01 September,2020 10:22 AM IST | Mumbai | Sukanya Datta
Tarzan and the Ant Men. Pics courtesy/wikimedia commons
When American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs penned Tarzan of the Apes for a racy, pulp magazine back in 1912, little did he imagine that the loincloth-clad action hero would swing from branches and land in our hearts, and camp there for generations.
The English scion orphaned in an African jungle - who is reared by apes and grows up to lead them, falls head over heels for Jane Porter of Baltimore and even grasps the ways of civilisation only to reject it - has since featured in numerous novels, comic strips, movies, animated series and even on Broadway.
Edgar Rice Burroughs
If you are someone who digs Tarzan's lockdown-inspired locks, chest-thumping yodel, or the heart-warming soundtrack by Phil Collins in Disney's animated tribute, here's how you can get a fix of the loyal and brave ape man.
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Books and comics: From Tarzan's birth to his adventures in Opar, City of Gold and run-ins with the Leopard Men, Burroughs has himself created around 24 novels on the feral child. Apart from this, there have been serialised comic strips in newspapers, and dozens of reboots written by other writers.
Log on to edgarriceburroughs.com/store/
Fun facts: Did you know that Burroughs would have probably never written Tarzan of the Apes had his editor of the pulp magazine All-Story not rejected his novel, The Outlaw of Torn. Head to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc, the official keeper of these secrets, to learn more about the writer and his creation.
Log on to tarzan.org
Broadway show: The jungle hero also wowed audiences in Broadway in a musical titled Tarzan, based on the Walt Disney animation film by the same name. Since it premiered in 2006, it has had several runs to packed houses, and is regarded as one of the most expensive productions ever staged on Broadway. You can read more and check out premiere snippets on ERBzine.
Log on to erbzine.com/disney/
Desi detour: While the world has obsessed over Elmo Lincoln, the first-ever on-screen Tarzan, and later, the swimmer-turned-actor Johnny Weissmuller, it was Jock Mahoney who took Tarzan out the African jungles to India. In Tarzan Goes To India (1962), he saves lives of 300 elephants and shares screen space with Feroz Khan and Simi Garewal.
Log on to youtube.com to watch the trailer and snippets
If the cult action figure's adventures weren't already mind-boggling, fan fiction inspired by the series takes things up a notch. Check out The Lost Tarzan, a story about a 24-year-old woman who befriends a six-foot-cockroach-hunting man, or The New Tarzan, a tale that involves One Direction. Or you could pen down your own version.
Log on to wattpad.com
From hand-painted poster art from the early years of the pulp title to reprinted newspaper strips and Coca Cola ads featuring the jungle man, this is a curated storehouse of all things Tarzan. One of our favourites was a Tarzan themed credit card.
Log on to tarzan.com/art/
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