Friday, July 09, 1920 Lima, Ohio
NATIONAL films announce a jungle serial to be called "The Son of Tarzan." 

"The Return of Tarzan" is being exhibited in New York. Many movie goers will recall the movies called "Tarzan of the Apes" and "Romance of Tarzan." 

All of which suggests the thot that Tarzan escaped a lot of worries and vexations which are the portion of many supposedly more fortunate persons in Lima. 

Of course, the woods were full of tigers, and what not. But it isn't so certain that the neighborhood of tigers is so much more dangerous than where countless flivvers are clashing about. 

He didn't have to worry about whether his linen suit would get back from the cleaners on the day they promised it. 

His life was not without its simple pleasures. Quite likely he got much more pleasure out of pounding on a hollow log with a stick, than most domesticated humans get out of listening to a neighbor's phonograph. 

But, getting back to the movie serial, called "The Son of Tarzan". 

There is color photography in it. Also numerous lions, monkeys, apes, elephants and pretty birds, each with a nice long tail. The first chapter of the movie has just been completed under supervision of the author. He's Edgar Rice Burroughs.

their seats until the exciting climax of this episode is finally reached. The pretty romance b between Tarzan and Jane, daughter of the naturalist, Professor Porter, develops further while the enemies of Tarzan, both in human and wild animal form, plot unsuccessfully against the life of the strange man of the jungle. Manager Reed states that it is his opinion that "Adventures of Tarzan" premiers to be the greatest serial he has ever displayed for the entertainment of his patrons and he looks forward to a record crowd of Tarzan admirers Saturday when the second chapter of "Adventures of Tarzan" will be shown.
Tremendous Thrills
"The City of Gold," the title of the second episode of "Adventures of Tarzan", the Elmo Lincoln production now running serially at the Palace theatre, presents a tremendous thrill as the climax of its exciting action. Elmo Lincoln as Tarzan of the Apes, after successfully combating a horde of wild beasts of the jungle sets out in search of his sweetheart, Jane Porter, portrayed by the winsome serial heroine, Louise Lorraine. As he reaches the top of a steep hill a slumbering volcano, spitting forth fire and smoke erupts. The violence of this eruption splits in twain the hillside on which Lincoln is standing, and he is precipitated head first into a yawning chasm of smoke and flames. This thrill comes as a climax to a series of breath taking incidents in which Tarzan is the central figure in episode two of "Adventures of Tarzan".  The scenes for this episode are laid both in the jungle land and in the mystery village terminal "The City of Gold."

The theme deals with Tarzan's life on his plantation in central Africa, with his wife, Lady Greystoke and their niece, Ruth Porter, who is in love with Burton Bradney, the overseer of Tarzan's domain. One of the first exciting moments in the picture is the arrival of an escaped slave from the Palace of Diamonds in a hidden city. To fortify his tale of the unbelievable treasures stored in the Palace, the slave has brought a bag of diamonds with him.  However, as the plans for an expedition to the city are being made, an unseen figure is listening at the window, and Tarzan's difficulties in reaching the Palace are made almost insurmountable through his efforts. Thrills and romance are woven in the adventurous quest which ends in happiness in spite of all obstacles. J. P. McGowan is responsible for the masterful direction while credit for the adaptation and continuity go to William R. Wing.

The Burroughs-Tarzan expedition was under the direct charge and personal supervision of Ashton Dearholt and Wilbur McGaugh dong the direction. 
"The New Adventures of Tarzan" will open at the Auditorium theater on Thursday.

JACKSON, Miss — (UPI) — A Mississippi public service commissioner wrote the script for the latest Tarzan movie — "Tarzan's Fight for Life" Thomas Hal Phillips, who also is a novelist, said the film takes a new approach to the 40-year-old Tarzan series. In it, Tarzan does not speak broken English and is "a little bit more adult" Phillips took time off from his state duties to write the script.  He has also turned out several novels and short stories.

Newport Daily News   Newport, Rhode Island 
March 30, 1959
HOLLYWOOD (AP) -- The 19th actress in 40 years to play Tarzan's jungle mate Jane may be the first to own a Phi Beta Kappa key.

