Ultimate Bet: King Kong or Tom Cruise?

I think this first column for April 2024 should tackle something that has been troubling me for a long, long (add some more “longs” here) time. I hate the new “tallest skyscrapers” in the world. Yes, I do and I do not repent my feelings. Why? Because I am so, so right! Follow me.

These monstrosities mostly look yucky (this is an architectural word) and the few that don’t look yucky aren’t all that hot either. Most are glass, or mirrored glass, and steel or whatever the heck else. They have no character. They could be on a game board. Some are twisted, some are scaled, some are inverted even. They – okay, I will say this word – stink. They are garbage! Absolute garbage.

Now compare these to the fabled New York City skyline of days yonder.

Check it out from maybe 1930 to 1955 or so. Yes, yes, many, many years ago. Kind of the modern old-world order you might say. Man, couldn’t workers back then build beautiful buildings? My Uncle Phil did a lot of carvings for those buildings and tunnels.

The old New York had some impressive skyline and that skyline haunted my youth as I grew up in the greatest city in the world. I could see Manhattan when I played baseball at Shore Road in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Now, before the original and dull World Trade Center was built in the 1960s, when a person said New York, that person meant something wonderful, unique, yes, truly one of a kind. Those twin towers should have been titled the “make me wince” Twin Towers. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying this twin glop should have been destroyed. I am not asking for human slaughter here. But how’s this? Maybe this thing should never have been built as the symbol of the new crummy skyscrapers about to be built all over the world in honor of them. They even were allowed to surpass in height the reigning emperor, the Empire State Building.

The tallest building back when was, of course, the Empire State Building. Built in just 410 days and finished in 1931, this beauty captured the imagination of the world, along with its co-star the Chrysler Building, another beauty; these two shouted out “We are the greatest buildings ever built!”

The word “empire” tells you what that building was – the Augustus Caesar of greatness! Empire! The Empire State Building!

Don’t just take it from me, a humble writer, but take it from a creatures totally massive and absolutely impressive in his own right – none other than the “eighth wonder of the world” King Kong.

Kong was, and still is in my book, the greatest monster that ever trod the silver screen! Yes, I like all the big monsters, I do, but Kong is the ultimate. His word should be harkened to and that is the truth of it all. Which building did Kong dub the greatest in the world, fit for an emperor of the natural world, fit for himself?

The original 1933 film starred Kong (as himself) and Robert Armstrong (as Carl Denham) and the beautiful Faye Ray as Ann Darrow, the woman with the wonderful look and the amazingly vibrant scream. To me this movie was and still is magical. I’ve seen it 30 times!

At the conclusion of the movie, King Kong has finally secured Ann Darrow, the human woman he loves, and now he and his beauty must go somewhere to escape his pursuers, those pesky human beings with those deadly guns and, coming up right away, airplanes with human beings with even more deadly guns.

Kong climbs the tallest building in the world, the Empire State Building, and you can see how amazing such a building with such a monster can be together. Look out over the world it shows. The New York City world.

But the planes ultimately get him or, as Carl Denham says, “It wasn’t the planes. It was beauty killed the beast.” Indeed.

And now that building has receded into the background of the tallest skyscrapers in the world. It isn’t even in the top 10 anymore. Or the top 20. Or top anything. It has become nothing more than the topic of this essay.

The world’s tallest is the Burg Khalifa Towers in Dubai which is 2722 feet tall, give or take a few inches. The Empire State Building (with the tower) is 1454 feet tall – a mere scrap compared to the almost twice as tall Khalifa Towers.

Seriously, is this Bubai “tower” even worth the praise of being the tallest building in the world? No, and another dozen “noes” in sequence. Look at it. And while you are at it take a look at many of the other tallest buildings in the world. Yuck!

And who climbed the Burg Khalifa Towers, huh? Oh, yeah, it had a climber too. Was it something as awesome as Kong? Please.

Why Tom Cruise in the movie “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.” Tom Cruise climbed right up its side. Seriously.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Tom Cruise’s movies. He’s an exciting actor, yes, but is he the equivalent of the “eighth wonder of the world” our beloved King Kong? Seriously, come on now. Not in the least. Kong rules and Kong climbed the tallest building in the world.

Come on, Cruise climbed a dull monstrosity of a building. Does Cruise’s climb constitute some kind of statement that the Burg Khalifa towers is truly the world’s tallest building? Of course not. It’s just a tall glass thing. And Cruise? He’s just a little human when compared to Kong.

There are only two votes in this matter, my readers: King Kong’s indication of the Empire State Building as being the tallest in the world or Tom Cruise’s claim that he climbed the tallest building in the world.

Okay, who is right? I vote with King Kong. I vote with the Empire State Building. On whom do you bet?

The Empire State Building is and will always be the tallest building in the world. New York City’s skyline is an abomination now with often skinny towers sprouting like pimples all over the place to ruin its former beautiful face.

This is the ultimate bet. Make your choice: King Kong or Tom Cruise? The Empire State Building or those newfangled monstrosities?

[Vote on this immense issue. Just email me at fscoblete@gmail.com and tell me what you think. If I get enough emails I will use them in a future column - I think.]

Frank Scoblete’s books are available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books, libraries, and bookstores. His email is fscoblete@gmail.com.

This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net.