Posters of my yoot’ #1: Our man in Africa

Image swiped from The Wrong Side of the Art; click to enlarge.

This hopes to be the start of a new series, prompted in no small measure by the indispensable Wrong Side of the Art. As a kid, I loved hanging out in movie theatre lobbies and checking out the posters. This was during the 1960s. I began to lose interest in poster art by the mid 70s, a subject we may get around to in forthcoming installments. I haven’t the patience to arrange this series in any kind of order, so I’m going to begin with Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966). The artist was Reynold Brown, who did a lot of work for American International. I saw the film at the Bellmore Playhouse on a late Saturday afternoon with my father. He was big on Tarzan, read all the books, and felt the best ever screen Tarzan was Elmo Lincoln. When Tarzan and the Valley of Gold opens, we see Tarzan Mike Henry in suit and tie, going over papers in his attaché case on an airplane. Understand, this was made at the height of the James Bond craze. (Double-0 Ape Man.) Once the 727 hits the tarmac, Tarzan dons his loincloth, encounters Bondian villains (it’s been forty years, but I recall an intimidating bald henchman) and an exotic hottie played by Nancy Kovack, who was a 'Slay Girl' in the Matt Helm movie The Silencers the same year. (Quite fortuitously, Nancy moved on to become Mrs. Zubin Mehta in 1969; her acting career shriveled up shortly thereafter.) My father just shook his head for 90 minutes. Me? I hated Tarzan; I just went because the old man wanted to.