Tarzan fans around the world have a dull and boring job to thank for his existence, for it was whilst working in such a job that Edgar Rice Burroughs dreamed him up. The job was as a pencil sharpener wholesaler, and inspiration to begin writing came whilst checking the placement of adverts in pulp fiction magazines.

Tarzan of the Apes saw his debut in the pulp fiction magazines, a publication called All Story, in October 1912. It was unusual for a novel published in a magazine, because it was released in its entirety rather than the normal serialized format that most stories were released in. It was a huge hit, and Burroughs immediately wrote a sequel, but was shocked with this was rejected by the editor of All Story.

Rather than wasting the time he invested in the book, he approached a competitor, and this magazine published it instead. It was another success, and so Burroughs decided it was time to take the success a step further.

He began approaching publishers with the aim of reaching a larger audience with Tarzan as a book. Though they were polite, all refused to publish it.

The first interest came from a New York newspaper editor, Albert Payson Terhune who wanted to serialize it, which led to further interest from other newspapers country wide. The growing interest and enthusiasm of readers finally tweaked bought the attention of a small book publisher, A.C. McClurg & Co in Chicago. In June of 1914 the book went on sale, and proved to be quite popular.

The publication of the book also led rapidly to Hollywood interest, with movie producers wanting to put the story on the big screen. There were many complexities that the studios were unsure how to deal with however because till that time no one had successfully and convincingly filmed as would be needed-with wild (and dangerous) animals, trees and thick vegetation.

When opening night finally came around on January 27th 1918, audiences had been promised the world-the large number of the most impressive wild animals imaginable. Yet for the safety of the actors what the audience of that Broadway Theater in New York saw wasn't quite as described, having been filmed in Morgan City, Louisiana.

This did not take away from the film and Tarzan went on to be a huge hit, and one of the earliest films to take a million at the box office. The earliest of the Tarzan movies were silent, but the talkies were soon to come and with them would come a series of Tarzan films staring Johnny Weissmüller.

James Pierce would later take the leading role, and also wed Burroughs daughter, Joan. So when the thirties came around, and radio shows were at the height of their popularity, they had a ready made team for the voice actors.

On September 10, 1932 the show made its debut, with Pierce voicing Tarzan and Burrow's daughter Joan as the voice of Jane. The show broke from the normal routine of live broadcasts, due to the desire to use elaborate sound effects that needed to be pre-recorded. Thus, it was sent to radio stations on phonographs that were to be put on air.

With the roaring of lions, the rustling of leaves, screams, and the sounds of many other animals and effects, all you needed was an active imagination to be drawn into the show and so its popularity was huge. At fifteen minutes a show, it ran for two years and a second radio show was soon under way. This, for some reason was never broadcast in America. A second radio show did find air time in America, beginning in 1951 and again running for two years, with one half hour installment per week.

A few years prior to the radio debut, Tarzan had found himself portrayed in a daily newspaper comic strip.
Joe Neebe had approached Burroughs with the suggestion, and went on to hire Hal Foster to adapt the novel for comic strip publication. It was released over a period of ten weeks, with the first strip being published on January 7th, 1929. The strips were later compiled into the first Tarzan comic book to be sold, so conquering yet another form of the media that was available at the time.

The Sunday comics were a slightly different species-a color comic that could portray the action with far more excitement. March 1931 saw the start of this run, with Rex Maxon behind the color illustrations. He only lasted six months, soon to be replaced by Burrow's illustrator of choice-Hal Foster.

The Tarzan that Johnny Weissmüller played on the big screen was a little different to the earlier versions, because the rights to the story already belonged to a movie studio. When MGM wanted to start a series of movies, the legal aspects were circumvented by a re-write, and simplification of the story. With genuine footage of African jungles, the new variety of Tarzan was released in 1932. With this new syndication came another boost for the popularity of the comics, and books.


Two things that would be remembered for a long time also came from this particular series; Tarzan and Jane as a Hollywood couple, and the Tarzan cry that little children would be screaming for generations to come.

Time changed and people moved on, and Tarzan fell quiet for a while, till in 1962 a Los Angeles librarian proclaimed the novels immoral (and stated that Tarzan and Jane were living in sin) and attempted to have them removed from the library shelves. Her efforts had rather the opposite effect-instead, fans leaped to the defence of Tarzan, and interest was once more stirred. Novels were reissued, and more movies were made.

The last media form was conquered in 1966-Tarzan made it to the small screen, and movies would still be being made eighty years later, with the Disney animated hit Tarzan, that opened in 1999. It is now approaching one hundred years since the world first learned of the Lord of the Jungle, and yet he remains popular-make believe escapism for generation after generation the likes of which few others can claim. With all of the Tarzan novels still in print, and other merchandise still available more than fifty years after the author's death, the legend of Tarzan is as alive today as it ever was!