MYSTERY HISTORY: KING KONG DEBUTS 90 YEARS AGO TODAY

 It's only fair that the movie King Kong, which ended with a gigantic ape climbing the Empire State Building, debuted in...of all places...New York City. The film had been inspired by the imagination of Merian C. Cooper, who learned about the hunt for the Komodo dragon and saw one of the first specimens brought back alive from Indonesia. This lead to the creation of a film in which a giant gorilla battles dinosaurs on a tropical island, is captured, and brought to New York City. The beast escapes, and wrecks havoc among the local population before being killed. 

It was a winning plot, pulled off by some cutting edge animation (for the time), dangerous wildlife, and America's fascination with exotic locales. As Humphrey Bogart quipped in Casablanca, "You're not very subtle, but you are effective". The same could be said for Cooper's creation.

The movie was a huge success, entertaining audiences in the depths of the depression with escapist entertainment. King Kong has, since this initial success, inspired dozens of sequels in film, comics and fiction. 

The backstory of how Cooper created filmdom's most famous monster can be located here, compliments of THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.