King Kong-The Evolving Narrative-The Annotated Novelization by Delos W. Lovelace and Micah Swanson Harris
2025 Rondo Award Runner-up! This is the first annotated edition of Delos W. Lovelace’s 1932 novelization of King Kong — and so much more!
“(G)uaranteed to widen smiles (and eyes) of many a Kong fan…”
“…(U)nearths gems about both film and book…Scholarly in approach and conversational in tone…” – Mike Bogue, “Kaiju Corner,” Scary Monsters magazine.
Think there’s no more to be said about the 1933 King Kong movie after nearly a century? Not so! Kong fans, get ready to learn little known facts and new revelations such as:
- The identity of the lost actress who Kong script writer Edgar Wallace wanted to play beauty to the beast before Fay Wray. Her name, acting career, and face are uncovered here!
- The true story of Kong creator Merian C. Cooper’s encounter with gigantism on a distant island. Read it in his own words!
- The adventure of Cooper’s female friend who survived a real-life attack by a large prehistoric lizard while on safari; did this inspire Ann Darrow’s T. Rex confrontation? Read the lady’s personal account and decide!
King Kong is often celebrated for its special effects by stop motion visionary Willis O’Brien. O’Brien is present in these pages, but this is the first book to focus on the writing of the ’33 movie, from inspiration, through various script drafts and story changes during filming, to Cooper’s original cut.
Featuring:
- Nearly 200 explanatory footnotes, many in depth
- A 100 page+ introductory essay
- Photos, art, and an original cover by Emmy Award winning artist Bret Blevins
Editor and annotator Micah Swanson Harris has researched archived studio correspondence and scripts, as well as relevant biographies, to publish the first in depth edition of the King Kong novelization as King Kong – The Evolving Narrative – The Annotated Novelization.
This new edition delves into the unique life story of Delos W. Lovelace and the twists and turns of the surprising history of his King Kong book.
Although largely forgotten today, Delos W. Lovelace (1894-1967) was a popular writer in the 1920s and early 1930s. During that time, he published nearly a hundred short stories in major magazines like The Saturday Evening Post and Ladies Home Journal and was a biographer of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Lovelace was hired by his old friend Merian C. Cooper to produce a book version of King Kong just a few months before the movie’s release. An editor at The New York Sun, Lovelace wrote Kong at night, drawing from different script drafts and firsthand knowledge of life in the New York City metropolitan area.
Approximately four weeks after he began, Lovelace had produced what would become the most influential movie novelization ever written.
Ironically, while Cooper fought for years to regain control of his movie creation, the novel, to which he undisputedly held full rights, slipped into the public domain.
Thus, major motion pictures, novels, children’s books, animated movies and television shows, stage productions (including German and Australian musicals), comics, video games, and even a pinball machine have all been based on or made possible by Lovelace’s version of King Kong.
Delos W. Lovelace’s book, then, is no mere movie adaptation. It is both an official alternate version of the King Kong story and a personal work that has inspired its own series of Kong remakes, sequels and derivative works separate from those based on the 1933 movie.
Details about the twists and turns of the Lovelace novelization’s history along with little known facts about the movie await you!
Only $19.99! Get your paws on King Kong-The Evolving Narrative-The Annotated Novelization in paperback on Amazon HERE: http://amazon.com/Kong-Evolving-Narrative-Annotated-Novelization/dp/B0DRP8DWGT
King Kong – The Evolving Narrative – The Annotated Novelization is a critical analysis of the narrative achievements of Kong’s creator Merian C. Cooper, his lifelong friend Delos W. Lovelace, and the amazing men and women who shaped Cooper’s vision of the greatest adventure ever conceived for the screen.
The first annotated edition of the Delos W. Lovelace Novelization since its original publication almost a century ago! Also, for the first time in one place…the complete story behind the writing of the greatest monster adventure ever conceived!
Micah Swanson Harris’s articles on film and literature have appeared in the genre magazines Little Shoppe of Horrors, Pulp Adventures, WONDER, Wrapped in Plastic, and Fantasy Empire. His blog entry for 18thWall Productions on the mother of movie storytelling, “Alice Guy-Blache: Cinema’s Mitochondrial Eve,” was nominated for a Preditors and Editors award.
Harris’s over 50 year old love affair with the 1933 King Kong, which he first saw on an antenna TV with terrible reception in 1972, has culminated in one of the most unique studies in the franchise’s history.
Get it HERE: http://amazon.com/Kong-Evolving-Narrative-Annotated-Novelization/dp/B0DRP8DWGT
King Kong-The Evolving Narrative-The Annotated Novelization. $19.99. ISBN 979-8-9883453-2-9-5199. From Minor Profit Press, Winterville, North Carolina, USA.
Copyright 2024 by Micah Swanson Harris.