Saturday, November 11, 2006

I love Tarzan - OK- call it infatuation

How can a five year old love Tarzan?
Hmmm, maybe it was young Jai that got me hooked at the time.
When the re-runs started and I was old enough to appreciate older men, Ron Ely as Tarzan was my eye candy and infatuation du jour.

I loved his style, his voice and it was while watching the show with the nuns that I learned "Bringing in the Sheeves" or whatever that hymnal song was. I enjoyed the one where they were in some type of temple or paramid and he had to swim under water to escape. The plots were fantastical and there never was a steady female character to threaten my fantasies.

This is all from memory from *ahem* a LONG time ago.

How did I get on this topic?

I was cruising my on-line library catalog to look up Xanadu and ended up with a reference to Ron Ely and a mystery book about a investigator named Jack Sands. Turns out Ron is alive and well and an AUTHOR!!!

Am I going to be checking out his books? You bet!

Do you not even know who Ron Ely is? How handsome he was in his loin cloth?
Oooh, Click here to see his yumminess .....






See this pic with with the knife attached to his hip? Modern guys have replaced it with the CELL PHONE!!

Hmmm, Techno Tarzan - what a concept.

Do you have a favorite Tarzan???

24 comments:

Bailey Stewart said...

Oh I had such a crush on him. I even watched the game show "Name That Tune" when he was the emcee. Ron Ely - yep, my favorite!

Brandy said...

Sorry guys, I remember catching glimpses of this guy when they remade the Tarzan movie and were talking about all the other Tarzans, but I don't remember ever watching him. Too bad too, he has an appeal to him. *g*

Michele said...

Bailey! He was on Name that Tune?? I missed that! Oh, you are SuperFan!! I'm just a wannabe, *grin* Thanks for taking the walk down memory lane with me.

Brandy - Oh, I wish they had re-runs for you to drool over. *sigh* cuz, yep, he had LOTS of appeal.
He also played a role as Doc Savage, an adventure film. I requested THAT from my library. I hope they have it. Last time, it was "missing"...that good, you know?

Bailey Stewart said...

Yes, in one of its later incarnations. He also emceed either Miss America or Miss U.S.A. - I don't remember which.

Mailyn said...

Oh I used to LOOOOVE Xanadu. Learned every song. Yeps. I was pathetic. LMAO.

Jill Monroe said...

I ADORE Xanadu. Did a whole blog post devoted to the movie, too!

Michele said...

Wow , you really are a karat gold fan, Bailey. I never watched those other shows to begin with, no wonder I missed him.
I wonder if he's aged gracefully? When I did a photo Google, nothing recent popped up.
Hmmmm....

Mailyn, and Jill! Hello fellow Xanadu fans! I have it on order from my library and I just checked. Its in transit-woohoo! I haven't seen it since I originally saw it at the theaters. I hope its just as good as memory serves.

And Jill - a whole blog post? When? I'll check your archives ..send me a link. I'd love to see it. Did I miss it or did I have a memory lapse and Had seen it but don't remember?

Age sucks. ;-)

Do you two remember the other movie Olivia was in with John Travolta about second chances and she's an angel or something...or was HE the angel . Anyway, there was a really great song that came from that one.
Strange Twist of Fate or something? Please tell me I'm not the only one who saw THAT movie.

Anonymous said...

I was seven years old when I thought I was truly in love with Ron Ely and I admit now that it was infatuation. No, I wasn’t infatuated with Tarzan. Ron Ely was my “first love”. I love the way he speaks, moves.. like a true educated gentleman. Obviously, he is very handsome and sexy but his charisma is superlative as in mega, extreme! I could see a man with lots of talent and intelligence. I had lots of suitors, but ignored them because my heart belonged to Ron Ely, until I had my one and only boyfriend who became my husband. Until now, Ron is still in my heart that’s why the Google advanced search engine brought me to this web page, among so many other pages bearing the term “Ron Ely”.

Michele said...

Oooh, Precy, I made Google notice with my Ron Ely Post?
Cool!

