Tarzan's New York Adventure

When I was a kid the Tarzan movies featuring Johnny Weissmuller were released for broadcast on television. They were a big hit, especially among the nation's kids, and it wasn't uncommon to hear a, "AhhhhhAhhhhAhhh" Tarzan call on the street every once and a while. Weissmuller played Tarzan in 12 movies; 6 for Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios (MGM) in the 1930s and early 1940s, and 6 for RKO Pictures in the 1940s. The character of Tarzan was developed by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs and he eventually made an agreement with MGM to allow them the use of the idea of the Tarzan character and of the general setting, but NOT the use of his actual Tarzan stories; thus, the differences between Burroughs Tarzan and the Tarzan portrayed by Johnny Weissmuller, which became THE image of what many people thought of as Tarzan. Burroughs' character of Tarzan became a school educated man, and Jane was from the United States, not from England, as Maureen O'Sullivan's Jane was (O'Sullivan herself was born in Ireland).* There was no chimpanzee named "Cheeta" (various spellings, like "Cheetah," but I settled for "Cheeta"), although some of Burroughs' stories had a small monkey named "Nkima." Anyway, this last Tarzan film of the MGM series has not always been treated kindly by film critics, but the public, including me, has held it close (the series shifted to RKO Pictures for another 6 films). There are some funny scenes where Tarzan and Cheeta meet modern civilization. In a number of episodes of the series Cheeta is identified as female, but most of the chimps used in the role were young males.

Main cast:

Johnny Weissmuller: Tarzan
Maureen O'Sullivan: Jane
Johnny Sheffield: Boy
Charles Bickford: Buck Rand (circus)
Cy Kendall: Colonel Sargent (circus)
Virginia Grey: Connie
Paul Kelly: Jimmy Shields (pilot)
Chill Wills: Manchester Mountford (circus animal trainer)
Russell Hicks: Judge
Howard Hickman: Tarzan's attorney
Charles Lane: Attorney for the circus

Three Americans, Buck Rand (a hunter and animal trapper), Manchester Mountford (an animal handler/trainer) and Jimmy Shields (pilot), with some African laborers, land by plane not far from the tree house home of Tarzan, Jane and Boy.** They want to trap lions for a circus in the United States. Boy is fascinated by the airplane, but Tarzan is mistrustful of any such intruders into his domain and he goes to the men and tells them to leave by next morning. Boy's curiosity is just too much for him to contain, and, without permission, he goes to the camp of the men. They see how he manages animals, and Buck wants to take him back to the US for the circus, something opposed by Jimmy Shields. With Boy still present, a local African tribe attacks as the men prepare to take off. Tarzan and Jane hear the attack and go off together to find Boy. While swinging on a vine together, one of the tribesmen cuts the vine, causing Tarzan and Jane to plunge down onto a ledge surrounded by tall grass. The Tribesmen set the grass afire, and Buck assumes Boy's parents are dead, which gives him the perfect excuse to take Boy along.

Cheeta comes to the rescue as Tarzan and Jane regain consciousness by giving then access to a heavy vine so they can climb out of danger. Then comes the bad news, as Cheeta talks to Tarzan, telling him that Boy has been taken away on the airplane. Tarzan vows to find Boy and get him back. Now the fun begins... Tarzan takes Jane and Cheeta to a city where he thinks the men may have taken Boy. Before they enter the city, Jane tells Tarzan that she's afraid, especially for Tarzan, because they are about to enter civilization, "a place where mens' minds are more twisted than the worst underbrush in the jungle," and "that everywhere we'll be met by lies and deceits... Your directness and honesty will only be handicaps..." She has Tarzan promise he will listen to her as she guides him through civilization. Inside the city, it turns out the men indeed were there and one of the officials has record of the plane, which is bound for New York City piloted by Jimmy Shields. The airport official tells them there is a mail plane that will be leaving to connect with a plane to New York City the next day and that arrangements can be made for them to book passage on the plane. Tarzan and Jane have brought gold nuggets to pay for anything they need, which now includes clothing from a Chinese tailor shop in the city. Tarzan's size poses a problem for the shop, which has to make a suit for him.

Tarzan, Jane and Cheeta fly to New York City. As the plane flies over the skyscrapers (Jane says, "a man made jungle") Jane tells Tarzan this is where people live, which prompts him to ask, "Why?" Jane tells him they live there to concentrate their efforts and to get things done in a hurry to save time. Tarzan wonders why they need to save time, which brings Jane to answer, "Oh darling, you're asking something all the sages haven't been able to answer." The plane lands and Tarzan and Jane must go to the custom's office. Cheeta causes a stir outside the office as she watches a man get a cup of water from a water cooler, then she takes about 10 paper cups and flings water around the waiting area, much to the laughter of the people there. The three leave this office and go outside to take a taxicab to the hotel where they've been told Jimmy Shields stays. Tarzan calls the taxi a "house on wheels," and he proceeds to rock the taxi back and forth, naturally to the great annoyance of the taxi driver, who then gets more perturbed when he meets Cheeta. In the taxi Cheeta is curious about the radio, which she switches on. The drums of a rumba type song come forth and Tarzan tells Jane this is a war dance song. Jane explains that the sound is coming from what is called a radio. Tarzan turns the radio dial and the station is changed to where the high pitched voice of a female opera singer blares out, prompting Tarzan to say, "Woman sick, cry for witch doctor." This brings the great reply from Jane, "You should be a critic, darling."   

