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Victoria Riskin

From left, curator Jud Newborn, Pantheon Books publicist Kathryn Zuckerman, author Victoria Riskin, and Cinema Arts Centre Director Dylan Skolnick Photo by Ryan T. Perry/CAC

Author Victoria Riskin, daughter of Hollywood film icon Fay Wray and legendary screenwriter Robert Riskin, signed copies of her latest book, “Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir” at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington on Monday. The book signing was held at a reception following a screening of the original 1933 “King Kong.” The event was curated and produced by Jud Newborn.

Join the Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave., Huntington for a special presentation of “King Kong” (1933) starring Fay Wray on April 1 at 7:30 p.m. The evening will Include a reception with Victoria Riskin, daughter of Fay Wray & Robert Riskin, in person and her new book for sale, FAY WRAY AND ROBERT RISKIN: A HOLLYWOOD MEMOIR with live jazz entertainment by guitarist Mike Soloway.

Monday, April 1 at 7:30 pm | $11 Members | $16 Public

Click here to listen to Victoria Riskin interviewed on WNYC!

“How would you like to star opposite the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood?” Enticed by these words, brunette leading lady Fay Wray dyed her hair blonde and accepted the role of Ann Darrow in King Kong — and stayed with the project even after learning that her “leading man” was a 50-foot ape.

When the amazing King Kong was unleashed onto moviegoers 80 years ago there truly was no cinematic event that matched its grand scale and unbridled imagination. This thrilling tale of a band of intrepid filmmakers, and a young actress (Fay Wray), who discover a giant ape on a remote island, then bring him back to New York with disastrous results is awe-inspiring, but what sets King Kong apart and helps it achieve its all-time classic status is a simple story wrought with complicated themes and emotions, much of which is embodied in the vivid performance of Fay Wray, the hypnotic beauty that steals Kong’s heart.

“If there was an Academy Award for movie books, Victoria Riskin would be making room beside the Oscar her father won for writing the romantic comedy classic It Happened One Night.” —Douglass K. Daniel, Associated Press

FAY WRAY AND ROBERT RISKIN: A HOLLYWOOD MEMOIR is a Hollywood love story, a Hollywood memoir, a dual biography of two of Hollywood’s most famous figures, whose golden lives were lived at the center of Hollywood’s golden age, written by their daughter, an acclaimed writer and producer. Fay Wray and Robert Riskin, legendary Academy Award winning screenwriter, lived large lives finding each other after establishing their artistic selves and after each had had many romantic attachments—Wray, an eleven-year-long difficult marriage and a fraught affair with Clifford Odets, and Riskin, a series of romances with, among others, Carole Lombard, Glenda Farrell, and Loretta Young. Here are Wray’s and Riskin’s lives, their work, their fairy-tale marriage that ended so tragically. Here are their dual, quintessential American lives, ultimately and blissfully intertwined.

Victoria Riskin served as the President of Hollywood’s Writers Guild for twenty years. She was also a director for Human Rights Watch for twelve years, as well as a psychologist with keen insights into the symbolism of classic films.

Curated and Produced by Jud Newborn.

For more information, call 631-423-7610 or visit www.cinemaartscentre.org.