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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?
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  • I picked up a massive collection of Tarzan posters, lobby cards, stills and books a few years ago. Australian posters, particularly for the earlier titles are quite scarce. I have the original full colour daybill for Tarzans Peril. Can't remember seeing the stock poster used for another film but you would have to think that it would have been at some point.
  • Not a big Tarzan fan here, but later tonight when I am on the other PC, will see if I have anything to contribute...
  • John said:
    I picked up a massive collection of Tarzan posters, lobby cards, stills and books a few years ago. Australian posters, particularly for the earlier titles are quite scarce. I have the original full colour daybill for Tarzans Peril. Can't remember seeing the stock poster used for another film but you would have to think that it would have been at some point.

    Love to see the original Tarzan's Peril. Any chance ?
  • Not a big Tarzan fan here, but later tonight when I am on the other PC, will see if I have anything to contribute...

    Thanks Ves.
  • I think I have a one sheet somewhere that was dug up from under the floorboards or ripped from behind a wall somewhere, will try and find it.

    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.”

    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 mark consists of the sound of the famous Tarzan yell. The mark is a yell consisting of a series of approximately ten sounds, alternating between the chest and falsetto registers of the voice, as follow –
    1) a semi-long sound in the chest register,
    2) a short sound up an interval of one octave plus a fifth from the preceding sound,
    3) a short sound down a Major 3rd from the preceding sound,
    4) a short sound up a Major 3rd from the preceding sound,
    5) a long sound down one octave plus a Major 3rd from the preceding sound,
    6) a short sound up one octave from the preceding sound,
    7) a short sound up a Major 3rd from the preceding sound,
    8) a short sound down a Major 3rd from the preceding sound,
    9) a short sound up a Major 3rd from the preceding sound,
    10) a long sound down an octave plus a fifth from the preceding sound.

    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

    Tarzan_Music

    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.”

    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:


  • So much to a yell thanks for the info! the MGM one resonates with me and the one i remember.

    Tarzan the fearless yell cracks me up..might be useful  when trying to hail a cab in the early hours of the morning
  • Sven said:
    ..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.

  • This is a local poster for a Tarzan marathon. The 12 episodes of the serial "The new adventures of tarzan" in a row.


  • Great and different as well as rare. Keep the posters coming everyone.
  • 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.

  • edited November 2015

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Tarzan The Ape Man ( 1932 )                                      Jane ( Maureen O'Sullivan ) changes in front of her embarrested father played by C. Aubrey Smith in this pre-code film. A few years later this scene in this form most likely wouldn't have been filmed. And let us not forget Tarzan And His Mate ( 1934 ) in which Jane swims in the nude. A definate no no once the code was introduced soon after.

  • The actual nude swim wasn't performed by O'Sullivan




    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 Great River (1967) - Daybill



    Tarzan and the She Devil (1953) - US1SH



    Tarzan the Ape Man (1981) - Daybill



    Tarzan the Ape Man (1981) - Movie Still  =) 


  • John said:



    Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs record beaten by a Tarzan film. Who would have thought this could happen ? Certainly not me and just look at the  huge crowds outside the cinema

  • 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.

  • There were 12 Tarzan films produced at RKO in the 1940s and 1950s. I have images now, thanks to John for Tarzan's Peril, for 10 of the 12 RKO daybills. I am missing Tarzan And The Amazons ( 1943 ) and the last RKO  entry in the series Tarzan's Hidden Jungle ( 1955 ). If anyone has any daybill images of the two films or you even have one sheets or 3 sheets, please download them on this thread.
  • 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.

  • Name the film that advertised ''The first most sensational girl Tarzan film!'' on the poster.
  • HONDO said:
    Name the film that advertised ''The first most sensational girl Tarzan film!'' on the poster.

    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.
  • Nice The New Adventures Of Tarzan  posted in Bruce's part 3 preview.
  • edited December 2015

    I have many of the lobby cards from the serial New Adventures of Tarzan. Here's one of them ...

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