ALLIGATOR MAN by Dave Goode

 

Frank Merrill ( born Otto Adolph Poll ) was the 5th actor to portray Edgar Rice Burroughs literary hero Tarzan of The Apes. He had doubled for the original screen Tarzan , Elmo Lincoln , in the serial The Adventures Of Tarzan ( 1921 ). Later he was cast as Tarzan in Tarzan The Mighty ( 1928 ) and Tarzan The Tiger (1929 ). The latter movie was partially filmed in sound. And Merrill became the first screen Tarzan to deliver the victory cry of the Great Apes. Merrill had been a national gymnastic champion specializing in the Roman rings , high bar and rope climbing. Famously Merrill was a runner - up to legendary bodybuilder Charles Atlas for the title of " The World's Most Perfectly Developed Man ". At 6 ' tall he was a bit taller than your average gymnast. And he had a 44 inch chest , 16 and a half inch bicep , 14 inch forearm , 22 inch thigh with 15 inch calves at a bodyweight of 185 pounds.

 

I first learned of Merrill when DC Comics began publishing a Tarzan comic book in the 70s. In the early issues there were features on the Tarzan movies. One of these had a brief bio of Merrill that said after his career playing the Lord of the Jungle was over he performed exhibitions wrestling alligators. I however never saw any reference to this second career anywhere else. But it got me to thinking about the idea of an alligator wrestler playing the role of a Tarzan - like jungle hero.

My buddy Vance Capley and I were talking on the phone the other day about introducing a character for an upcoming GOLDEN ADONIS comic we've been working on. Here's a first look of Amos Moses , The Alligator Man.

 

Love the comic cover below? You can grab this image on a t-shirt, poster, mask, sticker, magnet, etc: https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/12959303-alligator-man?store_id=140005

 

 

 

DC's Other Fantastic Four by Dave Goode

The Sea Devils were another one of those series from the Silver Age of Comic books that I thought would have made a good subject for an adventure movie. The quartet of underwater adventurers made their comic book debut in Showcase No.27 ( Aug.1960 ) in a story written by Robert Kanigher and illustrated by Russ Heath. There was a second try-out story in Showcase No.29 ( Nov.-Dec.1960 ) after which the feature received it's own comic book that ran for 35 issues from 1961 to 1967. The Sea Devils like the Challengers of the Unknown  predated Marvel's Fantastic Four and like the Challengers could have been seen as a prototype for that team. The difference being neither the Challengers or Sea Devils possessed "powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal man". Which might have made them an easier sell to a movie studio in the days before multi-million dollar blockbusters based on comic book superheroes.

Casting a Sea Devils movie would have been a snap. Keith Larson who starred as skin-diver Drake Andrews on THE AQUANAUTS television series ( 1960-1961 ) would have been perfect as Dane Dorrance , leader of the Sea Devils. As his romantic interest , Judy Walton , you could have cast Wende Wagner. Wagner is best known to fan-boys of the Silver Age as Lenore Case , Britt Reid's secretary on THE GREEN HORNET television series. What may not be as well known is that Wagner who modeled also worked as a stunt-double for actresses who appeared on both SEA HUNT and THE AQUANAUTS. Her father having been a swimming and diving coach. And she herself was an champion skin-diver.

In my mind there was only one actor to play Judy's kid brother Nicky Walton. And that would have been Luke Halprin who starred in the movie FLIPPER ( 1963 ) as Sandy Ricks. He went on to reprise the role in FLIPPER'S NEW ADVENTURE (1964 ). And played the character on the FLIPPER television series that ran from 1964 to 1967. As for the character Biff Bailey I would have cast beefy comedic character actor Norman "Woo Woo" Grabowski for comedy relief.
















An alternative pair of actors to portray Dane and Judy might have been Robert
Conrad and Connie Stevens from the hit Warner Brothers television series HAWAIIAN EYE. Just add special effects by the legendary Ray Harryhausen and you'd have a hit film and cult classic.

The faux Sea Devils poster. Conceived by Dave Goode. Designed by Vance Capley

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