Tarzan And His Mate #1 (From Eric Beheim)

MGM began production on TARZAN AND HIS MATE in August of 1933. Although the plot is basically the same as the one used for TARZAN THE APE MAN, the production values are much more elaborate. Former Olympic swimmer Josephine McKim was hired to double Maureen O’Sullivan (who was not a strong swimmer) in a nude underwater swimming sequence. The Flying Cordonas and the Picchiani Troupe were hired for some of the tree swinging scenes with Tarzan, Jane and the apes. A “rideable” rhino named Mary was imported from Germany. Lion meister Louis Roth and six assistant trainers were brought in to handle the 38 lions that appear in the action-packed finale: a large-scale battle between unfriendly natives and lions on one side, and Tarzan, dozens of apes and a massed herd of elephants on the other. Louis Roth’s wife Betty doubled for Maureen O’Sullivan in some of the close encounter scenes with the lions, and Bert Nelson and his two lions Margie and Pasha also had important scenes. Here are a few frame enlargements showing some of the animal sequences.