"The Grandson of King Kong" visits the Broward County Libraries Division on the Ides of March

PRLog (Press Release) – Mar 10, 2008 – Come see King Kong (the original movie) and Kong’s Grandson—a steel armature replica of Kong’s skeleton that was used to create the stop-motion photography to bring the ape to life. This free Literary Cinema event will begin at 1 p.m. in the Main Library auditorium, 100 S. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale, Saturday, March 15.

The screening commemorates the 75th anniversary of the release of King Kong and will be emceed by “Cinema Dave” Montalbano, the Main Library’s AV/Popular Library team leader, a devoted cinema academic and the caretaker of the replica armature. Montalbano will introduce the movie with recollections of meeting Fay Wray (the film’s damsel in distress) when she made her last public appearance at the Palm Beach Film Festival in April 2003.

Stop-motion pioneer Willis O'Brien and sculptor Marcel Delgado animated Kong using two 18-inch armatures; metal skeletons covered with sponge rubber, latex rubber, and fur. The animation was so artfully done that even when viewed today, the ape inspires empathy and his fate evokes tears.

There will also be a book giveaway (while supplies last) of works by Jane Austen and Ken Follett.

The award-winning Broward County Libraries Division, founded in 1974, provides essential quality-of-life community service as well as outstanding customer service throughout Broward County. The Library consists of 37 branches that provide three million items and more than 2,000 computers for public use, and after-school literacy, youth, and teen programs. Its website, www.broward.org/library, includes free online reference and information databases in addition to access about library services, locations, and events that customers access on average 300,000 times a month. The Broward County Library is the ninth-largest library system in the United States, serving more than nine million walk-in customers annually.