I bought the re-mastered DVDs of the original King Kong, Son of Kong and Mighty Joe Young tonight. That’s something I’ve been looking forward to ever since the announced Peter Jackson’s re-make of Kong.
(Sometimes that’s the best part about re-makes, the originals finally get released on DVD! Although, in this case, I haven’t yet been disillusioned with the Jackson re-make. If there’s anyone out there that can make it right, it’s him.)
In any case, I didn’t watch Kong, instead I went for the DVD extras. One of which is on Meriam C. Cooper, the man ultimately behind Kong’s existence.
In Taiwan, I’d picked up a re-issue of the 1931 novelization of the film, and in the introduction they gave a brief synopsis of Cooper’s life – even from that brief overview, it was amazing.
The documentary on his life was even more incredible. Sometimes there are people who’s lives you read about and it seems they’ve done more than one human could possible do and Cooper is one such.
For example, here are just some of the highlights that come immediately to mind:
- Joined US Naval Academy (pre-WW I) but was forced to resign because of his belief that planes would someday destroy ships
- Enlisted and flew a bomber in WW I
- Was shot down in enemy territory. The plane was on fire, his copilot was shot through the neck, his hands burned to the point where he couldn’t hold the stick. he managed to open the throttle wide, dive the plane, controlling it only with his elbow and knees. The power dive put out the fire and he managed to land the plane (again with only elbows and knees) and he and the copilot got out. He spent the last of the war in a German prisoner hospital.
- After the war he joined an group of American pilots fighting the Soviets who were trying to take Poland. He was again shot down, and spent months in a Soviet concentration camp in Russia
- Escaped the Soviets in a daring overland escape (Including having to overpower and slit the throat of a Russian soldier
- Went into natural documentaries and spent years living in Africa, Persia and Siam living with the natives
- Had a falling out with the studios when he made the film, the Four Feathers and quit
- Became a director at Pan-American airlines
- Was brought back to RKO by David O. Selznik in an effort to shape up the studio which was going bankrupt.
- During this time he managed to get his pet project, King Kong, made (That’s another story)
- Was the leading “visionary” or advocate of the Technicolor process which he thought would revolutionize the film industry but most others didn’t believe in
- When WWII started to break out, Cooper was too old for the military, so he joined the Flying Tigers in China, and not only was he their Chief-Of-Staff, but flew in the lead bomber on all their missions.
- The Flying Tigers ultimately got incorporated back into the US Military and at the end of the war he had attained the rank of Brigadier General
- Came back to Hollywood determined to make films to show the American spirit in an effort to counter Soviet propaganda films. He teamed with the legendary John Ford and together made some of Ford’s greatest films
- He was shown and then pushed and promoted the Cinerama process, a three-screen, wraparound process that literally immersed the audiences in the screens. (My father has told me about seeing a Cinerama film, it was apparently quite impressive, but failed to catch on.)
And if that wasn’t enough, in that time he managed to get married and raise three children, which, when you think about it, represents for most people the sum total of their lives, not just an afterthought in a list of amazing accomplishments.
Amazing man, amazing life.
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