natives by an adorable family of chimps; but Cheeta soon hears the cries and alerts Tarzan, who whisks the baby to his bamboo pent- house and into the arms of a delighted Jane, thus dashing all hopes that we might actu- ally see a Burroughs-inspired origin tale. De- clares Jane: “Look out, all you lions and tigers and snakes and crocodiles and cannibals out there in the jungle—the King has a son!”4 Five years later, Tarzan and “Boy” (it could
have been worse—Tarzan at first wanted to name him “Elephant”!), spend their days hap- pily swinging on vines. The junior ape-man, played joyously by Johnny Sheffield, puckishly picks on the jungle animals, and is taught a lesson by an angry lioness that drives the boy into a web of puppet tarantulas (miniature presages to the giant spider in TARZAN’S DESERT MYSTERY, 1943). As Jane worries over Boy’s growing predilection for danger, sounds of battle send Tarzan to the edge of the escarpment, where his yodeling saves a safari from certain death by Gaboni arrows (once again represented as stock footage from TARZAN AND HIS MATE). The party, which includes several relatives of the late Richard Lancing, proceeds to the ruined plane, finding nothing; and later, a nervous Jane shows them the grave, claiming with a wrinkled brow that she buried the child with its mother. “What a future that child would have had,” ponders the kindly Sir Thomas (Henry Stephenson). “My brother’s will left everything in trust for 20 years to come. Not a penny for the next to kin until Richard has been definitely proven dead, which explains our touching family interest here.” In time, everyone figures out Boy’s true identity. The less scrupulous relatives figure they can still be filthy rich by administering the heir’s for- tune, so they hoodwink Jane into believing Boy will be better off growing up in a safer, “civilized” world. Knowing that Tarzan will never agree, Jane tricks her mate into de- scending a grotto, cutting the vine to pre- vent his escape and setting the stage for the customary third-act native abduction—this time by the Zambeles, whose favorite pastime is turning people into shrunken mummies. Boy slips free to take Cheeta’s place in a spe- cial “Boy-in-Peril” segue, as he dodges lions and crocodiles on his way back to the grotto. He helps rally the elephants to knock down a dead tree, supplying Tarzan with a natural escape ladder. The ape-man performs a stunt
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worthy of Jackie Chan, pole-vaulting over the natives’ gate and crashing into their lodge to grab the dagger-brandishing “ju-ju” man. A thunderous yell trumpets an elephant stam- pede that thankfully doesn’t resort to using stock from APE MAN, only the scene is littered with comic gags and lacks intensity compared to the series’ previous action finales. TARZAN FINDS A SON! is an enjoyable if
unexceptional episode—the first of the safe and wholesome Tarzan films. Consequently, there are no love scenes between the leads, and O’Sullivan even sits out the series’ third consecutive underwater ballet, allowing Weissmuller and Johnny “Boy” Sheffield to pal around on their own (the scene was pho- tographed in the crystal clear waters of Sil- ver Springs, Florida, where CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON would later be partially shot). The film is a showcase for the curly- haired Sheffield who, despite gleeful and con- fident performances in the Tarzan series, would follow the same fate as Weissmuller by landing only one other notable film role— for Weissmuller it was Jungle Jim, for Sheffield it would be Bomba, the perennial “Jungle Boy.” This was to be Jane’s final ap- pearance (either because of O’Sullivan’s rest- lessness or the studio’s worries over the series’ stagnation, depending on the source), hence the unexpected Zambele spear she takes in the back. However, Burroughs did not condone this tack. He tried to kill off Jane once himself in a serialized version of TARZAN THE UNTAMED, after which he faced the wrath of fans and family members alike—so MGM relented, and an alternate happy ending was quickly substituted. Jane was back... for the time being. In TARZAN’S SECRET TREASURE (1941),
Boy discovers gold at the bottom of a river dur- ing another underwater ballet at Silver Springs (this one featuring the whole family), though Tarzan is not exactly impressed: “Gold no good... Tarzan get dinner!” Jane, meanwhile, tries to temper Boy’s insatiable curiosity about civilization: “What a wealthy man your father is; he has everything any man could want—every- thing!” (and we know exactly what she’s talking about). Not to be deterred, Boy takes off with Cheeta on a journey down the escarpment,
Tarzan and Jane become a family with the arrival of Boy (Johnny Sheffield) in TARZAN FINDS A SON!
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