Happy Birthday, Merian C. Cooper! Born today in 1893 Born today as Merian Caldwell Cooper, this American screenwriter, film producer and director was also an adventurer, aviator, United States Air Force and Polish Air Force officer.
Cooper was also the founder of the Kościuszko Squadron during the Polish–Soviet War and was a Soviet prisoner of war for a time. He nearly always had a pipe in his mouth and would leave a trail of tobacco.
Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Cooper was the youngest of three children. He was in fact Jewish, so he was called Frank Mosher.
At age six, Cooper decided that he wanted to be an explorer after hearing stories from French-American traveler, zoologist, and anthropologist Paul du Chaillu. This was from his 1861 book "Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa".
Years later and post-graduation from school, Cooper received a prestigious appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. However, he was expelled during his senior year for "hell raising and for championing air power".
In 1916, Cooper worked for the Minneapolis Daily News as a reporter, where he met American novelist Delos W. Lovelace.
Later that same year, in 1916, Cooper joined the Georgia National Guard to help chase down the Mexican revolutionary general Francisco "Pancho" Villa.
He then worked for the El Paso Herald on a thirty-day leave of absence. After returning to his service, Cooper was appointed lieutenant; however, he turned down the appointment hoping to participate in combat.
Instead, he went to the Military Aeronautics School in Atlanta, Georgia to learn to fly. Cooper later graduated from the school as the top in his class.
In October 1917, Cooper went to France with the 201st Squadron. He attended flying school in Issoudun.
While flying with his friend, Cooper hit his head and was knocked out during a two-hundred-foot plunge.
After the incident, Cooper suffered from shock and had to relearn how to fly. He then requested to go to Clermont-Ferrand to be trained as a bomber pilot.
He later became a pilot on the 20th Aero Squadron (which later became the 1st Day Bombardment Group).
While there, Cooper served as a DH-4 bomber pilot with the United States Army Air Service during World War I.
On September 26, 1918, his plane was shot down. The plane caught fire, and Cooper spun the plane to suck the flames out.
Miraculously he survived, although he suffered burns, injured his hands, and was presumed dead.
Fortunately, German soldiers saw his plane's incredible landing and took him to a prisoner reserve hospital.
Captain Cooper remained in the Air Service after the war; he helped with 31st U.S. President Herbert Hoover's American Food Administration that provided aid in Poland. Cooper later became the head of the Poland division.
After returning from overseas in 1921, Cooper got a job working the night shift at The New York Times.
During this time, Cooper was able to travel with American motion picture cinematographer, producer and director Ernest B. Schoedsack on a sea voyage.
As part of the journey, Cooper traveled to Abyssinia, (an exonym of the Ethiopian Empire), where he and Schoedsack met the prince
On their way home in February 1923, the crew narrowly missed being attacked by pirates, and the ship was burned down.
After returning home in 1924, Cooper researched for the American Geographical Society.
Later that year, Cooper joined Schoedsack and American reporter, spy, filmmaker and translator Marguerite Harrison, who had embarked on an expedition.
This would be turned into the 1925 American silent black and white independent documentary film 'Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life'.
Upon returning home, Cooper became a member of the Explorers Club of New York in January 1925 and was asked to give lectures and attend events due to his extensive traveling.
'Grass' was later acquired by Paramount Pictures. This first film of Cooper and Schoedsack gained the attention of American pioneer motion picture producer Jesse Lasky.
He later commissioned the duo for their second film. This was the 1927 American silent black and white independent/drama documentary film 'Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness' (also known simply as 'Chang').
Two years later, Cooper and Schoedsack also produced the 1929 American silent black and white drama/war film 'The Four Feathers'. This was filmed among the fighting tribes of the Sudan. The films also combined real footage with staged sequences.
Between 1926 and 1927, Cooper discussed the plans for Pan American Airways (PAA), of which had been formed during 1927. During this tenure there, Cooper was a member of the board of directors.
While the company was establishing the first regularly scheduled transatlantic service, Cooper did not devote his full attention to the organization. Instead, he took time in 1929 and 1930 to work on a script.
The script would be for for the film of which he is best known for co-producing and co-directing, being the 1933 American pre-Code black and white monster adventure/fantasy romance film 'King Kong'. By 1931, Cooper was back in Hollywood.
Cooper had said that he thought of King Kong after he had a dream that a giant gorilla was terrorizing New York City.
When he awoke, he recorded the idea and used it for the film. He was going to have a giant gorilla fight a Komodo dragon or other animal, but found that the technique of interlacing that he wanted to use would not provide realistic results.
