King Kong ROARS to the silver screen

King Kong ROARS to the silver screen

91 years ago on March 2, 1933, King Kong clambered atop the Empire State Building, with Fay Wray in tow and made cinematic history.

THE LOUDSPEAKER
Kong is going West. He is making for the Empire State Building.

DRISCOLL
(to Sergeant)
If he goes up there, what can we do?

SERGEANT
We won’t be able to get near him.

THE LOUDSPEAKER
Kong is climbing the Empire State.He is still carrying Ann Darrow.
From original King Kong Script 
Kong (1933) – Screenplay (dailyscript.com)

Fay-Wray---King-Kong stamp Canada Post

Fay Wray | King Kong from the Canadians in Hollywood series Canada Post issued it May 26, 2006, Designers: John Belisle & Kosta Tsetsekas

King Kong and Fay Ray entered cinematic history on March 2, 1933, when King Kong premiered in New York City. It was released for general distribution April 13, 1933. It was an immediately success, terrifying and entertaining audiences over the decades. The film, made for $672,000, ended up making over $11,777,000 world-wide that year, selling 7,800,000 tickets in the US and Canada alone. 

The Library of Congress picked King Kong for preservation with the National Film Registry on the basis of its cultural, historic and aesthetic significance. The Library’s entry boils down the movie into an astoundingly succinct, and amusing paragraph. And yes, it has spoilers:

Kong, a giant gorilla, falls in love with Ann Darrow, the leading lady in a film being made on the remote island where he is worshipped as a god. He carries her into the jungle, but she is rescued by the director, Carl Denham and their ship’s captain, Jack Driscoll. Enraged, Kong goes on a rampage, killing islanders and destroying the village. He is subdued with a gas bomb. Denham decides to take him back to New York and put him on display. Kong breaks free, and pursues Ann through New York, killing more people. He catches her, climbs to the top of the Empire State Building and is shot down by airplanes.
King Kong | Library of Congress (loc.gov)

Canadian born Fay Wray played Ann Darrow and became a film legend with the release of King Kong. Michael Price, author of Forgotten Horrors encyclopedia, in the article that accompanies the Library of Congress entry, offered some insight into the origins of King Kong:

[Director & producer] Cooper’s friend, zoologist W. Douglas Burden, had found on Komodo Island (Dutch East Indies) a gigantic species of lizard, once believed extinct. Cooper also had a fascination with gorillas. Considering Burden’s interest in the Komodo Dragons, Cooper imagined the capture of a massive ape. Burden also had included his wife in the expedition—an inspiration to Cooper.

Cooper imagined a gigantic gorilla in conflict with prehistoric reptiles. He envisioned the ape brought to America, escaping, and making a stand atop the Empire State Building.

Cooper enlisted Willis H. O’Brien, developer of dimensional animation, who had made dinosaurs appear to move. O’Brien photographed figures in subtle changes of position, one frame at a time. His short-film novelties had led to the production of “The Lost World” (1925) from Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel about dinosaurs. O’Brien’s protégé, sculptor Marcel Delgado, constructed 49 dinosaurs with rubber flesh over metallic skeletons.
Michael Price – film essay for “King Kong” (loc.gov) 

Read the entire article, it’s only 2 pages, but serves up details on how the film special effects were done, including the spectacular aerial battle at the end.

A number of remakes and sequels were made, but none come close to the groundbreaking effects and storytelling of the original. 

  • King Kong 1933 
  • Son of Kong 1933 
  • King Kong vs. Godzilla  
  • King Kong Escapes  
  • King Kong 1976  
  • King Kong Lives 1986  
  • King Kong 2005  
  • Kong: Skull Island 2017  
  • Godzilla vs. Kong 2021

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is set to premier sometime this month.  So … V & C … want to join me?  

King Kong poster from 1933

King Kong movie poster for 1933 release

EXT. EMPIRE STATE BUILDING – FULL SHOT – DAWN

Another airplane zooms by firing into Kong.

EXT. EMPIRE STATE BUILDING – MED. SHOT – DAWN

Again Kong is hit. He coughs. He looks down at the girl. He
looks at his wounds, realizes he is weakening. He moves to —

EXT. EMPIRE STATE BUILDING – FULL SHOT – DAWN

— pick her up.

