Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1951-1952) aired “Trouble Comes in Pairs” on December 6, 1951 and is only the 5th episode we have showcased since May of 2020, with the previous episode coming almost a year and a half ago in July of 2023. For newcomers, we repeat the introduction to several previous Tarzan episodes.
From 1932-36 Tarzan on radio consisted of three long-running serials: Tarzan of the Apes, Tarzan and the Diamond of Asher, and The Fires of Toth. Tarzan was played by silent film actor James H. Pierce and Jane was played by Edgar Rice Burroughs’s daughter Joan. Pierce had attended a party held by Burroughs where he met Joan. ERB asked Pierce if would appear as Tarzan in ERB’s next silent Tarzan picture. Pierce replied that he was to appear in another film titled Wings. ERB nevertheless convinced Pierce to become Tarzan and he gave up his role in Wings. Pierce’s role in Wings was then filled by a relative newcomer named Gary Cooper, and Wings would walk away with the first Oscar for what is now known as Best Picture in 1929. Such blow the fickle winds of Fate. On the up side, James Pierce would wed Joan Burroughs in 1928 and they would remain together until their deaths (Joan in 1972 and James in 1983).
(Above left: The All-Story Dec. 1913 with part I of IV of Warlords of Mars – Above Right: ERB, 1875-1950)
(Photo below left: Joan and James Pierce photo cropped to show the left half of their wedding invitation, dated August 8, 1928. From the Danton Burroughs Archive Collection.)
It is impractical to run lengthy serials here, though we have run a few consecutive episodes with specific self-contained adventures. Each of the 1930s Tarzan serials ran to approximately 40 episodes, give or take, and timed out from 8-12 minutes each. There would be a new Tarzan episode in the much longer story arc every two or three days throughout the week. After the trio of initial serials in the 1930s, the Golden Age of radio would produce no further Tarzan adventures until 1951, at which time his new exploits would run from January of 1951 through June of 1952 (and through July of 1953 if one counts syndicated rebroadcasts), when many radio shows were gradually being phased out in favor of television. Lamont Johnson now played the Lord of the Jungle, and in contrast to the earlier 1930s serials (and the Johnny Weismuller Tarzan films), Tarzan would speak intelligent English rather than the “Me Tarzan, you Jane” dialogue many have come to think of when the subject comes up. Finally, a bit of historical trivia, verified by newspaper records, reveals that in 1929 the Tarzan novels were banned for a time in Los Angeles, California due to the fact that Tarzan and Jane lived together in the jungle without being legally wed. How times have changed.
“Trouble Comes in Pairs” is an interesting change of pace of sorts, in that it doesn’t concern itself with invading white men looking to exploit Africa’s riches either as individuals, small bands of adventurers out for elephant ivory, mining corporations using natives as underpaid or mistreated slave miners, or the oft-used Nazis after plunder for their own purposes, but presents an offbeat tale focusing on a curious tribal rite, one that most western world peoples would find at best backward, abhorrent, or downright uncivilized. To put it simply, the tribe featured in this story is after the surviving brother of a set of twins, for under their law the survivor has committed a crime for which death is the remedy. More need not be said except to note that the biblical phrase, the “sins of the father” being passed to the next generation has been adopted and adapted by this particular jungle tribe (said tribe not aware of the western Bible, much less any such biblical passage), and it presents the listener with much food for thought (and not just the nature of the crime the surviving twin is supposed to have committed), offering an intriguing moral tale that draws Tarzan into its midst. How the Lord of the Jungle uses his intellect and (implied) accumulated knowledge of how the laws of other jungle peoples are created make this episode definitely worth a listen.
Play Time: 25:30
{This Tarzan episode aired on a Thursday evening, which meant the neighborhood gang had only to survive one more day of school before heading for the nearby newsstand to stock up on their favorite reading, enough to last them through the entire weekend once each magazine had been shared and read. Astounding Science Fiction (1930-present, now Analog) had been a mainstay of the gang for years and a new issue never lasted long on the store’s shelves. ASF is now the longest, continuously published SF magazine in the field’s history and was a monthly in 1951. Jungle Stories (1938-54) would help capture the feel, the atmosphere of the Tarzan story of the night before and so a member of the gang made certain it too did not languish long on its shelf. Part of its appeal was a new Ki-Gor tale, not to mention the usual scantily-clad female on the cover, a staple since its second or third issue, the only differences in the jungle maid’s appearance on each cover were whether her leopard skin outfit was a one-piece or two-piece, and whether she would appear as a blonde, a redhead, or a brunette. Jungle Stories was a quarterly in 1951 though it mysteriously skipped its summer issue. Thrilling Wonder Stories (1936-55) was one of those SFnal pulps that many young readers then (and older readers now) loved, regardless of how far-fetched the storyline or the lack of scientific accuracy. The stories were plot-oriented page-turners, full of exotic color and unfettered imagination, and which qualities make collecting these issues today a fun hobby for devoted SF pulp fans, if they can be found in SF convention dealer rooms. TWS was a bi-monthly in 1951.}
[Left: Astounding, 12/51 – Center: Jungle Stories, Winter/51 – Right: Thrilling Wonder Stories, 12/51]
To view the entire list of weekly Old Time Radio episodes at Tangent Online, click here.