Cooper needed a production studio for the film, but recognized the great cost of the movie, especially during the Great Depression.
Cooper later helped American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive David O. Selznick get a job at RKO Pictures, of which was struggling financially.
Selznick eventually became the vice president of RKO. He later asked Cooper to join him in September 1931, although he had only produced three films thus far in his career.
Cooper began working as an executive assistant at age thirty-eight. He officially pitched the idea for 'King Kong' in December 1931.
Shortly after, he began to scope out actors and build full-scale sets, although the screenplay was not yet complete.
The screenplay was delivered to Cooper in January 1932. Schoedsack had also contributed to the film, focusing on shooting scenes for the boat sequences and in native villages, leaving Cooper to shoot the jungle scenes.
In February 1933, the title for the film was registered for copyright.
Throughout filming, there were creative battles. Critics at RKO argued that the film should begin with Kong.
Before the release of 'King Kong', Selznick left RKO. Because of this, Cooper served as production head from 1933 to 1934 with American film producer Pandro S. Berman as his executive assistant.
Cooper believed that a film should begin with a "slow dramatic buildup that would establish everything from characters to mood ..."
This was so that the action of the film could "naturally, relentlessly, roll on out of its own creative movement," and thus chose to not begin the film with a shot of Kong.
The iconic scene in which Kong is on top of the Empire State Building was almost called off by Cooper for legal reasons.
However. but was kept in the film because RKO bought the rights to the 1925 American silent black and white fantasy monster adventure film 'The Lost World'.
This had been adapted from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 fantasy adventure scientific romance novel of the same name.
Cooper personally cut a scene in 'King Kong' in which four sailors are shaken off a rope bridge by Kong, fall into a ravine, and are eaten alive by giant spiders.
According to Hollywood folklore, the decision was made after previews in January 1933, during which audience members either fled the theater in terror or talked about the ghastly scene throughout the remainder of the film.
However, more objective sources maintain that the scene merely slowed the film's pace. Legend has it that Cooper kept a print of the cut footage as a memento, although it has never been found.
At the film's climax, both Cooper and Schoedsack appear at the end, piloting the plane that finally finishes off the behemoth beast. Cooper had reportedly said, "We should kill the sonofabitch ourselves."
On a budget of $672,000 ($13 million adjusted for inflation), the film grossed making $5.3 million ($103 million) in worldwide rentals on its initial release, with an opening weekend estimated at $90,000 ($1,700,000).
The following year, Unfortunately, 'King Kong' did not receive any Academy Awards nominations.
However, Selznick wanted to nominate American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer Willis H. O'Brien and his crew for a special award in visual effects.
Unfortunately, the Academy declined. Such a category did not exist at the time, and would not exist until 1938.
Later in 1933, Cooper suffered from a heart attack, but survived. In 1935, he resigned from the board of directors following health complications.
In 1946, Cooper's friend and frequent collaborator, John Ford, formed Argosy Productions. Ford allowed Cooper to co-produce such notable features.
Most notably, these were Ford's 1948 American black and white Western action film 'Fort Apache', and the 1949 American Technicolor Western drama/war film 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon'.
The two films were the first two installments of Ford's "Calvary" trilogy.
The following year, Cooper co-produced the third and final film of Ford's "Calvary" Trilogy. This was the 1950 American black and white Western/romance film 'Rio Grande'. However, Cooper went uncredited.
With Cooper's films at Argosy, he had reflected his patriotism and his vision of America.
In 1950, Cooper's 1949 American black and white drama/fantasy film 'Mighty Joe Young' (also known as 'Mr. Joseph Young of Africa' and 'The Great Joe Young') won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
The award was finally presented to O'Brien. This occurred at the 22nd Academy Awards in late March of that same year.
Two years later, Cooper was awarded an honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. This occurred at the 24th Academy Awards in late March 1952.
A few months later, Cooper served as co-producer on Ford's 1952 American Technicolor romantic comedy-drama film 'The Quiet Man'. The following year, it was nominated for Best Picture.
However, it lost to Cecil B. DeMille's 1952 American Technicolor drama/melodrama film 'The Greatest Show on Earth'. This occurred at the 25th Academy Awards in mid-March 1953.
During the 1950s, Cooper supported American politician Joseph McCarthy in his crusade to root out Communists in Hollywood and Washington, D.C.
In the late 1950s, Cooper served as executive producer on Ford's American Technicolor Western drama/adventure film 'The Searchers'.
Cooper was the type of person whose job title was literally and unironically “adventurer.” It was the adventure-turned-story that told of a humongous ape terrorizing New York City.
