Today, June 2, is the birthday of Olympic gold medal swimmer (he was awarded five .. and one bronze), Johnny Weissmuller. During his amateur career, he won fifty two US National Championships and set sixty-seven world records. He retired undefeated, never losing a single race.
However, to a kid who watched a lot of television growing up (back then we didn't have all those "fancy schmancy" video games to turn our minds to jello .. we had to turn to the 'boob tube' or 'hellevision' as my pastor used to call it .. for that), he was and always will be .. Tarzan.
Saturday morning TV during the sixties started out with "The Adventures of Superman" (I've blogged about it before) and then moved on to a variety of cartoons (blogged about it). Starting at eleven o'clock, there was "Studio Wrestling" (also blogged about it), "Shirley Temple Theater" (note to self .. blog about it later), and old "Tarzan" movies.
I recall Lex Barker and Gordon Scott playing the title role several Saturdays during my formative years and they weren't bad. However, they also weren't the real Tarzan. That distinction went "vines down" to Johnny Weissmuller.
No one could swing through the trees quite like him.
No one could fight a lion, tiger or crocodile like he did.
Who else could deliver the line, "Jane no go. Jane no die" and have you in tears?
No one, but Johnny Weissmuller.
Looking for a special bond between a man and a monkey? .. okay that one sounded a little weird even to me .. just watch any scene he did with Cheetah (I'm told much of that was done ad lib). Great stuff (Cheetah had a wonderful sense of comedic timing .. check out the scene where he puts on powder, lipstick and eye makeup .. brilliant! .. he was definitely the 'Chaplin of chimps').
Tarzan's signature yell was created by Weissmuller and it is associated with the character (and Carol Burnett) even today.
I spent many a Saturday afternoon running around shirtless, swinging on a rope in my back yard and doing my own version of that Tarzan yell (it sounded more like Jane .. until my voice changed). Of course, those days are long gone (I quit around age forty when a neighbor called local law enforcement to file a complaint).
Happy Birthday, Tarzan and thanks for the memories (note to self .. blog about Bob Hope).
"And he will be a wild man" - Genesis 16:12a
2 comments:
You used that skill quite well at church once, too, if I remember correctly. You ARE Tarzan.
Shhh. Let's not share everything we know. You know how private I am.
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