Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1951-1952) aired “Adventure on the Road to Timbuktu” on November 8, 1951 and is only the 6th episode we have showcased since May of 2020, with the previous episode coming close to a year ago in November of 2024. 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: Tarzan’s Quest, 1936 – 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.

–A brief note about Timbuktu–

Timbuktu is an historical city in the country of Mali in sub-Saharan west Africa. It has been a trade center for centuries, at one time rich in the gold,  salt, and slave trades, these commodities being most in high demand throughout the Mediterranean region, as well as both north and south of Timbuktu to places and lands more in the African interior, located as it was at the hub of the trans-Saharan trade routes and conveniently not far from the Niger river. Among other landmarks it sports several major cultural, learning, and religious centers. Photo at left below is of the The Djinguere Ber Mosque, built in 1328. Center photo depicts a scholar among some of the vast amount of books and manuscripts carefully preserved over the centuries. 2012-13 saw al-Qaeda linked extremists attempting to burn the estimated 700,000 historical records housed in libraries and private residences in Timbuktu, but managed to destroy only a few paltry thousand due to the diligence of the population who cleverly hid their city’s greatest treasure, finally forcing the terrorists to depart. Photo at right shows the Sankore Mosque, built between 1325 and 1463. Wikipedia notes that, “As the city flourished as a centre of Islamic learning, the Sankore Mosque became a renowned centre of learning, attracting scholars and students from across the Muslim world. Its libraries housed thousands of manuscripts on subjects ranging from theology to astronomy, contributing to Timbuktu’s reputation as a centre of intellectual exchange and cultural diversity.” 

{Below: Beautiful dancing girls as mentioned in the radio play. What happens in Timbuktu stays in Timbuktu.}

“Adventure on the Road to Timbuktu” finds Tarzan summoned to the city of Taraq where he encounters an Englishman at the city’s main hotel who is on an exploratory mission from the English Board of Trade to scout the possibilities of doing business in Timbuktu, where good things have been heard regarding its many business opportunities. How the businessman knew Tarzan by sight is at first a mystery to the Lord of the jungle, as was the then unknown Englishman who requested that Tarzan travel to Taraq in the first place. Without going into detail, more mysteries surface regarding Tarzan and Keith Roberts, the trade representative from England, and how they ended up together. Before long an initially hesitant Tarzan agrees to accompany Roberts on the long journey to Timbuktu, after Roberts refuses the quicker trip by boat on the Niger river due to his sea sickness. Sure enough and as Tarzan had warned Roberts, the journey by foot is long. hard, and fraught with many dangers, one of which finds Tarzan and Roberts captured by natives of a cult known as the Golden Zebra. While the unanswered questions of how and why Tarzan and Roberts were skillfully brought together become clear, by this time it is almost too late for the Lord of the jungle who finds himself securely imprisoned and about to be sacrificed by the African potentate of the Golden Zebra cult, the self-acknowledged enormously fat ruler who lives in the lap of luxury but whose ego could be the downfall of Tarzan once and for all. Those who are fans of the Highlander series of films and TV shows need only remember the single, one line proclamation driving the entire storyline of the franchise to understand what this episode is all about, and why it is worth sharing Tarzan’s “Adventure on the Road to Timbuktu.”

Play Time: 26:32

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