• Today’s Topics:
  • THE STORE
  • Helen Twelvetrees Bio
    • Or Head to Amazon to buy my Helen Twelvetrees book
  • Head to WarrenWilliam.com
  • Cliff’s Fiction
  • Blog

Immortal Ephemera

Classic Movies & Movie Collectibles

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Privacy Policy
  • Reviews
    • Pre-Code
    • Horror
    • Gangsters
    • Warner Archive
  • Biographies
  • Card & Collectible Galleries
    • About Movie Collectibles
    • My eBay Store
    • My Books
    • Glossary
    • eBay Shopping Tips
  • Info / Misc
    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • My Bookshelf
    • Movie Books
    • WAMPAS
  • Social
    • Contact
    • YouTube
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
You are here: Home / News - Notes / Johnny Weissmuller After the Olympics and Before Tarzan

Johnny Weissmuller After the Olympics and Before Tarzan

August 2, 2012 By Cliff Aliperti 6 Comments

Helen Twelvetrees, Pefect Ingenue by Cliff Aliperti
Support the site? Skip buying me a coffee and grab yourself some movie cards & collectibles instead! Shop my eBay store here.


Today a look back at Johnny Weissmuller as he made the news in between his swimming career and his debut as Tarzan.

Maureen O

Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey pop to mind as the greatest sports legends of the 1920’s, but in a decade where we really began to worship our sports idols Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller would certainly enter the conversation.

Johnny Weissmuller 1939 Mars Confections trading cardWeissmuller won three gold medals at the 1924 Paris Olympics (plus a bronze as member of the men’s water polo team!) and two more at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. Just after New Year’s 1929 the 24-year-old Weissmuller retired from amateur competition.

Tarzan the Ape Man premiered in New York on March 25, 1932. Weissmuller was instantly a movie star of the first order and went on to make a new career playing the part on screen.

When we think of Johnny Weissmuller today it is primarily in loincloth with Maureen O’Sullivan in his arms and not so much swimming gear adorned with Olympic medals.

When I went to the Newspaper Archive to seek out interesting and obscure Weissmuller info I decided to see what he was up to in between his two careers. My search was for clippings from between 1929-1931. Here’s what I found.

An overwhelming number of clippings still came from the sports section. Those were of little interest except to note that the extracts constantly contained words such as “former” preceding Weissmuller’s name. Weissmuller retired from amateur competition following the scholastic swimming championships in Chicago on January 3, 1929.

Bored Johnny?

It didn’t take long for Weissmuller to get back into the papers and not in a positive light. A widely circulated AP news story originating from Miami on February 26, 1929 reports that Weissmuller received a suspended sentence of sixty days in the city jail when he pleaded guilty to reporting a false fire alarm. While my first inclination was to chalk this up to a wild night gone too far what makes the report curious is the fact that he was previously fined $10 on a similar charge.

Swim Trunks, Loin Cloth, BVDs

Johnny Weissmuller 1930s Film Weekly PostcardAfter returning from France, where he’s headed May 15, 1930 to dedicate a new outdoor swimming pool, Weissmuller will begin a tour of the U.S. for the B.V.D. Swim Club. Weissmuller, who signed a year long contract with the company is said to be the club’s president.

Married

Weissmuller met Broadway star Bobbe Arnst on Valentine’s Day, 1931 and married her on February 28. It worked out about as well as that sentence might lead you to believe as Weissmuller next wed actress Lupe Velez in October 1933. Arnst did wait much longer herself, taking out a marriage license with Chicago attorney Robert Cavenaugh in April of the following year.

Aquatic One-Reeler

The “Hollywood Sights and Sounds” round-up in the July 24, 1931 edition of the Corsicana Daily Sun makes reference to a silent sports short Weissmuller shot “in the declining days of silent films.” Merna Kennedy is said to have appeared in it which is I why I mention it here. I don’t see Weissmuller and Kennedy credited together on the IMDb in anything. The blurb concludes “In the talkie confusion, the short never found release.”

(Upon further research I see this short referenced in the September 26, 1930 issue of Film Daily as being one of C.C. Burr’s one-reel Sport-Logs. Another subject of the series was middleweight boxing champion Mickey Walker.)

