THE CHANGING FACES OF TARZAN

Me, Tarzan. You, reader. Together we will read following post. Post good. Post factual. Post tell Tarzan words about Tarzan. Tarzan like words. Words remind me of home. Home remind me of family. Family remind me of pictures. Pictures remind me of infographic. Namely, the following factual infographic created by Morph Suits. Arrrrghhhh-Ahhhh-Haahhhh!

Infographic good. Infographic friend. I like infographic very much. Ogga-Ogga! Although not as much as following facts about yours truly.

1) It is a common misconception that Tarzan's real title is Lord Greystoke. But no. It is not. In one novel Tarzan was quizzed about his true title, in which he replied... 'I am a Viscount'. In England, Lord isn't a true aristocratic title, whereas Viscount is. 

2) According to the 1930 Johnny Weissmuller movies, both Tarzan and Jane lived together in a tree house, situated deep within the Jungle. Yet within the books, no, that was not the case. According to his creator, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan lives in a “flower-covered bungalow behind which lay the barns and outhouses of a well-ordered African farm”.

3) While I'm on the subject of old Edgar, prior to him choosing the name Tarzan he came up with two other alternatives. One of them was 'Zantar' (which kind of does sound like Tarzan), where as the other one was 'Tublat Zan' (which sounds like a washing up detergent my mother buys). The funny thing about this, though, is that the name Edgar finally decided on, Tarzan, is a Hebrew word that means ‘dandy, fop, or coxcomb’. Whether he was aware of this or not is generally unknown.

4) Another misconception about Tarzan is that he can only speak in monosyllabic grunts and groans, and is fairly inarticulate to say the least. But of course, for those of you who've read the books, you'll know that Tarzan taught himself to read and speak by using the children’s books in his dead parents’ cabin, learning such languages that include French, English, German, and Dutch.

5) The first actress to ever play Jane Porter on film was an American actress named Enid Markey. Problem was, Enid was a brunette and not a blonde like Jane was supposed to be, and Burroughs hated her look and wasn't too keen on her performance either. In fact, he hated it so much he actually killed Jane off in the novel,  'Tarzan the Untamed'.

6) Tarzan was raised by a species of ape unknown to science named the 'mangani'. Although they resembled gorillas in both size and strength, they could walk upright, eat meat, hunt animals, and, surprise-surprise, also had their own spoken language.

7) Not including the movies themselves, Edgar has two other connections associated with the film industry. Firstly, his daughter Joan married the man who played Tarzan in the 1927 film, 'Tarzan and the Golden Lion', James Pierce. And secondly, Burroughs’ great-grandson is none other than the film director, Wes Anderson.