Johnny Weissmuller’s Tarzan: a hero for our times

Screen idol: Weissmuller with Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane.

The menagerie of Marvel and DC Comics heroes – an assembly line of alpha males and a few Wonder Women – continues to glut popular culture (sic). People running around in technicolour undies, leaping tall buildings in single bounds, fighting for truth, justice and the American way. Clark Kents popping into phone booths and emerging as Supermen – though these street-corner changing rooms must be harder to find in the era of the smartphone. Batmen galore but no longer accompanied by Robins, presumably because of paedophilia concerns.

Thors, Iron-and-Spider-men, Captain Americas, Hulks and other essentially fascist thugs who use their pectoral-thumping prowess to defeat evildoers. Presumably Trump-Man has now joined the heavyweight team (in his case overweight) to overthrow the dark election-stealing villainy of Biden.

Weissmuller in a scene from Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)

But I hark back further, to more innocent times. To a superhero domiciled in deepest Africa. No luminous Lycra for him – he was almost entirely nude apart from a bikini-sized lap-lap.

I refer of course to the Lord of the Apes, the mighty Tarzan. Let the other superheroes prowl the mean streets of Gotham City – Tarzan’s realm was the jungle. Not for him the adhesive tentacles of Spider-man; when not mounted on his trusty elephant (oddly enough, an Indian one), Tarzan’s preferred mode of transport was via the vine, not to be confused with Hollywood and Vine. How thrilling to hear him yodelling as he pendulum’d through the treetops – forever determined to protect the family, Jane and Boy. Not to forget their simian associate Cheetah.

I loved the way Tarzan would beat his chest to summon all the beasts of the jungle, how they would come running to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ mighty warrior – ready to join him in battle against wicked whitefella thieves of diamonds and ivory. Three cheers for Tarz! So perfectly played by my lifetime hero Johnny Weissmuller. Many others have played Tarzan, both before and since. Scores of pretenders. But only Johnny Weissmuller knew how to wrestle a rubber crocodile or stuffed lion.

With Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane, 1932

Later, Johnny put on a bit of weight and in his sad years of decline had to trade in Tarzan for Jungle Jim. At the end of his life, having fallen on hard times, Johnny ended up in a Hollywood nursing home – and used to terrify fellow residents by racing up and down the corridors doing his famous yodel.

At his funeral, at his request, a recording of his yodel was played three times as his coffin was lowered. He also got a 21 Gun Salute befitting a head of state – an honour organised by Senator Ted Kennedy and President Ronald Reagan.

Cheetah, the chimpanzee said to have performed in the Tarzan films of the 1930s, died aged 80 in Florida in 2011. Picture: AFP

At last count there have been a dozen Tarzan movies played by dozens of Tarzans from Buster Crabbe to Gordon Scott. Time to bring back the King of the Jungle, a hero for this time of environmental anxieties. None of the Marvel mob – shame on them – has shown the slightest interest in climate change. Can’t you see him now, swinging from vine to vine, trampolining and trapezing through the trees, alerting the world to the devastations of deforestation and animal extinctions? If they can re-animate ABBA, they can resurrect Johnny Weissmuller.

Footnote. Johnny’s chimpanzee died at the age of 80 in a Florida sanctuary. Vale Cheetah. Bring him back too.