Origin of "King Kong" (Chinese? Courting frogs?)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

"King Kong" logically followed other, similar jungle stories (see the essay
at the bottom of this post).
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What about the name "King Kong"? Where did the authors (Merian C. Cooper  and
Edgar Wallace) get it?
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"King Kong" had been in use as a Chinese name and, in the 1920s, a popular
song about courting frogs!
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_http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0178260/bio_
(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0178260/bio)
Cooper had a bizarre dream about a giant ape that was destroying New York
City and recorded it when woke up. This was the basis for the classic _King
Kong_ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024216/)  (1933), which he  developed and
produced.
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_http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0908624/bio_
(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0908624/bio)
He died while in Hollywood working on a film project that would become _King
Kong_ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024216/)  (1933).
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_"BALLADS,  SONGS AND SNATCHES"; BEST SELLERS IN POPULAR MUSIC OLE GRAY GOOSE
_
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=10&did=426818631&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1136066907&clientId=65882)
Abbe Niles. The Bookman; a Review of Books  and Life (1895-1933). New York:
Dec 1928. Vol. 68, Iss. 4; p. 457 (3  pages) :
Second page:
_Folk Songs:_ "King Kong Kitchie-Kitchie Ki-Mo", which is the immemorial
tale of the frog's courting, sung to an old-time banjo by Chubby Parker (_Col._;
with "Down on the Farm").
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_IDOLATRY  OF THE CHINESE._
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=3&did=327413981&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=11360670
05&clientId=65882)
The American Magazine of Useful and  Entertaining Knowledge (1834-1837).
Boston: Jun 1, 1836. Vol. 2, Iss. 10;  p. 423 (2 pages) :
First page:
The haughty figure in the centre, adorned with such singular magnificence  of
apparel, and with a richly ornamented crown upon his head, is the supreme
idol of the Chinese--the grand King-Kong himself.
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_THE  HEATEN RACE; A Lively Row in 'Frisco's Chinatown;Members of Rival
Companies  Exchange Pistol Shots;Two Celestials Wounded--A Further Outbreak
Threatened;Other Coast Dispatches--An Electrician Received a Terrible Shock
--Brotherhood Firemen Arrive From the East_
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=4&did=748791592&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=
1136067135&clientId=65882)
Telegraph  to The Times. Los Angeles Times (1886. Sep 8,  1890. p. 1 (1 page)
:
Ping King Kong men were holding an out-door religious service on Waverly
Place when members of the Chee Kong Long Company interfered.
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_WELL-DEVELOPED  CASE.; Fearful Influence Exercised by PingPong Upon Its
Devotees. _
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=5&did=547010912&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1136067331&clientId=65882)
The Atlanta Constitution (1881-2001). Atlanta, Ga.: May 25,  1902. p. 23 (1
page) :
"Poorly; every little thing-thong seems to affect me lately. Well, at any
rate, you are looking like a king-kong."
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_THE  MIRRORS OFTHULE" BRILLINTLY DONE.; Best Show that Boston Knights of
Columbus  Have Ever put In Delights Gathering that falls Jordan Hall. _
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=8&did=700358072&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD
&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1136067422&clientId=65882)
Boston Daily Globe (1872-1960). Boston, Mass.: Feb 18, 1908.  p. 4 (1 page) :
As King Kong, William A. O'Brien certainly conducted himself with skill.  His
stage presence was excellent and he has a good voice of clear tone and much
volume. His song, "Speech from the Throne," in the first act, was splendidly
sung and made a fine impression.
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     _The Daily Courier_
(http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Viewer.aspx?img=5eXteVl0qByKID/6NLMW2vwjRTk9QdcUe+V8JDD4jZ2h4hc5cA0sBkIF+CsZYmrz)  _Friday,
November 30, 1928_ (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search=)
_Connellsville,_
(http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search="king+kong"+AND+cityid:6072+AND+stateid:77+AND+range:1753-1928)   _Pennsylvania_
(http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search="king+kong"+AND+stateid:77+AND+range:1753-
1928)   ...and' Bis.  Slngors. Down on the Farm. KING KONG KItehie Kttchle
Kl-Ma-O..
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_http://www.geraldpeary.com/essays/jkl/kingkong-1.html_
(http://www.geraldpeary.com/essays/jkl/kingkong-1.html)
Missing Links: The Jungle Origins of King  Kong
GERALD PEARY
(Slightly revised from its original  printing in THE GIRL IN THE HAIRY PAW
[New York, 1976], ed. by Ronald Gottesman  and Harry Geduld)
(...)


