Tarzan Leaps Out of Books Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tarzan of the Apes

"Tarzan of the Apes" was the first book in a series written by Edgar Rice Burroughs about a young boy who was stranded on the jungle coast of Africa. His parents died when he was a young boy, and he was adopted by a colony of apes that were living in the nearby jungle.

The novel was published in a magazine in 1912, and was published in book form in 1914. Rice Burroughs went on to write and publish twenty-five sequels. The three remaining options in the question are all titles of sequels that were written by Rice Burroughs.

Answer: False

Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote the first twenty-five books in the "Tarzan" series. Upon his death in 1950, an unfinished novel was completed by Joe R. Lansdale that was published in 1995. Besides the unfinished work, at least five other authors have written Tarzan books.

Some of these have been authorized by the Rice Burroughs estate, while others have not. An example of a Tarzan book that was written by someone else and not well-received is "Tarzan Presley". The main character was a combination of characteristics of both Elvis and Tarzan.

The book was published in 2004, but due to legal action has not been re-printed since.

Answer: Elmo Lincoln

The first Tarzan movies came out during the silent film era in Hollywood. Lincoln was the first to play the adult Tarzan in "Tarzan of the Apes" in 1918. Gordon Griffith played the boy Tarzan in the same movie. Lincoln played Tarzan again in "The Romance of Tarzan" (1918) and in "The Adventures of Tarzan" (1921).

When sound movies started, Lincoln left Hollywood for a while. He returned in later years when he was able to take part in two more Tarzan movies. Although he wasn't credited, he appeared as a circus hand in "Tarzan's New York Adventure" (1942), and as a fisherman in "Tarzan's Magic Fountain" (1949).

Answer: Cheeta

Cheeta the chimpanzee did not appear in all movies by Weissmuller, but when it did, it was typically acting as a companion, a communicator, and/or a rescuer. According to the book "Animals on Screen and Radio: an Annotated Sourcebook", there have been over a dozen chimpanzees that played the role of Cheeta over the years, including both male and female animals.

However, it is wise to err on the side of caution when estimating the number of animals that have filled the role over the years. Besides the obvious difficulty of not being able to ask the animals directly how long they were involved, there has been at least one well-documented hoax with unrealistic claims about a chimpanzee that was purported to have played Cheeta in some Tarzan movies.

It should be noted that there were no chimpanzee companions in the original Tarzan books by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Answer: Disney

Disney released "Tarzan" in 1999. This fully animated movie combines hand-drawn images with computer graphics. The movie had a production budget of $130 million, which was the most expensive animated movie created up to that point (it has since been surpassed with more expensive productions). Tony Goldwyn is the voice actor who played Tarzan in the film.

Other actors and actresses who voiced parts in the film include Minnie Driver, Glenn Close, Rosie O'Donnell, Brian Blessed, Lance Henriksen, Wayne Knight, and Nigel Hawthorne.

The movie grossed $448.2 million in theatres and $268 million in retail revenues, so it is considered one of the most successful for Disney in the 20th century.

Answer: United States

Tarzan stories moved to the radio in the United States three times, twice in the 1930s and once in the 1950s. "Tarzan of the Apes" ran from 1932-1934. The voice of Tarzan was played by James Pierce, and the voice of Jane was played by Joan Burroughs. Interestingly, Pierce had portrayed Tarzan in a movie in 1927, and Burroughs was the daughter of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

The original author was also involved in this first radio radio production. Edgar Rice Burroughs reviewed and revised the radio scripts for each episode. From 1934-1936, Tarzan stories were told on the radio using a serial approach in two different story lines.

These included "Tarzan and the Diamond of Ashair" and "Tarzan and the Fires of Tohr". From 1951-1952, another syndicated version of the Tarzan stories was broadcast in the US.

Answer: 1960s

Tarzan stories started to hit the airwaves for young people when the popularity of radio programming started to fade. Three shows were actually created n 1958, but they did not sell until they were re-packaged into one television feature film in the 1960s.

A live action Tarzan series starring Ron Ely found its way to NBC from 1966 to 1968. Tarzan was voiced by Robert Ridgely in a number of animated shows from 1976 to 1982. Joe Lara was in a live-action television movie called "Tarzan in Manhattan" in 1989, and a series called "Tarzan: The Epic Adventures" in 1996. Disney also got involved in television animation with "The Legend of Tarzan" (2001-2003) which was a spin-off of "Tarzan", their movie that had been released to theatres in 1999.

Answer: Kevin Nealon

The sketches were entitled "Tonto, Tarzan and Frankenstein's Monster" and had the three characters from pop culture come together to sing or recite poetry. The problem was that each the characters was portrayed as speaking/singing using broken English (Tarzan and Tonto), or grunts (Frankenstein's Monster).

In the sketches, Jon Lovitz played Tonto, Phil Hartman played Frankenstein's Monster, and Kevin Nealon played Tarzan. They mostly sang for various holidays (e.g., Christmas carols, "Here Comes Peter Cottontail").

They also recited poems such as Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven".

Answer: 1921

There have been many stage adaptations of "Tarzan" stories over the years. The first was "Tarzan of The Apes" starring Ronald Adair as Tarzan and Ethel Dwyer as Jane Porter. It appeared on Broadway in 1921. A rock musical by Richard O'Brien that was based on Tarzan stories called "T. Zee" hit theatres in 1976. Disney produced a stage production that was based on their 1999 movie.

It ran for over a year at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway, and has appeared at theatres around the world. Disney also produced a show called "Tarzan Rocks!" at a theatre at the Animal Kingdom park in Disney World. That show closed in 2006, but its characters still wander the park, greeting visitors.

Answer: A biologist studying primates in Africa changed his first name to Tarzan in 1964

Jane Goodall was introduced to "Tarzan" stories when she was just a child. She has stated in her book "Reason For Hope" that it was when she read the Tarzan books as a child that she started to dream of living amongst the great apes just like Tarzan. She has also stated that she felt that she would have made a better mate for Tarzan than Jane ever did.

The Calumma tarzani, or Tarzan chameleon lives in a relatively small patch of forest in the east-central part of Madagascar. The species was found in 2009.

Besides the Edgar Rice Burroughs character, the chameleon is also named after the area in which it lives that the locals call the Tarzan Forest. The forest is near the village that was formerly known as Tarzanville (now known as Ambodimeloka).

The scientists who named the chameleon wanted a name that would help to promote conservation in the area. As the study leader Philip-Sebastian Gehring said, "Tarzan stands for a jungle hero and fighting for protecting the forest". Television star Carol Burnett would often yell like Tarzan on her variety show.

She explained during one interview that she developed the yell when she was a child while watching a Tarzan movie.