This brings us to the last bout of the popular culture round, with the 50 Foot Woman tussling with the triceratops used in the original King Kong movie!  Who’s going to win this round, (wo)man or beast?  Your vote decides the outcome, so be sure to leave a comment!

The 50 Foot Woman

Lobby card from “Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman,” Box 141, Forrest J Ackerman Collection, # 2358. UW American Heritage Center.

Claim to Fame:  As the title character in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Allison Hayes plays Nancy Archer, a woman who has just returned home from a stay in a mental institution. Frustrations with her no-good husband lead her to drive too fast out on a lonely stretch of highway, where she encounters an extraterrestrial orb.  Her exposure to this UFO results in her growing to 10 times her normal size; Nancy uses her size to exact revenge on her husband and his mistress.  Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is a prime example of

Special Skills: “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” especially if she is 50 feet tall!

The 50 Foot Woman in restraints and under medical supervision after her transformation. Box 105, Forrest J. Ackerman papers, #2358. UW Amerian Heritage Center.

Collection Connection: The Forrest J. Ackerman papers at the AHC contain promotional publicity stills from the film, as well as other materials.

Triceratops

The triceratops appears here with his “King King co-star to give you a sense of his size in the film. From the exhibit, “Terror in the Theater: Fifties Fears,” on display at the UW Art Museum during the 2011 Fall Semester.

Claim to Fame: Created in 1931 by special effects pioneer Willis O’Brien for a film called Creation and then reused in King Kong–though the footage was cut from the final version.  Only four minutes of Creation exists today, but the triceratops is still alive and well!

Special Skills:  I’m a big scary dinosaur, come on!

Collection Connection:  Collected by Samuel Peeples and included in his collection at the AHC.  Peeples wrote western novels and science fiction screenplays including several Star Trek episodes.