Cinema: Durable Lianas

With a chest thump and ape warble, Tarzan will start vine-swinging from the lianas for the 26th time next week. In Tarzan and the Slave Girl, Producer Sol Lesser is giving the tenth and current Tarzan (Lex Barker) a new mate—probably Vanessa Brown. But the script will hold close to the tried & true line that has enchanted three decades of romantics and grossed around $3,000,000 a picture. Tarzan has been the most durable and successful series in movie history.

The first Tarzan (1918) was strong, silent Elmo Lincoln. Best-known was Olympic Swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, who eventually grew too fat, after appearing in twelve of the 25 pictures (in his six most memorable ones, Maureen O’Sullivan played Jane). Three other Olympic athletes have also been Tarzans: Herman Brix, Buster Crabbe and Glenn Morris.

Moviegoers often fret about Tarzan’s morals, and write in to ask if he and Jane are married (they are not). Fans also want to know the origin of Tarzan’s child (he was found in the jungle, of course), and how Tarzan and Jane happen to be living together in a tree house without benefit of clergy. Says Producer Lesser, loftily: “It has never been suggested that Tarzan and Jane share the same bed.”