilla in Shinjuku, was put in back in October. So it was time for a change.

This will also be the first time a non-kaiju photo isn't being used. It is a shot from the dinner party I hosted at the Imperial Hotel ("Still the Imperial!" - Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) from Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)) in Tokyo for friends from Toho Co., Ltd.

Japan's Imperial Hotel Logs Record First-half Profit

The first time I ever heard of the Imperial Hotel was in the 1956 Americanized Godzilla, King of the Monsters! There, reporter Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) tells a Japanese official that he's staying at the Imperial.

Last week, I held a little dinner party for friends from Toho Co. at the Imperial Viking restaurant on the 17th floor.

The hotel is currently celebrating its 125th Anniversary and it reported some good news yesterday.

From News On Japan:

Imperial Hotel on Friday reported its highest net profit for an interim half since switching to consolidated earnings in 2000, thanks to a sharp increase in guests from China and other parts of Asia. 

The Japanese company said group net profit for the April-September period jumped 31% on the year to 1.1 billion yen ($9.02 million) on a 4% gain in sales to 26 billion yen.
At its flagship Tokyo location, average sales per room rose 12% to 32,908 yen amid an uptick in foreign visitors.

Above, the dinner party held last week at the Imperial Viking restaurant.

- See more at: http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/114061.php#sthash.Pv1Omfxi.dpuf

Tokyo's Imperial Hotel Celebrating 125th Anniversary

Above, the main lobby of the Imperial Hotel. PR Newswire photo.

It may not be the same Imperial Hotel that reporter Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) stayed at in 1956's Godzilla, King of the Monsters, but the grand hotel is celebrating its 125th anniversary.

According to PR Newswire:

TOKYO, Sept. 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Imperial Hotel, Ltd. announced on September 25 that the Japanese capital's legendary Imperial Hotel is celebrating its 125th year of uninterrupted business this November 3 with an extensive renovation of all 361 rooms in its 31-story Imperial Tower as well as with a number of special events and activities underway now through March 31, 2016.

The Imperial Hotel is just a short walking distance away from the Godzilla statue in Hibiya.

 To read more, go here.

Monsters Attack! Number 4

A recent posting by Stan Hyde at Facebook Monsterland prompted this recollection.

Following Terror of Mechagodzilla in 1975, Toho Co., Ltd. put Godzilla on a long hiatus. During those years, all was quiet on the Godzilla front.

Then, out of the blue, Toho released Godzilla in 1984 (renamed Return of Godzilla and released here (heavily edited) with Raymond Burr reprising his Steve Martin character as Godzilla 1985). The movie, although well-done in its original Japanese form, received a lukewarm response here. The movie was a direct sequel to the original 1954 Godzilla and ignored all of the prior sequels.

Then, following that movie, Godzilla disappeared again, at least as far as the United States was concerned.

In Japan, Toho finally decided to produce a sequel to the 1984 movie, based on a story-writing contest, in 1989. The result was Godzilla vs. Biollante. Unfortunately, not too many people in the U.S. were aware of this movie and it received no stateside theatrical release. It seemed that Godzilla was gone again.

However, the following year, Monsters Attack! (no. 4) was published. The cover date was September 1990, The magazine featured Godzilla on the cover by John Severin. The magazine contained an article on Godzilla that recapped his cinematic career and featured the first word (and images) about Godzilla vs Biollante that many U.S. fans received. It was the first time I was made of aware of the movie. To me, in seeing those images, this was the best-designed Godzilla suit in a long time.

I remember buying Monsters Attack! at a local comic book shop and bringing it along to read on a camping vacation to Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 1990. I still have the issue (somewhere around here).

Today, Monsters Attack! no. 4 is a much sought-after Godzilla collectible for being one of the first (if not the first) source of information Americans received about Godzilla vs. Biollante. It ranks up there with Famous Monsters of Filmland issue 114, the special 100-page all-Japanese monsters issue.

