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Tarzan's Hoosier Connection
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Tarzan's Hoosier Connection... on this Moment of Indiana History.

One of the best-recognized literary and cinematic icons of the twentieth century was brought to life by three Hoosiers. Edward Rice Burroughs' 1914 novel Tarzan of the Apes told the story of John Clayton, Lord Greystoke. The infant son of British nobility—marooned on the coast of Africa —the character that would come to be known as Tarzan was raised by apes after being orphaned. His adventures in and out of the jungle and with his consort Jane were chronicled over the course of 24 books. When Burroughs' first novel was adapted for the screen, Hoosier-born Elmo Lincoln debuted in the title role. Born in Rochester, Indiana in 1889, Otto Elmo Linkenhelt was a big kid known as a prankster, who moved to California at 18. While working as a longshoreman, he was spotted by film-maker D.W. Griffith and cast in three of his films, including the infamous Birth of a Nation. Though it strayed wildly from Burroughs' original text, the first Tarzan movie turned great profits at the box office and made a heartthrob of its 52-inch chested star, Elmo Lincoln, who also starred in a less well-received sequel.

Toward the twilight of the silent era, the sixth Tarzan picture was released. Tarzan and the Golden Lion starred James Hubert “Babe” Pierce, a native of Freedom, Indiana and an all-American football star at Indiana University. Though his role in this now lost film would be prove to be his largest on-screen, the 6-foot-4 Pierce went on to play a permanent role in the Tarzan story off-camera. Tarzan creator E.R. Burroughs, who had himself cast Pierce in the film, thought well enough of his ideal ape-man to introduce him to his daughter, whom Pierce subsequently wed. James and Joan Burroughs Pierce went on to play Tarzan and Jane in 364 radio programs in the early ‘30s and were married for 40 years. They are buried next to one another in Shelbyville, Indiana in graves reading “Tarzan” and “Jane.”

Still another athlete-turned-actor figures in the Hoosier Tarzan saga. The star of the 1959 release Tarzan the Ape Man, Denny Miller was born in Bloomington Hospital in 1934. The son of a former IU basketball player, Denny Miller himself went on to play for the UCLA Bruins when tapped by a talent scout on Sunset Boulevard. The first blond Tarzan became a regular on Wagon Train and may be best known from his commercials as the Gorton Fisherman.

This Moment of Indiana History is a production of the Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations in association with the Indiana Historical Society. More information is available at “Moment of Indiana history dot org."

Writer: Yael Ksander

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