The original Japanese version
November 3, 1954: The New York Yankees begin a tour or Japan, and draw a record crowd of 64‚000 when they play the 1st game against the All-Japan Stars at Nippon Life Stadium in Osaka.
On the 25-game tour, 3rd base prospect Andy Carey slugs 13 home runs‚ and catching prospect Elston Howard bats .468 on the 25-game tour. Each has thoroughly impressed the Yankee brass, and both get promoted to the Yankees for 1955 -- in Howard's case, making him the 1st black player for the Yankees in a regular-season game.
But the Yankees are not the biggest thing to hit Japan on this date. On the same day, the film Gojira premieres, directed by Ishirō Honda, and distributed by Toho Company, Limited. It is the debut of the creature known in the English-speaking world as Godzilla.
The name Godzilla is a romanization of the original Japanese name Gojira (ゴジラ), which is a combination of two Japanese words: gorira (ゴリラ), meaning "gorilla"; and kujira (クジラ), meaning "whale." The word alludes to the size, power and aquatic origin of the creature. As developed by Toho, the monster is an offshoot of the combination of radioactivity and ancient dinosaur-like creatures, indestructible and possessing special powers, including the ability to shoot a radioactive beam out of its mouth.
The Godzilla costume was worn by actor Haruo Nakajima. In the film, Godzilla is an ancient sea creature that has been mutated by atomic testing in the Pacific Ocean, and progresses to attacking fishing boats, threatening Japan's food supply and economy; to attacking islands, and finally the home islands themselves, including the capital of Tokyo.
Japanese authorities estimate him at 50 meters tall (about 164 feet, the size of a 20-story building). After depth charges, fighter jets, tanks and an electrified fence along the coast fail to stop the creature, an "oxygen destroyer" is used, cutting off its air supply, and, apparently, killing it.
This film was released in America in 1956, under the title Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (The exclamation point was the producers', not mine.) For American audiences, scenes were added with Raymond Burr as an American observer. In 1985, Godzilla 1985 was released, a sequel to the original, and Burr reprised the role.
The franchise has now reached 32 films in Japan, with a 33rd planned for a 2023 release. In 1962, King Kong vs. Godzilla was released, and the legendary giant ape beats the big lizard. Among the monsters, or kaiju (meaning "strange beast") that Godzilla later battles are Mothra, a giant moth, in 1964; Ghidorah, a 3-headed winged dinosaur, also in 1964; Rodan, a flying dinosaur, also in 1964; Ebirah, a giant lobster, in 1966; Hedorah, a "smog monster," in 1971; Megalon, a giant beetle, in 1973; and Mechagodzilla, a giant robot version of Godzilla, in 1974.
An all-American version came out in 1998, depicting Godzilla not as an upright dinosaur, but as a bent-over, "more realistic" creature, which attacks New York, rips the roof off Madison Square Garden, and lays eggs there. The eggs hatch, and the "baby Godzillas" are occupied eating all the concessions in the arena, buying the American military time, as the genderless, asexual Godzilla is lured into the Brooklyn Bridge, tangled in its cables, and destroyed along with the bridge. Finally, a jet drops a bomb on The Garden, killing all of the baby Godzillas. Except one last egg remains, and hatches as the film ends...
This film was seriously panned by the critics. But no legend stays off the big screen forever. A separate American franchise began in 2014, and has released 3 films, with a 4th planned for 2024. This is the Legendary Pictures "Monsterverse," and includes the 2021 film Godzilla vs. Kong. This time, to emphasize the studio's insistence that Godzilla, now 393 feet high, nearly 50 stories high, is the absolute "King of the Monsters," Godzilla won, but Kong, now 337 feet, still helped him beat the other monsters in the film.
Ishirō Honda and Raymond Burr both died in 1993. Haruo Nakajima died in 2017.
A 2024 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History featured "Nice" Peter Shukoff voicing Godzilla, and "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist voicing King Kong.
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November 3, 1954 was a Wednesday. Baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. The NBA season had begun, but no games were scheduled for this day. One game was played in the NHL: The Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs played to a 1-1 tie at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
British rock singer Adam Ant was born on this day. So was Kathy Kinney, who played Mimi Bobek on The Drew Carey Show.
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