He was later inducted on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a star on February 8, 1960, located at 6525 Hollywood Blvd. However, his first name is misspelled as "Meriam".
In 1963, Cooper argued unsuccessfully that he should own the rights to 'King Kong'.
In his later life, Cooper founded Advanced Projects and served as the chairman of the board. He also wanted to explore new technologies like 3D color television productions.
Cooper passed from cancer in San Diego, California on April 21, 1973. His ashes were later scattered at sea with full military honors.
In 1976, judges ruled that Cooper owned the rights to King Kong outside of the film and its sequel.
Later that same year, British film director, writer and producer John Guillermin ('The Towering Inferno' directed his version of King Kong.
It starred Jessica Lange, Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, and René Auberjonois. Although a box office success, 'King Kong' was opened to mixed reviews.
For the guaranteed success of Guillermin's 'King Kong', famed Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis tried to steal the thunder from Steven Spielberg.
This was for his 1975 American thriller drama/mystery film 'Jaws', then the top-grossing film of all-time, in this big budget remake. However, De Laurentiis was unsuccessful.
American screenwriter and sometime playwright Lorenzo Semple Jr. said on writing of Kong, "We made a very deliberate attempt not to be anything like the original movie in tone or mood. Dino wanted it to be light and amusing, rather than portentous.
I don't think the original was meant to be mythic ... The original King Kong is extremely crude. I don't mean it's not wonderful. It was remarkable for its time, but it was a very small back-lot picture.
We thought times had changed so much that audiences were more sophisticated. Dino felt we could have more fun with it. We hoped to do sensational things with advanced special effects on a big screen."
Despite this, 'King Kong' won a noncompetitive Special Achievement Academy Award and was also nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Sound. This occurred at the 49th Academy Awards in late March 1977.
Of the three King Kong main films, it is the only one to feature the World Trade Center instead of the Empire State Building.
The film's success helped launch the career of Lange, although she reportedly received some negative publicity regarding her debut performance that, according to film reviewer Marshall Fine, "almost destroyed her career".
Although Lange won a Golden Globe, she did not appear in another film for three years and spent that time training intensively in acting.
In the late 1980s, Guillermin returned to direct a sequel. This was the 1986 American monster adventure/fantasy film 'King Kong Lives' (released as 'King Kong 2' in some countries).
The original 'King Kong' film also made appearances on other lists of the American Film Institute (AFI).
These included:
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – #43
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #12
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – #24
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
"Oh, no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast." – #84
• AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores – #13
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – #41
• AFI's 10 Top 10 – #4 Fantasy film
'King Kong' has since received some significant honors. In 1975, the film was named one of the 50 Best American Films by the American Film Institute.
In 1991, 'King Kong' was deemed "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
In early February 2002, Roger Ebert included Cooper and Schoedsack's 'King Kong' in his "Great Movies" list.
He wrote that "In modern times the movie has aged, as critic James Berardinelli observes, and 'advances in technology and acting have dated aspects of the production.'
Yes, but in the very artificiality of some of the special effects, there is a creepiness that isn't there in today's slick, flawless, computer-aided images....
Even allowing for its slow start, wooden acting and wall-to-wall screaming, there is something ageless and primeval about "King Kong" that still somehow works."
In 2004, Fay Wray was approached by Peter Jackson to appear in a small cameo. This was for Jackson's epic 2005 New Zealand/American/German monster adventure/fantasy film 'King Kong'.
She met with Naomi Watts, who was to play the role of Ann Darrow. However, Wray politely declined the cameo, and claimed the original "Kong" to be the true "King".
Before filming of the remake commenced, the Beauty to Kong's Beast passed in her sleep of natural causes in her apartment in Manhattan, New York City, New York on August 8, 2004. She was 96. This was just five weeks before her 97th birthday.
Wray is interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.
Two days after her death, the lights of the Empire State Building were lowered for fifteen minutes in honor of her memory.
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Wray was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6349 Hollywood Blvd.
Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international recognition as an actress in horror films. She has been dubbed one of the first "scream queens".
Upon release, Jackson's 'King Kong' received positive reviews from critics. It was later placed on the Top Ten lists of several critics, with Ebert giving it four stars and listing it as the eighth best film of 2005.
One year later, Jackson's 'King Kong' won three Oscars for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. This occurred at the 78th Academy Awards in early March 2006.
Having lived the life of ten men, the daredevil, adventurer and pioneer of cinema was suddenly gone. His ashes were scattered at sea, a fitting finale for a man who loved the world so much he devoted his life to exploring every inch of it.
As a director, Cooper had been active from 1925–1963.
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