EXT. EMPIRE STATE BUILDING – MED. SHOT

As he stares at her with a puzzled, hurt look. The he puts her —

EXT. EMPIRE STATE BUILDING – FULL SHOT – DAWN

— down, straightens up, roars defiance up at the planes. He
coughs as he drums his chest, daring them to come on.

EXT. CITY AND SKY – FULL SHOT – DAWN

The remainder of the squadron dive together towards the
Empire State Building.

EXT. EMPIRE STATE BUILDING – FULL SHOT – DAWN

They sweep past Kong with a roar of machine guns. He
staggers, turns and slowly topples off the roof.

EXT. EMPIRE STATE BUILDING – GENERAL VIEW – DAWN

Kong as he falls to —

EXT. EMPIRE STATE BUILDING – FULL SHOT – DAWN

— the street below. He lands beside the burning airplane.
Kong (1933) – Screenplay (dailyscript.com)

 

Madagascar’s last Queen, Ranavalona III, is deposed

Madagascar’s last Queen, Ranavalona III, is deposed

On February 28, 1897, Madagascar’s Queen Ranavalona III was overthrown and sent into exile by invading French forces. 

Who is certain of tomorrow? Only yesterday I was a queen. Today I am simply an unhappy, broken-hearted woman.
Attributed to Ranavalona after her exile began.

Ranavalona-III-Surcharge

Ranavalona III part of a 4-stamp set celebrating the last 3 queens.
Madagascar Post Office issued Sept. 9, 2008

Ranavalona was a fierce defender of Madagascar’s independence and culture, resisting French colonial incursions. In 1896, France launched a full invasion, making the independent kingdom of Madagascar a colony. In less than a year, French authorities feared rebels & freedom fighters would use Ranavalona as a rallying point for resistance and exiled her in 1897.  She remained in exile until her death in 1917. 

Soon into her reign, in 1895, France invaded and annexed the island. Ranavalona was initially allowed to stay as a puppet queen, but the French authorities accused her influential aunt Ramisindrazana of inciting Malagasy rebels.

Ranavalona, her aunt and other members of the royal family were packed off to the island of Réunion, where photographs in the archive show how miserable they were.

“They all look so upset, thin and drawn,” said Taylor. “You have Ranavalona and her aunt and her nephew in a bowler hat outside this weird-looking palace that they had built for them, it is like a villa in wood.” Remarkable story of Madagascar’s last queen emerges from Surrey attic | Heritage | The Guardian

Queen Ranavalona III

Queen Ranavalona III Photo courtesy https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/09/madagascar-relics-queen-ranavalona-iii

**NOTE: Some websites list the day as Feb. 27. The majority say she was removed on the 28th. 

I love Africa has an excellent timeline of the events surrounding her reign Ranavalona III: The Last Queen Of Madagascar And Her Tragic Exile | I Love Africa

Ranavalona III, the last queen of the Kingdom of Madagascar [1881 – 1897] | The African History

TAIK | Pre-colonial Madagascar Had All The Elements of a Modern State (theafricaiknow.org)

Gisèle Rabesahala pedagogical unit 1 | Women (unesco.org)

Posting about post boxes for Alderney

Posting about post boxes for Alderney

Well, Alderney knows how to start a year off right. Their stamp program began with a Valentine to the beloved post boxes that dot the landscape. 

Alderney Post Boxes souvenir sheet

Post boxes, pillar post, mailboxes, whatever you want to call them have a fascinating history themselves. And images of them are equally collectable. I try to snag photos of interesting designs when I can, such as this magnificent one still in use in downtown Toronto.

Mailbox Toronto found in downtown Toronto
However, nothing is as iconic as the British pillar boxes.  According to good folks at Guernsey Post (who are responsible for Alderney’s stamps by the way), the boxes … or rather pillars, are woven into the history of mail delivery:

Prior to the ground breaking reforms introduced by Rowland Hill in the Victorian period, the British postal service was cumbersome and expensive.  Hill believed that if it were cheaper to send letters, more people would do so, whilst also boosting communication and trade.