Always glad to hear from another Ron Ely Fan. Thanks for dropping by and sharing your enthusiasm!
**grin**

Anonymous said...

As a child growing up, I enjoyed Ron Ely Tarzan every Saturday. I am trying to get the dvds for the series.

Michele said...

Hey! Anonymous, you too? YOu were a Saturday watcher too? Cool! Yeah, that's when it was on when I was growing up. I wish you luck about the DVD's. I had no clue there was even a possibility that they were out there. Joy! I did recently watch Doc Savage - Man of Bronze. I got it through my library but it was on VHS. Unfortunatley, I laughed hysterically though the whole thing. Yeah, Ron was hot with all those tattered shirts and stuff, but it was so CORNY!! Still, it was great watching him in action again.
Thanks so much for popping by and visiting my blog.
And GOOD LUCK finding those DVDs.

Anonymous said...

In our country, the reruns were in the late seventies, when I discovered and fell in love with Ron Ely.

I wonder how he is doing now. Even in the Yahoo Group of Ron Ely fans they keep on asking about his present activities and whereabouts but no one seems to know. How sad...

Hi, Michelle.. I hope you're fine and love-filled nowadays.

Michele said...

Hi, Precy!!!
I know that he's writing mystery books now. I saw two on my online library catalog. They didn't seem to have been done that long ago. Haven't ordered them yet though. They sound good. I am on a pure romance book kick right now. But AFter I read the latest Jim Butcher book, I'm going ot order them.
I'm surprised that there's no email connection to him. Oooh, maybe as an AUTHOR?? Has anyone tried that route? Most of my favorite authors have websites and blogs. It would be awesome if Ron has one too.
Hmmmm, time to put Google to work, LOL.

Hey, thanks for the nice wishes. I hope your holidays are also
love-filled. Good food too. :-)
TTFN!!

Anonymous said...

Glad to know I'm not the only fan of Tarzan Ron Ely. I've been on a blog search and found this nice site. But like some of you who-ve been searching for facts about my idol, couldn't find his e-mail address or website and he's not even on Simon &Schuster's!

Anonymous said...

Ron Ely was the most gorgeous, sensual man to ever grace a loincloth. He played the character of Tarzan just as Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote him, intelligent and civilized.

Michele said...

I hear you. Even after all this time, he remains my favorite Tarzan. The remakes just didn't 'do' it for me.

What I find amazing is, even months and months after I posted this Ode to Ron Ely, it's still one of my frequently viewed posts. which THRILLS ME. However, I do SO wish Mr. ELY would see this and give all of us fans a heads up on what he's been up to. No matter what I try, there's no current info about him!
Very frustrating. But thank you SO Much for taking the time to comment and share your enthusiams for Ron Ely!!!!

HUGS!

J-jireh said...

Ron is semi-retired and living in California. In an interview last year with cstv, he said he might consider some acting jobs now that the last of his three children is in college. You can see the interview on youtube. There are also many photos of him, some of them from only a few years back, on the ron ely site in yahoo groups.

Michele said...

Diane!
Oh Cool! You are Quite the investigator. Do you realize you are the ONLY one who's been able to find out anything? THank you THank YOu Thank you for commenting.

This is wonderful. I didn't know he had a Yahoo group? He has personal contact with it? It's not just a fan run site? Oh I DO have to check that out. Diane, I'm SO glad you found this old post and shared! And You Tube delights await us fans? Astounding news!

And for some reason, todays site hits show EIGHT for this post. I'm still tickled by that.

So glad you dropped by.

Hugs to you, Diane!!!

Anonymous said...

No, the Yahoo Ron Ely site is a fan-run site. I don't know if Ron lurks there or not, but he doesn't post. Considering the intensity of some of the posts, I wouldn't blame him for not wanting to make himself known if he does lurk!

And by the way, Ron was the host of "Face the Music," not "Name That Tune."

Anonymous said...

