Tarzan yell
The Tarzan yell or Tarzan's jungle call is the distinctive, ululating yell of the character Tarzan as portrayed by actor Johnny Weissmuller in the films based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs starting with "Tarzan the Ape Man" (1932). The yell was a creation of the movies based on what Burroughs described in his books as simply "the victory cry of the bull ape." History and origin. Although the RKO Picture version of the Tarzan yell was putatively that of Weissmuller, different stories exist as to how the Tarzan yell was created. One claim is  that a man named Lloyd Thomas Leech was the original voice behind the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Tarzan yell. He was an opera singer from the 1940s into the '60s, winning the Chicagoland Music Festival on August 17, 1946, and going on to sing throughout the U.S., touring with several opera companies. There are recordings of his recollections of creating the Tarzan yell, a story supported by his children and grandchildren. According to the newspaper columnist L. M. Boyd (circa 1970), "Blended in with that voice are the growl of a dog, a trill sung by a soprano, a note played  on a violin's G string and the howl of a hyena recorded backward." According to Bill Moyers, it was created by combining the recordings of three men: one baritone, one tenor, and one hog caller from Arkansas. Another widely published notion concerns the use of an Austrian yodel played backwards at abnormally fast speed. But Weissmuller claimed that the yell was actually his own voice. His version is supported by his son and by his Tarzan co-star, Maureen O'Sullivan. Trademark. The sound itself is a registered trademark and service mark, owned by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Recognition of  the trademark's registration within the European Union is uncertain. In late 2007, the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) determined that attempts by ERB, Inc. to maintain such trademark must fail legally, reasoning that "[w]hat has been filed as a graphic representation is from the outset not capable of serving as a graphic representation of the applied-for sound ... The examiner was therefore correct to refuse the attribution of a filing date." Regardless, the trademark registration was updated in 2010 (to include slot machines) and 2014 (to include online use). Other Tarzan yells. The first ever version  of the yell can be found in the part-sound serial "Tarzan the Tiger" (1929). This version is described as a "Nee-Yah!" noise. In the 1932 Tarzan radio serial with James Pierce the yell sounds like "Taaar-maan-ganiii". In the ape language mentioned in the Tarzan novels "Tarmangani" means "White Ape". A very similar cry was used for Burroughs' own Tarzan film, "The New Adventures of Tarzan" (1935), shot concurrently with the MGM Weissmuller movies in Central America with Herman Brix as a cultured Tarzan. The yell can best be described as a "Mmmmm-ann-gann-niii" sound  that gradually rises ever higher in pitch. Elmo Lincoln recreated his victory cry in a 1952 episode of "You Asked for It". Tarzan's yell is used as a melodic refrain in the Baltimora single "Tarzan Boy". This refrain plays in place of an ordinary Tarzan yell when Haru climbs and struggles to keep his balance on the top of a palm tree in "Beverly Hills Ninja". The refrain was also used in a 1993 jungle-themed advert for Listerine's Cool Mint mouthwash. In the 1991 TV series "Land of the Lost", Christa (played by Shannon Day) used a  similar sounding version of the yell that was used to calm certain animals. In the 1999 Disney animated film "Tarzan", the character himself lets out an updated version of his jungle call at various moments. The yell is dubbed by Brian Blessed, who voiced the villain Clayton. This was done after Tony Goldwyn, who voiced the title character, blew his vocals. Jane (as portrayed by Maureen O'Sullivan) used a variation of the Tarzan yell.