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When And Where Did Tarzan First Appear?
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The
jungle hero Tarzan has never failed to fascinate generations of boys
in their preteens and early teens. The folk hero was the creation of
the American novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs, who first introduced
Tarzan in the year 1912. The
trials and conquests of Tarzan have since appeared as novels, comic
strips, comic book and movies.
In
the novel form, Tarzan first appeared in 1914 and the book was
entitled Tarzan of the Apes. A series of sequels have reportedly sold more
than twenty five million copies all over the world. Tarzan has also
been portrayed as the hero of several radio and television
adventures.
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Burroughs'
hero Tarzan was the son of an English nobleman, who was abandoned in
the thick jungles of Africa. Trapped in the jungles, Tarzan was
cared for by a group of great apes. Wading through a series
of
exaggerated and improbable, nevertheless exciting adventures, Tarzan
recaptured the title that was rightfully his. During the course of
his adventures, he met Jane, the daughter of an American scientist,
with whom he fell in love.
When
a Tarzan film was first made in the year 1918, Elmo Lincoln
portrayed the first movie ape-man in the silent movie Tarzan
of the Apes. Since then, more than ten actors have enacted the
role of Tarzan, swinging on the trees and playing Burroughs' hero to
the hilt. The former Olympic swimming champion, Johnny Weissmuller
has been the most popular of them all. |
Johnny Weissmuller |
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About
Burroughs
Edgar
Rice Burroughs, the American novelist who created Tarzan was born on
September 1, 1875, in Chicago, Illinois. Edgar was the son of a
wealthy businessman. He was educated at private schools in Chicago,
at the prestigious Philips Academy, and at the Michigan Military
Academy.
Between
the years 1897 and 1911, Burroughs tried his hand at several jobs
and business ventures in Chicago and Idaho. He was
a soldier, business executive, gold miner, cowboy, storekeeper and
policeman.
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Edgar
Rice Burroughs |
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Burroughs
finally settled in Chicago, along with his family (wife and three
children), and tried his hand at
writing advertisement copy. He
gradually turned to writing fiction. His first published piece was
entitled Under the Moons of
Mars. It appeared in the adventure magazine All-Story
in 1911. It became so popular that Burroughs decided to become a
full-fledged writer.
Burroughs
skyrocketed to fame with the creation of the folk hero Tarzan, who
first appeared in a magazine story in the year 1912. In Tarzan,
Burroughs had created a figure that instantly captured the popular
fancy.
Tarzan
of the Apes,
which appeared as a book in 1914, was the first of twenty-five books
that Burroughs wrote on the adventures of Tarzan. His Tarzan stories
were translated into more than fifty languages. They were used as
comic strips, motion pictures and radio and television adventures.
In fact, the adventure genre in comics began with the two epic
strips Tarzan and Buck Rogers on January 27, 1929. The comics were illustrated by
Harold Foster.
Soon
there began the translation of Tarzan's adventures on the silver
screen. When the making of Tarzan films became a regular affair,
Burroughs bought an estate near Hollywood. The site later came to be
called Tarzana. He continued to write novels. During the Second
World War, he became a war correspondent for the Los
Angeles Times. Burroughs also wrote science fiction.
The
creator of Tarzan breathed his last on March 19, 1950. He died at
Encino in California.
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