She's in the Boston social register and a member of the Junior League. Her father is treasurer of the New England Mutual Life Insurance Co.

Joanna Barnes says that at Smith College, from which 'she was graduated in 1956 with her key for scholarship, she decided: "I didn't want to spend my life driving a station wagon with two children to meet the 5:18."

Many wives who meet their husbands on the 5:18 may think swinging through the jungle with Tarzan isn't much improvement.  Miss Barnes, who has appeared on TV's "Ford Theater," "Playhouse 90," "Cheyenne," "Matinee Theater," "Maverick" and in five movies including "The Garment Jungle" and "Auntie Mame," sees it as another acting break:

"It should be quite good for me. My other roles have had a drawing-room quality. It's only one picture, not a series, so there's no danger of typing." 

Joanna follows in the role played by Maureen O'Sullivan, Eleanor Holm, Brenda Joyce, Vanessa Brown, Vera Miles, and others. .Her Tarzan in "Tarzan the Ape Man" will be Denny Miller, former UCLA basketball player. 

Miller, Tarzan No. 12, follows the likes of Johnny Weissmuller, Buster Crabbe, Glenn Morris and Lex Barker. This will be the 33rd Tarzan film from various producers, MGM's first since 1942. The more prolific Tarzan-movie maker, Sol Lesser, recently filmed one starring Gordon Scott in Africa. Miss Barnes has green eyes and a 5-foct-5 figure. She's 24, direct and breezy. . "I suddenly decided." she said, "I wasn't content with the things that had been given me, including a good education. When you have those things, either you sit there and vegetate or you use them to build something better." 

On a rip to California two years ago, she followed a friend's suggestion and talked to several producers about acting. "I gave myself six months, found I loved acting and have been working like a dog ever since."

Miss Barnes has no husband or anyone else to meet on the 5:18. She lives with an Airedale in a rented house high in the Hollywood hills.

Denny Miller, Cesare Danova and Joanna Barns star, with Miller in the title role. The new Tarzan is 6' 4", a former UCLA basketball star. 

Story revolves about attempt of Jane, her father and white hunter to find ivory wealth of famed Elephants Burial Ground. Village, him burned by frenzied natives. They mad!

Jane, she saved from elephant by Tarzan. She glad! '

. . .  Tarzan is coming to television all right, but just who's bringing him seems to be up in the air. Producer Sol Lesser, who has owned the movie rights to the Edgar Rice Burroughs character for 15 years, has made an offer for the video rights and started shooting film in Africa.

But Commodore Productions, Inc. which formerly produced the Tarzan radio show, says it has the right of "first refusal" on the TV rights under a contract signed in 1950. There'll be some hassling before it's over. . 

. . .  "I became a expert on screaming and yelling in radio," he recalls. "I was on the old Tarzan radio show which was personally written by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

"I must have given the last agonizing scream for thousands on that series."

New Burroughs Film Creaky but Funny
NEW YORK (UPI) - Nevada State Journal  Thursday, August 28, 1975 Reno, Nevada
Edgar Rice Burroughs' science fiction adventure "The Land That Time Forgot" has been turned into an often creaky movie of the sort that might have been made 30 years ago. But that's not all bad. There are funny moments as well as exciting ones in this London made picture starring TV's ex-Virginian DougMcClure."I do not expect anyone to believe the story I'm about to relate," says a message from McClure found inside a container bobbing on the sea in the opening scene. It is dated June 3, 1916. 

