Tarzan The Centennial Celebration: The Stories, The Movies, The Art

by Scott Tracy Griffin

Celebrating one hundred years of Tarzan, Titan Books presents the only official commemorative illustrated history of this worldwide phenomenon. To celebrate the Lord of the Jungle's 100th birthday, internationally-acclaimed Edgar Rice Burroughs expert Scott Tracy Griffin presents the ultimate review of a century of Tarzan. Lavishly illustrated and with fascinating insight into every element of Burroughs' extraordinary legacy - from his first writings to the latest stage musical - this is a visual treasure trove of classic comic strip, cover art, movie stills, and rare ephemera.

From the first publication of the smash hit Tarzan of the Apes, Burroughs' ape man captured the hearts and the imaginations of adults and children across the globe, whether by written word, moving image, comic strip or radio. Each of the 24 original novels and the many varied appearances on stage, screen and in print receive a detailed commentary, illustrated with some of the most evocative and beautiful artworks, illustrations and photographs, many rarely seen in print before.

With features on Korak, Jane, Tantor and Cheetah, plus their innumerable friends, foes and exotic adventures, this is an amazing collection of all things Tarzan and a vital addition to any Tarzan-lover's library.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Reference, Art

320 pages, Hardcover

First published October 26, 2012

Reviews

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I’ve mentioned in other reviews lately, I have made this year my “Year of Tarzan”. In a normal year I will read one, maybe two Tarzan novels just to make my way through them. I’ve long been a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs and indeed, some of my first “grown-up” books were ERB stories. But whereas I’ve completed most of his other long series and many of his stand-alone novels, I had been putting off the Lord of the Apes, mostly because of the sheer number of them (24 in all). But this year, when I discovered it was the 100th anniversary of Tarzan on film, I decided I would make this a focus theme of my year. Consequently, I have read four ERB books and one by Will Murray, as well as watched the original 1918 silent film, all 12 Johnny Weissmuller movies, all 5 Lex Barker flicks, and all 6 Gordon Scott films. I even made use of a Tarzan wall calendar all year long.

Yes, I’m weird that way.

But what better way to sum up my year of Tarzan than by reading and admiring this remarkable book. I suppose it would be considered a “coffee-table” book due its large size and amazing production quality. It summarizes each novel individually and thoroughly with accompanying cover art from samples though history. It also covers the entire 100 years of Tarzan on film, including background information on actors, producers, etc. But that’s not all. This book covers every form of entertainment including radio serials, daily newspaper comics, comic books, television shows and even Tarzan memorabilia like lunch boxes and Tarzan clubs. There is also a nice section on ERB himself and brief discussions on his other works.

While there is a lot of information to be had from this volume, the real prize is the visual aspects. Full color pictures of cover art, movie stills, and more, (many of which are full-page), are of very high quality and really inspired me to keep pursuing my Tarzan fixation. I didn’t read this in one sitting but rather chose to read bits and pieces here and there, enjoying it over the entire year. I’m glad I did. I still have more books to read and more movies to watch and will refer back to this volume after I complete each one.

This one really was a labor of love.

[Michael Reilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primarily a visual collection of classic illustrations, attractive comic art, and colour/b&w photographs (of both the ape man and the author), Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration is a great book for those who love this character or simply appreciate adventure/fantasy art. The book’s large format is used well to show off many full-page images, and the supporting text is often brief but typically insightful, describing storylines and developments as Tarzan quickly became a worldwide sensation across different media.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Griffin is an excellent researcher and organizer/presenter of that research, so while this book is basically fluff, it is well presented fluff, and much more fun to read than ERB's awful novels. It lacks a fifth star because the image distribution is sometimes poor, especially in the sound film section, Griffin almost entirely avoids the Richard Powers paperback illustrations that helped define Tarzan in the sixties, and the subject is not really important.

[Mhorg · Rating 5 out of 5]

an excellent look at how Tarzan crossed over into every single type of media, books, movies, comics, newspaper strips. great for any Tarzan fan.

[Dennis Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive coverage of the characters and the stories, superbly illustrated.

[Dan Blackley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book about the stories, movies and art work of Tarzan. I enjoyed the book but have not looked at it in years.

[Tim Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tracy has compiled the perfect Tarzan coffee table book. What surprised me was the depth and detail of the text. Great research! The photographs, spanning over 100 years, are of course dazzling.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great comic book cover art work. Gold Key George Wilson painted covers. Enjoyed this book. Just looking at the art made me smile.

