Born 117 years ago today, 2nd June 1904, Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American competition swimmer, water polo player and actor
Born 117 years ago today, 2nd June 1904, Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American competition swimmer, water polo player and actor. He was known for playing Edgar Rice Burroughs' ape man Tarzan in films of the 1930s and 1940s and for having one of the best competitive swimming records of the 20th century.
Weissmuller was one of the world's fastest swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals for swimming and one bronze medal for water polo. He was the first to break the one minute barrier for 100-meter freestyle, and the first to swim 440-yard freestyle under five minutes.
He won fifty-two U.S. national championships, set more than 50 world records (spread over both freestyle and backstroke), and was purportedly undefeated in official competition for the entirety of his competitive career. After retiring from competitions, he became the sixth actor to portray Tarzan, a role he played in twelve feature films. Dozens of other actors have also played Tarzan, but Weissmuller is by far the best known. Weissmuller's distinctive Tarzan yell is still often used in films in his legacy.
The Swimmer
At age nine, young John Weissmüller contracted polio. At the suggestion of his doctor, he took up swimming to help battle the disease. After the family moved from western Pennsylvania to Chicago, he continued swimming and eventually earned a spot on the YMCA swim team.
As a teen, Weissmuller attended Lane Technical College Prep High School before dropping out to work various jobs including a stint as a lifeguard at Oak Street Beach on Lake Michigan. While working as an elevator operator and bellboy at the Illinois Athletic Club, Weissmuller caught the eye of swim coach William Bachrach, who trained Weissmuller; in August 1921, Weissmuller won the national championships in the 50-yard and 220-yard distances. Although foreign-born, Weissmuller gave his birthplace as Tanneryville, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, and his birth date as that of his younger brother, Peter Weissmuller. This was to ensure his eligibility to compete as part of the United States Olympic team, and was a critical issue in being issued a United States passport.
On July 9, 1922, Weissmuller broke Duke Kahanamoku's world record in the 100-meter freestyle, swimming it in 58.6 seconds. He won the title for that distance at the 1924 Summer Olympics, beating Kahanamoku for the gold medal. He also won the 400-meter freestyle and was a member of the winning U.S. team in the 4×200-meter relay. Four years later, at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, he won another two gold medals. In 1927, Weissmuller set a new world record of 51.0 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle, which stood for 17 years. He improved it to 48.5 seconds at Billy Rose World's Fair Aquacade in 1940, aged 36, but this result was discounted, as he was competing as a professional.
As a member of the U.S. men's national water polo team, he won a bronze medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics. He also competed in the 1928 Olympics where the U.S. team finished in seventh place.
In all, Weissmuller won five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal, 52 United States national championships, and set 67 world records. He was the first man to swim the 100-meter freestyle under one minute and the 440-yard freestyle under five minutes. He never lost a race and retired with an unbeaten amateur record.
The Filmstar in his Definitive Role
His acting career began when he signed a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and played the role of Tarzan in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). The movie was a huge success, it cost $652,675 to make, and took $2.54 million at the box office, and Weissmuller became an overnight international sensation. The author of Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs, was pleased with Weissmuller.
"Tarzan and His Mate" is the second, (and considered by many critics to be the best) of the Tarzan films starring Johnny Weissmuller. Maureen O'Sullivan returns as Jane Parker, and the film's cult status is largely due to O’Sullivan wearing one of the most revealing costumes in screen history at that time; a halter-top and a loincloth that leave her thighs and hips exposed. Because Jane is a ‘lady’ from England (not Baltimore, as in Burroughs' novel), with manners and poise, her wearing such a provocative outfit is particularly naughty and symbolic of her sexual freedom. In this pre-Code film Jane sleeps in the nude, swims nude with Tarzan, is constantly touched by Tarzan, has a scene in which she is stranded in the jungle without clothes on, and is seen nude in silhouette when dressing in a well lit tent. That Jane and Tarzan sleep together is all the more startling by Hollywood standards because they aren’t married; the end credits list O'Sullvan as Jane ‘Parker,’ emphasizing that she was single and living in sin
Plans to film in Africa were scrapped and several locations around Los Angeles were used, including Sherwood Forest, Lake Sherwood, Whittier, California, Big Tujunga, and China Flat.
Trapeze artists Alfred Codona and the Flying Codonas, who had performed in the first Tarzan film, also doubled for Weissmuller and O'Sullivan, and acted as the elder Cheeta. Dressed in ape suits.
Tarzan rides a rhinoceros in one scene - a first for film. The rhino, Mary, was imported from the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, Germany. Weissmuller did the scene himself, sustaining only minor scrapes to sensitive places from Mary's rough hide.
After Tarzan
When Weissmuller finally left the role of Tarzan, he immediately traded his loincloth costume for a slouch hat and safari suit for the role of Jungle Jim (1948) for Columbia. He made 13 Jungle Jim films between 1948 and 1954.
He retired in 1965, moving to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Based on his interest in natural lifestyles, Weissmuller opened a small chain of health food stores called Johnny Weissmuller's American Natural Foods in California in 1969. In 1970, he attended the British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, where he was presented to Queen Elizabeth II. That same year, he appeared with former co-star Maureen O'Sullivan in The Phynx (1970). Weissmuller lived in Florida until the end of 1973, then moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he worked as a greeter at Caesars Palace along with boxer Joe Louis for a time.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Weissmuller was involved with a tourist attraction called Tropical/Florida Wonderland, a.k.a. Tarzan's Jungleland, on U.S. Route 1 in Titusville, Florida.
Weissmuller's face is included in the collage on the iconic front cover of The Beatles' 1967 record album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
On January 20, 1984, Weissmuller died from pulmonary edema at the age of 79. He was buried just outside Acapulco, Valle de La Luz at the Valley of the Light Cemetery. As his coffin was lowered into the ground, a recording of the Tarzan yell he invented was played three times, at his request.
These are my colourised versions of Johnny Weissmuller in a training pool while at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, where he Won 3 Gold Medals, and a 1934 black, and white photocard promoting the film "Tarzan and His Mate".
Comments
Post a Comment