One of my favorite pieces by Frank Frazetta was the cover to
National Lampoon No. 13 ( April 1971 ) A neat little parody / homage to
men's sweat mags. Specifically those featuring jungle adventures. The
ones with great white hunters rescuing girls in torn
blouses.
As a fan of Columbia's Jungle Jim movie series starring Johnny
Weissmuller I can't help but be drawn to them. In fact those magazine
covers remind me quite a bit of the movie posters illustrated by Glenn
Cravath for that series loosely based on the popular
comic strip from King Features.
It's too bad no movie producer took a cue from them and made some
low - budget flicks based on the stories found in MEN'S ACTION , WORLD
OF MEN , MAN'S STORY , ADVENTURE and others.
This would have been ideal for Sam Katzman a.k.a " Jungle " Sam.
The man who took former screen Tarzan Johnny Weissmuller Johnny
Weissmuller put him in safari clothes and with the help of stock footage
turned him into a low - budget version of cartoonist
Alex Raymond's Jungle Jim.
Do
you remember certain DC Comics of the Silver Age where the editors,
writers, and artists would come up with a cover image and then create a
story built around it? The adage you cant judge a book by it's cover was
often true when applied to these comics.
I got the distinct impression this was also the case for the 10 page
lead story found in Bettie Page Comics No.1 from Dark Horse in 1996. You
start with the cover illustration by the late, great Dave Stevens that
itself looks like a homage to Frank Frazetta's
cover to Thun'Da No.1 from the 1950s.
With a script by Jeff Gelb and Dave Steven the story is penciled by
Bret Blevins with inks by Blevins, Mike Manley, and Dave Stevens. The
story itself is a hilarious tribute to B-Movie jungle adventures. And
features thinly disguised cyphers for Ed Wood
Jr. and Johnny Weissmuller.
The whole thing was most likely inspired by a photo shoot with pin-up model turned pin - up photographer Bunny Yeager and model Bettie
Page done at the Africa U.S.A theme park in Boca Raton, Florida in
1954. The sexy "jungle girl" outfit Bettie is
wearing was in fact made by Miss Page herself.
I like to believe there is an alternate universe where a B-Movie
producer like a Sam Katzman decided to make a jungle adventure flick
starring Bettie Page. Maybe even co-starring Johnny Weissmuller. As
Johnny Weissmuller and not Jungle Jim. And Steve
Calvert as Bettie's faithful gorilla companion. Something that was
missing from the photo shoot with Miss Yeager.
When pole-vaulter Don Bragg won the gold medal at the 1960
Olympics in Rome he thought he was on his way to fulfilling a lifelong
dream. That of playing Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan of the Apes on the
silver screen.
After all swimming
champions...
Johnny Weissmuller
and
Buster Crabbe
used their gold medal victories
as a springboard into the
role.
And Herman Brix
who was the world record holder in the shot-put and
won the silver medal at the 1928 Olympics was handpicked by Tarzan's
creator Edgar Rice Burroughs to play the Lord of the Jungle in a movie
he produced.
And then there was Glenn Morris
who won the decathlon at
the 1936 Olympics earning the title of the "world's greatest athlete".
Something Burroughs often described Tarzan as being.
It was while in Rome for the Olympics that LIFE magazine did a photo
shoot of Bragg clad only in a loincloth among the Roman ruins. And if
anyone looked like Tarzan it was the 6' 2" , 200 lb. Bragg. Growing up
Bragg watched Johnny Weissmuller movies and played Tarzan climbing and
swinging on ropes near his home. He also was blessed by great genetics.
His father had done some professional wrestling. And Bragg grew into an
all-around athlete who specialized in pole-vaulting.
In 1964 Bragg was given the chance to portray the king of the jungle in
TARZAN AND THE JEWELS OF OPAR produced by Sandy Howard and filmed in
Jamaica. But almost as soon as filming started the production was
shutdown. ERB Inc. won an injunction against Jamaica Pictures Ltd. headed
up by Sherman S. Krellberg and Sandy Howard. I wonder what the finished
product would have looked like? Would the script have had Bragg "aping"
Weissmuller? Who would have portrayed La of Opar? Who would have played
Jane? It's too bad that the film wasn't completed. Maybe changing the
hero's name to Tyger or Zantar or something else. Just looking at pics
of Bragg you can see he would have made a great jungle hero of some
sort.
Speaking of low budget jungle flicks, let's see what the Golden Adonis is up to in this brand new strip by Dave Goode and Vance Capley:
See more of the Golden Adonis' exploits in Judo Comics! Available at lulu.com
Watch artist Vance Capley draw a Golden Adonis strip!
If
you're a fan-boy then you've probably heard of the talk from the
early 50s about a proposed Sub-Mariner television show. It was
supposed to have starred actor Richard Egan. And though the former
army judo instructor and World War Two combat vet would have been
good for the part , the person I always imagine as the Sub-Mariner is
Johnny Weissmuller.
I
picture a Sub-Mariner movie starring Weissmuller being made sometime
between the MGM and RKO Tarzan film series. Namor's undersea kingdom
(it wasn't referred to as Atlantis until the Silver Age) would
probably have been a lot different than it was in the comics. Most
likely a city under a dome of some sort. And there would be a lot of
"shot through a fishbowl " photography. Brenda Joyce who
played Jane to Weissmuller's Tarzan in the RKO series would have been
ideal as NY policewoman Betty Dean. And Frances Gifford or Linda
Christian could have been Lady Dorma. Weissmuller with his angular
(if not triangular) features , whiplash eyebrows and lean swimmer's
physique was a spot-on match for Bill Everett's comic book creation.
Truth
is I cant help but think the Sub-Mariner's creator didn't have
Weissmuller in mind when he brought the prince of the undersea
kingdom to life. After all Weissmuller was the greatest swimmer of
the era , setting records in distances from 50 meters to the half
mile. The star of the 1924 and 1928 Olympics he was undefeated in
official competition and was an accomplished water polo player as
well.Who would have been a better model for the Sub-Mariner? Buster
Crabbe? No. He's Aquaman.
Retro art by Vance Capley
Do you like retro art? How about retro comics? We have them! Get your copy of JUDO COMICS! Just click the "Link" below:
