Family Ancestry

No, this is not a treatise on evolutionism. My family is not descended from King Kong.

Well, not exactly.

My maiden name was Schoedsack. Now that probably means absolutely nothing to you, unless you are a major classic movie buff. Specifically a fan of the original King Kong.

If you look very closely down in the lower right hand corner, you will see...



Yep. "A Cooper-Schoedsack production."

That would be my great uncle, my father's uncle, my grandfather's brother: Ernest Beaumont Schoedsack. The story goes that my grandfather got his younger brother his first job in the film industry in 1914. He was stationed in France in the first World War as a newsreel cameraman in the Signal Corps. He later worked in Polish war relief efforts to assist Polish refugees fleeing from the Bolsheviks. In 1925 he flmed Grass, a forerunner of the documentary travelogue which followed the migration of Bakktiari tribes in Persia as they crossed the Zardeh Kuh mountains to find grazing land for their sheep and cattle. King Kong was released in 1933. Ernest Schoedsack was known as an adventurer and judging from other postcards I found, I think my grandfather was as well. Could be a bit of an understatement!

If anyone reading this has been following my Flashback Friday posts here, here and here, you will recall that I have unearthed a case of old family pictures. Among these treasures are photographs, postcards and other memorabilia that I will be sharing in future posts. But I thought I would share King Kong today. And this postcard to my father from his Uncle Ernest. The date is unknown but the message is priceless!




In case you can't decipher the handwriting, it reads:

Saigon, Indo-China
September 17th

I'm over here looking for tigers and wild elephants but expect to return to Siam in three weeks. Going up into the jungle tomorrow. Your Uncle E.

There is no year on the card nor can I make out the postmark, but it doesn't really matter. Wouldn't you just love to get a card like that in the mail!