[Nik Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps it’s unnecessary, but I’ll briefly outline his story. John Clayton, Lord Greystoke and his young pregnant wife Alice were abandoned on the east coast of Africa in 1872 when the crew of the Fuwalda mutinied and set them ashore. They were left with two crates of belongings, a rifle and some ammunition. Bravely facing up to the terrors of a strange primitive land, Clayton built a small hut among the trees and there they retired to relative safety, frightened by the jungle noises. Alice gave birth to a boy, John. Nearby, huge apes congregated, issuing terrible grunts and growls: these creatures had their own language and called themselves mangani; they were more hominid than gorilla.
Shortly after John’s birth, a great ape, Kerchak, attacked the couple and they barely escaped with their lives. However, a blow to the head permanently affected Alice: while she cared for her baby, she did not step outside the hut again. Some weeks later, she died while the infant slept. At about this time a female great ape, Kala, had lost her own infant, falling to its death from the emerald canopy of the rainforest. Hearing the wailing sound of John Clayton mourning the death of his wife, the apes approached the hut. Kerchak barged in and killed Clayton. But in that same instant Kala snatched up the baby from its makeshift crib, dropped her dead infant in John’s place, and rushed out with baby John clutched to her breast. Acting as John’s mother, Kala called him Whiteskin, ‘Tarzan’ in the mangani language.
Little Tarzan survived by chance rather than his prowess, though his young mind quickly outstripped the mental capacity of his fellow apes. A child of nature, Tarzan discovered the world was not an Eden. It was harsh, filled with threat and danger from many sources. When he was about nineteen, he met Jane Porter and they eventually married and had many dangerous and bloody adventures.
This book is lavishly illustrated throughout with colourful artwork and stills from the films. It’s a mine of information about the creation of all the books, with a brief storyline of the twenty-four novels. Hollywood never really did the ape-man justice – he wasn’t a monosyllabic tree-swinging hero; in fact, Tarzan became fluent in many languages, among them French, German and Russian.
Ron Ely, one of the many screen Tarzans, provides a Foreword in which he rightly states that he believes most of the films and TV productions misplaced the ape-man by putting him into contemporary society when the basic allure is the period he was created, the 1920s, an age when communication and travel were protracted and challenging; though the film Greystoke came close. It’s about time this great character was restored to his former glory, not as an adventurer in children’s fiction but as an exciting pulse-pounding adult hero, which was the original creation.

[Susan O'Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Me Tarzan, you Jane.” While the words aren’t an accurate quote from a Tarzan book or movie, they have stuck with many of us for years, reminding us of the muscled man of action and his African jungle friends.

One of the ultimate fans, Scott Tracy Griffin, has put together a coffee-table book, "Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration," (Titan Books) as a 318-page tribute to the iconic figure who has spanned generations and bridged media. The book is hailed as the “first official visual history to celebrate 100 years of Tarzan - through the stories, movies and art.”

“I have been, foremost, a fan of the literary Tarzan, but enjoy his stories’ representation in all forms of media,” Griffin said, considered one of the world’s leading experts on the author and his creations.

The book’s large size is the perfect format for Griffin’s presentation enhanced by colorful copies of book jackets, artwork, comics and movie stills. It tracks Tarzan from its first presentation as a magazine in 1912 to its adaptation as novels, radio broadcasts, films (silent, black and white, color and even Disney), Broadway production and TV series. Every aspect of the Tarzan history is documented, from Burroughs’ early rejections by publishers to the global phenomenon now translated into more than 30 languages.

Want to know about Tarzan’s encounters with beasts and foes? It’s in Griffin’s book. Curious about Tarzan’s fictional family and real-life fans? It’s all there, too.

The book’s foreword is written by Ron Ely, who played Tarzan in the 1966 NBC TV series. He sums up Griffin’s book simply and enthusiastically – “This book is not meant to rest upon a coffee table, unopened and unread. This is a history book – one that celebrates a character of literature and beyond, and traces the progression of that character through the generations that embraced it.”

"Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration" is a must-have – not just for collectors, but for anyone who holds memories of a chest-thumping hero with a strong moral compass and an unforgettable jungle call.

[ManOfLaBook.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tarzan The Cen­ten­nial Cel­e­bra­tion by Scott Tracy Grif­fin is a cof­fee table book (13" x 10 1/4") cel­e­brat­ing 100 years of the famous lord of the jun­gle. Mr. Grif­fin is the lead­ing author­ity on Edgar Rice Bur­roughs and on his 1912 cre­ation of which this book is about.

