No Quiet Man, No Problem

New at Reason: Did Stalin want to bump off the Duke as a favor to Tarzan? Chuck Freund asks the tough question.

Comments

[Warren]

Is it just me? Or is anybody else disturbed by the 'Peoplefication' of Reason?

e.g. http://www.reason.com/hod/kh073103.shtml

[James]

Yes, lately Reason has gone to pot!

e.g. http://www.reason.com/links/links071103.shtml

[John Hood]

Actually, the odd idea of Stalin wanting to bump John Wayne off as a favor to Tarzan is even more odd than Freund may know. There is actually a novel in the Tarzan series -- Tarzan the Invincible, I believe -- which which Stalin appears at the beginning as a character. He sends an agent to Africa to kill Tarzan, who is (naturally) inhibiting Soviet subversion and various communist plots throughout the jungle. Could this have been some kind of inside joke on Edgar Rice Burroughs' part? Or just a coincidence? No way would People be up to the task of finding out, but I'm sure Reason has what it takes to discover the truth.

[C.P. Freund]

nothing stands in the way of reason's search for the truth: Tarzan the Invincible appeared in 1931, and is not all that likely to be burrough's comment on stalin's (reported) order to assassinate john wayne some 20 years later, an event linked by me to johnny weissmuller's flagging career in 2003. let people mag top that.

[John Hood]

There you go, ruining a perfectly good and silly comment by actually looking up publication dates.

No fair.

[J Canuck]

The Duke would have wiped the floor with that pinko.