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Issue 0612
Presents
An ERB of the Silver Screen Compendium
TARZAN THE APE MAN III

A summary of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Picture
"TARZAN, THE APE MAN"
Big Little Book
Copyright 1934: Whitman Publishing Company ~ Racine, Wisconsin

Tarzan of the Screen - Big Little Book

Jane Parker joins her father's African expedition in search of the Elephants' Graveyard
Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane ParkerNeil Hamilton as Harry HoltThe Meeting of Jane and Harry HoltMr. Parker Questioned the NativesJane Met Her Father's Partner
Jane's Father's Friends Were Glad To See HerChecking Up on the Medical SuppliesA Trading Post on the Jungle OutskirtsJane's Father Warned Her of Jungle DangersHe Has a Mighty Pretty Daughter

Tarzan lived happily and peacefully in the heart of his green wilderness. His home was a comfortable nest in a treetop, a little house made of woven branches covered with skins. His bed was a deep pile of soft furs. His friends were the apes, the elephants, the birds and the huge lumbering hippopotami.

Close to Tarzan's house was a high gray cliff, called the Mutia Escarpment. No white man had ever crossed this rocky wall. Beyond it lay the Burial Ground of the Elephants, that mysterious place to which the wounded and sick animals wandered to die.

~Please Stay Here,~ Her Father Begged
The Noises of the Night Were Strange and Fearful
Jane and Holt Were Good Friends
They Started Down the River
Down the River by Night
Only Tarzan and his friends, the elephants, knew the trail which led from the cliff down into the secret valley where the whitened bones of long-dead elephants and their precious ivory tusks lay gleaming in the hot African sunlight.

For a long time James Parker, tall, grizzled Englishman who had lived for many years in Africa, had dreamed of finding the fortune of ivory which lay in the hidden Burial Ground. Finally Parker, with his daughter, Jane, and a young English adventurer, Harry Holt, decided to set forth on the long, dangerous search for the secret Graveyard. With the help of their faithful gun-bearer, Riano, they prepared a huge safari, the African name for a caravan of native burden-bearers carrying food and supplies on a trip through the jungles.

Early one morning they started on their journey. Day after day they hacked their way with sharp axes through the dense underbrush, following the dark waters of streams and faint animal trails, hunting always for the stone cliff which barred the way to the Burial Ground of the Elephants.

Finally, after along, weary weeks of travelling, they reached the Mutia Escarpment which they were seeking. The natives crouched in fear behind the white men, afraid of the unknown which lay beyond that wall of rock.

With his stinging whip Riano forced the black men to their feet. Slowly the safari stumbled upward along the faint thread of an elephant trail. After long hours of climbing they reached the top and threw themselves on the ground to rest.

Shooting at Crocodiles
Once Jane Almost Fell over the Brink
They Met Two Pinhead Natives
A Native Was Wounded During the Trip
One of the Beasts of the Jungle
They Found Human Footprints in the Jungle
A Strange Call Echoed Through the Trees
Jane's Father Raised His Gun to Fire
Tarzan Dropped from the Trees
Tarzan Carried Jane through the Jungle
Suddenly a weird unearthly cry echoed in the stillness. The white men reached for their guns, the natives for their knives. Again the cry shattered the silence of the late afternoon.

Through the leaves above the safari came a troupe of apes, swinging lightly from branch to branch. In their midst was a tall, slim, tanned figure, dressed only in a leopard skin. The muscles of his legs and arms rippled as he stopped suddenly and swayed gracefully on a slender branch.

The apes went on their noisy way through the trees. But the man in the leopard skin stood silently, gazing down in startled wonder upon the safari beneath him. Tarzan was looking upon his first white man.

"He's white, Father," Jane whispered, "He's a man. Not an ape. Talk to him. Riano, please. Ask him to come down."

Riano spoke to him in the language of several jungle tribes. But Tarzan did not answer. He merely looked down with his wondering, blue eyes. Then, after a long time, he dropped lightly to the ground in front of Jane.

Parker and Holt gripped their guns as Tarzan stared at them.

Suddenly there was a faint rustling in the underbrush. Quickly Parker and Holt turned, just as a row of dark, ugly Pygmy heads disappeared among the leaves. When the two white men turned back, Tarzan and Jane were gone.

