Nyoka Returns? by Dave Goode

When I was a kid back in the early 1960s I got to see a lot of old movie serials on after school television. The Masked Marvel , Scouts To The Rescue , the Flash Gordon trilogy. One of my very favorites was The Perils Of Nyoka starring Kay Aldridge as Nyoka Gordon. There was an earlier serial Jungle Girl in which beautiful Frances (no relation to Frank) Gifford portrayed Nyoka Meredith. The first serial was based on a book by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs. And Nyoka Meredith was a sort of female Tarzan. Nyoka Gordon was more like a female Jungle Jim.



  


The cast for The Perils Of Nyoka was outstanding. The 15 chapter serial featured Tristram Coffin playing Torrini , a double-dealing double agent of Vultura the film's beautiful villain played by luscious Lorna Gray. Charles Middleton who gained film immortality as Ming the Merciless in the Flash Gordon trilogy plays Vultura's right-hand man Cassib in this one. This one also features a pre-Lone Ranger Clayton Moore as stalwart hero Dr. Larry Gordon.



Dr.Gordon could have been one of the models for Indiana Jones. Vultura was portrayed by sultry Lorna Gray. And in her turban , slit skirt with snake emblem and platform shoes she was one of the sexiest serial villains ever. Plus she had a pet gorilla named Satan played by ape-suit actor the great Emil Van Horn.

And then of course there was Kay Aldridge as heroine Nyoka Gordon. As an adult I wonder how she got her thick Southern accent raised in Africa. And regret that she didn't have the opportunity to wear the outfit that Frances Gifford wore in Jungle Girl. The outfit she's given fairly covers the former swimsuit model's outstanding figure. But the seven year old fondly remembers the character. She wasn't some helpless damsel in distress like other serial queens. She rode , shot and fought as well as her male comrades. She had moxie. She was girl next door pretty. But she had a tomboy feel to her. She was the girl you could play sports with. Or talk about comics to. And speaking of comics. The Nyoka serial proved so popular that there was a spin-off comic book series.First from Fawcett which adapted The Perils of Nyoka to the 4-Color page. And later by Charlton Comics.