Fascinating book written by the son of the most famous actor to play Tarzan. It's not a "my father was horrible" book or a "Dear Dad these are my theories" book like the one on Yul Brynner. Its a fascinating look at the man from a son who grew up away from him for a long time, who wears his heart on his sleeve.
John Snr was actually born in Romania but moved to the US when he was around one. He swapped birth certificates with his US born brother so he could compete in the Olympics. He was the best swimmer in the world for a number of years. He eventually turned pro and started flogging swimming costumes, then Hollywood came calling. He stayed with Tarzan movies for over a decade - he never made any others during that time, though one would think he might try to vary his work, in say a Western. Then he went into Jungle Jims then swimming pools. It should have been a prosperous career, it was prosperous - but either he spent more than he earned or was ripped off by his manager (to his credit John Jnr tells both sides of the story - it seems unclear, but he seems to side with his dad being a bit of a financial dolt). John Snrs last two decades were unhappy - drinking, a pregnant daughter died in a car accident, hard to find work, married for 21 years to an apparent bitch with a daughter, mental disintegration, dying destitute in Mexico.
John Jnr certainly goes for it - he is affectionate at a distance at dad's second wife, the hilarious but ultimately tragic Lupe Valez (a first wife left when John became a film star with no apparent hard feelings on either side), he hates his mother who was the third wife (claims she only had him and his sisters to get a healthy divorce settlement, slags her off for her infidelities and being a bitch, criticises her gay rich uncle who he says was behind it and says he'll get revenge on him in another book he wants to write after he dies), really loves the fourth wife, hates the fifth wife (says her daughter gave beach boys in Acapulco the clap). He is generally affectionate towards his father, but doesn't hide his faults such as money management and drinking. I remember seeing John Jnr play a small role in the final Andy Hardy film - he got married a few times, finally permanently, and became a longshoreman in San Francisco! Bizarre!
It's a weird book, endlessly fascinating - even when it gets sad about his dad's final years (I hate reading about movie stars who go broke), it remains interesting because of John Jnr constantly venting spleen and/or affection. He goes into a lot of detail about all the research he did, too, and criticises other accounts of his father's life. Made me wish there was a similar tome by Bela Lugosi Jnr who surely would have a similar story to tell.
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