Jim de la selva

Animals, natives, guns, quicksand, and the inevitable damsel in distress...what else could you want? When I was a kid in the 1960s I thought this show was as exciting as it got. I remember watching it every week, although I was a bit confused about when Tarzan turned into Jungle Jim. (And where were Jane and boy?) Johnny Weissmuller was unshakably cool, whether threatened by poachers, hungry natives or wild animals. Plus, he had a great safari suit and hat. A 70s fashion plate 20 years early.

I remember when the series Daktari premiered I got all excited thinking it would be like Jungle Jim, and was really disappointed at how bland the scripts were by comparison.

I guess today this series would be viewed as a monument of inaccuracies and racial stereotypes, but I will always remember it as an exciting and exotic escape into wonder for a small boy from Brooklyn.