In the hotel the front desk clerk is worried by Cheeta, who watches his every move, including when the clerk rings the desk bell to summon a bellhop. Cheeta mimics the clerk's action, but not with just one ring, but with about 10 rings, which brings the entire bellhop staff running to the front desk. Jane learns from their bellhop that Jimmy Shields goes to one of the nightclubs where his girlfriend is a singer. Jane calls the club, prompting Tarzan to ask why Jane is talking into this device. She explains that it's a telephone and she tells him the basics about its use. The custodian at the club tells Jane that the club doesn't really get busy until later in the evening, so Jane tells Tarzan they must wait. Of course all of this has not gone unnoticed by Cheeta who picks up the telephone after Tarzan and Jane go to unpack their suitcase. The hotel telephone operator thinks the number to the club hadn't been completed and puts a call through to the nightclub again. The custodian answers again and he and Cheeta have a funny scene on the telephone, after which, Cheeta gets into Jane's belongings like cold cream, lotion, perfume and nightgown. Left alone in the other room, Tarzan explores the bathroom, where he turns the water lever on the shower. Seeing the running water, Tarzan steps into the shower, clothes and all.

Jane and Tarzan leave for the nightclub, but leave Cheeta behind; at least they think they've left her behind. The clever chimp goes out the window and uses a pole to get to the canopy over the hotel's front door. When Jane and Tarzan get into a taxi right in front of the hotel, Cheeta jumps onto the taxi's roof. Off they go to the nightclub, where Cheeta gets onto the canopy covering the club's entrance, where she watches Jane and Tarzan go into the nightclub. They talk with Jimmy Shield's girlfriend, Connie, and she explains to them that a man from the circus, named Sargent, posted bond for Boy to enter the country,*** and that he has Boy at the circus, which is not very far away. A commotion is heard, along with Cheeta's laugh, and Tarzan and Jane find their chimp has gotten into the mens' hat check, tossing hats everywhere.

Meanwhile at the circus, Colonel Sargent and Buck Rand receive a telegram from a circus offering them $100,000 for the rights to use Boy in their circus, but they must meet the buyers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in a few days. In order to get the airfare to Rio, they plan to cheat the circus workers out of their pay. Just then Jane and Tarzan pull up in a taxicab. Buck goes to get Boy out of sight, while Sargent gets a pistol and prepares to stop the couple from looking around. After Jane tells Sargent they know about the bond he posted, Sargent pulls the gun on them. Tarzan lets out his famous yell, which is heard by Boy, but Buck puts his hand over Boy's mouth to prevent him from answering. The call brings Cheeta to an open window behind Sargent. Tarzan speaks to her in "Cheeta talk" (I don't know what else to call it), and she picks up a walking stick and smacks Sargent over the head with it. The circus workers have gathered around to defend Sargent (they are not aware of the plan to cheat them out of their pay). The police show up with Jimmy Shields and Connie and the situation quiets. Jimmy and the policeman tell Tarzan and Jane they need to use the law to get Boy back.

In court, Jane and Tarzan have an attorney who explains the situation to the judge. Sargent has applied to adopt Boy, and he and his lawyer contend that the jungle is not a proper place to raise a child. Tarzan testifies how he has taught Boy the basics of life: how to get food, water and how to be happy. That he wants nothing people have. Sargent's attorney asks Tarzan if he can read, and Tarzan answers that he can read the trail in the jungle and the clouds in the sky. Tarzan turns the tables when he asks the attorney if he's ever heard of "kinsinoopa" (my best spelling by the sound). The man naturally is confused, but Tarzan says it cures snake bite and that even babies in the jungle know that. Even the judge smiles. The attorney brings the matter back to the law versus a "jungle code," and also the idea that the jungle is wild and threatening to Boy's life. Tarzan's attorney objects, citing that 35,000 people had been killed in automobile accidents in the past year, and that the number is only for the United States. He asserts that the jungle should not be the issue, but that only proper guardianship for Boy should be considered. Jane takes the stand. While testifying, she slips up and says that Boy was not born in the jungle and that she and Tarzan raised Boy after his parents were killed in a plane crash. The attorney calls her a liar and turns and points to Tarzan, calling him a liar too. Tarzan's anger boils over and he grabs the attorney and tosses him. The judge adjourns the court until the next day, but Buck and Sargent have to head to Rio or they will not get the $100,000; so, they leave the court for the circus to get Boy and then get the plane for Rio.

