Tarzan the Ape Boy

The Old Man learned at an early age that the story of Tarzan is a myth. Edgar Rice Burroughs creation, personified in many Saturday matinees at the Liberty Theater in my hometown by Johnny Weismeuller (truly the "real" Tarzan), became one of my heroes. Summer days would find me climbing from branch to branch in one of our mimosa trees, or swinging on a rope while yelling. "Ai-EEE-Ya" in my 8 year old interpretation of the famous Tarzan yell. Some people to this day are probably convinced that I have not yet completed evolving.

In our town, there was a family who made their living traveling around the country with a monkey show. They had several chimps, a small gorilla, and miscellaneous other simian creatures. When the summer circus season ended, they would return and give a final performance for the people of the town. After cajoling and pleading, my mom agreed to take me to the show. The big night arrived.

It was magical. The apes did their tricks and the monkeys performed. This was heady stuff in a small town in 1949. To conclude the act, the master of ceremonies asked if anyone would like to come up on stage and be let into the cage to wrestle the gorilla. One of the town "tough guys" stepped on the stage and was ushered into the cage. The gorilla basically ignored him even though he tried to bait Mr. Gorilla into action. I remember distinctly thinking, "How hard can this be?". After that ho-hum episode, the master of ceremonies asked if any of the young folks would like to wrestle a chimp. I'll never forget my mother's gasp when she looked up on the stage and there I stood. You can probably figure out the rest. Once inside the cage, that chimp chased me up the wall, down the wall, around and around the cage. Finally I hung from the bars at the top of the cage. Smart move, right? Chimps can climb! We ended our adventure with the chimp holding on to one of my legs until I let go to keep him from pulling my pants off in front of half the town. Cheeta was mostly seen holding Tarzan's hand, or doing back flips. That's when I figured out the myth.

I still remember the smell of the cage, the look in that chimp's eyes, and most of all how happy I was when the bell rang. I don't climb from branch to branch anymore, or swing from ropes, but I still am fascinated by chimps and I really would like a rematch.