Hill’s vision was realised in 1840, when the Penny Postage Act passed into law, paving the way for affordable postage and easy-to-use adhesive stamps.  However, for many communities, the nearest letter-receiving office was miles away.  It was Anthony Trollope – then a General Post Office official who went on to become a Victorian author – who is credited with their introduction of the post box, having observed road-side letter boxes in use is France and Belgium. Alderney Post Boxes (guernseystamps.com)

SEPAC posted a fascinating little writeup on the history of post boxes in the UK, and the Islands:

The design of post boxes has evolved over time. They were initially painted green to blend in with the countryside, before being painted red in 1874 to make them more visible. In 1980, Alderney’s post boxes were painted a distinctive blue colour to complement Guernsey Post’s new branding and have remained so ever since. Alderney’s post boxes depicted on Bailiwick stamps | SEPAC Stamps

The article goes on to discuss the history of the royal cypher on the various boxes. Well worth the read and a great Valentine’s gift to collectors.  Alderney issues a small but impressive number of stamps, and for lovers of history and local art, they are one of the best (along with Jersey) to focus on. 

Enjoy the year. 

February

Alderney Post Boxes

 Alderney Post Boxes stamps

 Alderney Post Boxes souvenir sheet

Alderney Post Boxes FDC Alderney Post Boxes FDC with sheetAlderney Post Boxes postcard 

Alderney Post Boxes presentation pack Alderney Post Boxes presentation pack sheet  

Alderney Post Boxes sheets of 10

6 stamps, 1 stamp on souvenir sheet, 2 FDCs, cancel, First Day Issue (FDI) postcard, 2 presentation packs, 6 sheets of 10 
offset
unstamped postcard also available

  • 65p stamp: Alderney Airport
  • 88p stamp: Whitegates
  • £1.20 stamp: Route de Picaterre
  • £1.36 stamp: Victoria Street
  • £1.68 stamp: Route de Braye
  • £1.74 stamp: High Street

Designer/artist: Nickie Shales
This set of stamps represent Alderney artist Nickie Shales’ debut into the stamp design world. She specialises in water colours of her beloved island home.  

Release date: February 14, 2024


 

Sophie Scholl is executed by Nazi government

Sophie Scholl is executed by Nazi government

On February 22, 1943, 21-year-old Sophie Scholl is executed by the Nazis for her resistance activities.

Such a fine sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?
Sophie’s last words before execution  

Sophie, and two others were arrested February 18, 1943, when they were spotted dropping flyers off on the University Munich campus. After a quick, sham trial, Sophie, her brother Hans and Christoph Probst were found guilty of treason and sent to the guillotine on February 22, 1943. 

 Sophie cancel German stamps 2021 

100th Birthday Sophie Scholl stamp German stamps 2021

Sophie FDC German stamps 2021

100th Birthday Sophie Scholl (May 9, 1921 – February 22, 1943) 
German stamp issued May 6, 2021

1 stamp, FDC, 3 cancels (only one shown here)
Designed by Detlef Behr, Cologne

indictment courtesy of Institute fuer Zeitgeschichte
Sophie Scholl is executed

The indictment papers, in the image above, that were given to Sophie during her trial. When she was sentenced to death, she wrote Freiheit, which means Freedom on the back of the papers. 
image courtesy of Institute fuer Zeitgeschichte and Sophie Scholl and the White Rose | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (nationalww2museum.org)
 

Sophie was a member of the German anti-Nazi group The Weiße Rose / White Rose. She and fellow University of Munich students distributed anti-Nazi flyers and posted graffiti defying authorities.  During interrogation, the trio refused to betray their fellow White Rose members. It took months to track them down, but eventually all were found and executed. 

