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The road to stardom
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| Johnny Weissmuller traded
in his Tarzan loincloth for a “Jungle Jim”
outfit in 16 films. |
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So how did the boy from Banat, Pennsylvania, and Chicago
end up in the jungles of MGM and RKO? Weissmuller’s first
film role was set in the jungle of New York’s Broadway. On
the basis of his Olympic fame, he did a cameo as a lightly
clad Adonis in a Florenz Ziegfield production called Glorifying
the American Girl (1929). Weissmuller was just one
in a large array of famous personalities of the time portraying
themselves in this chorus girl musical revue, and one of the
first talkies ever made. Around the same time, the popular
swimmer got a lucrative contract as a model for BVD swimwear
(with the help of coach Bacharach).
In 1931 Cyril Hume, an MGM screenwriter, spotted the future
Tarzan swimming in the pool of the Hollywood Athletic Club.
Weissmuller thus became one of several candidates selected
to audition for the leading role in MGM’s first Tarzan film.
On October 12, 1931 Louis B. Mayer
and Irving G. Thalberg, MGM’s production
supervisor (and of German-Jewish background), signed
the charming 27-year-old ex-Olympian to a seven-year contract.
His first picture would be Tarzan, the Ape Man
(1932). It was for this first Tarzan sound film that Weissmuller
invented the apeman’s famous call of the wild.
Read our Interview
with Johnny Weissmuller, Jr.
about his book Tarzan, My Father.
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Narda Onyx’s book about
Weissmuller, “the authorized biography” published
in 1964, 20 years before his death, is out
of print and difficult to find. Although riddled
with errors, the work is a highly desired
item among Tarzan fans, collectors, and researchers. - Find This Book at Alibris.com |
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Even Tarzan’s trademark yell has a German connection. According
to his son, Johnny Weissmuller, Jr., dad’s invention of Tarzan’s
melodious cry was influenced by the yodeling of his German
neighbors. Weissmuller himself claimed he was a yodeling champion
as a youth. (Both tales were probably invented by Weissmuller
— something he did in many other cases.) MGM nevertheless
felt the need to augment Weissmuller’s yowl with various animal
sounds. The Weissmuller-MGM sound blend was even dubbed in
for later actors who couldn’t match that wondrous Weissmuller
warble. (There was also a second version for the RKO Tarzan
films.) But the actor was known to do a pretty good live version
of the Tarzan cry on occasion. Whatever the facts, Weissmuller
was proud of his Tarzan yell. A recording of it was played at
his funeral in Acapulco.
Personal problems
Weissmuller’s personal life did not run as smoothly as his
Olympic and film careers. The former athlete and movie star
was out of his element when it came to business. After the
movie days, his financial situation was always precarious.
Of his five marriages, four
ended in divorce. The public strife with wife number two,
“Mexican spitfire” Lupe Velez,
to whom he was married from 1933 to 1938, was a hot topic
in the fan magazines of the time. His eight-year marriage
to Beryl Scott produced
three children, including Johnny, Jr., but they divorced in
1948. Weissmuller’s last wife (1963-1984) had her own German
connection, but the truth about Gertrudis Maria Theresia Elizabeth Bauman is hard to pin down. (Johnny, Jr. gives her name as Maria Theresia Brock Mandell née Bauman in his book Tarzan, My Father.) For one thing, her claims of noble (Wittelsbach) birth have never been verified. She said she was born in Bavaria, but that, too, has never been documented. Whatever her true backgound may have been, it is a fact that she was married to Weissmuller until his death, during the years in which his life were marred by health problems and financial difficulties.
Johnny and Maria moved to Acapulco, Mexico in 1979. Weissmuller had suffered a stroke in Los Angeles in 1977 and had not been in very good health since a fall back in 1973. After several years in Mexico, Weissmuller died at his home in Acapulco on January 20, 1984. - For more about Weissmuller in Acapulco and his final resting place see Tarzan in Acapulco.
3 > Tarzan
Trivia
MORE > Interview with Johnny Weissmuller, Jr.
'Tarzan' and 'Jungle Jim' are registered trademarks.
Copyright © 1997-2006 Hyde Flippo
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks in particular to Diane and Johnny Weissmuller, Jr. for their generous assistance in the 2006 update of my Weissmuller Web pages, and to Caryl Traugott and Geoff St. Andrews — both well-informed Weissmuller fans
and writers — for their previous help in verifying and collecting
many elusive biographical details. Thanks in large part to
them, this page has some of the most accurate biographical
information on Weissmuller currently available! Also see Geoff St. Andrews’ "Tarzan" Page.
See Traugott’s Tarzan article, Is the Noble Savage Extinct?, on this site.
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