“Weissmuller With New Nose”

Speaks for itself:
Before and after shots of Johnny Weissmuller's nose
I’m no Weissmuller scholar but I’m wondering if the folks at MGM suggested this for Johnny.

“Johnny and ‘Mike'”

Report of Weissmuller taking a voice test before finalizing his contract. Referring to the Tarzan movie, “The manuscript, with its cut and dried speeches, scared him, so he said he’d deliver something he knew.” It’s claimed Weissmuller then recited Lincoln’s Gettysburg address three times.

Talk about overkill.

“Champ Swimmer Makes His Debut as Movie Player”

Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan 1935 Carreras Film Stars cardA December 22 piece by Dan Thomas catches up with Weissmuller when filming on Tarzan the Ape Man was just about complete.

“I would like to keep on acting if I can but I’m not sure I’ll be able to–I’m not very good,” Weissmuller told Thomas.

“I get an awful kick out of this business … And I still think it’s a lot of fun to see all the stars. Clark Gable said hello to me yesterday …”

Thomas calls Weissmuller a “cinch bet for pictures” despite the fact that “he isn’t good-looking” because “he has a marvelous physique and the same kind of strong face that has put Clark Gable, Wally Beery, George Bancroft, Edward Robinson and a few others where they are today.” (Boy, did everyone pick on Gable in those days?)

Thomas reports that Weissmuller expects to appear in Westerns after the Tarzan movie. “He wants to stay in this business but he knows it will be a long time before there is another film like ‘Tarzan’ …”

A good two years until Tarzan and His Mate in fact. Though neither Thomas nor Weissmuller could have known that!

468x60_newspapers_dark_1.gif

Sources

  • “Bobbie Arnst Gets Marriage License.” The Pittsburgh Press 2 Apr 1934. Google News. Web. 2 Aug 2012.
  • “Hollywood Sights and Sounds.” Corsicana Daily Sun 24 Jul 1931: 10. NewspaperArchive. Web. 2 Aug 2012.
  • “Johnny and Mike.” Joplin Globe 29 Nov 1931: 14. NewspaperArchive. Web. 2 Aug 2012.
  • “Short Shots.” Van Wert Times Bulletin 18 Jun 1930: 8. NewspaperArchive. Web. 2 Aug 2012.
  • “Swimming Champ Weds Actress.” Nevada State Journal 11 Mar 1931: 10. NewspaperArchive. Web. 2 Aug 2012.
  • Thomas, Dan. “Champ Swimmer Makes His Debut as Movie Player.” Lowell Sun 22 Dec 1931: 15. NewspaperArchive. Web. 2 Aug 2012.
  • “Weissmuller Twice Guilty of Turning In False Alarms.” Biloxi Daily Herald 26 Feb 1929: 1. NewspaperArchive. Web. 2 Aug 2012.
  • “Weissmuller Quits.” Akron Register Tribune 10 Jan 1929: 2. NewspaperArchive. Web. 2 Aug 2012.
  • “Weissmuller With New Nose.” Nevada State Journal 16 Oct 1931: 5. NewspaperArchive. Web. 2 Aug 2012.
  • Check out the Summer Under the Stars blogathon by clicking on the Tarzan banner

    Johnny Weissmuller day on TCM features all 12 of his Tarzan movies, a documentary and 3 Jungle Jim movies just for good measure!

    Friday, August 3, 2012 – Johnny Weissmuller – TCM Summer Under the Stars

    • 6:00 am – Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Brenda Joyce, George Zucco
    • 7:30 am – Tarzan and the Huntress (1947) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Brenda Joyce, Johnny Sheffield
    • 9:00 am – Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Brenda Joyce, Johnny Sheffield
    • 10:15 am – Tarzan and the Amazons (1945) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Brenda Joyce, Johnny Sheffield
    • 11:45 am – Tarzan’s Desert Mystery (1943) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Johnny Sheffield, Nancy Kelly
    • 1:00 pm – Tarzan Triumphs (1943) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Johnny Sheffield, Frances Gifford
    • 2:30 pm – Tarzan’s New York Adventure (1942) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O’Sullivan, Johnny Sheffield
    • 3:45 pm – Tarzan’s Secret Treasure (1941) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O’Sullivan, Johnny Sheffield
    • 5:15 pm – Tarzan Finds a Son (1939) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O’Sullivan, Johnny Sheffield
    • 6:45 pm – Tarzan: Silver Screen King of the Jungle (2004) – Documentary
    • 8:00 pm – Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O’Sullivan, C. Aubrey Smith
    • 10:00 pm – Tarzan and His Mate (1934) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O’Sullivan, Paul Cavanagh
    • 12:00 am – Tarzan Escapes (1936) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O’Sullivan, Benita Hume
    • 1:45 am – Jungle Jim (1948) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Virginia Grey, George Reeves
    • 3:00 am – The Lost Tribe (1949) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Myrna Dell, Elena Verdugo
    • 4:30 am – Pygmy Island (1950) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Ann Savage, David Bruce

