FOR OPENERS... It’s always the same when I am interviewed about Tarzan. Since I was seven-years-old to the present,
my answers have changed, but the questions remain the same. It didn’t matter where I was in the world or where I am today the FIRST
question is: “Are you REALLY the Johnny Sheffield who played ‘Boy’ on TARZAN with Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan?” And
the SECOND question is ALWAYS: “What was it like working with Johnny Weissmuller?”
My answer is YES to the first
question. After having had 61 years to think about it, I want to share with you my current response to Question #2.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE
working with Johnny Weissmuller? I knew one day I would become the last living member of my “Jungle Family” and I could then say anything
I wished about those times without fear of contradiction. Yes, Big John had a BAD SIDE! You never saw it, but it was there. Johnny
Weissmuller was a Superstar whether he was performing on the “Silver Screen,” in the water “Swimming for Gold,” or just walking around.
Wherever he went Big John gave off a special light and it shown for all of us to see. Fortunately, some of that light got into me.
I first met Big John 62 years ago at M.G.M. He has been with me ever since, creating a lasting influence on my
life. I didn’t know it then, but as time passed I could see very clearly how Big John was different from most and how being around
him started a clock ticking in my head a lot like the one in his. Here, right in my life, was a champion, an UNDEFEATED Olympic world
champion. There are a lot of us who feel he is UNBEATABLE as the character of Tarzan as well. The most important thing for me about
Johnny Weissmuller is he always had time for Boy/me. This man might well have been aloof with no time for me other than what was called
for in the script. This was not the case. Johnny Weissmuller loved me and I knew it and I loved him. When I was near, he always had
a kind word for me when I might easily have passed by unnoticed.
FUN & GAMES WITH TARZAN... Big John loved
to PLAY. He liked good-looking women, flashy clothes and toys. He owned a Lincoln with the “Continental Pack” on the back; he loved
that Lincoln. He drove it on the studio lot and to and from location. In the trunk he kept his golf clubs and practice balls as well
as some swimming gear (i.e., trunks, face plate, and swim fins). Behind the scenes Big John would play with me. On location, when
I wasn’t in school, he would call me and we would go over to that Continental trunk for some golf gear and would “hit a few balls”
together. Tarzan loved golf. We played “Hollywood frisbee.” We used the lid from a 35mm film can as that was before there were commercial
frisbees on the market. Big John loved to WIN and he gave me HIS WINNING ATTITUDE. He said to think of it this way: “When they step
up look down the line and SEE that there are two kinds there (swimmers, golfers, card players, etc.)—the ones who are going to LOSE
and ME!” Hey, it worked for Big John. On the set, Big John taught me how to play gin rummy. He always wanted to WIN and usually
did. He got a special TWINKLE in his eye when he got a FAST GO DOWN hand and stuck me with a lot of cards. He loved to lean forward
a bit and get in my face and say: “GIN! Count ‘em up, Boy!” Sometimes I caught him with a fist full of cards and I KNEW what to DO,
FEEL, and SAY! Big John gave me his love for winning.
I am often asked, “What was it like swimming with Tarzan?”
Well, Big John was NEVER DEFEATED in his swimming career. I know I never beat him! He was like a motorboat in the water. Carl Curtis
at his Beverly Hills Swimming School taught me how to keep from DROWNING and TARZAN taught me how to SWIM. The thing I remember most
about swimming with Johnny Weissmuller was that he was always playing around in and with the water. He would come up close to you,
put his face down in the water, and start turning his head from side to side blowing bubbles and making very loud incomprehensible
sounds. Suddenly, he would sweep his head up in your face with an EXPLOSIVE shout ASKING: “How old are you!?” This startled me and
we would laugh. In the water together we always made “Oink Oink, Ahhnnk Ahhnnk” and other seal-like noises antiphonally to each other.
That was a GIVEN among “water men.”
Big John would cup his two hands together underwater and pull water into his
palms. Then he would lift them above water and, through an orifice made where his little fingers lapped, he would SQUIRT a steady
stream of water right in your eyes. He would repeat that a couple of times and then as if by mistake, he would let the water come
out backwards through his thumbs and squirt HIMSELF right in the face! Then we really laughed! It makes me feel good all over just
thinking about it. This little SQUIRT business was always good for a belly laugh between us and from the spectators and crew.
When we swam together Big John would instruct me in ways to improve my stroke. He had other swimming tips for me. He showed me how
to swim in the Chicago river. That was really funny and informative. Because of the debris and fecal matter, he instructed me to do
a sort of breast/splash stroke using my cupped palms to splash water away from my head when reaching out for the power stroke.
As yet I have not swum in the Chicago river, but armed with this Weissmuller technique I have swum safely in other waters. So have
many of our fighting men who were taught, by Big John, the same technique to swim safely in Flaming Waters during the 2nd World War.
He showed me where to hold the water on my forehead for racing and how to hold my head out of the water while swimming for the camera.
That was difficult, but Big John showed me a little trick when he instructed me to “slip on these Owen Churchill swim fins for the
camera.” You couldn’t see them and it made me feel as powerful as a crocodile! Some of the swimming we did for the camera was difficult
and scary; Big John coached me through it all and I improved over the years. Imagine what it was like as a BOY to have Johnny Weissmuller
as my personal Swimming Pal! Swimming was PLAY with Tarzan and Boy.