THE NEVER ENDING DEBATE by Dave Goode

If you put a group of Tarzan fans together in a room inevitably a debate will break out about the Lord of the Jungle's physique and how Tarzan should be built. The reason there is a debate is because Edgar Rice Burroughs never wrote how much Tarzan weighed. He said that he was slightly over six feet tall. But never gave his literary hero an approximate weight. One group declares that since Tarzan is strong enough to wrestle a gorilla he should look strong enough to wrestle a gorilla. To many that means being built like a Mr. Olympia winner. The members of the other group imagine Tarzan being built like a decathlete. I'm a member of the latter group.

Tarzan of the Apes was first published in 1912.That was the year legendary Native-American athlete Jim Thorpe earned the unofficial title of the " World's Greatest Athlete " for himself and generations of Olympic decathlon champions to follow. He placed first in four of the decathlon's ten events. And never placed lower than third in any of the other events. He also won the pentathlon. In that competition he won four of the five events while placing third in the javelin.My point being Burroughs described Tarzan as being the " world's greatest athlete ". Thorpe stood 6' 1" and weighed 200 pounds depending on what he ate for breakfast.


You want someone who was a bit larger? How about heavyweight champion Jack Johnson? In 1912 Johnson was in the fourth year of his reign as world champion. Johnson is listed in his prime as standing 6' 2" and weighing 215 pounds.








And then there was Eugene Sandow a.k.a The Great Sandow. A professional
strongman who was even better known for his physique. Sandow looked as if he had been carved out of marble. If the 5' 9" 190 pound strongman had been taller he might have been a match for Tarzan. Charles Atlas could have fit the bill as well. But like Sandow the " World's Most Perfectly Developed Man " at 5' 10" might have been a bit too short to portray Burroughs' jungle hero. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that in 1912 you were not going to find someone built like a Mr. Olympia. So why would you expect Burroughs to create a character who looked like one.

I'm not saying Tarzan shouldn't be muscular. He should be. I just don't think he should be hugely muscled. Look at Mike Henry. I mean seriously look at him. Considered to be one of the best built actors to play Tarzan he doesn't have 18" arms outside of the dreams of a size queen or a studio publicist. But the former NFL linebacker is very muscular. He reminds one of the illustrations of Tarzan comic strip artist Burne Hogarth.

I think Mr.America, Mr.World, and Mr.Universe winner, Steve Reeves, could have been great posing as Tarzan for paperback photo covers. He did portray Kimbar , a Tarzan-like hero in a television pilot. Standing 6' 1 1/2" tall and weighing 215 pounds he was known for his symmetrical physique. Like Sandow , Reeves sought to obtain the " Grecian ideal " and not size for size sake. Burroughs describes Tarzan as being more Apollo than Hercules. That's a description that fits Reeves perfectly. Which is kind of funny when you consider that Steve Reeves is most famous for portraying the demigod Hercules on the big screen.


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