King Kong (The Mystery Magazine short story)
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King Kong is the name of a 1933 short story by Walter F. Ripperger published in two parts in the February and March issues of The Mystery Magazine, based on the 1933 film of the same name. From late 1963 to early 1964, the story was published with additional scenes from the film that were absent in the original version added by editor Forrest J. Ackerman in his magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland issues 25, 26, and 27. At present it is difficult to say for certain what parts of the story are Ripperger's original work, and which are Ackerman's inventions.
Synopsis
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A modern girl sacrificed to a prehistoric monster! The last and greatest creation by the master of all mystery writers, the late Edgar Wallace, contributing editor of Mystery Magazine. RKO Radio Pictures have made an epochal motion picture of it, soon to be seen in your favorite theater. It is presented here in story form.
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Plot
In the captain's cabin of the tramp steamer Venture, first mate Jack Driscoll and Captain Englehorn confront their benefactor Carl Denham about his not having given them their intended destination. Denham is incredulous, and accuses the others of "going soft" on him. This is worsened when it becomes apparent that Driscoll is concerned for Ann Darrow, the actress in Denham's movie project for which he chartered the ship. On top of this, Jack presses Denham on his falsified port documents, the ship having triple the required crew for a vessel their size, and said crew's uneasiness with their carrying enough munitions to launch a war. Denham presses them to stay the course, and reveals to the men that his destination is an island that appears on no map, save one in his possession, sketched by a friend of Denham's. The sailors remain skeptical, but Denham informs them of the great wall whose original builders are long forgotten, that the natives maintain to keep out Kong, a figure in Malay folklore. Englehorn considers this, and ultimately decides to humor Denham, not expecting to find a monster, if indeed he were to find an island in the middle of otherwise open ocean. Jack ends with the stipulation that Ann is not to go ashore, and this breaks Denham out of his trance and he gets back to incredulity, insisting that she needs to be in the picture, as she was not even his idea, but a stipulation thrust upon him by his producers. Jack is unfazed. He goes to the deck to find Ann standing in the prow, and the two discuss the situation. Driscoll, having worked with Denham in the past and nearly died for it, is afraid for Ann's safety, but the more he describes the location and the alleged monster she is to face, the more excited she becomes to see it. Ultimately Jack acknowledges that he cannot stop her, but she can stop Denham by refusing to go ashore with him. Darrow understands his intention, and is flattered by his care for her, but feels she is obligated to Denham to go through with the picture. Denham had saved her from poverty in New York, and she wanted to honor their agreement.
Early the next morning, they come upon the island in the midst of a dense fog. What the lookout mistook for the sound of breakers, Driscoll identified as drums coming from the shore. In no time at all, Englehorn puts together a crew of twelve sailors including himself and Driscoll, to accompany Denham and Darrow ashore. There they find an empty village, but when they press forward they discover a ceremony in which a young woman is standing in terror between the local chieftain and "witch-doctor." Denham grabs for his camera, but they are quickly spotted. The chief and two of his soldiers approach them. Luckily Englehorn understands their dialect, and they are told to get off of the island, but then the witch-doctor spots Ann, and takes the chief's ear. The chief then asks Englehorn if they may take Darrow, in exchange for six of their women, as a gift for Kong. They refuse, but promise to return tomorrow, as Denham would not dream of leaving without having done any filming. That night in the prow of the ship, Jack once again encourages Ann not to follow through with Denham's plan, and she is once again forced to refuse, but she does reciprocate when he confesses his love for her. They have no time to act on this though, as Driscoll is called up by the captain. Ann sits for a moment, taking in the stars when the witch-doctor arises behind her, and drags her overboard. They drag her to the altar, and despite her calls for help, they offer her to the mighty Kong.
