Biographic - Sunday July 3, 2016 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

It's been over a century since American author Edgar Rice Burroughs created Tarzan Of The Apes" which was first published in a pulp magazine in 1912. Numerous sequels spread Tarzan's popularity, as did the 1918 silent movie "Tarzan Of The Apes, starring Elmo Lincoln. Subsequent movies and serials featured a number of actors in the role, with the first "Talkie" appearing in 1929. The story was adapted for the Broadway stage in 1921, and a newspaper comic strip debuted in 1929. Three years later, a radio program hit the airwaves for the first time. The most famous inhabitant of the loincloth was Olympic gold medal swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, who debuted in a role in 1932, and went on to star in a dozen Tarzan adventures. The movies featured Tarzan's American mate, Jane, and boy their adopted son, and introduced Tarzan's intelligent chimp, Cheeta. Lex Barker played Tarzan in five movies, and Gordon Scott took the role in six. Among those who also played Tarzan were Buster Crabbe- who later starred as Flash Gordon and Jock Mahoney, who had first found fame as TV cowboy "The Range Rider." Later movie versions featured the likes of Christopher Lambert, of "Highlander fame, and Casper Van Dien. The 1999 Disney blockbuster animated movie "Tarzan" introduced the jungle hero to a new generation of fans and spawned sequels, video games, an animated tv series and a successful stage musical, as well as a merchandising bonanza! Ron Ely starred in the TV series "Tarzan" in the late 1960s and the 1970s brought tv animation. The latest big-screen incarnation "The Legend of Tarzan" puts "True Blood" star Alexander Skarsgard in the title role opposite Margot Robbie and Samuel L Jackson.

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