    Johnny Weissmuller 1949 Dixie Premium Photo

    Weissmuller as Jungle Jim on colorful 1949 Dixie Premium Photo


    [phpbaysidebar title=”Johnny Weissmuller on eBay” keywords=”Johnny Weissmuller” num=”5″ siteid=”1″ category=”45100″ sort=”StartTimeNewest” minprice=”59″ id=”2″]

    Share this:

    • Tweet
    • Share on Tumblr

    Like this:

    Like Loading...

    Related

    Filed Under: News - Notes Tagged With: Johnny Weissmuller, jungle jim, Summer Under the Stars, suts, suts 2012, tarzan, TCM, Turner Classic Movies

    ← “She Came from Montana” – Myrna Loy as Covered by Newspapers of the 1920s Mmmm Girl Marilyn Monroe – Press Coverage of the Late 1940’s →

    About Cliff

    I write about old movies and movie stars from the 1920s to the 1950s. I also sell movie cards, still photos and other ephemera. Immortal Ephemera connects the stories with the collectibles. Read More…



    Ways to Help Support the Site:

    Every little bit helps pay the bills. My thanks in advance if you'd consider helping out through one of the following methods:
     

    Preferred: Shop the Immortal Ephemera Store and get yourself some vintage movie items for your trouble!

    Donate direct through my PayPal.me link.

    Or begin your regularly scheduled Amazon shopping through my Amazon affiliate link.

    Thanks again!
    —Cliff Aliperti

    Comments

    1. le_mag_pereira says

      August 3, 2012 at 3:23 pm

      Great research! I couldn’t find a lot of information from the late 20’s about him, too. Very nice to know all the speculations about hs career having all the information we have about what happened. And who could tell that Tarzan had a nose job? 😉
      I wrote about Johnny to start in the blogathon too!
      Greetings,
      Le

      Loading...
      Reply
      • Cliff Aliperti says

        August 4, 2012 at 12:48 am

        Thanks very much, Le! I never really read about Weissmuller before, only knew him as Tarzan, so the nose job caught me by surprise too! Given the date I’m guessing MGM probably suggested it to him! A very nice look at Weissmuller and the Tarzan franchise in your post at Critica Retro.

        Loading...
        Reply
    2. Jill says

      August 5, 2012 at 11:38 pm

      The nose job doesn’t surprise me. Seems like many of the stars back then had one. Him being a spokesperson for BVD? Hilarious.

      Thanks, Cliff. This is great!

      Loading...
      Reply
      • Cliff Aliperti says

        August 6, 2012 at 1:54 pm

        Jill, the nose job didn’t surprise me so much as the photo of it startled me! Thanks so much!

        Loading...
        Reply
    3. Anonymous says

      April 9, 2015 at 12:12 am

      How can I purchase a copy of this movie?

      Loading...
      Reply
      • Cliff Aliperti says

        April 9, 2015 at 9:42 am

        Hi @Anonymous – Which one? Tarzan is pretty available, assuming you’re in the US and looking for DVD then one of these probably do the trick: http://www.amazon.com/TCM-Greatest-Classic-Films-Collection/dp/B004H83INM/ and http://www.amazon.com/TCM-Greatest-Classic-Films-Collection/dp/B004H83IGY/

        Loading...
        Reply

    Leave a ReplyCancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Copyright © 2002-2025 Immortal Ephemera - (privacy policy) - Article by Cliff Aliperti unless otherwise noted.

    %d