Ann hears trees snap and great footsteps as the beast approaches and soon stands in awe of the great ape-like creature, the last of his kind, and seven million years old. The beast ponders discolored delicacy offered to him, and yanks her free from her restraints before lumbering back into the jungle. The sailors rush the ceremony, but are too late to stop the sacrifice. Jack is able to get a glimpse of the beast as it turns away into the jungle, and turns on Carl in a rage regarding the loss of Ann. Contrite, Denham vows to get her back, and Driscoll and the other sailors agree and mobilize into the jungle beyond the gate, which Denham warns Englehorn to keep open. As they traverse the jungle, Denham asks Driscoll about the beast, and Jack describes it in fear and awe. Denham is not fazed, and promptly makes sure the young sailor named Jimmy carrying his gas bombs stays close by. As dawn breaks, the men spy a trail of Kong's footprints and run after him, only to run back in terror before lumbering out of the jungle comes a two-horned Stegosaurus. Jack empties his revolver into the beast to no avail. The other sailors flee, but Denham, Driscoll, and Jimmy stand their ground, and the movie man throws one of the gas bombs, which explodes against the Stegosaurus. The dinosaur staggered before falling to the ground, much to Denham's satisfaction. They prepare to move on, but the crew notice that the creature is still alive, which prompts Denham to deliver a killing shot. Jack and Carl then observe the beast in wonder. They continue on their way down a steep embankment strewn with trees left in the Beast's wake. Before them lies a vast stream, and they see the dark shape of Kong splashing up onto the opposite side. They make a raft with great fervor and begin to punt across it with long poles. However, one sailor spies the head of a dinosaur leering at them, and sends the crew into a panic. They all begin punting in different directions, too afraid to hear Denham's calls for order, and soon the creature destroys the raft by bringing its head up beneath it, sending all the sailors and their munitions into the water. All but two of the party make it to the other side, with a sailor named Tim taking up the rear. They call after him as they see the dinosaur looming over him, and he begins to frantically search for cover. Denham tries to ready a bomb, but Jimmy, the one tasked with carrying them, had been forced to let them go get out of the water. Tim scrambles up a tree, but the Brontosaurus is still able to pluck him from it, and take him away into the jungle. With nothing left to do to help the man, the party plods on.
Kong then comes upon one of his most notorious foes: a Tyrannosaurus rex, and it is one of the largest and fiercest Kong has ever seen. He puts Ann down in the top of a tree, and the two do battle. Ultimately, Kong is victorious and bellows out his thunderous roar. Denham and the others then come to a thick bog that is impossible for anything of their size to cross. Luckily, Jimmy spies Kong crossing a log bridging the two sides of a crevice nearby. Driscoll, filled with resolve at the sight of Ann in the ape's hands, is the first to cross the bridge, but soon the sailors discover a dumb Triceratops standing at the other end. Kong then returns and frightens them by standing at the other end of the log. Jack jumps for a cave in the rock face, and is able to climb into it before a confused Kong begins pawing down after him. Jack slashes Kong's hand with his knife before it can grab him, and Kong then shakes the log, and all but two of the helpless sailors are sent falling into the ravine below, where they are devoured by a giant spider. Jack cuts Kong's hand again when he tries again to explore the cave, and apparently associating his wounds with the tree, tosses it into the crevice before walking away. Denham then appears from the bush, with the Triceratops apparently having wandered away, and spots Jack in the cave. Jack arranges for Carl to return to the village to get more men and bombs, and the two part ways. Before climbing to the surface, discovered some slithering abomination climbing up to his cave, and swiftly exits to follow the trail of broken trees and enormous footprints left by Kong.
Ann awakens to find herself being stared at by the giant face of Kong, and cries out for Jack. Kong shakes her a bit, but is disappointed when she does not scream again. This mood does not last long however, as he then realizes that he must return to his home on Skull Mountain. Jack trails him the whole way from only a few hundred yards behind. In Kong's castle, he sits Ann on the ground, and she tries to run away several times, but Kong always recaptures her, and is amused by their little cat-and-mouse game. However, he is too enthralled to notice a monstrous sea serpent winding its eel-like body out of the nearby pool. It wraps around his neck, but he tears it away before it rebounds and begins to constrict his chest. Despite his efforts to remove the thing, it brings him to the ground, where with one final pull he gets the beast off him, and slams it hard on the ground before pummeling it with his fists. When he is satisfied that the thing is dead, he carries Ann away to a cliffside, where he examines his prize in more detail. Again she screams, as he picks at her flaky white "skin." Before too much of Ann's dress is removed, he hears the sound of Driscoll approaching and goes to investigate. The sailor however, is clever enough to keep a boulder between himself and Kong at all times. With Kong away, Ann tries to regain her resolve, but is quickly snatched up by a Pterodactyl. Not willing to lose his rightfully given sacrifice, Kong grabs the beast from the sky before twisting its neck, tearing off its wings, and beating its body. In all the commotion, he does not notice Driscoll slip away with Darrow down a vine dangling down the cliff face. He soon finds them, and begins to reel them back in, and with Ann's strength waning, they decide to risk the drop into the cold rapids below.
