Cork In 50 Artworks, No 27: King Kong programme cover for Cork Film Festival

Kieran O'Connor's art for the 1994 Cork Film Festival began as a painting - and ended up in the great ape himself scaling the walls of the Opera House

Kieran O'Connor with his 1994 poster and programme cover for the 39th Cork Film Festival. Picture: Larry Cummins

History does not record how Jean Kennedy Smith, the American Ambassador to Ireland, reacted to the sight of an inflatable King Kong on top of Cork Opera House, where she opened the 39th edition of Cork Film Festival on October 2, 1994.

The original King Kong will forever be associated with the Golden Age of the Hollywood talkies, which her father, Joseph Kennedy, played a large hand in creating.