It seems McClure, a beautiful blonde English biologist Susan Penhaligon, and five sailors are the only survivors of a merchant ship torpedoed by a German U-boat. They soon find themselves aboard the submarine. Days later, lost in unchartered waters, they discover a mysterious, ice-bound land whose lush green interior hosts a bewildering variety of dinosaurs and fierce primitive men. They dine on slaughtered brontosaur, prepared according to "an old Irish recipe," wondering if red wine is appropriate. The bad-tempered natives attack them. A lot of men and beasts eventually are killed with an astonishing lack of blood. For the finale, a giant volcano erupts, spewing fire all over the place. The Germans try to escape through the boiling waters but their U-boat blows up, leaving McClure and Miss Penhaligon gallantly facing the future alone. Both perform in good Saturday matinee style, suited to this intentionally naive endeavor, as do John McEnery as the U-boat captain and Bobby Farr as one of the natives who is whisked away

75-Year-Old Tarzan Honored on Centennial
Nevada State Journal  Thursday, August 28, 1975 Reno, Nevada
HOLLYWOOD(UPI) - 
James Pierce, oldest-living movie Tarzan, will behonored this week with five other ape men at a centennial celebration of Edgar Rice Burroughs' birthday. 

Joining Pierce, 75, at the party are screen Tarzans Johnny Weismuller, Buster Crabbe, Jock Mahoney, Dennis Miller and Gordon Scott. Pierce starred in "Tarzan and the Golden Lion" in 1927, the fourth and last silent Lord of the Jungle movie, produced by Joseph P. Kennedy (father of JFK). Altogether there were 38 Tarzan feature films, six serials and 52 one-hour television episodes. Pierce's predecessors were Elmo Lincoln, Gene Polar and P. Dempsey Tabler. All have gone to that big jungle in the sky, as have subsequent ape men Glenn Morris and Lex Barker. Of the 14 screen Tarzans nine are still alive. Also missing the centennial festivities will be Herman Brix, Frank Merrill and Mike Henry. 

Pierce starred as Tarzan only once. It was the first feature-length ape man film (Dorothy Dunbar played Jane). Today Pierce is a towering (6-foot-4), handsome, silver-haired man who retired to Apple Valley, Calif, in 1964. He compiled his fortunein real estate and airplane flying schools. "'Tarzan and the Golden Lion' wasn't successful because it came out when talkies were new and it was silent," Pierce said. 

Pierce, a football star at the University of Indiana when nobody wore helmets, was chosen to play the role by author Burroughs himself. "Mr. Burroughs saw me one day and said, 'There's the man I always imagined as Tarzan,' so I got the part. I was paid $75 a week and promised I .would become rich and famous as a result."

Burroughs gave Pierce one "of his books to make into a silent film. He sold the rights to MGM, which wanted Johnny Weissmullerin the role. "Burroughs insisted on me," Pierce recalled, grinning. "So MGM gave me a dialogue test. It was rigged. I was handed four pages of Shakespeare to read. All Tarzan needed was to grunt and point. I flunked the test. "After that I couldn't get leads in movies. Producers thought I was part ape. They knew I could lift an elephant but they didn't know if I could spell it. I was ruined by the role just as all the others were. "Elmo Lincoln had problems of his own. He was bald."

Pierce's greatest prize in playing Tarzan was wooing and winning Burroughs' daughter Joan. They were married at Burrough's home in Tarzana, Calif. "We had 44 happy years together," Pierce said. "Joan died of a heart attack three years ago when we were planning a trip to Africa to visit places where Tarzan might have lived. "Mr. Burroughs died in 1950 without ever visiting Africa. He was a careful researcher. The only mistake he ever made was including a tiger in one of his books."

Following Tarzan, Pierce appeared in small roles in many films. His most recent was "Showboat" in 1950. Pierce regrets he didn't become a film star but vows he gave the greatest Tarzan yell of them all. "On the first day of shooting the director ordered me to run past the camera in my leopard skin," he said. "I was barefoot for the first time in 20 years. "I stubbed my toe on a rock and let loose a scream that curdled the blood of every man and woman for miles around. If we had captured that yell on a sound track it would have gone down in movie history.

"But I'm proud I played Tarzan. A survey shows the two best known words among all people in the world are 'Tarzan' and 'Coca-Cola.' Tarzan paperback books in 20 languages outsell the Bible."

 

Tarzans -- a Blast with a Yell
By Jerry Buck
News Journal. Mansfield. O. Monday. September 1. 1975

LOS ANGELES (AP)  When four former screen Tarzans get together to celebrate the birthday centennial of creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, you can expect a lot of yelling.

