June 13, 1953 –
Another classic 50s drive-in movie, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, directed by Eugène Lourié, with stop motion animation by Ray Harryhausen, and starring Paul Christian, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey, Lee Van Cleef, and King Donovan, opened on this date.
While visiting his friend Ray Harryhausen on the set, Ray Bradbury was given a copy of the script (with the working title Monster From the Sea ) and asked if he could do some rewriting on it. After reading the script, Bradbury remarked about a scene of the monster destroying a lighthouse, which seemed very similar to a short story that he’d had published in The Saturday Evening Post several years earlier called The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Bradbury’s story was about a dinosaur that destroys a lighthouse. The next day he received a telegram offering to buy the film rights for $2,000. After the sale, the film’s title was changed to The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. When Bradbury’s story was reprinted years later, he changed its title to The Fog Horn. When the film was released, Bradbury’s name was used heavily in promotional advertising.
The Haus of Dcaligari 