Tarzan is despondent, and Jane tells him she now realizes she was wrong to have him trust the law, that she should have let him get Boy his own way. Now with Jane's approval, Tarzan smashes through a window and goes out onto the building's ledge, which is several stories above ground level. Through climbing, jumping and swinging on rope, Tarzan eludes the police and gets a taxi to cross the Brooklyn Bridge and get to the circus to find Boy. With the police in pursuit, Tarzan goes to the top of the famous bridge and dives into the water below. Jane, Connie and Jimmy have also been trailing and see Tarzan dive off of the bridge. Even though Jimmy thinks Tarzan couldn't "make that dive and live," Jane tells them to head for the circus, where Tarzan will be.

Meanwhile, Buck and Sargent have arrived at the circus and take all of the money and go to get Boy, but Manchester Mountford has followed them to the circus and uses a pistol to get the two crooks to let Boy go, before Buck grabs Mountford, and the gun goes off, wounding Mountford. Boy goes to the top of the high wire with some of the circus men chasing. Tarzan arrives and makes his call, and Boy responds. Tarzan goes to the high wire, but the circus men are able to capture him and lock him in an animal cage. Boy is then captured too, and Buck and Sargent take Boy to their car to head for the airport. Tarzan can't get out of the cage, but he calls on help from the circus elephants, which bend the bars of the cage allowing Tarzan to escape. He then leads the elephants to stop Buck and Sargent, who are hemmed in by the advancing elephants. Tarzan jumps from one of the elephants into the car, knocks out the two crooks, grabs Boy and they jump to safety as the car overturns into a ditch. Jane, Connie and Jimmy pull up and take Tarzan and Boy away. Tarzan says goodbye to the circus elephants, who trumpet their goodbye to him.

Tarzan goes back to court, and the judge sentences him to a couple of months in jail, but suspends the sentence due to the circumstances of the case. Tarzan and company return to Africa and we see Cheeta using a judge's gavel to "lay down the law" to the elephants.  (NOTE: For more information on the Tarzan series, this is the link to a previous article:   https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2009/03/tarzan-escape-from-reality.html      

* Maureen O'Sullivan left the Tarzan film series after this movie, "Tarzan's New York Adventure," to spend more time with her husband (John Farrow) and children (she had 2 at that time, but 5 more were born, including Mia Farrow, known to many of my generation). Maureen O'Sullivan died in the late 1990s at the age of 87. After O'Sullivan's departure, MGM ended the series, but RKO Pictures took it for the last 6 films, but visually omitting Jane from the first 2 movies, saying she was off in England during the war (World War Two). They then hired Brenda Joyce to play Jane, and she was an American, although I don't believe that is ever mentioned in the 4 remaining movies she did with Weissmuller. She also played Jane in a later film with Lex Barker as Tarzan.

** "Boy" was added to the Tarzan series in 1939. The movie code of the those times, and likely many in the public, would never have permitted an unmarried Tarzan and Jane to have a child, so the child was found by chimps after a plane crash which killed the parents and the pilot. American Johnny Sheffield (his father was from England) was given the role to play "Boy." Johnny Sheffield died in 2010 at the age of 79.

*** They say the immigration bond was $5000, which was quite a sum of money in the early 1940s. I did a quick check, and while I got a couple of different results (not with a huge discrepancy), in 2019 value, it would be equivalent to more than $85,000!

Photo is from the 2005 Turner Entertainment/Warner Home Video DVD set release

WORD HISTORY:
Adventure-The ultimate origin of this word is uncertain, and while there are ideas about its overall source, I will leave this out, at this time. It goes back to Latin "advenire," which meant, "to arrive, to come to," the future participle of which was, "adventurus," meaning, "that which will arrive," and the feminine form of which, "adventura," used as a noun, meant, "something about to arrive;" thus also, "something about to happen." This passed into Latin-based Old French as "aventure," which meant, "a happening, an event, a happening by chance." English borrowed the word from French as "aventure" seemingly in the late 1100s or very early 1200s. Early on the word began to take on a more menacing meaning, "something that happens by chance, including death." This then led to "a dangerous or risky undertaking," but by the 1500s the meaning had softened to "an exciting happening in one's life." By about 1600, the "d" was inserted by influence of Latin, to make "adventure." Interestingly as to spelling, German borrowed the word from Old French initially as "aventiure," but the spelling then became "abentiur," but exactly why the "b" was used is not understood. Perhaps from a misunderstood pronunciation in a German dialect that then spread and prevailed? To this day, German spells the word with a "b:" "Abenteuer."