Don’t be alarmed if you hear Tarzan yells coming from the Lake Theatre this Saturday – it’s just author and Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs’ 150th birthday celebration.
The Oak Park Historical Society has joined forces with Downtown Oak Park and Lake Theatre for this special occasion to provide Oak Park residents with a screening of a 1984 Tarzan film, remarks about Burroughs and, of course, a Tarzan yell competition.
Burroughs was originally born on the West Side of Chicago in 1875, but he and his young family resided in Oak Park during several of his formative years as a new author.
“He spent this really important time in Oak Park where he’d write stories for magazines,” Frank Lipo, executive director of the Oak Park Historical Society, said. “Then he would reserve the rights and then publish them as novels. Then he would work with the movie industry to have movies made.”
At the time Burroughs was a “self-described failure,” Lipo said. But the Chicago-born author quickly found success as an author of his legendary 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, and other adventure, science fiction and fantasy pieces.
However, Lipo said, it’s still a relatively unknown fact that the prolific author called Oak Park home for a time.
“We’re just trying to use a milestone birthday to shine a little bit of light on this author and one of his characters that a lot of people know, but they don’t quite know the story,” Lipo said.
Lipo hopes the celebration taking place Saturday, Aug. 30 at 10 a.m. will help spread awareness about the author’s Oak Park roots. The event will begin with a conversation led by Lipo about Burroughs’ written contributions and life in Oak Park. Attendees will then have the opportunity to participate in the Tarzan yell contest and watch Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes at 11 a.m.
Mike Schindler, a film programmer at Classic Cinemas, said seeing this film on the big screen is a rare opportunity. Despite being released more than four decades ago, the film continues to stand the test of time, Schindler said.
“I think a lot of people have grown up reading these stories and watching these movies, and because of that, it’s sort of become part of their own personal mythology,” Schindler said. “It becomes a big deal for people, because it was a big deal for them when they were kids, and they’ve just grown with the material, and maybe see it differently now than they did when they were younger, but it’s still a big part of their lives.”
Henry Franke, editor of the Burroughs Bibliophiles, agrees that Burroughs remains a relevant figure today, in part because of his stories.
“He just had a significant imagination, the ability to create new worlds, and yet when he wrote about them, they seemed very plausible and exciting to readers,” Franke said.
“He was about adventure. He was about romance… Most fundamentally, he was an outstanding storyteller.”
Tickets for the screening can be purchased for $5 at classiccinemas.com/tarzan or at the door. Lipo encourages Oak Park residents to attend the event to learn more about a member of their own community.
“I’d say to people, have fun with the movie, maybe be goofy and do a Tarzan yell and have a little hoopla, but also learn about some of these people,” Burroughs said. “A guy like Burroughs walked the streets of Oak Park, his kids went to local schools here. He was actually very involved with the community.”