Autograph Hound Saturday — and Brian Leno got so excited over his new bust of King Kong he began digging in his extensive files of John Hancocks, and look what he’s found:
Here’s some King Kong fun.
The drawing of Kong is signed by the three principals in the film, Fay Wray, Bruce Cabot and Robert “Bob” Armstrong.
The Armstrong is a little messy but he added 1934, which helps a lot.
It also bears the signature of John Northpole, who played a sailor in Kong. He had parts in Citizen Kane, Captain Blood, One Million B. C. and others. Pretty obscure autograph.
Noble Johnson played the chief of the natives on Skull Island. Extremely hard John Hancock to come across. Friend of Lon Chaney Sr., he appeared in The Most Dangerous Game, Lost Horizon, The Mummy. Noble also played Queequeg in the John Barrymore version of Moby Dick.
I don’t know who did the drawing of Kong, but above the Fay Wray signature, underneath Kong’s left shoulder, I can make out either 1934 or HS 34. It’s tough.
It’s possible to come across the three top dogs on one sheet, I guess — but I’ve never seen another one. To have Noble Johnson and Northpole with them is a little mind boggling.
I got this sheet and my Meriam C. Cooper from the same dealer and believe in the authenticity of both items.
The Cooper signed envelope is a beauty. Commemorating Armistice Day, it also has Kosciuszko Squadron beneath Cooper’s autograph — a Polish Air Force Squadron he helped found in 1919. We all know Cooper played one of the pilots that gave Kong hell atop the Empire State Building.
As I get older I’m starting to sell stuff off, but these two items will stay with the collection. Pretty sure about that.
This King will not leave the building.