Johnny Weissmuller,  now 71. threw back his cupped a hand to his mouth and bellowed. The "aaiieeoo" that came forth was not quite up to the ape man yell he made famous in 12 Tarzan movies.

Nor were the yells attempted by Buster Crabbe, James Pierce and Jock Manoney. who participated in a Burroughs centennial luncheon last week at the opening of the North American Science Fiction Convention.

Joining them were three former Janes -- Eve Brent, Joyce McKenzie and Louise .Lorraine. Crabbe and Weissmuller said Tarzan and Jane were not lovers -- he was merely protecting her.

Weissmuller disputes claims that his Tarzan yell was a blend of various voices and sounds. "My parents came from Austria and I used to yodel with them when I was a kid;" he said. ''When it came time to do the yell I just yodeled."

The former Olympic swimmer was the sixth movie and first talking Tarzan. Pierce, 71, was the last silent Tarzan. Weissmuller contends the fictional hero will go on forever. And from the look of things, he may be right. Burroughs created Tarzan in 1911and there is no end in sight.

Besides the 26 Tarzan books, which are back in print, the ape man is being exploited in hundreds of products on the market;  from Frisbees to clothing to toys to jewelry to a limited edition $3.000 statue of Tarzan and the Golden Lion.

The old Tarzan radio series, starring Pierce and his wife, Joan Burroughs Pierce, the creator's daughter, is being reissued. It is estimated that one of the 40 Tarzan movies or 51 television shows, is shown somewhere in the world every day.

Tarzan
 Valley News  ~ Van Nuys, California   ~ Friday, February 11, 1977
by Mark Davidson Secluded behind a redwood fence, a high mulberry and an ivy-covered verandah in a typical Valley suburb shopping district is a Spanish-style bungalow which is official headquarters of a world-famous figure of century mythology. The yellow stucco structure houses the corporation that licenses those who seek to commercialize on a 64-year-old legend called Tarzan.

It's a legend grossing mere than -$1 million a year from the direct exploitation of Tarzan's exploits, from the placing of
Tarzan's good name on various products, and from its  appearances in advertisements for such commodities as biscuits in France, soda pop  in Italy and insurance in the United States.

Quite appropriately, Tarzan's headquarters is located in Tarzana,which since 1930 has displayed that postition of honor for the most famous creation of the neighborhood's most famous resident. The resident, of course, was Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950). 

Burroughs, whose ashes are buried under the aforementioned mulberry tree, established his Tarzana Ranch in 1919. That was seven years after he first began cycling his ape-man's exploits as an amateur pulp magazine contributor in Chicago.

He erected the bungalow in 1927, to serve as the office of Edgar RiceBurroughs Inc. ,the corporate guise he created in order to cultivate the profits of his fantasies. Known by the most ardent of his hundreds of millions of fans as ERB, he provided his ERB Inc. with some unusual capital investments: 99 novels of interplanetary and terrestial adventures (translated into more than 40 languages plus Braille), and also induding 26 Tarzan books that spawned 42 feature films and movie serials, 52 one-hour television dramas and countless of episodes for radio, comic strips and comic books. Ina ddition, there has been a golden avalanche of artifacts, including coloring books, jigsaw puzzles, slates, board games, archery sets, yo-yos, playing  and greeting cards, record albums, bread, bubblegum, spreads, lamps, tote bags, luggage, wallets, costumes, helmets, ties, handkerchiefs, belt buckles, gloves, necklaces, rings, bracelets, sneakers, T-shirts, sweaters, pajamas, and bikini underpants inscribed "Me Tarzan" or "Me Jane." Such merchandise may soon be in more demand than ever, according to ERB grandson Danton Burroughs who coordinates marketing and publicity in a merechandise strewn office of the family-owned ERB Inc. "A new generation of youngsters is now being introduced to Tarzan throught the Saturday morning TV .animation series," young Burroughs reports. "And, very soon Warner Brothers will begin  the most spectacular of all Tarzan movies, a brand new film of Tarzan of the Apes.'"