With one swift, silent movement Tarzan had gathered the girl under his strong, bare arm and had noiselessly slipped away into the dense underbrush which covered the cliff. Desperately the safari started in pursuit of the white King of the Apes and his prisoner. But they lost the trail. The jungle swallowed Tarzan and Jane in its mysterious darkness.

Tarzan ran on light feet, carrying the struggling, screaming Jane to his treetop home. Up through the leaves he swung her and put her gently down on the wide branch outside the rough shelter which was his house. The terrified girl clung to the tree trunk, sobbing, afraid to move. Without smiling or speaking, Tarzan crouched on the limb beside Jane and stared at her with wondering eyes.

Suddenly Jane felt a soft paw on her shoulder. She turned to look into the friendly eyes of a little monkey who had crept quietly from the leaves. Jane screamed. The little monkey threw her arms around the girl's neck with an almost human tenderness. That was Jane's first meeting with Chita, who was to be her friend during all her days in the jungle.

When darkness sifted through the trees, Tarzan carried the frightened sobbing Jane into the darkness of the small house and dropped her gently on the pile of soft furs which made his bed. Carefully he covered her with warm skins. Then he carried a few furs outside the shelter and made a bed for himself on the platform. When Tarzan was asleep, with the sharp blade of his knife thrust into the branch close to his hand, little Chita crept into the house to rest beside Jane, who had cried herself into an exhausted sleep.

In the House in the Treetops
She Was Covered with Soft Furs
In the House in the Treetops
Tarzan Found an Elephant Trapped in a Pit
The Ape Grabbed Jane and Carried Her Off
With the first rosy light of dawn, Tarzan reached into the shelter and grabbed Jane's ankle in his strong fingers and pulled her out on to the platform. They sat side by side, with Chita tumbling gaily around them. IN the morning brightness, with Tarzan's bewildered and kind eyes watching her, Jane was no longer afraid of him.

After a long time of silent staring, Tarzan made chewing noises with his mouth and pointed to the ground beneath, trying to tell Jane that he was hungry and that he would bring food. When the girl's smile told him that she understood, he swung rapidly through the treetops in search of food.

A short time later, when he was returning with fresh meat form his kill, a strange sight met Tarzan's eyes. He crouched unseen against a tree trunk. Beneath his house stood the white and black men with long shiny sticks in their hands. A huge ape was standing on the branch beside Jane, snarling down at the men, protecting the girl in Tarzan's absence. Suddenly fire and noise burned from one of the shiny sticks and the ape fell screaming to the ground.

Then Tarzan saw Jane slide into her father's waiting arms. He watched the safari rapidly push its way out of sight through the underbrush.

Quickly Tarzan ran to the side of the fallen ape. A look of cold fury came into his blue eyes when he saw that the animal was lifeless. Gripping his knife, he set out in pursuit of the white men. He was going to avenge his friend of the jungle.

Finally the safari reached its camp. Jane tried to explain to her father and Holt that Tarzan was not an animal, that he was a human being who had been kind to her. Startled by a faint noise, they looked up to see Tarzan and a huge ape poised in the branches above their heads.

Parker and Holt reached for their guns but Jane stopped them. Slowly she walked forward until she stood beneath the branch where Tarzan and the ape were whispering together. Softly she called to Tarzan, asking him to come down.

Uttering his strange cry, Tarzan swayed through the leaves and dropped to the ground at the other end of the little clearing. As the two white men and the natives turned to face him, the ape slipped silently behind Jane, grabbed her in strong arms and carried her into the jungle toward Tarzan's home.
ERBzine Silver Screen Series
I: Intro Tarzan the Ape Man Memories II by W. Armstrong
II: Tarzan the Ape Man: Notes ~ Credits ~ Photos
III: Big Little Book Illustrated Summary I
IV: Big Little Book Illustrated Summary II
V. Tarzan, The Ape Man: Film Log Notes & Study Guide
VI. Tarzan the Ape Man Lobby Gallery I
VII. Lobby Gallery II: Tarzan Make Love
VIII. Lobby Gallery III: Tarzan and Jungle Friends

Volume 0612

BILL HILLMAN
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