Superman Plaque Location Submitted To Roadside America.com

Above, Stephanie Shayne Parkin addresses the plaque dedication ceremony attendees. Photo by Steven Kirk.

There was one last (at least I think it's the last) task in relation to the Adventures of Superman plaque I did today.

I submitted the plaque for listing at Roadside America.com. It is a fun website to locate and visit "offbeat tourist attractions" around America. They have listed the Godzilla plaque that was placed at the former home of Visual Drama, the studio in Los Angeles where Raymond Burr's Godzilla, King of the Monsters! scenes were shot in 1956.

The location is now the Frank del Olmo Elementary School and the Godzilla plaque is at the school's main entrance.

Hopefully, they will soon list the Adventures of Superman plaque. I submitted three photos to go along with the listing. This will let Superman fans know where to visit the plaque.

1954 "Godzilla" DVD Over-saturation?

Above, the Japanese original Godzilla DVD is being reissued by Classic Media. Photo by Toho Co., Ltd.

With the new Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures Godzilla coming out next month, companies with Godzilla licenses are jumping to take advantage of the high public awareness of the new movie and the Godzilla character.

Classic Media is planning to release a reissue of their DVD on May 13. It will be sold as Godzilla, King of the Monsters in new packaging and will have both the Japanese and American versions and the extras that were issued previously.

I have to wonder how this DVD reissue will do in sales. It seems to me the market is already over-saturated.

Classic Media originally put out the original Japanese version along with the Americanized Raymond Burr version (Godzilla, King of the Monsters!) back in 2006. The set with these versions was called Gojira. The set, to my understanding, did quite well in sales at the time.

Later, after sub-licensing the video rights to Criterion, the two movies (with different extras) were given the "Criterion treatment" of digital restoration that totally "blew away" the versions offered by Criterion in 2006 and were offered in Blu-ray and DVD sets in 2012. The restoration work was outstanding. These sets are still available. Classic Media released a Blu-ray of their 2006 set a year earlier. Many fans passed on that and went instead for the Criterion Collection Blu-ray.

While I understand the reasoning behind Classic Media's taking advantage of the new movie to get "their piece of the action," I would think that hardcore fans already have either the previous Classic Media or Criterion Collection sets (or both, as I do) and just pass on this. Naturally, they are probably hoping that non-hardcore fans will grab this in their excitement over the new movie. We'll see.

To be quite honest, if it were me and had I not already purchased the earlier Classic Media and Criterion Collection sets, I would pass on this reissue and grab instead the 2012 Criterion Collection set while it is still out in stores. The difference between the Classic Media and Criterion Collection versions are like night and day!

"Look at the size of those footprints!"

Above, Armand (far right) takes part in the Frank del Olmo Elementary School's
ribbon-cutting ceremony.  Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The preparations for next year's Adventures of Superman plaque got me to thinking about another plaque from a few years ago.

Back in October 2006, a new elementary school was dedicated.  It was originally named Belmont Elementary School and a plaque was dedicated several months before by Godzilla fans and the Platrix Chapter of E Clampus Vitus ("a historical drinking society or a drinking historical society"). The plaque reflects the original name of the school.

Prior to the time of the school's dedication, the name was underwent a change.  Here's what the Los Angeles Times said about it at the time:

The new campus on the edge of Koreatown occupies the site where the first American version of "Godzilla" was filmed. So one early suggestion for a name was Godzilla Elementary, which would go with the motto: A monster of a school. 

But Principal Eugene Hernandez and the naming committee inclined another way. And on Wednesday morning, an array of dignitaries, including some "Godzilla" fans, dedicated Frank del Olmo Elementary School in honor of the Los Angeles Times associate editor and columnist who died in 2004 at 55.

Even though Godzilla lost out in the naming of the school, it was still an honor to be invited by the Los Angeles Unified School District to speak at the dedication ceremony on the history of the site where the school now stands.

Above, LAUSD's Yonah Hong and Armand with the "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!"
plaque at the school's entrance.  Photo courtesy of Richard Pusateri.