Does DantonBurroughs seriously expect the new film  to have a greater impact than any of the 12 Johnny Weissmuller pics of the 30s and 40s? Can the new film be more eventful than Elmo  Liincoln's original portrayal of "Tarzanof the Apes," which drew record crowds and grossed more than $1 million in the silent film year of  1918. 

"Unquestionably. The new movie is going to be a million dollar production that is written by Robert Towne (who won an Oscar for Chinatown"),  that will star an Oscar-winning actor (whose name will soon be revealed), and that will be produced on location in an actual tropical rain forest in Sri Lanka). "The most important thing about the movie, however will be that all the action will be real. "You'll see a real Tarzan as a brilliant orphaned son of Lord and Lady Greystoke, instead of the inariticulate oaf previously pictured by Hollywood (to the disgust of my grandfather). You'll see a scientifically researched dramatization of the relationship between infant Lord Greystoke and the tribe of apes that raised him as one of their own and gave him the name Tarzan, meaning white skin." "In other words, the new movie will show the authenic story of Tarzan's origin."

Tarzan's origin as a literary figure is a story in itself and is  recounted in ERB's own words in the new ERB biography published last year by Brigham Young University Press written by Edgar Allan Poe biographer Irwin Porges. 

He would have been pleased, with the current Disney Pictures production. "Disney excellence" permeates it. No doubt many others of the previous 47 movie adaptations of Burroughs' Tarzan books would have pleased the author, too. .Tarzan is said to be the second most filmed subject in Hollywood history. Only Dracula is more popular.

On Wednesday afternoon, the cinema showing Tarzan was nearly filled with pre-teen children. They seemed to enjoy the picture. I know some of the adults accompanying them also enjoyed it; I asked a couple of them.

The children probably liked the wonderful animation and the immense amount of action the story contains. But they may have missed, consciously, the many moral lessons it contains. No doubt the adults picked them up consciously, hence, at least in part, their delight with the feature.

In telling their version of the Tarzan story, the Disney creative team deliberately focused on the lead character's "emotional journey as he tries to find his place between two worlds", the gorilla family which raised him and the human family into which he was born. I haven't seen all the other Tarzan films made and so accept on faith the publicist's claim that this focus provided: previously unexplored opportunities to add depth and emotion to the characters and their situations."
Changes
  It is true, though, that the picture concentrates on the emotional changes and growth that Tarzan (voiced, as an adult, by Tony Goldwyn) undergoes.  He interacts with four or five sets of characters. He is a baby when he is found by his ape-mother, Kala (Glenn Close).

The story starts with the capture of Kala's baby by a leopard; Kala is the "Mom" of a gorilla tribe and wife to Kerchak (Lance Henriksen), the  leader. After her loss, Kala hears a .baby crying in a tree-top hut, investigates and finds baby Tarzan in a bassinet. Around him is evidence that his parents were killed by the leopard. Kala is a mourning mother. The baby is cute and friendly. Naturally, Kala wants to adopt the baby, and this she does, despite the reservations of her husband. Kerchak is a good gorilla, but his duty and loyalty to the tribe makes him instinctively reject the unusually helpless, "hairless wonder." The issue of Tarzan's different appearance is one which causes a life-long problem to Kerchak. His viewpoint differs from Kala, who looks at the similarities between Tarzan and the gorillas.

Tarzan continually suffers because of his 'father's' rejection, the gorilla chief is the only father Tarzan knows, but he finds solace with Kala. There are lessons to be learnt here about parent-child relationships and even racial prejudice, of course.

Tarzan's friends include Terk a young female gorilla, and Tantor; a baby elephant. Together; they get into several amusing and exciting scrapes. Tarzan's enemies include a tribe of baboons, a giant snake, the leopard and, later, human gorilla hunters.

