I vividly recall reading, and being astounded by, an article in the Chicago Tribune, in the late '70s/early '80s, by then popular columnist, Bob Greene -- in which Greene recounts a visit to his grade school by an old man named (I think I'm recalling this correctly) Carmine Negro, who was (so the man claimed) the actor in the gorilla suit (!) in King Kong. Greene recalled this with fondness, and no clue whatsoever that he, his fellow students and school were being conned. A few weeks later, after being informed of the truth behind Kong (no gorilla suit, Bob!), he followed up with a piece expressing his confusion about why someone would pull such a scam on a bunch of unsuspecting kids. I thought I'd clipped and saved this, but haven't been able to turn it up. Anyone else recall or save this piece? Why this story has stuck with me so after all this time, I don't know -- I guess it's the combination of a (crazy?) old con man, some gullible kids -- and a columnist for a major newspaper still gullible enough as an adult to buy into the scam -- and me as a reader knowing I could have outed the guy as a fake had I been one of those kids. I knew who Willis O'Brien was when I was in kindergarten. Thank goodness my older brothers brought home all those issues of Famous Monsters.....
