3/12/13

"Godzilla's American Cousin" (FILMFAX #45, June/July 1994)

Another gem found while going through my late uncle's piles of magazines.  Written by kaiju scholar Stuart Galbraith IV, so you know it's going to be good.  I think we owe a greater debt to Henry Saperstein than we even know, and some of the most amazing of Toho's output was made in direct cooperation with him (FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS, MONSTER ZERO).  You have to give him credit; this is a guy who, when he wanted to contact Toho about a business proposal, actually went to night school to learn about Japanese culture! He also was involved in the animated GODZILLA series, as well as THE TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA.  Sadly, he passed away in 1998.
Would Godzilla be the icon he is today without Saperstein's input?


 
 

2 comments:

Chris Sobieniak said...

I suppose we do, too bad the same might not be said for the later animated stuff he produced, but it has it's fans too.

Sampoerna Quatrain said...

Yeah, I didn't even address any of his animation projects--although with regard to UPA, there is another article from the same magazine about Bill Scott that I am going to post shortly!