Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 259
"Long time no see, Hughes."

Leaving from CBS radio station, Colin saw Howard Hughes whom he hadn't seen for a long time.

Hughes has been handling the filming of "Titanic" in Los Angeles since the other party drove the 'Hughes One' to send him back to New York.

Character determines destiny, as a complete perfectionist.

Now that he decided to shoot the movie of the big ship, Howard Hughes naturally would not let go of any details easily, just like when he took a ship to overseas to shoot iceberg scenes, and after discovering the color film, he destroyed all the film and re-shooted the color version Iceberg shot.

This time, Howard Hughes did the same in the filming of the movie "Titanic".

He actually bought a ship to shoot the movie.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

In New York Harbor, standing at the pier and looking up at the huge ship in front of him, Hughes turned to Colin and said, "Next, I will sink it in New York!"

If it were someone else, perhaps no one would believe his words.

However, Howard Hughes, the name itself represents madness.

Therefore, Colin believed his words without hesitation, and said with a smile: "Then I will definitely let the whole New York know the news."

Hearing Colin's response, the smile on the corner of Howard Hughes' mouth grew a little stronger.

On the side, Louise looked at the two people who were talking happily, the expression on their faces never calmed down.As an actor who used to dance on Broadway, she recognized Hughes at the first sight. This famous Hollywood director and producer, before filming "Hell's Angels", Jean Harlow was just a Extras on set.

However, Howard Hughes boldly enabled the other party and chose the other party as the heroine of the movie.

After "Hell's Angels" was released, it caused a sensation in the film industry, and Jean Harlow also rose to fame from the very beginning, becoming the sexiest actress at that time.

Stories about Jane Harlow's overnight success were circulating across Broadway at the time.

Louise Walton has seen too many actors try to meet Howard Hughes and become the next Jean Harlow.

Louise is also one of those actors. If she met Hughes at any point before this, she would never hesitate to fight for the opportunity.

But, it's different now.

She's off Broadway and has Jenny.

Thinking of her baby Jenny, the expression on Louise's face softened. Now she has a different life, not just for herself.

"...My original idea was to take the ship to the place where the Titanic sank to take pictures. Unfortunately, the camera team did not agree with my idea."

When he said this, Howard Hughes revealed a bit of regret in his tone.

In fact, not only the camera group, but also the participating actors and even the New York City government did not agree with his approach.

After all, the sinking of the Titanic had already shocked the whole world. Naturally, the New York City government could not allow Howard Hughes to drive the ship to another sinking incident.

Even if Howard Hughes swore that this was only for the filming of the movie, no one was willing to bear the possible consequences.

In the subsequent conversation, Colin also learned that the purpose of Howard Hughes coming to New York this time was for the filming of "Titanic".

Since it was decided to photograph the sinking of the big ship, it was necessary to be in a suitable location.

Although Los Angeles is close to the sea, there is not a very suitable port to dock ships, especially for this filming, in which more than 90.00% of the shots were taken on ships.

Howard Hughes couldn't get the right shots if he couldn't guarantee the normal docking of the ship.

This is obviously an unacceptable fact for the perfectionist Hughes.

On the other hand, although he bought the ship, it was not the real Titanic that sank in the first place after all. He needed a lot of arrangements to transform the huge ship in front of him into the appearance of the Titanic.To this end, Howard Hughes has invited a special team, including those who worked in the British White Star Shipping Company, that is, the original Titanic manufacturer, to reproduce the real scene before the sinking of the big ship.

This kind of professional group, especially the worker who once worked in the British White Star Line, will take time to come. Others, such as the delivery of film shooting equipment, and the itinerary of the male and female protagonists, will come down in a variety of ways, and Howard Hughes needs to deal with it. There are many more things.

However, he didn't feel any anxiety or uneasiness about it.

On the contrary, there is an eagerness to try. Since "Hell's Angels", he hasn't had such a high enthusiasm for movies for a long time.

He couldn't wait to film the story of this big ship.

Taking a deep breath, and forcing his gaze away from the ship in front of him, Howard Hughes looked at Colin in front of him, with a rare concern in his tone: "How is your body recovering, Colin? "

Sensing the slight concern in Howard Hughes' tone, Colin's heart warmed slightly.

Asking such a question means that Howard Hughes really regards Colin as his friend, not just a simple partner.

Therefore, Colin also nodded his head: "I have fully recovered."

Hearing Colin's answer, he looked him up and down again, and after confirming that there was nothing wrong with him, Howard Hughes said in a careless tone: "This is the best, I don't want the "Titanic "" has not yet been released, and the screenwriter of the film has a problem."

After chatting a few words about things in Los Angeles before, Howard Hughes quickly brought the topic to the recent issue of Colin and RCA.

Even Hughes has heard a little about the legal proceedings between the two parties.

After all, during this period of time, the entire New York media has been reporting this news.

"Do you need me to introduce you to a lawyer?"

Howard Hughes did not inquire about the specific matters of Colin's television patent, but simply made an inquiry and expressed his position.

"Not needed yet."

Shaking his head, Colin rejected Howard Hughes' kindness.

In fact, not only Howard Hughes, LaGuardia, and even Roosevelt expressed concern about this matter, and even Roosevelt introduced his current lawyer to Colin, promising to help him win the patent with Radio Corporation of America. The lawsuit, this is a presidential-level lawyer, well, the presidential candidate's lawyer team.