Hi ! I'm french and I'm 47. Ron Ely is my favourite foreign actor and I put a lot of photos of him on my "blog" in France. Thanks to the web, I can see that a lot of fans remember him as a wonderful Tarzan : kind, handsome and marvellous. I got the DVD's in the original version : it's a bit difficult for me to understand all what he says, but it's greatful !
My blog : http://palilia.blogs.allocine.fr
Nicole MARQUE

Michele said...

Thanks for the Clarification, on both counts, Diane!
wow, the groups are THAT involved? Amazing.
I appreciate your checking back in!

**************************

Palilia! Hello and Welcome!
um...Bonjour?

Sorry I took so long to get back to you. I just got my computer back two days ago and am catching up all my emails. Seems my modem AND my motherboard went bad on me. I was without a computer for a whole MONTH!
I was not enjoying being so disconnected from everyone, as you can imagine.

Anyway,I am so jealous! YOu have DVD's of Ron Ely's Tarzan? There are DVD's of the original Tarzan with Ron out there to buy??????
I've never ever seen them around here!
I would be absolutely thrilled to find them. Of course, now I'm going to LOOK for them.

I thought most DVD's have the option of translating the words to different languages. Most of mine seem to translate to either Spanish or French. I hope you'll be able to find some translations so you'll be able to enjoy all the nuances of the story.
I sometimes watch Spanish TV..Telemundo... and I have NO idea what they are saying, but I like them anyway.

I'll have to check your blog out. Thanks so much for stopping by mine and sharing the Love of all things Ron.

Ooho, did you know that his son just graduated from College and he is TALL?!!! He's taller than his dad. He also is blonde. He's like an All Amercan Good Guy: Tall,Blonde, and Plays a great game of Football.

I guess it's true. He's thinking of coming back into acting now that his last child is on his own.
AND, his son's godfather? Is Fess Parker from Daniel Boone Fame.
What a combo!
When I found out, I was thrilled!

Anyway, thanks for visiting, Nicole/Palilia!

Anonymous said...

The DVDs of "Tarzan" are sold on ebay just about all the time. They are not studio-released, so they don't have the "change language" option. They are homemade copies.
Also, Cameron (Ron's son) didn't graduate from college yet. He's a freshman at Harvard.
And on a sad note, Manuel Padilla Jr., who played Jai, died Jan. 29 at the age of 51.

Michele said...

Suzyfrancais:

::blush:: That's what I get for going on memory alone. I found out a bunch of stuff right before I lost the use of my computer. I didn't write any of it down and so I mixed up graduating High School to graduating from College. My bad.
BUT, so happy to have you visit and fix my gaffe.

OH NO, Manuel DIED? That IS sad. 51 is still awefully young in this day and age. Good Grief! He was the same age as my DH!!
That scares me.
Thanks for letting me know.

How in the world has anyone gotten their hands on the episodes to make clear copies of them???
That amazes me.
And Ebay you say? I'll check it out. I wonder why the studios are not paying attention to possible earned revenue. Seems they're always looking for ways to make money; they dropped the ball this time, so-to-speak.

I wonder if Ron realizes how popular he still is?
I wrote this initial post in 2006 and here it is 2008 and it's still active.
He's the only actor, as far as I'm concerned, that holds a candle to Sean Connery for older men who inspire younger women to swoon based on their past accomplishments. I hope to see Ron do some current film appearances in the near future.
Me? I'd like to see him appear in Moonlight, my latest favorite TV series here in America.
IT's a vampire PI show.
Not too sure if he'd make a good vamp, but he would be a good human PI.'
Just my hopeful opinion.
*grin*

In any event, suzyfrancais, thank you very much, MERCI,for stopping by today!
HUGS!

Colin said...

Hi. Don't know if this thread is still alive, but it looks like the right place to ask...

Does anyone reading this own a copy of episode #57 (the last episode of the 2nd season) of the Ron Ely 1966-69 Tarzan series? I am trying to find out whether a particular sample occurs in this episode... I'd love it if someone could help me out! (I know the series is for sale on eBay, but I don't want to buy the entire 57 episodes for 5 seconds of sample!!)

Cheers!

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