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Born in Canada, Wray moved to Hollywood at age 12 and was quickly cast in movies. A popular actress in the silent era, she became the first "Scream Queen" in an early sound film: King Kong (1933). To psych herself up for the intense screaming the director required, "I made myself believe that the nearest possible hope of rescue was at least a mile away," she once said. Offered a bit part in the 1976 remake, Wray turned it down: "The film I made was so extraordinary, so full of imagination and special effects, that it will never be equaled." Wray was in about 100 films, but is known best for her role as Kong's original love interest. She died at home in Manhattan at age 96. From This is True for 8 August 2004 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Peggy Rathmann List Price: $7.99 Amazon Price: $7.99 Editorial Review: "Good night, Gorilla," says the weary watchman as he walks by the gorilla cage on his nightly rounds at the zoo. The gorilla answers by quietly pickpocketing the guard's keys, stealthily trailing him, and unlocking the cages of every animal the oblivious fellow bids goodnight to. Looking much like an exhausted father, the uniformed guard traipses home toward his cottage, while the lonely zoo animals softly parade behind him. The animals manage to slip into his bedroom and nestle unnoticed near his sleepy wife--until the bold little gorilla goes so far as to snuggle up beside her as she turns out the light. Author and illustrator Peggy Rathmann (creator of the Caldecott-winning Officer Buckle and Gloria) relies more on the nuances of her jewel-toned pictures than on words to pace this giggly bedtime story, making it perfect for observant preschoolers. In one inky-black spread, Rathmann lets only the shocked, wide-open eyes of the guard's wife tell us that the gorilla has been detected! Tiny details such as the faithful, banana-toting mouse and sky-bound pink balloon that appear in each picture keep this book fresh, magical, and fun--even after countless bedtime readings. (Baby to preschool) --Gail HudsonGood Night, Gorilla won the 1994 Cuffie for "Most Likely to Succeed in Years Ahead" and has more than lived up to that prediction, becoming a modern classic that is a must in every child's library. This perfect package will give kids the opportunity to cuddle up with an adorable plush gorilla while they are enjoying his secret bedtime antics.  By: Mary Pope Osborne List Price: $3.99 Amazon Price: $3.99 Editorial Review: The Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie off to the mountains of Africa. There they run into a huge mountain gorilla! At first they don’t know whether they should shake hands or turn tail. But the ominous-looking creature turns out to be surprisingly gentle. Not only that, the gorilla may be able to help them learn their next bit of magic, which Morgan has challenged them to do.  By: DK PublishingAnthony Browne List Price: $7.99 Amazon Price: $7.99 Editorial Review: I called his name...I settled on a bench...I was amazed...I felt really, really happy...Four people enter a park, and through their eyes we see four different visions. There's the bossy woman, the sad man, the lonely boy and the young girl whose warmth touches those she meets. As the story moves from one voice to another, their perspectives are reflected in the shifting landscape and seasons. This is an intriguing, many-layered, enormously entertaining book that demands to be read again and again.  List Price: $25.00 Amazon Price: $16.50 Editorial Review: Stage Fright on a Summer Night The show must go on! That's what Jack and Annie learn when the Magic Tree House whisks them back to Elizabethan England. There they meet William Shakespeare who’s having a hard time with some of the actors in his latest show. Are Jack and Annie ready to make a big entrance? Or will it be curtains for Shakespeare? Good Morning, Gorillas Gentle giants or giant monsters? That's the question Jack and Annie have about gorillas when the Magic Tree House sweeps them to the mountains of Africa. There they meet a group of amazing and sometimes frightening gorillas. Will the gorillas be able to teach him some special magic? Thanksgiving on Thursday It’s a time for giving thanks when the Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie back to 1621 on the first Thanksgiving Day. The Pilgrims ask them to help get things ready. But Jack and Annie don't know how to do anything the Pilgrim way. Will they ruin the holiday forever? Or will the feast go on?" High Tide in Hawaii Catch the wave! That's what Jack and Annie do when the Magic Tree House whisks them back to a Hawaiian island of long ago. They learn how to surf and have a great time - until strange things start happening. Jack and Annie soon discover the cause: A tidal wave is headed their way! Can they help save their new friends in time?  By: Dian Fossey List Price: $15.00 Amazon Price: $10.20 Editorial Review: In 1963, an occupational therapist from Kentucky, in uncertain health and spirits, traveled to central Africa in the quixotic hope of seeing a mountain gorilla in its natural habitat. Dian Fossey had read everything she could about the reclusive and much-feared animal, and she returned from her trip convinced that most of the books were wrong. During her seven-week stay in Africa, Fossey had a chance encounter with the famed primatologists Mary and Louis Leakey, who encouraged her to follow her dream of living among the mountain gorillas and learning their ways. In 1967 she did just that, setting up a camp on the slopes of the 14,000-foot Virunga Volcanoes of Rwanda and studying four gorilla families there. Although it took them some time to accept Fossey's presence among them, she was immediately impressed by their peaceful nature and by their generous, guileless behavior--so unlike the images found in popular culture. But, Fossey discovered, despite their peaceable way of life, the gorillas had many enemies in the form of poachers who hunted them for their hands, skins, and heads--ghastly remains sold to the tourist market. Much of Fossey's thoughtful but often rightly angry memoir Gorillas in the Mist is a well-reasoned plea for the protection of the gorillas and the suppression of the poachers' black market. That argument found a wide audience when her book was published in 1983, but Fossey's work remains unfinished: she was murdered, probably by those very poachers, in 1985, and today there are fewer than 650 mountain gorillas in the wild. To read Gorillas in the Mist is a first step for anyone concerned with their preservation, and that of other wild species everywhere. --Gregory McNamee One of the most important books ever written about our connection to the natural world, GORILLAS IN THE MIST is the riveting account of Dian Fossey's thirteen years in a remote African rain forest with the greatest of the great apes. Fossey's extraordinary efforts to ensure the future of the rain forest and its remaining mountain gorillas are captured in her own words and in candid photographs of this fascinating endangered species. As only she could, Fossey combined her personal adventure story with groundbreaking scientific reporting in an unforgettable portrait of one of our closest primate relatives. Although Fossey's work ended tragically in her murder, GORILLAS IN THE MIST remains an invaluable testament to one of the longest-running field studies of primates and reveals her undying passion for her subject. |
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