The book is, in one word, amaz­ing. The book is a feast to the eyes, I spent hours sit­ting down look­ing at it explain to my son (5) whose who and look­ing at the great visu­als and ani­mals (he just did the let­ter “E” in kinder­garten so we were look­ing for elephants).

The book is full of great art, pic­tures, illus­tra­tions and even sketches by Edgar Rice Bur­roughs. The text asso­ci­ated with the pic­tures is very inter­est­ing and enlight­en­ing about every sub­ject Tarzan fans would like to delve into, from his ani­mals to syn­op­sis of each of the sto­ries by Bur­roughs and others.

A fas­ci­nat­ing intro­duc­tion by actor Ron Ely starts the jour­ney into Tarzan and other writ­ings by Bur­roughs. Fol­lowed by a short biog­ra­phy of Bur­roughs and a short syn­op­sis of every Tarzan book he pub­lished with high qual­ity images of gor­geous cov­ers. A short chap­ter about Tarzan for chil­dren, fol­lowed by a "How to Speak Ape" sec­tion and maps of Africa drawn by Mr. Bur­roughs himself.

A fan­tas­tic sec­tion about the comics fol­lowed by those who played Tarzan on radio, stage, the sil­ver screen and tele­vi­sion — even Disney's Tarzan gets a men­tion. The book closes out telling the fans about Tarzana, Ca, col­lectibles, autho­rized sequels, for­eign edi­tions, the web and more.

This is a won­der­ful book with a "WOW' fac­tor for the inner geek in all of us. The book will grace the cof­fee table in our house and is a great present for the geek who has everything.

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

1) Edgar Rice Burroughs was used in the role of fictional detective in Max Allan Collins' "The Pearl Harbor Murders".
2) John Buscema used to include a full page panel in every Tarzan comic he drew for Marvel Comics - this was so it could easily be removed for the shorter European editions.
3) Canadian television used to show the Tarzan TV show earlier than the US broadcast networks back when it was first-run. This allowed us border-town residents to watch each episode twice.
4) Tarzan Zerbini (no relation) used to appear daily at an amusement park near my house when I was a boy back in the '60s.

These four facts will not be found in Scott Tracy Griffin's "Tarzan Centennial". Every other thing I knew about the legendary character, and hundreds of things I didn't, can be found in the 320 beautiful pages of this coffee-table book.

Weighing in over 5 pounds, and oversized, it was not the sort of thing I lugged around daily, so it took me about 2 months to read it, a few pages most nights. But it was worth that investment - the book covered the life and career of author Edgar Rice Burroughs, and included a synopsis of each Tarzan novel, including some behind-the-scenes research and business about each (for example, how much Burroughs was paid!). It talked about the history of the character in the movies, and on television, and in comics (books and newspaper) - and included numerous examples of cover art, movie stills and publicity photos, etc.

Tarzan fans MUST have a copy of this book. This is non-negotiable.
The rest of the world, if there's anyone left, should serious consider picking up a copy.

DISCLOSURE: I was awarded a free copy of this book via random draw on a reviewer's blog site. I did not even have to promise to review the book, or even read it!

[Marc Leroux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book. I've been a fan of Burroughs and Tarzan since a I was very young. I guess I must have been about 11 or 12 when family friend bought me a copy of Tarzan of the Apes, and I was hooked.
This book brings back all the memories. It covers every book, the movies, the comic adaptions and the television shows. The artwork is phenomenal, showcasing the works of Boris Vallejo, Frank Franzatta and Neal Adams.
If you have even a passing interest in Burroughs or Tarzan, then pick this up.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything Tarzan--the art, the books, the films. And more, much more. Tracy also gives us a good bio of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan, and gives us a synopsis of all of his work--the John Carter series, Carson of Venus, the Westerns, and so on. I appreciated the info on Tarzan fan clubs and collectibles--and so much else.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great coffee table book relating all things Tarzan from the initial stories, many of their republications & adaptations, and far more than I ever needed to know about the movies, etc. Just wish they'd spared a half-page to talk about the cartoon show I loved as a kid. Still, a great resource if you're an ERB and Tarzan fan.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous coffee-table book packed with information and artwork on Tarzan.

[Ralph Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been s reader of Edgar Rice Burroughs since I was a teenager how could I not rate this book with 5 stars.