Click2Flicks - Kong Kong, The Empire State Building, Chapter 5

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b><i>KING KONG</i></p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 5 - THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING</b></font></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">The <a href="http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GON/waldorf_1900.jpg" target="_blank"><b>original</b></a> Waldorf-Astoria Hotel <a href="http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GON/GON017.htm" target="_blank"><b>once stood</b></a> where the <a href="http://www.esbnyc.com/tourism/tourism_towercams.cfm" target="_blank"><b>Empire State Building</b></a> was constructed (at 350 Fifth Avenue) in 1930. It took only <a href="http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/photo/hinex/empire/about.html" target="_blank"><b>fourteen months</b></a> to finish what was then the tallest building in the world. What did it look like at that time?</p> <p>Many of Theodor Horydczak’s <a href="http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/100_hory.html" target="_blank"><b>photographs</b></a> of the Empire State Building, taken in the 1930s, have been digitized by the Library of Congress. Let’s examine a representative sampling:</p><ul> <li>A <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/thc/5a46000/5a46400/5a46438r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>view</b></a> from 41st Street and 5th Avenue, on July 3, 1933 - four months after the March 2, 1933 release of the original <a target="_blank" href="images/king_kong.jpg"><b><i>King Kong</i></b></a> film.</li><br><br> <li>On the <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/thc/5a46000/5a46400/5a46437r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>4th of July</b></a>, 1933, <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/thc/5a46000/5a46400/5a46436r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>the building</b></a> - at 102 stories - was the <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/thc/5a46000/5a46400/5a46439r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>tallest</b></a> in the world.</li><br><br> <li>At the time, it dominated the <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/thc/5a46000/5a46400/5a46440r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Manhattan skyline</b></a>. </li></ul> <p align="justify">Samuel Gottscho’s photographs, also digitized by the Library of Congress, add to our understanding of New York City as it appeared in the 1930s:</p><ul> <li>A <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/gsc/5a18000/5a18000/5a18067r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>view from</b></a> the ESB, on January 19, 1932, including Central Park.</li><br><br> <li><a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/gsc/5a18000/5a18100/5a18150r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Looking north</b></a> - and northeast (<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/gsc/5a18000/5a18100/5a18149r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>toward</b></a> the East River) - on September 11, 1933.</li><br><br> <li>Night scenes - the <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/gsc/5a18000/5a18000/5a18069r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Queensboro Bridge</b></a> (on January 19, 1932), <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/gsc/5a18000/5a18000/5a18065r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Times Square</b></a> (January 7, 1932), and the <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/gsc/5a18000/5a18000/5a18068r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>north part</b></a> of town (January 19, 1932) - were impressive from the top of the city. They still are - as a <a href="http://www.esbnyc.com/index2.cfm" target="_blank"><b>virtual tour</b></a> (from the ESB’s official site) demonstrates.</li></ul> <p align="justify">Against this historical backdrop - when people in a previously vibrant city were “down on their luck” because of the depression - RKO Studio released <i> <a href="http://www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/0,23220,king_kong,00.html?internalid=ACA" target="_blank"><b>King Kong</b></a></i>, a movie which featured the city and its tallest building. Like its predecessor, Peter Jackson’s remake requires us to take another trip back in time - <i> much</i> further back - to the days of the dinosaurs. Could such creatures have existed on a place like "Skull Island?"</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="king_kong_ch4.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="king_kong_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="king_kong_ch6.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>