Premiering on NBC in 1966, Edgar Rice Burroughs' immortal creation, Tarzan, took to the nation's TV screens for the first time. Still in the capable hands of producer Sy Weintraub, the TV Tarzan (Ron Ely) continued the more recent (and more authentic) interpretation of Lord Greystoke as a sophisticated, articulate jungle adventurer as seen in the Tarzan films of Gordon Scott, Jock Mahoney and Mike Henry. Also carried over from the big screen was young actor Manuel Padilla (Tarzan and the Valley of Gold, Tarzan and the Great River), now playing the jungle lord's kid sidekick alongside Cheetah, the simian one.The first half of his inaugural season finds Tarzan rescuing seeing-eye lions, endangered leopards, and pampered princes while battling man-eaters, despots and deadly arachnids in this 4-Disc, 15-Episode collection. Guest stars include former Tarzan Jock Mahoney, Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols, Woody Strode, and Russ Tamblyn.Then Ron Ely continues his memorable run as Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan in the second half of his first season. This 16-Episode, 4-Disc collection sees the Lord of the Jungle and his stalwart second bananas, Jai the jungle boy (Manuel Padilla) and Cheetah the chimp, facing off against some of their most formidable challenges alongside a bevy of powerhouse performer guest stars.Stage and screen legend Julie Harris makes her first appearance as the imperiled, imperious missionary Charity Jones and Maurice Evans makes his memorable debut as Sir Basil Bertram. And the action continues to heat up with volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, phantom dinosaurs and more fantastic jungle menaces. Adding their talents to the drama and the dangers are Susan Oliver, Chips Rafferty, Gia Scala, Sally Kellerman and Jack Elam.
Fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs' original stories liked the Weintraub films and TV series, because they portrayed Tarzan faithfully. He spoke whole sentences, rather than the "me Tarzan, you Jane" dialog. (Mahoney and Ely also looked more like Burroughs' description of the character.) Gordon Scott made four Tarzan movies for producer Sol Lesser and two for Sy Weintraub, so he has the distinction of playing both versions. Scott has at least two ties to Hercules. He starred in the movie (or TV pilot) "Hercules and the Princess of Troy," and he co-starred with Steve Reeves in "Duel of the Titans" (based on the legend of Romulus and Remus).
ReplyDeleteAhh,,,yes that all depends. There were more than a few films released in Italy using Maciste that were renamed here in America as Hercules films and Goliath and Samson...even Ursus. But I consider them all to be HERCULES films...the Peplums are all HERC films to me.
ReplyDeleteIf you are willing to accept all Peplums as Herc films, then there is another possible connection. Scilla Gabel played the villain's girlfriend in "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure," and she was also in some sword-and-sandal films, including "Romulus and the Sabines."
DeleteIt made sense for American distributors to change the esoteric (outside of Italy) "Maciste" to the more familiar Hercules or Samson or whatever. What was weird was AIP changing an actual Hercules movie (Revenge of Hercules) to "Goliath and the Dragon." I've heard that they were worried that Joseph E. Levine might have exclusive rights to the name Hercules. But, after 3000 years, one would think that Hercules would be in the public domain.
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