Post #496319 by JOHN-O on Sun, Nov 29, 2009 3:06 PM

Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom. Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom.
Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom. Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom.....

Listen Tikiphiles, what that's sound? It's tribal drums beating out from the deepest darkest part of the jungle. They're calling out to your inner Modern Primitive soul. You're Tarzan of the Apes, swinging on a vine to your cozy treehouse "bachelor pad". There your leopard-skinned betty waits to make hot jungle love and Cheetah is mixing up an Uga Booga cocktail.

OK, did I get your attention? Some of you might be asking, "So what does this have to do with Tiki?" Well, it has a lot. If you've studied your "Tiki Modern" then you know that African Pop Primitivism has always played a supporting role in Tiki-style.

BigBro explains the cross-cultural relationship in Chapter 10:

"Although leopards and tigers never roamed the Polynesian islands, they were associated by proxy. The equation here was: Native environs = teeming jungles = big cats. This kind of mixing of stylistic influences was characteristic of the fantasy world of Tiki Modern, in which the spirit of whimsical savagery reigned, leaving boring authenticity to the stuffed shirts. Anyway most white folks didn't know better, or didn't care."

Now BigBro includes some 1950's cheesecake shots of starlets and models wearing the leopard skin. But when did this exotic appeal of the Dark Continent really begin? We need to go back to the early days of Pre-Tiki when sound in motion pictures was first introduced. The early 1930's were host to a film genre called the "Jungle Picture". These films ranged in subject from expeditionary documentaries, to straight adventure, and horror.

The best example of the sexual allure of these films is the Tarzan series starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan. Well actually not the whole series but the first two films (they were pre-code, but I'll get to that in a minute). Although Tarzan is a jungle adventure story, it has an underlying sexual premise. Jane Parker, a proper English lady on expedition, gets all hot and bothered after experiencing Tarzan's ape man charm. She then decides to abandon civilization and "go native". This is well shown in the superior 2nd film "Tarzan and His Mate" (1934), where she's prancing around in one of the skimpiest jungle bikinis in cinema history. It consists of a leather string supporting two narrow animal skins covering her front and back, but leaving her hips completely bare. She's obviously not wearing anything underneath.

Also Tarzan and Jane got to enjoy a sexual relationship outside the bounds of Christian matrimony. Note the title of the film - "Tarzan and his MATE". Who in the jungle was there to marry them? This was some hot stuff for a 1930's American movie audience. Especially eye-popping was Jane's nude swim scene. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f33Xhkfz6Ek

While not a Jungle picture, the most iconic (albeit politically incorrect) example of Africa's mid-century erotic appeal is Marlene Dietrich's famous nightclub scene in "Blonde Venus" (1932). Here she's dressed in a gorilla suit being lead around by a chorus of dancers in blackface. She sheds the suit and jumps into the song "Hot Voodoo".

Here's a sample of the lyrics:

Hot voodoo, black as mud
Hot voodoo, in my blood
That African tempo, has made a slave

Hot voodoo, dance of sin
Hot voodoo, worse than gin
I'd follow a cave man, right into his cave

Got voodoo, head to toes
Hot voodoo, burn my clothes
I want to start dancing, just wearing a smile

Hot voodoo, makes me wild
Oh fireman, save this child
I going to blazes
I want to be bad!

Here's the full scene - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyVrH1OfVjw (And yes that's Cary Grant).

Actually the first several years of movie sound were a hotbed for some pretty racy films. Not to get off my topic, but here are some of my favorites:

1. Public Enemy (1931) - James Cagney showing that crime does pay (until the last 10 seconds of the film).
2. Freaks (1932) - The main characters were actual circus freaks !! The ending is a shocker even by today's standards.
3. Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) - Boris Karloff in yellow face as the good doctor and Myrna Loy as his S&M loving daughter.
4. Baby Face (1933) - Barbara Stanwyck literally sleeps her way to the top of a bank.

Eventually all of this caught up with the movie studios. In 1934, based on protests from church groups and local decency organizations, the Hayes Code was enforced. The code was a list of industry censorship guidelines that put an end to the glorification of crime, extramarital sex, and gruesome horror.

Here's a picture comparing the pre-code Jane to the code-enforced Jane. :( And from that point on all of the Tarzan pictures switched from being suggestive adult fare to wholesome family entertainment.

OK so after that, where did all of the hot jungle action migrate to? That will be the topic of my next post where I cover the "Good Girl Art" Jungle Girls of the 1940's.

Please feel free share your comments but please let's not turn this into a cheesecake image thread just yet. Yeah I know you love Bettie in her leopard skin and your Exotica album art, but don't worry we'll get to that. Right now I'm trying to focus on subject matter that hasn't been covered on TC before and I'd like to keep the time line intact. I'll tell you right now though, I don't want to see any Hula Girls showing up unless they're being eaten by a lion or being boiled by African cannibals. :)

So for now "Umgawa" (Which in the Jungle pics meant either "Goodbye" or "Lead me to the elephant graveyard or I'll shoot your monkey").

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2010-02-10 12:00 ]