Post by Gwangi on Jan 16, 2005 21:40:12 GMT -8
Got back from seeing and meeting Ray Harryhausen again at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. He is in California promoting his new DVD “Ray Harryhasuen: The Early Years Collection” as well as his book. Last Spring, the DVD producer and Ray himself went back to his old parents garage and found some things even Ray thought was long lost. They showed some of it on the big screen. For a Harryhausen aficionado like myself, it was the equivalent of finding some long lost Beatle tracks! The DVD, which is a 2-Disc set contains:
The complete Fairy Tales and Mother Goose Stories.
Interviews with Ray Bradbury and Forry Ackerman (whom I also saw at the event), and others from the movie industry.
Early films and never-before-seen tests. Footage of "Evolution" now contains a music score. When I saw that, I was sadden that this project never got completed. They showed the entirety of Ray's WWII documentary short "Guadalcanal". I was concerned that they might have shown the Japanese in a stereotypical fashion, but the beauty was that not a single person was shown, only the machines did all of the work. AND a commercial (!) Ray did back in the late 40s for a housing development project. (It was the beginning of the suburbs). It featured an animated key. "I'm the key to your future" as it stated. And talk about cheap home prices back then!
I wished I had bought the DVD, but I was short on cash! Birthday is coming up in March so I will let people know what I want!
It was fun event, if somewhat disorganized and that is unusual for the always reliable Egyptian. Because of their delays, we had to get our autographs signed in a hurry. John Landis was there as well, signing autographs, but when I got to the table, he had long been gone. I guess he knew I was coming!
One of the movies they showed was “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad”. There was one interesting discussion regarding the baby Roc. The questioner said that it's fur looked real, and Ray said that it was real! His associate, George Lofgren actually put two baby ducks into a "coma" and sheared their fur! Ray said it in a concerned fashion, but then said "Hey, we cut the heads off and eat the ducks anyway!" to the laughter of the audience.
He was most proud however to say, that “Sinbad” and so many other of his features cost under a million dollars! It staggers the mind, yet for a man as talented and smart as Ray, he was able to pull it out!
The complete Fairy Tales and Mother Goose Stories.
Interviews with Ray Bradbury and Forry Ackerman (whom I also saw at the event), and others from the movie industry.
Early films and never-before-seen tests. Footage of "Evolution" now contains a music score. When I saw that, I was sadden that this project never got completed. They showed the entirety of Ray's WWII documentary short "Guadalcanal". I was concerned that they might have shown the Japanese in a stereotypical fashion, but the beauty was that not a single person was shown, only the machines did all of the work. AND a commercial (!) Ray did back in the late 40s for a housing development project. (It was the beginning of the suburbs). It featured an animated key. "I'm the key to your future" as it stated. And talk about cheap home prices back then!
I wished I had bought the DVD, but I was short on cash! Birthday is coming up in March so I will let people know what I want!
It was fun event, if somewhat disorganized and that is unusual for the always reliable Egyptian. Because of their delays, we had to get our autographs signed in a hurry. John Landis was there as well, signing autographs, but when I got to the table, he had long been gone. I guess he knew I was coming!
One of the movies they showed was “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad”. There was one interesting discussion regarding the baby Roc. The questioner said that it's fur looked real, and Ray said that it was real! His associate, George Lofgren actually put two baby ducks into a "coma" and sheared their fur! Ray said it in a concerned fashion, but then said "Hey, we cut the heads off and eat the ducks anyway!" to the laughter of the audience.
He was most proud however to say, that “Sinbad” and so many other of his features cost under a million dollars! It staggers the mind, yet for a man as talented and smart as Ray, he was able to pull it out!
