"It Was Not Uncommon For A Cup Of Haruo Nakajima's Sweat To Be Drained From The Gojira Suit"

It has happened. Zach has discovered Godzilla.

I remember when I was a child, watching with wonder as Godzilla stomped his way through Tokyo and terrified us all. The cheesy special effects and ridiculous dubbing did not deter me. I used to love Monster Week, where we would be treated to five different Godzilla movies in a single glorious week.

Amazing to me is that the Godzilla movies were made by Toho, the very same studio that made most of the great Akira Kurosawa films. Takashi Shimura, the great actor who worked in many films with Kurosawa, can be seen in the original Godzilla (incidentally, the real name of the beast is "Gojira", with "Godzilla" being the Anglicized version). I will eventually do a post on Kurosawa, who I believe to be one of the very best directors in history.

When he tired of Tokyo, Godzilla would work his way through various adversaries, from Mothra to King Ghidora. I used to wonder how the guy in the Godzilla suit (usually Haruo Nakajima) could perform so many crazy moves wrapped inside 200 pounds of smelly rubber. And that sound! I have never wondered how a sound in a movie was made as much as I have with the roar of Godzilla. Its an amazing sound. I found out later that:

"The sound department tried numerous animal roars for Godzilla but felt they were unsuitable for an animal of such immense size. Akira Ifukube came up with Godzilla's roars by rubbing a coarse, resin-coated leather glove up and down the strings of a contrabass (double bass), and reverberated the recorded sound."

So, the mystery is solved, but it does not diminish the terrifying roar one bit. Not for me OR Zach.

Anyhow, Zach has become a big fan in the last few weeks. I have been TiVo-ing every one on TV for him, and he is watching them and greedily absorbing every cheesy scene. I guess it's fair to say he has inherited my "Gojira Gene".