Hello Fay, or maybe I should say "Ann" with whom I've had a life-long
acquaintance. It started in Manhattan way back in 1936. My father had
just got back from work (suggesting & implementing improvements for
the Horn & Hardardt "Automat" machinery)and surprised me by
announcing that I should pick out a movie, ANY movie, and we'd go,
right then and there, to see it! Excited no end by this
out-of-the-blue invitation, I dived into the movie-theater section of
our "New York Journal American", and avidly began examining the
illustrations displayed in the ads. One in particular immediately
caught my attention. It was of a gigantic ape battling a "prehistoric
monster," while down in the right hand corner a beautiful blond lady
looked on, terrified! No further scrutiny was necessary. "This one?,"
I said tentatively, suddenly assaulted by the notion that this was
almost too good to be true. And on a weekday! "Alright," my father
nodded in what to me seemed the grand manner in which only a King
would offhandedly bestow an enormous favor. Off we went in the
subway, arrived at the theater just as the lights were dimming and
then, enveloped in total darkness, the first three foreboding chords
of KING KONG blasted into my ears. I instantly fell into a trance,
never to fully emerge from it. I could go on, Fay, to recount the
influence you and Kong wrought in me, but a first visit, even over
the "ether," should not be overlong. Bless you. Jose