One from the last named group is Clayton (Brian Blessed) who comes to Tarzan's jungle home along with the pretty Jane Porter (Minnie Driver) and her .father, Prof. Porter. Jane and her father want to observe gorillas in the wild and know nothing of Clayton' s ulterior .motives; When Tarzan meets Jane, the mutual attraction is instantaneous. The score, which includes five songs by Phil Collins, is as beautiful as the colourful, quick-moving animation, The latter is especially attractive because of the chief animator's inspired data of having Tarzan "surfing" through the trees.
 

Contribution from Ken Fuchs Hello from Texas!

. . . I enjoy and am delighted with each new addition of the ERBzine and the John Coleman Burroughs pages.  I was especially impressed with the latest addition which contains so many fascinating newspaper clippings related to screen Tarzans.  Perhaps I have already sent you the attached clipping, but it really deserves a place in that particular edition of the JCB page.

Let me backtrack and put this in context.  This past Thursday we celebrated Veterans' Day.  I'm old enough to remember when we called it Armistice Day.  I've always had an interest in history, and back in the mid-1970s, early in my teaching career, I was in the teachers' workroom one day when I noticed the teachers' aide laminating a stack of old, yellow, crumbling newspapers for one of the history teachers.  I asked if I could look at them.  One issue was dated Nov. 11, 1918, and its headline announced the Armistice.  This was an issue of our local paper, the Temple Daily Telegram. 

I carefully began turning the pages, and to my amazement and absolute joy, when I came to the the entertainment page, a graphic of an elephant almost leaped off the page at me.  It was an ad for "The Romance of Tarzan," the second Elmo Lincoln Tarzan movie.  I knew this was a lost film and very little was known about it.  The film was showing at the Crescent Theatre, which no longer existed in the 1970s (I moved here in 1970) and that in itself was a footnote to our local history.  Beside the ad split on two columns was a review of the film.  I immediately walked over to the copy machine and made copies of this treasure before returning the newspaper to the aide.  Later I laminated my copies.  I've scanned them for you, and they are quite legible. . . .

Ken Fuchs

AMUSEMENTS
AT THE CRESCENT THEATRE TODAY AND TUESDAY
"Romance of Tarzan" Begins Two Days Run Today, 
is a Continuation of "Tarzan of the Apes," by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Four months were consumed by the National Film corporation of America in filming "The Romance of Tarzan," presenting the concluding chapters of "Tarzan of the Apes" by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Unusual expense and care was entailed in reproducing the jungle atmosphere of the African gold coast, wherein many of the most thrilling incidents of the big outdoor drama transpire. Owing to government regulations prohibiting the licensing of ships for any but the most vital war purposes, the executives of the National Film corporation were prevented from transporting the large company of actors and menaferies of wild animals utilized in making "The Romance of Tarzan" to the jungles of equatorial Brazil, where the scenes of "Tarzan of the Apes" were "shot."

Instead of a section of Southern California was for the time being transformed into a jungle that might have been calculated to mislead the late Henry M. Stanley himself, could that great explorer of the "dark continent" have been present to render judgment on the success of the fac-simile. Several acres of real tropical jungle were located on the outskirts of San Diego, near the Mexican border, and here quarters were erected for the seven hundred negroes used in the cannibal scenes, as well as great open cages for the lions, tigers, leopards and crocodiles that share acting honors with Tarzan. Tantor, the huge African elephant, who takes such a prominent part in several of the most thrilling episodes, was allowed to roam at large most of the time, as his intelligence and amenability to discipline entitled him to practically the same treatment according a human being. 

Elmo Lincoln, who plays the part of Tarzan in the picture, needed no black walnut stain or other coloring matter to dye his body the proper hue of a man raised in the unroofed open. During the many weeks that Lincoln posed before the camera, he became so deeply tanned from contact with the sunlight that when studio work was occasionally required of him, he was obliged to paint his face and arms white in order to keep from registering as pronounced a brunette as the real descendants of Africa who supported him in the cast. 

Other prominent players who appear in "The Romance of Tarzan" include Enid Markey, formerly of the Triangle-Ince forces Cleo Madison, a well known star of Bluebird and Universal successes, and Thomas Jefferson, who was for several seasons a member of D. W. Griffith's Film-Arts company.