Anybody know who came up with the story? I've heard rumors that it was based off of an old legend, but haven't found anything to confirm or deny this. Does anybody know?
Daniel
The word "Gwangi" is an American Indian name for lizard, as according to Ray Harryhausen's book.
The story itself was conceived by KING KONG animator, Willis O'Brien who himself was a cowboy at one time.
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On April 26, 1890 the Tombstone Epitaph (a local Arizona newspaper) reported that two cowboys had discovered and shot down a creature - described as a "winged dragon" - which resembled a pterodactyl, only MUCH larger. The cowboys said its wingspan was 160 feet, and that its body was more than four feet wide and 92 feet long. The cowboys supposedly cut off the end of the wing to prove the existence of the creature. The paper’s description of the animal fits the Quetzelcoatlus, whose fossils were found in Texas. (Gish, Dinosaurs by Design, 1992, p. 16.) Could this be thunderbird or Wakinyan, the jagged-winged, fierce-toothed flying creature of Sioux American Indian legend? This thunderbird supposedly lived in a cave on the top of the Olympic Mountains and feasted on seafood. Different from the eagle (Wanbli) or hawk (Cetan) the Wakinyan was said to be huge, carrying off children, and was named because of its association with thunder and lightning--supposedly being struck by lightning and seen to fall to the ground during a storm. (Geis, Darlene, Dinosaurs & Other Prehistoric Animals, 1959, p. 9.) It was further distinguished by its piercing cry and thunderous beating wings (Lame Deer’s 1969 interview).
shareI managed to find the original newspaper article about the cowboys finding the "winged dragon" in Tombstone!
(google "april 26 1890 tombstone epitaph")
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn95060905/1890-04-26/ed-1/seq-3/
Now that's a step back in time!
This led me to some more recent discoveries. I didn't even know that finding pterodactyls is a thing, like Big Foot.
"Pterodactyl in the Cornfields of Missouri":
http://cryptozoologynews.com/pterodactyl-in-the-corn-fields-of-missouri-town/
"A Few Sightings of Pterosaurs in 2016":
http://www.livepterosaurs.com/inamerica/blog/?p=1543
And there have been a number of alleged sightings over the years in New Guinea:
http://www.livedino.com/modernpterosaurs/
http://www.livepterosaur.com/LP_Blog/archives/7525
http://www.live-pterosaur.com/Prodigy/nation2006/
Fascinating stuff.
Anybody know who came up with the story?
It was based off of a script that willis o'brien wrote but never filmed! The most important thing that I want to say here is, why don't people appreciate these kinds of movies anymore? I am tired of CGI and remakes!
shareits because people... general audiences... are used to CGI and remakes... movies are in a sad state right now in my honest opinion...
Cool guys, thanks for the great info. I'd found some info about O'Brien after I posted this but, it's always great to learn more about some of these great films.
I agree, these films are a lost art. I think Clash of the Titans was one of the last big films to employ these stop-motion with real life techniques. Harryhausen was one of the great geniuses of motion pictures, especially in the effects department. I remember he looked into doing the John Carter of Mars series once. That would have had the potential to be amazing.
I believe the film was a knock off of Willis O'Brien's "Beast of Hollow Mountain".
Here's the "Phoenix Picture"...
http://www.burlingtonnews.net/Pteradactyl3.jpg
Great picture and thanks for posting it. Of course I don't believe it is a real Pteranodon by any means but it's these things that form the basis for great stories and movies.
Actually, when Willis O'Brien was much much younger, he wrangled horse for a living in the south west (he LOVED horses and was great with them, a true cowboy)and on several occasions he would take fossil hunters...and their steeds...to areas of great hidden canyons and valleys, where they would excavate for weeks and months at removing pieces of ancient reptiles.
This all came together in his head as the seminal basis for GWANGI (that's what it was called) and I believe if memory serves me correctly that he and his second wife Darlyne, bound O'bie's heavily illustrated script in cowhide and it was copyrighted 1941.
It was rewritten a bit by someone else and then the whole thing was dropped in favor of the studio making LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE instead.
Go figure!
I saw photos of the Gwangi puppet from 1941 (it seemed to be made of the allosaurus armature from THE WAR EAGLE, but I'm not sure. As far as Delgado's sculpting, well, it was a beauty!
http://www.woodywelch.com
I've known about the Thunderbird photo and the Tombstone Epitaph story for quite some time. I don't know if they helped inspire "Gwangi" in any way, but each one has always made me think of the other.
shareI like seeing those photos, I don't think they're real, but they're still funny to see.
GIMME TEH FROGURT!
There is a post on YouTube claiming that the movie is based on a true story that the Nazis destroyed all the evidence of. Its probably bollocks, but somebody has put it out there. Here is the link so you can read it yourself, the poster is called voxhammer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXRkwR9zDRc
shareOn Ray Harryhausen's website he says that he originally planned to use a giant saytre instead of Gwangi for this movie.
Read about it here:
http://theseventhvoyage.com/misc.htm
<<(When there is no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth.)>>
shocked people had to ask this --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_World_%28Conan_Doyle_novel%29
like our exhausting cop shows on TV - the father of Sherlock also basically invented this genre.
Doyle also made skiing in the Alps a big thing - many reasons to be very curious about this guy.
House: I have been on a date before.
Wilson: Not since disco died.