All ThingsTarzan
Thought I would see if there is any interest in the Tarzan series of films. I will start it off with that I believe to be a 1940s RKO stock poster with Tarzan's Peril ( 1951 ) added to it. The film is the third one starring Lex Barker but the image has been drawn more to resemble Johnny Weissmuller who quit the role in 1948. Has anyone ever seen this Tarzan stock poster blank or with another Tarzan film title added to it? 0
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Love to see the original Tarzan's Peril. Any chance ?
Thanks Ves.
Interesting piece of trivia, the Johnny Weissmuller/Tarzan yell was apparently 'machine' made at the time, this despite Johnny boy claiming it his own, but here's the most interesting bit: is it sounds exactly the same whether played forward or backwards.
There were two versions of his 'yell' - the one he used at MGM:
and the one he used at RKO:
THE HISTORY OF THE YELL
(article mashed up from Sound & Foley website)
The Tarzan yell is first described in the Burroughs novels, as something like “the victory cry of the bull ape.â€
Tarzan’s first foray into sound recordings came in the form of Tarzan the Tiger of 1929. Tarzan the Tiger was a film serial of 15 episodes, which was originally filmed as a silent feature. When the film industry converted to sound features nearly overnight, music and some sounds were dubbed in before release. You might be surprised to hear how it sounded in its first recording, in Tarzan the Tiger (1929):
Three years later, the first true sound-era Tarzan feature appeared, in the form ofTarzan the Ape Man (1932), starring Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan. Weissmuller would eventually star in 12 Tarzan films, often alongside Maureen O’Sullivan, with whom he shared some pretty crackling onscreen chemistry.
Also in 1932, a Tarzan radio series appeared, starring James H. Pierce. An adaptation of Tarzan of the Apes, which aired three times per week and ran for a total of 77 episodes.
The character exploded in popularity during the 1930s, and continued to capture audiences during the century after the first novel was published. Tarzan has been featured in around 90 feature films, as well as TV and radio series, anime, video games, and songs.
In 1933, another competing Tarzan franchise appeared: a movie serial starring Buster Crabbe as the ape-man. Through a strange kerfuffle with rights to the original Edgar Rice Burroughs work, both MGM and Sol Lesser wound up with film rights to Tarzan. MGM paid Lesser to let them release their work first (the Weissmuller film), so Lesser started turning out Tarzan serials the next year, as Tarzan the Fearless (1933). Lesser’s production couldn’t use MGM’s Tarzan Yell, so here’s the Buster Crabbe version:
And so it goes
The Tarzan yell is actually trademarked, owned by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc, serial number 75326989:
The trademark has since been declared legally indefensible. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_for_Harmonization_in_the_Internal_Market OHIM declared in 1997 that “[w]hat has been filed as a graphic representation is from the outset not capable of serving as a graphic representation of the applied-for sound.†In other words, it has to be written in music for the trademark to be solid.
HOW THE WEISSMULLER TARZAN YELL WAS MADE
The Weissmuller Tarzan yell, notated as music.
The short, short version of this section is: we don’t really know the true history of how the yell was made.
Current theories:
1. Johnny Weissmuller himself recorded the yell. This is the official version of the story put out by the studio. The story is also corroborated by his son and his frequent co-star Maureen O’Sullivan.
2. Opera singer Lloyd Thomas Leech recorded the yell for MGM. Leech’s story is corroborated by his children.
3. It’s an Austrian yodel played backward at high speed.
4. According to journalist Bill Moyers, it was created by combining the recordings of three men: one baritone, one tenor, and one hog caller from Arkansas.
5. According to the newspaper columnist L. M. Boyd (circa 1970), “Blended in with that voice are the growl of a dog, a trill sung by a soprano, a note played on a violin’s G string and the howl of a hyena recorded backward.â€
6. Tom Held, an MGM film editor, claimed that the yell was a combination of many different sound tracks, each laid upon the other: Johnny Weissmuller’s voice, the howl of a hyena, the bleat of a camel, the growl of a dog, and the plucked sound of a violin G-string.
Whatever the true story is behind the sound clip, Johnny Weissmuller actually could perform the yell himself. There are many reports of people who met Weissmuller himself and heard Weissmuller perform the yell upon command. The video below is a segment from a documentary Tarzan: Silver Screen King of the Jungle:
Tarzan the fearless yell cracks me up..might be useful when trying to hail a cab in the early hours of the morning
Looking forward David to seeing your Tarzan one sheet if you happen to locate it your poster jungle. Great information you provided.
Nope, as I suspected nothing Tarzan related here.
I remember watching some of the black and white movies when I was little girl...based on that first poster, me thinks Lex was my Tarzan!
Thanks for the images John.
Some Tarzan facts.
Jock Mahoney auditioned in 1948 to play Tarzan after the departure of Johnny Weissmuller, but the role went to Lex Barker.
Was earlier on in his career a stuntman as well as an actor.
After playing the villain in Tarzan The Magnificent he became the oldest actor to play Tarzan at the age of 44.
Went on the play Tarzan in Tarzan Goes To India and Tarzan's Three Challenges. During the filming of Tarzan's Three Challenges in Thailand he became very ill with dysentery and dengue fever and his weight plummeted to 175 pounds which is very noticeable when viewing the film.Took him a year and a half to regain his health.
Starred in The Kangaroo Kid which was filmed in Australia and released in 1950.
The stepfather of Sally Field.
But either way she certainly dressed down for the role, not too bad considering it was 1933
But then along came the censors and the "code"
Tarzan and the She Devil (1953) - US1SH
Tarzan the Ape Man (1981) - Daybill
Tarzan the Ape Man (1981) - Movie Still
You found it John. A rare poster indeed and along with the Tarzan And The Brown Prince image posted previously I have never sighted them before.
Great Australian press sheet of Tarzan And The Mermaids currently appearing on eMovieposter.com. Some great poster images.
David said $92K for the Tarzan The Ape Man poster recently auctioned. One massive Tarzan fan there or the person just liked the poster for whatever reason. Massive result irrespective of the motive behind the bidding.
The film was a West German film from 1956 released in the U.S.A. as Liane, Jungle Goddess and the film released by Blake Films in Australia with Liane ''The Jungle Goddess" printed on the daybill here.
I have many of the lobby cards from the serial New Adventures of Tarzan. Here's one of them ...