<P> New Mexico native Jacques De Bujac was signed by Selznick as a contract player, given the name Bruce Cabot, and met Cooper when auditioning for The Most Dangerous Game . He almost walked out of his Kong audition (mistakenly believing he was trying out as a stunt double for Joel McCrea) but was convinced otherwise and received the role of Jack Driscoll, his first starring role . He was an inexperienced actor and described his participation in Kong as standing in the right place, doing what he was told, and collecting a paycheck . </P> <P> German - born Broadway veteran and silent film director Frank Reicher was cast as Captain Englehorn of the SS Venture, Victor Wong as the ship's cook Charlie, James Flavin as Second Mate Briggs, and a host of stuntmen and bit players as the ship's crew . Noble Johnson and Steve Clemente were members of the Cooper - Schoedsack inner circle and cast as the Native Chief and the Witch Doctor respectively while Etta McDaniel played a native mother of a child she rescues from Kong's rampage . Sam Hardy was cast as a theatrical agent and Sandra Shaw (later Mrs. Gary Cooper) was cast as the New York woman Kong drops to the street from the hotel ledge . Merian C. Cooper, who was shot down in World War I in an Airco DH. 4 and made a prisoner of war by the Germans, and who later flew with the Kosciuszko Squadron, played the airplane pilot and Schoedsack the machine gunner in uncredited roles in the film's final scenes . </P> <P> After the RKO board approved the production of a test reel, Marcel Delgado constructed Kong (or the "Giant Terror Gorilla" as he was then known) per designs and directions from Cooper and O'Brien on a one - inch - equals - one - foot scale to simulate a gorilla 18 feet tall . Four models were built: two jointed 18 - inch aluminum, foam rubber, latex, and rabbit fur models (to be rotated during filming), one jointed 24 - inch model of the same materials for the New York scenes, and a small model of lead and fur for the plummeting - down - the - Empire - State - Building scene . At least two armatures have survived - one believed to be the original made for the test footage - and are owned by Peter Jackson and Bob Burns . In 2009, one sold for £ 121,000 ($200,000) at Christie's in London . </P> <P> Kong's torso was streamlined to eliminate the comical appearance of the real world gorilla's prominent belly and buttocks . His lips, eyebrows, and nose were fashioned of rubber, his eyes of glass, and his facial expressions controlled by thin, bendable wires threaded through holes drilled in his aluminum skull . During filming, Kong's rubber skin dried out quickly under studio lights, making it necessary to replace it often and completely rebuild his facial features . </P>

What kind of fur was used in the 1933 film king kong