When she finally moved to Munich to study biology and philosophy in May 1942, her brother Hans, a medical student at the same university, and some of his friends had already begun to actively question the system. Serving on the Eastern Front, they learned about the crimes committed in Poland and Russia first hand and saw the misery with their own eyes. They knew they couldn’t remain quiet. Starting in June 1942, they began printing and distributing leaflets in and around Munich, calling their fellow students and the German public to action. 
Sophie Scholl and the White Rose | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (nationalww2museum.org)

Excerpt from the first leaflet:

Nothing is so unworthy of a civilized nation as allowing itself to be governed without opposition by an irresponsible clique that has yielded to base instinct. It is certain that today every honest German is ashamed of his government. Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes – crimes that infinitely outdistance every human measure – reach the light of day?

If the German people are already so corrupted and spiritually crushed that they do not raise a hand, frivolously trusting in a questionable faith in lawful order of history; if they surrender man’s highest principle, that which raises him above all other God’s creatures, his free will; if they abandon the will to take decisive action and turn the wheel of history and thus subject it to their own rational decision; if they are so devoid of all individuality, have already gone so far along the road toward turning into a spiritless and cowardly mass – then, yes, they deserve their downfall. Goethe speaks of the Germans as a tragic people, like the Jews and the Greeks, but today it would appear rather that they are a spineless, will-less herd of hangers-on, who now – the marrow sucked out of their bones, robbed of their center of stability – are waiting to be hounded to their destruction.  “The White Rose Leaflets” Revolt & Resistance www.HolocaustResearchProject.org

Flyer # 6, the last flyer

6th Flyer

We grew up in a state in which all free expression of opinion is unscrupulously suppressed. The Hitler Youth, the SA, the SS have tried to drug us, to revolutionize us, to regiment us in the most promising young years of our lives. “Philosophical training” is the name given to the despicable method by which our budding intellectual development is muffled in a fog of empty phrases. A system of selection of leaders at once unimaginably devilish and narrow-minded trains up its future party bigwigs in the “Castles of the Knightly Order” to become Godless, impudent, and conscienceless exploiters and executioners – blind, stupid hangers-on of the Fuhrer. We “Intellectual Workers” are the ones who should put obstacles in the path of this caste of overlords.   Excerpt from flyer courtesy “The White Rose Leaflets” Revolt & Resistance www.HolocaustResearchProject.org

Sophie Scholl: Student who resisted Hitler and inspires Germany (bbc.com)

Feb. 17 is a spudtastic day for potato lovers

Feb. 17 is a spudtastic day for potato lovers

Feb. 17 is a spudtastic day for potato lovers.

It was on this date in 1795 that Thomas Seddal, from Chester, England, pulled an 8.3 kilo potato (or about 18lbs) from his garden. To celebrate this epic achievement, we have potatoes … on stamps. 

Potato Bolivia 2008 4
Potato Bolivia 2008 2

Potato Bolivia 2008 4 
spudtastic day Potato Bolivia 2008 3

Bolvia Post International Year of the Potato
Released October 10, 2008

The potatoes shown here are native to Bolivia
Luk´i Negra 
Sani Imilla
Waych´a
Saq´ampaya

Potatoes trace their origins to Lake Titicaca, a large freshwater lake that sprawls across the borders of Bolivia and Peru. The people of the Andes cultivated the original potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) for thousands of years, producing the diverse descendants we recognise as potatoes today. 

 The United Nations declared 2008 the Year of the Potato to recognise both its historic importance, and current vital role in modern food chain. 

Easy to farm and high in energy and vitamin C, the UN says that the potato, which first came to Europe from Latin America in the 1500s, will be central to achieving its millennium development goal to reduce by half the numbers living in extreme poverty by 2015.
UN honours humble spud with Year of the Potato | World news | The Guardian

The potato has been consumed in the Andes for about 8 000 years. Brought to Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century, it quickly spread across the globe: today potatoes are grown on an estimated 193 000 sq km of farmland, from China’s Yunnan plateau and the subtropical lowlands of India, to Java’s equatorial highlands and the steppes of the Ukraine. I0500_E COP CON FORATURA (fao.org)

From French fries, samosas, stews to pancakes and patties, it’s impossible to imagine life without the humble tuber. 100 Best Potato Dishes in the World – TasteAtlas

A Native Potato Champion in Bolivia (alliancebioversityciat.org)

The Quechua: Guardians of the Potato | Cultural Survival

Potato’s ancestral home (reuters.com)

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