The Los Angeles Times ended their article appropriately:

Even Armand M. Vaquer, the representative of the Godzilla Society of North America, had to agree that the new campus' name was fitting -- while also noting the school's site as the very place where actor Raymond Burr uttered the immortal phrase: "Look at the size of those footprints." 

On Wednesday, those words applied metaphorically to Del Olmo, who would have appreciated the public officials who spoke in Spanish and English, as well as the child mariachis and the school chorus, which sang a Swahili unity ditty and a new school song whose lyrics include the line: "We are Frank del Olmo. We love to show our pride."

To read the full article, go here.

"Godzilla vs. Biollante" Is Days Away

Godzilla vs. Biollante is slated to be available on DVD and Blu-ray at Amazon.com this coming Tuesday (December 4).  Some people have already found it in different stores.

I have my copy of the Blu-ray edition on pre-order at Amazon.  I am in no rush (if there are delays) as I have the old HBO VHS in my library.  So it's not as if I've never seen the movie before.

The movie is the direct sequel to 1984's Return of Godzilla (released in the U.S. as Godzilla 1985 with Raymond Burr added in).  Biollante contains some of the best special effects work by Koichi Kawakita (photo, left with yours truly in 2000).  There is a good reason for this, Godzilla was around 80 meters tall in this movie, so the miniatures were scaled accordingly and are more detailed.  Godzilla's size was bumped up to 100 meters in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) and this required the change in the scale of the miniatures that did not allow for as much detailing.

Godzilla vs. Biollante is a little plodding in its pacing, but once the monster action starts, it is a very enjoyable movie.  It also introduces the psychic character Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) to the series.

A snippet of the movie was used in the Tim Burton movie, Mars Attacks.

Godzilla Is Back and Comic Con Got Him!

The Associated Press put the story out.  The Washington Post picked it up.  So did CBS News.  And the Huffington Post posted it.  Many others did as well.

What's the big news?

Legendary Pictures/Warner Brothers' Godzilla is the big news. And it comes from Comic Con International in San Diego.

The best write-up (in my humble opinion) was by the fine folks at Dread Central.  Here's part of what they wrote on the teaser trailer that was shown:

A city decimated. Completely destroyed. The camera pans by the wreckage of a train, A distant voice is heard reading from the Book of Revelations. The voice sounds very familair. Dust everywhere. Cars crushed. Holes in skyscrapers. 

It becomes obvious that the voice belongs to Raymond Burr from the original. We then see a giant centipede-like creature with many arms and legs smoldering. (You know what that means? Monster battles!) The city appears dead as a doornail. Then blackness. THE ROAR. As in THE roar. Huge bass drop. Raymond Burr finishes his famous speech. Dust...then an arm... a hand... with claws. Pan up... holy shit... the fins. The head. Godzilla. As we know him. The real fucking Godzilla. He roars again. 

Finally, it appears that after 14 years since the TriStar disaster of 1998, we're getting the American Godzilla we've been waiting for!

From Dread Central's write-up, it seems that Legendary Pictures/Warner Brothers is getting Godzilla right!

To read the full story, go here.


UPDATE (7/19/12): The voice was not Raymond Burr, but instead was Robert Oppenheimer.

Criterion's Godzilla: New Developments

The kaiju world is abuzz at the prospect that Gojira (i.e., Godzilla) (1954) will receive a DVD/Blu-ray restoration treatment from Criterion.

Classic Media released a subtitled Japanese version along with the Americanized Godzilla, King of the Monsters! DVD set a few years ago that received a lot of kudos from fans. Having both movies released and restored by Criterion would be the icing on the cake.

Now, there's word that a fine-grain 35mm print of Godzilla, King of the Monsters! has been found. August Ragone has details on this at his blog.

The last version of Godzilla, King of the Monsters! was the closest thing to a restored print released (by Classic Media) to date, but it was pieced together from several sources and some items were edited in out of original order.

Having a fine-grain print available (provided it is still in good shape) on DVD would be tremendous! (August Ragone explains why.)

