In 2013, The Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation was pleased to announce the acquisition of an original Mighty Joe Young model.
One of four originals built by Willis O’Brien, Harry Cunningham and Marcel Delgado. The model was donated to the Foundation by the BFI (British Film Institute) who originally acquired it for the London Museum of Moving Image from the late film historian Leslie Halliwell.
Sadly, the acquisition took place after Ray’s death but we know that he would have been thrilled and delighted that a model, for which he designed the armature and animated over 90% of the film, has come ‘home’. He always said that everyone had a model but him.
The Foundation will preserve the model, which still has most of its latex covering and some fur, for public exhibitions in the future.
It has also been decided to name it ‘Jennifer’ as a tribute to Ray who called his animation model the same.