1961-05-06 — Page 3

TARZAN-STAR OF

THE OLYMPIC GAMES

A

AA-EEE-AAAH.

Whenever that cry went through the make-believe jungles of film- land great and fierce animals trembled and made off. They were no match for Tarzan.

The man who made that Tarzan cry more famous than anyone else was Johnny Weissmuller.

And today it is as Tarzan that he is known. But as a young man Johnny was the fastest swimmer in the world. He won five Olympic gold medals and some of the records he set up more than 30 years ago still stand today.

4

In the water

he was the

fastest man in the world, says HENRY LEWIS

and

Borg of Sweden Arne

of Australia. Andrew Charlton They had many battles. At the 1924 Olympics they thrilled the crowds in the 400 metres free- style event.

It was Borg who set the pace with Weissmuller close behind At 100 metres they were him. practically level with Charlton five yards behind, swimming easily and obviously to a plan.

half distance Borg At

and

At the age of 11 Peter John Weissmuller was a weakling-a skinny, spindly boy suffering from a withering illness. Then a doctor suggested he should take up swimming. which is Weissmuller were still level but well-known for developing all Charlton was further behind. the muscles in the body. He Then Borg began a spurt. reacted imme- could not swim at all in those Weissmuller days.

diately. Charlton began to strike cut. The challenge was on,

At 300 metres Borg and Weissmuller

swimming stroke for stroke. Charlton was closing the gap.

He took his first dip in the muddy waters of the Des Plaines River in Chicago, where he lived.

When he left

a job as a lift

school he got boy and page

at Illinois Athletic Club where

there was a pool. He swam in the pool whenever he could.

And there the club roach, Williamn (Big Bill) Bachrach, spotted him. "I could make you a great swimmer," he told the boy. "Will you put your self in my hands?" Johnny agreed. The training was hard.

He spent at least an hour every day in the pool. One day he would spend it holding on to a board and kicking with his feet to perfect his leg movement. The next day he would swim with his feet in a rubber tube, mastering his arm movement.

Hydroplane

This treatment developed his n.uscles until the skinny boy became a 6ft. 3in. giant a frame to match.

It was two years before Bachrach let Johnny enter any competitions, Then at the age of 17 he turned him loose.

And it was at once obvious that here

world champion.

was a new

were

Johnny seemed to swim over the water

With 15 yards to go, Weiss- muller seemed to explode. He lifted himself right out of the water with his powerful shoul- ders and huge hands and tore through the water to win by a yard from Borg, who just pipped

Charlton.

Weissmuller's style was experts studied by the world's with fascination. In freestyle swimming he used a double trudgeon stroke, a remarkably powerful stroke which appeared to carry him from side to side and at times almost lift him from the water.

He always rolled from side with to side as he swam with his

hardly head held high,

sub- merged. He had a slow, power- ful stroke. They called him the because he human hydroplane seemed to plane over the water the Tay

does. speedboat a

through instead of swimming the water.

It was a carefree style to And Weissmulle: Was watch. carefree in everything he did. His training was certainly care- free. He played about in the

for

day, hours every stunt-diving from a 16ft, board, swimming on his back, porpois- the ing, floating. And he ate with

steaks, hot for abandon

dogs, chicken.

At 20 he was a world cham- pion. At the Olympic Games of 1924 and 1928 he won five championships. That in itself was a record. Before he retired

he an amateur national championships broke 67 world records.

as

ΚΟΣ

At one time he held all world swimming records distances up to 500 yards.

52 water

and

He

One of his best events was the 100 metres free style. did it in 59 seconds at the Paris Olympics in 1924. and 58 seconds at the Amsterdam Olympics in 1923.

The three greatest swimmers in the world in the late 1920's were Weissmuller of America,

Then one day in 1930 he was exercising in the Hollywood

pool athletic

when a writer named Cyril Hume saw him,

working on the Hume was screenplay of a new Tarzan had film. The Tarzan series begun in 1916 and had already had five different Tarzans.

JOHNNY PLAYED TARZAN IN 19 FILMS

·

Hume looked at the big man coming out of the water and "How would you like a said:

test for the part screen

of Tarzan?"

"I can't act," said Weiss- muller.

"

Johnny Weissmuller's style shattered the world

branch and learned the Tarzan call.

His film Tarzan and the Ape Man was a huge success. Tarzan and his Mate followed in 1933. Altogether be made 19 Tar- zan films, the last being Tarzan and the Mermaids in 1947.

"Doesn't matter," said Hume, "Let the studio worry about the

Then he turned to the Jungle acting.

And so Johnny Weissmuller Jim series....the same setting, learned to climb trees, jump same sort of adventures but with logs, swing from branch to clothes on.

Some years ago Londoners saw him swim in an aquashow at Earls Court. But he sw crest

the little in

show. It wa rumoured that he was planning to try to break the Channel swimming record with a ten-hour swin. But he denied it.

Footbote When Johnny was he would champion swimmer,

"How oxid I never eat Ash. eat my buddies?" he would say.

Blast furnace and deep freeze-that's Mercury

Mercury and Earth-

If the planet Mercury were placed next to earth, it would only fill the North Atlantic Ocean. It is so small compared to our planet that it would hardly touch any of the continents.

M

ERCURY is a sun-scorched midget plant. It is the hottest, coldest, speediest, smallest, and closest to the sun of major planets. It has the shortest year and the longest day in the solar system.

The planet revolves once on compared to the earth's 93 mil it with powerful telescopes its axis every 88 earth days and lion miles. Mercury

completes a revolution

swings as full daylight when it is high in 25 28 million the sky. around close to the sun period, miles and as far away as 43 mil- always lion miles.

the sum in the same which means that it turns the same face towards the

sun.

The surface features of Mer. Cruy аге unknown, but the The planet is about 3,000 planet reflects about as much moon. Scientists miles in diameter, slightly larger light as the than the moon. It could just think that it may be like the about fit in the North Atlantic cratered, mountainous moon. Ocean without touching land.

to

This motlon keeps one side of Mercury baked in perpet ual heat that reaches temper atures as high as 750 degrees

One observer 150 years 250 enough to melt tin and lead. The planet is not easy to see thought he saw a mountain il The other side is frozen in cold because it stays so close to the miles high on Mercury, but mán that approaches absolute zero, sun. It is usually lost in blaz- dern astronomers don't think its 459 degrees below zero, the Na- ing sunlight. Adding the peaks could be that tall. tional Geographic Society says. difficulty is that when Mercury Scientists Egres OJ ane

Mercury, named for the wing is closest to earth, its dark side thing there is no life on Mar footed messenger of the gods, faces us.

cury. They cannot believe speeds through the solar system at 36 miles a second when Mercury can be seen with the creature or plant could surviva unaided eye at dawn or dusk in the extremes of temperature closest to the sun.

Kala carbon dioxide the horizon and the Mercury's

distance when it is near average from the sun is 36 million miles, briefly. Most astronomers study atmosphere.

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