FAY DAY!

The great RKO photographer, Robert W. Coburn, took this glamour shot of Miss Wray in 1933, when she was starring in KING KONG. The description on the reverse of the still says this:

"Fay Wray makes a charming picture in her new satin lounging pajamas which are new in cut and design. The peasant sleeves make graceful folds, gathered into the belt, and the deep hem give them weight and an attractive finish. Covered buttons and woven belt of heavy silk strands which form a fringe at the fastening are the only trimming. Miss Wray plays the chief feminine role in RKO Radio's "KING KONG".

The attention to Fay's garments and appearance in this snipe only emphasize RKO's acknowledgement that they had one of Hollywood's premiere starlets of the time.

Also of note is her bobbed hair, which in the '30s became a more acceptable style than in the '20s, when it was thought to be a "controversial" cut. The style was made popular by actresses such as Louise Brooks, Gloria Swanson and Anna May Wong. Newspaper headlines in the 1920s made mush of the style and its association with the déclassé. Here is just a sampling (sourced from Glamour Daze):

“Bobbed hair leads to divorce.”

“Bobbing of hair costs twelve nurse jobs!”

“Shocked husband shoots himself when wife bobs hair!”

“Bobbing your hair leads to insanity!”

“Bobbing your hair will make you go bald!”

On another note, I promised to reveal to you the reason behind posting the CHILDREN OF THE SUN one-sheet last week. Well, ye curator of this blog fled the dismal and dank environs of the fabled Mysterious Mansion to dry out in the bright sun and arid heat of Arizona. Now, I must clarify that ye curator kept his clothes on in public and during no part of the vacation did I visit the venerable "camps" where said clothing is optional. Nevertheless, the freedom of a much-needed vacay was enjoyed immensely.

FAY DAY!

Presented here today is another in the Fay Wray photo-shoot by RKO staff stills photographer, Robert W. Coburn for the production of KING KONG (1933). She is wearing the metallic gown that was used during her onscreen photo-shoot with Denham on the deck of the Venture, and just before her kidnapping by the indigenous savages of Skull Island!

 

 

FAY DAY!

"Now -- look up. Slowly. You see nothing yet. Look higher. Still higher. That's it. Now you see it.  You're amazed. You can't believe it. Your eyes open wider. It's horrible, but you can't look away. What is it Ann? What can you do? No chances for you, no escape. Helpless, Ann, you're helpless. One chance -- if you can scream. Your throat's paralyzed. Try to scream, Ann. Try. If you didn't see, perhaps you could scream. Throw you arms across your eyes, and scream, Ann, scream for your life!"

-Carl Denham to Ann Darrow in KING KONG

King Kong may have been known as the 8th Wonder of the World, but the heroine and Kong's main squeeze in the eponymously-titled 1933 RKO film surely equaled the feat as having the Scream Heard 'Round the World.

After the character, Ann Darrow, aces her on board screen test, she's kidnapped off the Venture by the natives of Kong Island, with the intention of sacrificing her to....

Fay Wray played the role of Ann Darrow, and after living for 96 years (1907-2004), she passed away owning the legacy as being forever the apple of King Kong's eye. Starring in many films, it is KING KONG that is best remembered.

In this, the first in a series of posts featuring Miss Wray, the original "Girl in the Hairy Paw", is presented a beautiful publicity still from KING KONG.

Although Ernest Bachrach and Alexander Kahle are credited with being the stills photographers for KING KONG, the photo shown here is by Robert W. Coburn (1900-1990) and depicts Miss Wray in her shipboard "screen test" outfit, a "a striking medieval costume of metal cloth" as described by the snipe on the reverse side of the photo. The fact that he composed this shot with Wray wearing an on-set costume implies that he was also  an uncredited stills photographer on the film.

 Coburn, along with George Hurrell and Clarence Sinclair Bull, is among the most notable photographers to come out of 1930s Hollywood. The following article, from the Los Angeles Times, describes a typical legal battle over ownership of property -- in this case Coburn himself and his photo collection, who was to pass away just a few years later.

A Hollywood Era Comes Out From the Dust

November 05, 1986 by Kim Murphy L.A. Times Staff Writer

"A collection of nearly 7,000 photographs documenting four decades of Hollywood's golden past were ordered removed Tuesday from a Canoga Park garage, where they were found stuffed into decaying cardboard boxes and covered with dust.

The photographs, which a museum curator called "a unique and irreplaceable chronicle of 40 years of motion picture history," have become the subject of a bitter family dispute between noted Hollywood photographer Robert W. Coburn and his daughter.

Coburn, a leading portrait and still photographer for major studios like RKO, Samuel Goldwyn and Columbia between 1920 and 1965, amassed a collection that included most of Hollywood's major stars.

It was Coburn who shot some of the most memorable stills of the late Merle Oberon in "Wuthering Heights" and supervised still photography for the films "Citizen Kane" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls," among others. His portfolio also includes Jimmy Stewart, Kim Novak, Rita Hayworth and Humphrey Bogart.

But the collection slipped out of public view in 1960, when Coburn moved into a cramped North Hollywood apartment and handed over most of his works to his daughter, Julia Benard, for safekeeping.

According to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the photos were nearly forgotten until earlier this year, when the Los Angeles County Museum of Art began preparing for a major retrospective of Hollywood photography and contacted Coburn for permission to use his work.

Coburn's attorney, Alan B. Pick, said Benard refused, insisting that her father had given her the photos years ago as a gift.

Benard did allow museum curator David A. Fahey to view the collection recently. He expressed alarm at what he saw.

"I am concerned about the condition of these photographs," Fahey, who heads the planned November, 1987, Los Angeles exhibit, said in a declaration filed in court.

The photos were stored in several small, decaying boxes, many of them gathering dust, he said, adding that they would be destroyed if kept in their present condition.

The dispute escalated when Coburn, 86, who now lives in Palm Springs, threatened legal action.

According to other declarations filed in court, Benard's son, Clay, telephoned Coburn's son, Robert W. Coburn Jr., and issued a threat to the entire collection.

"He told me if I pursued (it), the photograph collection might not exist," Coburn Jr., who is also a Hollywood photographer and has work stored in the same garage, told the court. Asked what that meant, Clay Benard reportedly replied: "I think you get the drift. I'll do something, I'll sell it for $10 or something, and there would be no show, and you would just go into an empty garage."

Neither Julia Benard, nor her son, could be reached for comment Tuesday.

"We're caught between a rock and a hard place," Pick said. "On the one hand, we needed to file the court action, but on the other hand, merely filing the action put the photographs in jeopardy."

Superior Court Judge Jack M. Newman issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday, allowing Coburn's representatives to pick up the photos and place them in storage, pending a Nov. 24 hearing.

The younger Coburn, accompanied by a locksmith and two art movers, arrived at Benard's vacant house on Gilmore Street late Tuesday afternoon and removed the photos from the garage.

"My photographs . . . represent my life's work," the elder Coburn told the court. "My hope is that I can share these photographs and their historical significance with everyone. However, I am 86 years old, and the longer that I am denied access . . . the less likely that I believe the significance or value . . . will be fully appreciated."

Los Angeles Times