Above, the "Godzilla King of the Monsters! plaque at Frank del Olmo Elementary School in Los Angeles.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! was the edited version by Terry Morse that featured Raymond Burr and was filmed at Visual Drama Studios in Los Angeles in 1956. A commemorative plaque has been placed at the location (now an elementary school).

It'll be interesting to see what transpires!

Tokyo-Edo Radio Project Interview

A 45-minute interview with Hans Karlsson of the Tokyo-Edo Radio Project has been completed. The interview tonight was intended as a preliminary "warm-up" interview, subject to approval by the heads of the project (with the broadcast interview to be done later). However, Karlsson did indicate that tonight's interview may be edited/condensed for broadcast. They will let me know what they decide to do in any case, and I will pass the word.

The interview focused on The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan, the locations/landmarks used in various movies as well as a discussion on how Godzilla, Gamera and other Japanese monsters became popular in Western countries.

We went into detail on the Americanized Godzilla, King of the Monsters! and its importance in making the Godzilla character popular in countries outside of Japan. We also discussed how Raymond Burr was directed by Terry Morse at Visual Drama studios in Los Angeles and that a plaque now marks the site's historical significance.

I had fun with the interview.

"Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" Released 55 Years Ago

This is Tokyo. Once a city of six million people. What has happened here was caused by a force which up until a few days ago was entirely beyond the scope of Man's imagination. Tokyo, a smoldering memorial to the unknown, an unknown which at this very moment still prevails and could at any time lash out with its terrible destruction anywhere else in the world. There were once many people here who could've told of what they saw... now there are only a few. My name is Steve Martin. I am a foreign correspondent for United World News.

55 years ago today, Godzilla, King of the Monsters! was released to theaters in the United States.

This was the Americanized version directed by Terry Morse that inserted actor Raymond Burr into the movie. The original was produced by Toho Co., Ltd. in 1954 and released in Japan in November 1954.

It was this version that was released around the world that made Godzilla an international star. A new American Godzilla movie is now in pre-production by Legendary Pictures.



Burr's scenes were filmed at tiny Visual Drama studios in Los Angeles on Vermont Avenue near First Street. The Frank del Olmo Elementary School now occupies the site and a commemorative plaque honoring Godzilla, King of the Monsters! is mounted at the school's entrance (above photo). The plaque was funded by fan contributions and co-sponsored by The Godzilla Society of North America and Platrix Chapter No. 2 of E Clampus Vitus. Terry Morse Jr. attended the plaque dedication.

Monsterpalooza: One Week Away!

"Scene To Seen," Friday, April 8 at 8:00 PM

One week from today, Monsterpalooza opens at the Burbank Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. My presentation, "Scene To Seen" will be the second presentation of the convention, following Pete Brothers.

As tomorrow is an off day, I will take advantage of it to get my narrative written on 3x 5" cards (I find these easier to read than having typed sheets of paper when wearing non-bifocal eyeglasses for poor distance vision even though I see just fine without them while reading. I need to keep them on so I can see the audience to take questions.). I have over 70 photographs to show and describe (to varying degrees).



The last time I did any public speaking using cards was for the dedication ceremony of the Frank del Olmo Elementary School (above). There, I spoke on the school site's history (Raymond Burr's Godzilla, King of the Monsters! scenes were filmed there in 1956 and a plaque at the school's entrance commemorates it). The card notes definitely come in handy in case I get a "senior moment" during my talk.

Eliot Brodsky, who heads up Monsterpalooza, requested that I get there as close to 4:00 PM this coming Friday as possible. As soon as Miki arrives at my place in Tarzana, we'll be making the 15-mile drive to Burbank. (Just hope the Friday rush-hour traffic cooperates!)

Above, Miki and Armand.

As mentioned previously, the presentation will be based on The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan and the guidebook will be available for purchase before and after the presentation (at a 20% Monsterpalooza discount). It begins Friday, April 8 at 8:00 PM.

Hope to see you there!

For additional information on Monsterpalooza, go here.