"Come to me anytime if you need anything."

Hearing Colin's answer, Howard Hughes didn't say much, but just reminded him casually.

……

After meeting with Colin in New York, Howard Hughes quickly devoted his energy to the scene layout of "Titanic".

The next day, Colin's interview at the gate of the Messenger newspaper was also rushed to be published in major newspapers in New York.

Of course, the largest page published among them is the Courier Newspaper's own "Messenger Daily".

"There is only one outcome of this patent lawsuit, and that is my victory!"

On the front page of the news, what Colin said to the media was published with a huge headline, and at the same time, the interview photos taken by Little John were accompanied at the bottom.

On the same day, the readers of the "Daily Courier", while lamenting the patent lawsuit, did not forget to open the comic serial of this issue.

Many loyal readers of "Superman" are still praying silently in their hearts that the result of the patent case must be smooth, and it will not affect Ke Lin's serialization of comics.

In the latest installment of Superman, a new supervillain, the Great Ape, has arrived.

The idea of ​​this character obviously came from a news report published in the "Illustrated London News" in 1929. At that time, the Swiss geologist François Delo led an expedition team to discover and shoot creatures in the Tara River, and Call it Delo's giant ape. When the newspaper published it, the academic circle immediately caused an uproar, but many scientists believed that this photo was completely a hoax.

Even at that time, the American millionaire set up a reward of 5 US dollars. Whoever found a specimen of Delo's giant ape would get 5 US dollars, but no one has been able to qualify for this reward so far.

Colin borrowed this event and used it as inspiration for the comic.

In the plot of the comics, the giant ape was originally a creature living on a mysterious island, and then the appearance of scientists broke its peace.These greedy scientists destroyed the plants on the island and killed the creatures on the island for research. Their practice undoubtedly angered the giant ape, and soon this giant appeared to attack the scientists.

Giant Ape: "Roar——"

Scientist: "OMG, what is that!"

Facing the angry giant ape, the scientists were terrified, and its every move shocked the entire island.

Seeing this huge monster, the scientists felt extremely panicked. They dropped the research materials in their hands and ran back to the ship they were on.However, looking at the fleeing people, the giant ape did not let them go. On the contrary, it followed the scientist's ship and swam to the metropolis.

When these scientists returned to the metropolis, they immediately told everyone about the great ape, and Superman and Louise also interviewed them as reporters.

However, no one expected that the giant ape following the ship would also appear in the metropolis.

Seeing this behemoth, the entire metropolis fell into panic.

The government launched an army to attack the giant monster, but the bullets only angered the monster one step further, and it easily knocked down a tall building with a wave of its arms.And as the giant ape entered the metropolis, more citizens screamed in terror and began to call for the appearance of Superman.

In the following story, Louise appears in it and is inadvertently captured by the great ape.

The giant ape grabbed Louise and climbed up the Daily Courier building, roaring loudly.

Superman heard Lois shouting, and appeared in the "Daily Courier" building just in time.From previous interviews, he already knew the reason why the giant ape appeared here, so this time Superman didn't kill the giant beast, he just used his superhuman power to suppress the giant monster, and Louise was taken from it. Rescued it from the hands of the giant ape, and sent it back to the island where it originally lived, and promised that no one would disturb the life of the great ape.

The scene where the great ape catches Louise on the "Daily Courier" building is undoubtedly a re-enactment of the classic scene in the movie "King Kong".

However, when Ke Lin drew the great ape, the movie "King Kong" was still being filmed, and this classic scene in the history of monster movies never appeared on the big screen.

So, in the comics, the great ape grabs Louise and climbs up the tall building.

Readers were immediately attracted by this scene and sighed in succession.

……

Of course, it wasn't just the readers of the Daily Courier who were attracted.

Los Angeles, RKO Pictures studio.

"Merian, you should see this."

The producer showed up on set with a newspaper and found Merian C. Cooper.

"What happened?"

Seeing the producer of "Gang: King of the Jungle", Merian was a little surprised. He reached out and took the newspaper in the other party's hand, and soon saw that the giant ape grabbed Louise and climbed up the "Messenger" in the cartoon. Scenes from the Daily News building.

"I hope that the same scene as in the comics will appear in the movie, where King Kong grabs our heroine and climbs to the highest point of the Empire State Building. Don't you think this scene is more in line with King Kong's image of the king of the jungle? "

Looking down at the scene depicted in the Daily Courier, Merian C. Cooper, the director of Gang: King of the Jungle, couldn't help but feel a little bit moved.

However, looking up at the crew in front of him, Merian said with a helpless expression on his face.

"I admit that if this scene was filmed, it would be very shocking. Unfortunately, Faye Refey has already finished filming the end credits and went to England."

Faye Refey is the heroine of the movie "Gang: King of the Jungle".

"It doesn't matter, don't we still have Pauline Wagner, just let her put on blonde hair and finish shooting this scene. Anyway, in this scene, King Kong is the pig's feet!"

In this regard, the producer is obviously well prepared.

Soon, with the cooperation of stuntman Pauline Wagner, it took only four hours for Merian to reproduce this scene in the comics into the movie.

In subsequent interviews, director Merian revealed this process more than once, admitting that the inspiration for King Kong climbing the Empire State Building in the final movie came from the comics of "Superman".

(End of this chapter)