LA Daily News: “Celebrating 100 Years of Tarzan”
by Dana Bartholomew for LA Daily News
It wasn’t the screech of chimpanzees that lured famed researcher Jane Goodall to dream of the wilds of Tanzania.
It was Tarzan of the Apes, Lord of the Jungle.
“The more I read, the more passionately I fell in love with Tarzan,” said Goodall, recalling her preteen crush in an email to the Daily News. “I took whichever book I was reading at the time up to the top of my favourite tree in the garden — a beech tree.
“There, I imagined myself living in the forest, living with and helping Tarzan.”
As the burly ape-man turns 100, Goodall will join hundreds of fans in Woodland Hills this week for a Tarzan/John Carter Centennial Celebration.
They’ll yodel the famous Tarzan yell. They’ll go ape during Tarzan “dum-dum” dancing. And they’ll swap every kind of Tarzan book, knife and loincloth.
The four-day junglethon at the Warner Center Marriott will celebrate the life and work of San Fernando Valley author-cum-marketing genius Edgar Rice Burroughs, father of Tarzana and a pioneer of serial fantasy and science fiction.
In a separate ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Friday, the U.S. Postal Service will unveil a Burroughs-Tarzan stamp at the Tarzana Cultural & Community Center.
At 11:30 a.m. Saturday, developer and historian Ralph J. Herman will recount the swinging roots of Tarzana at the Encino-Tarzana Branch Library.
One thought on “LA Daily News: “Celebrating 100 Years of Tarzan””
Years back, when my late, great friend, Gray Morrow and I were doing the TARZAN newspaper strip for United Feaurres Syndicate, I wrote a story in which we used a character who was obviously a fictionalized version of Jane Goodall. Since the statute of limitations has expired, Ms. Goodall cannot sue me for it now. However, I’d like to assure Ms. Goodall that no offense was ever intended. In truth, it was done with the greatest respect and admiration.