Englehorn and the crew of the Venture wait nervously at the island's gate, while the indigenous people wait nervously nearby, fearing not only the newcomers and their firearms, but the gate being left open. After many hours of nothing, Carl Denham comes stumbling back, speaking wildly about needing to get back to Jack and Ann. No sooner has he done this, than do the two appear behind him. After a brief celebration, Denham asks them about Kong, and expresses his interest in capturing the beast alive. Jack dismisses him, calling him crazy, and reminding him that Kong is well back in the jungle, high atop his mountain. Denham however, notes that they are in possession of something that he wants. Natives cry out as they hear the sounds of Kong approaching the wide open gate. They manage to close it in time to keep him out, but this solution does not last for long. Kong soon bursts through the gates and into the village, where he destroys homes and lives aplenty before coming to face Denham, holding two of his gas bombs. Kong roars at the outsider, knowing he was one of the men who stole Ann from him, but quickly feels a faint impact on his chest, accompanied by a peculiar deafening sound, and smell that makes his eyes water, and breath labored. As he lunged again at the man, before feeling a second impact, and losing consciousness.
On the night of Kong's unveiling in New York City, Denham is delighted by a packed theater and $10,000 dollar box office for the first night alone. Denham introduces Kong, belittling him with his words, and the beast roars in defiance. Despite this, his confusion at the situation makes Ann pity the creature, but when Driscoll takes her in his arm, and the press begins to assault his eyes with their flashbulbs, Kong breaks free. The people flee like animals before Kong's might and he steps out into the city proper. Jack rushed Ann from the theater and into his hotel across the street, where Kong is unable to follow them. He spots a woman in a window, wondering about the commotion below, and believes her to be Ann. He climbs up the building and takes her in hand, before throwing her back on learning that he was mistaken. Jack tries to comfort Ann in his room while Kong, not having found her, he hurts himself on the third rail of an elevated train track. In retaliation, he strikes the tracks, which causes a train to vault off the tracks. Kong then searches the broken bodies in the train cars for Ann. Eventually he finds her.
He takes her in hand and begins to climb over the rooftops before spying the tallest building around - the Empire State Building. When he reaches the top, he lays the half conscious Ann down beside him. He is unable to rest, as he is soon circled by six airplanes. One flies in close, and Kong recognizes this tactic from great birds back home. He tears off its wing and flings it down before the others begin to make a strange sound and his body becomes peppered with little injuries. Ann recognizes that the planes are shooting him with machine guns. As more and more of the fiery shots pierce his skin, he begins to cough and his vision begins to blur. He grabs Ann as his wounds overcome him and looks at her for the final time before losing his grip and falling 102 stories to the street below. Denham rushes to the body, where a smug officer asserts that the planes have killed Kong, and Denham asserts that in reality, beauty had killed the beast.
Appearances
Monsters
Characters
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Weapons, vehicles, and races
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Differences from the film
- The Stegosaurus is described as having two horns. Whether this refers to its thagomizer, or where on its body these horns are located is not specified.
- The sailor eaten by the Brontosaurus is given the name Tim.
- Kong is referred to in narration as "King Kong" well before meeting Carl Denham.
- Jack does not cut the vine climbed by the pit creature, making this the only adaptation to feature it in which it presumably lives.
Trivia
- This is one of few original stories that offer insight into Kong's history, and is thus the first to see him orphaned as an infant and, as an adult, in constant struggle with the species that killed his parents. Similar backstories would be used for Kong in Peter Jackson's 2005 remake, Joe DeVito's King Kong of Skull Island, and Legendary Pictures' Monsterverse series.
- This story calls the Meat-Eaters Kong's "perenial enemy," and implies that the one Kong battles is "one of the largest and fiercest of them all."
- Kong is not depicted as finding Ann in the hotel across from the theater.
References
This is a list of references for King Kong (The Mystery Magazine short story). These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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