Wes Shank Interview By Ted A. Bohus

Where did you get your Forbidden Planet saucer?
At the MGM auction in May of 1970. I went on vacation and all I saw was a few of the MGM sound stages and Forry Ackerman’s house.
Which saucer do you have?
I have the smaller of the three models, about 22 inches in diameter.
Do you remember what you paid for it?
Yes, $225.
I remember it took me years to convince you to strip it down and convert it back to it’s original condition.
I was in such awe of the prop at the time. I was just afraid to touch it or look inside. The upper dome was held on very loosely by three nails and every now and then I’d shake it and hear something rattling around inside. Finally one night I sat down with a pair of pliers, pulled the nails out and took the dome off. I always had a slight doubt that maybe this particular saucer wasn’t used in the film because it had been altered and painted over. But all doubt was gone once I got it open. The lower dome was painted over, and inside it was the clear striped dome that revolved and there was also a light behind it. It took me about nine months to restore it, now it spins and lights.
So this might have been the saucer at the beginning of the film flying through space.
Bill Malone and I have had many conversations trying to figure out which saucer was used in which scene. We came to the conclusion that mine was the saucer used in the opening and some of the long shots.
Did you pick up any other Forbidden Planet props at the auction?
I picked up one of the rifle type ion blasters. I paid $125 for that.
Where did you get the uniforms?
They came from Jerry Ohlinger. A couple years after the auction he called me because he knew I was a big Forbidden Planet collector. I got a crewman's uniform and one of Morbius’ costumes.
How did you get your hands on the Blob?
I saw the film at a matinee around 1965. I saw in the credits it was made by Valley Forge Films. Valley Forge Park was about fifteen minutes from where I lived and I wondered if there could be a film studio out there. Myself and a friend looked in the phone book and there it was, Valley Forge Films. I called up and the guy who answered the phone was “Shorty” Yeaworth, his actual name was Irwin but they called him Shorty because his middle name was Shortess, as you know, he was the films director. I told him how much I enjoyed The Blob and asked him if we could have a tour of the film studio. He said, “Sure, come on out.” So we did. We walked around the barns they used as studios. Inside one studio, in the corner was this five gallon black can. Shorty said, “Oh, by the way, this is The Blob in here.” He opened the lid and sure enough there was this red, sticky goo in there. He said this is what was used in the film and I thought, wow, this is the first time I ever saw a real movie prop. He gave us a sample of it to take home in a small jar. When I got home, I began thinking about it...
You figured why should The Blob be sitting in that cold, dark barn when it could be over in my nice warm house.
That’s right, so I called him up and asked if he wanted to sell it. He thought about it and finally said he’d sell it for a specific amount of money. It took me a couple months to save up. When I did I went out there on a Friday evening in November, 1965 to pick it up. He also threw in one of the sets from the film, the Colonial Theater miniature, and also a copy of the shooting script, which is a little different from the final script. The shooting script was called The Molten Monster.
Didn’t you also get a few of the 4D Man sets?
Valley Forge Films sold the property in 1974 and moved. Shorty called me up and said, “We’re getting ready to move and you might want to come out here and see if there is anything you want.” I went out there immediately and searched everywhere looking for stuff. I came up with three or four more miniature sets from The Blob and the burned building from 4D Man which my wife, Helen, convinced me to take. I was also offered some of the full size standing sets from 4D Man, but they were too big and they eventually got thrown out.
I bet there’s a lot of interesting behind the scenes stories from The Blob and 4D Man, especially the Blob, being Steve McQueen’s first film.
I’m going to be interviewing Yeaworth and some of the other people involved in creating the film, including some of the effects men soon because I’m writing a book about the making of The Blob. I’ve already had two publishers approach me on the project.
I look forward to reading it. You have a few of the Wizard of Oz costumes?
Yes, they came from the MGM auction. A guy in New York bought two boxcars full of props from the auction and the Wizard of Oz stuff just happened to be in there. I got them from a place in Manhattan called Ruby Shoesdays. I bought two Emerald City costumes.
Don’t you have a piece of one of the dinosaur animation models from King Kong?
Yes, Desilu Productions was getting ready to shoot the Star Trek television series, when they were cleaning out a room they found a bunch of the models and props from King Kong. Forry Ackerman got the Stegasaurus and Brontosaurus. I got a piece of the Stegasaurus, some hide and a backbone plate. The plate was made out of wood and painted. Forry offered the piece to myself, Ron Borst and two others in a closed bid, I bid $200 and got it.
Now I want you to tell me the big story, how did you locate the only existing 35mm print of the censored scenes from King Kong.
I was trading with a 35mm film collector from the northeast part of the country. At the time I was selling him a lot of trailers. In November 1967 I got a letter from him that said he had about five hundred feet of 35mm film from King Kong. He would trade that for four of my trailers. I thought to myself, what am I going to do with an odd reel from King Kong, so I turned down the deal. All of a sudden one morning I got a package in the mail from this guy. I open it up and there was the 35mm reel from Kong with a note saying, “If you want it send me the trailers, if not, just send it back.”
Do you think he ever looked at the reel?
To tell you the truth, I don’t know, I never spoke to the guy again. That morning when I opened the package I unraveled the reel, looking at it in the sunlight. I wanted to see what scenes they were. I got to the first one and didn’t recognize it, I got to the second one and didn’t recognize that either. Then I yelled, “Holy Smokes, look what this is!” It was the original nitrate footage from an original 1933 print. It was probably cut for the 1938 reissue. So of course, I sent him four trailers!
Where do you think he got the footage from?
I don’t know, he probably knew someone that worked in a place that had access to this cut film.
Why so you think it’s been so difficult to find these scenes?
Because they not only took them out of the release print, they also cut that footage out of the negative and threw it away.
In your opinion, do you think the spider pit scene will ever be found?
According to a letter Marion C. Cooper wrote to Steve Vertlieb they did film it. It did get inserted into an early work print, but it slowed down the pace of the film too much and got taken out. They never got as far as scoring any music or sound for it.
I heard that someone saw it in a European print...
Possibly, but I think that if it existed it would have been on my reel of cut scenes.
How did your copy of the censored scenes finally get put back into the prints of King Kong?
As a private collector, I wanted to preserve the footage and so I made up a couple of 16mm and 35mm negatives, and then made a few 16mm copies for people to splice into their prints. Then I sat on them for years because I heard that RKO was very hot to get them back but they were also very hot to prosecute the guy making the dupes of the scenes so I kept a very low profile. Finally Scott McQueen at UCLA was making the ultimate preservation print of Kong for Turner about four years ago or so. They were actively seeking the cut scenes and were going to work from a 16mm dupe because it was the best they could lay their hands on. Scott knew I had the footage and told UCLA he might be able to get a copy of the scenes in 35mm. So we worked a deal and I loaned the original nitrate footage to UCLA so it could be properly preserved for the ages.
Do you still have the original 35mm print?
Yes, and if anyone is interested I will put it up for sale or trade.
Do you have any other interesting props?
Sure I have one of the original stone statues from Planet of the Apes. I paid $400 in 1971. I traded Bill Malone a six sheet movie poster from Forbidden Planet for one of the hand ray-guns.
Are any of your Forbidden Planet props for sale?
No. Of course not. (Laughs)