19. Great Ape Defies Evolution€ And Economics
When King Kong opened in New York City in March 1933, the Radio City Music Hall and Roxy Theatre packed the crowds into performances supported by 'Jungle Rhythms' music shows. The two giant venues had a combined capacity of 10,000 and demand for tickets was insatiable. This was the height of the Great Depression, yet New Yorkers escaped from it all by watching their city laid waste by a great primal force. Kong became one of the abiding pop-culture images of an era of economic ruin, as shown in the famed documentary Brother Can You Spare Me A Dime? (1975). In 2005, when Peter Jackson remade Kong, he cemented the connection by having the SS Venture leave New York Harbour with Ann Darrow in March 1933.