As noted earlier, Merian Cooper claimed  conception of the creature, King
Kong, while making FOUR FEATHERS in 1927. But a  better candidate for the
inspiration comes through Willis O'Brien and THE LOST  WORLD with its lost-in-time
behemoth stumbling through the London streets,  unleashing destruction with
every step, so much like what Kong would do to New  York. The brontosaurus even
stuck its head through a third-story window, an  action so novel as to be
repeated in KING KONG, when the giant gorilla comes  looking for Ann Darrow in the
upper stories of a hotel. And the brontosaurus's  collapse through London
Bridge, the city's most iconic public site? O'Brien  brought the scene back, transfo
rmed into Kong's Empire State Building  tumble.
An even more literal link in THE LOST WORLD to  KONG was the "ape man" of the
movie, which chased the Londoners about the  Amazonian jungle. Although
played unconvincingly by an actor in painted makeup  and furpiece attire, this
character was at the center of an episode so close to  what occurs in KING KONG
that there can be no mistaking the THE LOST WORLD  source. When KONG's Driscoll
and Ann fled the mighty ape by climbing down a rope  and dropping into the
waters far below, they echoed Edward Malone's THE LOST  WORLD escape by rope from
the ape man down the side of a steep plateau. In both  scenes, the excitement
comes from the primate adversary taking hold of the rope  and pulling it
back, hand in hand, toward the top of the ravine. At the last  moment, the
dangling heroes in both films loosen their grasps and fall to  safety, avoiding being
mauled by the jungle beast at the top.

There is a far more obscure literary source  than Conan Doyle which also
affected the future shape of KING KONG, a 1927  pulpish gothic mystery, THE
AVENGER, one of the 173 novels of British author,  Edgar Wallace. He would go to
Hollywood in 1931 and cooperate with Merian Cooper  on the "idea" of KING KONG.
Wallace also composed a completed early script  version of KONG before dying
suddenly in 1932, several months before the picture  went into production. If
not as essential a source as THE LOST WORLD, Wallace's  THE AVENGER managed a
modest influence on certain plot elements of KING KONG and  seems to have
introduced sketchy versions of several of KONG's characters.
In Wallace's novel, a movie company travels on  location to the gloomy
English provinces (Skull Island). Jack Knebworth, movie  producer (Carl Denham),
reaches among the anonymous extras on his movie and  brings forward a new star,
beautiful Adele Leamington (Ann Darrow, Denham's  soupline discovery). Adele is
plagued on the set by a mysterious ourang-outang  named Bhag (Kong), who
chases her across the provincial terrain.
And what of movies made without any of the KONG  party? STARK MAD (Warner
Brothers, 1929) was a "jungle quest" fantasy which is  lost today. That's
unfortunate for film history, because descriptions suggest a  genuine influence on
KING KONG. One scene from the plot summary sounds  particularily relevant: those
on an expedition into the South American jungles  enter a Mayan jungle to
find a gigantic ape chained to the floor. OURANG  (Universal, 1930) was a film
seemingly never released. If it followed true to  its advertising campaign,
OURANG would have been ahead of KING KONG for its  bestial sexual theme in its
story of a woman carried off by ourang-outangs  through the jungles of Borneo. A
Universal ad in VARIETY showed an attractive  female struggling in the arms of
a large primate,three years prior to the  subjugations of Ann Darrow.
About this time, Willis O'Brien teamed for the  first time with Merian C.
Cooper, working on a KONG prototype called CREATION,  about a shipwreck on a
mysterious island filled with dinosaurs. A bit of this  film was shot, then
abandoned; O'Brien wasn't happy yet with his story.
By 1930, the KING KONG project was forming from  at least three directions:
from Willis O'Brien's THE LOST WORLD experience, from  Cooper-Schoedsack's
in-the-field documentary work, from Edgar Wallace's THE  AVENGER. And jungle
movies were suddenly so much in vogue that VARIETY commented  in January, 1930, "So
many people are going into woolly Africa with cameras that  the natives are
not only losing their lens shyness but are rapidly nearing the  stage where
they will qualify for export to Hollywood."
The cycle culminated with a tremendous box  office hit, TRADER HORN (MGM,
1931), shot in spectacular fashion, and with  ninety-two tons of technical
equipment, by W.S. Van Dyke on African location.  The time was ripe for KING KONG,
though what was needed was an interested  studio. The infamous INGAGI incident
of 1930 served as catalyst for RKO's  commitment to such a project.
In April, 1930, representatives of "Congo  Pictures, Ltd." walked along
Market Street in San Francisco offering the  theatres purchase rights to a picture,
INGAGI, said to show footage of Sir  Hubert Winstead of London's
sensationalist travels into the Belgian Congo. Every  theatre but one turned down the film
as a fake. The Orpheum decided not only to  exhibit INGAGI but to promote it
vigorously. A tabloid newspaper filled with  stills from INGAGI was
distributed door to door in the area of the theatre. A  jungle exhibition was set up in
the lobby. The Orpheum brought in $4,000 worth  of business the opening day,
an unprecedented $23,000 for the first week. RKO  Studio, owner of the Orpheum,
picked up national rights, and soon INGAGI was  playing everywhere. It
doubled house records in Seattle, was termed "the talk of  the town" in Chicago, and
soon was among the highest grossing films in the  USA.
"Photography is poor," said VARIETY.  "Accompanying lectures, synchronized on
the film, are supposed to have been done  by Winstead, but the speaker uses a
plain American accent." None of this  mattered to the public, nor the fact
that three-fourths of the picture was taken  up by tired stock shots of elephant
herds, hippopatami, and sundry animals  scurrying about the jungle. Real
attention was directed to INGAGI's last ten  minutes, which showed an African
tribe of completely naked "ape women" (though  obstructed from full view by
strategic thickets) sacrificing one of their woman  to a gorilla. INGAGI publicity
centered on this final scene, shamelessly  foregrounding the erotic aspects of
the sacrifice, the perverse implied union of  woman and jungle animal.