Sy Weintraub
Encyclopedia
Sy Weintraub was a movie and television producer best known for his series of Tarzan
films and television episodes between 1959 and 1968. Weintraub broke with the Johnny Weissmuller
formula of portraying Tarzan as a pidgin
-speaking noble savage who lives in a treehouse with Jane and Boy. Instead, his Tarzan was an educated loner, much closer to Edgar Rice Burroughs
's original conception of the character. Weintraub also produced two Sherlock Holmes
films for television and was an owner of Panavision
.
service in the US Army he formed Flamingo Films with David L. Wolper
who acquired the television
rights to Eagle-Lion Films
in 1951. Starting in 1958, Weintraub took over the Tarzan
franchise from Sol Lesser and began producing Tarzan films made on actual locations (most previous Tarzan films had been shot on studio sets, with stock jungle footage edited in). He decided to drop the character of Jane and portray Tarzan as an well-spoken lone adventurer. Weintraub started with Tarzan's Greatest Adventure
(1959
) and its follow-up, Tarzan the Magnificent
(1960
) both with Gordon Scott
. Weintraub then produced Tarzan Goes to India
and Tarzan's Three Challenges
(filmed in Thailand
) both with Jock Mahoney
. In 1965 Weintraub filmed three Tarzan films back to back with former Los Angeles Rams football star Mike Henry; Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (Mexico), Tarzan and the Great River
and Tarzan and the Jungle Boy
both filmed in Brazil. When Henry was tired of his gruelling Tarzan work and refused to do the television series
, Weintraub hired Ron Ely for the role.
In 1965 Weintraub bought Panavision
but sold it later. He was briefly in 1967, the president of the CBS Television Network. Weintraub claimed to have discovered several starlet
s, including actress Goldie Hawn
.
In 1982 Weintraub planned to co-produce six Sherlock Holmes
films for television but only two, The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles
both with Ian Richardson
were produced in 1983. When Weintraub discovered that Granada Television
had acquired the rights for their own series with Jeremy Brett
he was awarded damages in an out of court settlement.
In 1997, he unsuccessfully sued artist Hiro Yamagata
, alleging the latter had reneged on a contract to produce art for Weintraub. After a trial in Santa Monica Superior Court, however, the Jury sided with Yamagata. In that legal action, he was represented by Attorney David Ganezer.
In retirement, he speculated in the silver
market, owned race horses and built one of the world's largest collections of ancient coins
.
He had two daughters, Lori Weintraub, an attorney in Century City, and Cynthia Weintraub, a professor at Harvard University.
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
films and television episodes between 1959 and 1968. Weintraub broke with the Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...
formula of portraying Tarzan as a pidgin
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...
-speaking noble savage who lives in a treehouse with Jane and Boy. Instead, his Tarzan was an educated loner, much closer to Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
's original conception of the character. Weintraub also produced two Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
films for television and was an owner of Panavision
Panavision
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during the widescreen boom in the 1950s, Panavision expanded its product...
.
Career
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
service in the US Army he formed Flamingo Films with David L. Wolper
David L. Wolper
David Lloyd Wolper was an American television and film producer, responsible for shows such as Roots, The Thorn Birds, North & South, L.A. Confidential, and the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory...
who acquired the television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
rights to Eagle-Lion Films
Eagle-Lion Films
Eagle-Lion Films was a British film production company owned by J. Arthur Rank intended to release British productions in the United States. In 1947 it acquired PRC Pictures, a small American production company, to produce B Pictures to accompany the British releases...
in 1951. Starting in 1958, Weintraub took over the Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
franchise from Sol Lesser and began producing Tarzan films made on actual locations (most previous Tarzan films had been shot on studio sets, with stock jungle footage edited in). He decided to drop the character of Jane and portray Tarzan as an well-spoken lone adventurer. Weintraub started with Tarzan's Greatest Adventure
Tarzan's Greatest Adventure
Tarzan's Greatest Adventure is a 1959 adventure film directed by John Guillermin, produced by Sy Weintraub and Harvey Hayutin, and written by Les Crutchfield . The film features a literate Tarzan portrayed by Gordon Scott. The character of Jane does not appear. Cheeta only appears a few times...
(1959
1959 in film
The year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters....
) and its follow-up, Tarzan the Magnificent
Tarzan the Magnificent
Tarzan the Magnificent is a 1960 British film, the follow-up to Tarzan's Greatest Adventure . It was directed by Robert Day and produced by Sy Weintraub. Gordon Scott makes his last appearance as Tarzan while Jock Mahoney appeared as villain Coy Banton...
(1960
1960 in film
The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...
) both with Gordon Scott
Gordon Scott
Gordon Scott was an American film and television actor known for his portrayal of the fictional character Tarzan in five films of the Tarzan film series from 1955 to 1960.-Early life, education and military service:He was born Gordon Merrill Werschkul in Portland,...
. Weintraub then produced Tarzan Goes to India
Tarzan Goes to India
Tarzan Goes to India is the first film featuring Jock Mahoney as Tarzan. It was written by Robert Hardy Andrews and directed by John Guillermin who also directed Tarzan's Greatest Adventure. It was one of two Mahoney films that took Tarzan out of Africa and sent him to the far east...
and Tarzan's Three Challenges
Tarzan's Three Challenges
Tarzan's Three Challenges is a British-American adventure film filmed in Metrocolor, which is a followup to 1962's Tarzan Goes to India. The movie was Jock Mahoney's second and final turn as the apeman, was produced by Sy Weintraub, written by Robert Day and Berne Giler, and directed by Robert Day...
(filmed in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
) both with Jock Mahoney
Jock Mahoney
Jock Mahoney was an American actor and stuntman of Irish, French, and Cherokee ancestry. Born Jacques O'Mahoney, he was credited variously as Jock Mahoney, Jack O'Mahoney or Jock O'Mahoney. He starred in two television series, both westerns...
. In 1965 Weintraub filmed three Tarzan films back to back with former Los Angeles Rams football star Mike Henry; Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (Mexico), Tarzan and the Great River
Tarzan and the Great River
Tarzan and the Great River is an adventure Eastmancolor film starring Mike Henry in his second outing as a James Bond-like globetrotting Tarzan of his three Tarzan movies. The movie was produced by Sy Weintraub and Steve Shagan, written by Bob Barbash , and directed by Robert Day...
and Tarzan and the Jungle Boy
Tarzan and the Jungle Boy
Tarzan and the Jungle Boy is an adventure Eastmancolor film starring Mike Henry in his third and final outing as a James Bond-like globetrotting Tarzan. Rafer Johnson and Aliza Gur co-star. The movie was produced by Sy Weintraub and Robert Day, written by Stephen Lord and directed by Robert...
both filmed in Brazil. When Henry was tired of his gruelling Tarzan work and refused to do the television series
Tarzan (NBC series)
Tarzan is a series that aired on NBC from 1966 – 1968. The series portrayed Tarzan as a well-educated character, one who, tired of civilization, had returned to the jungle where he had been raised...
, Weintraub hired Ron Ely for the role.
In 1965 Weintraub bought Panavision
Panavision
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during the widescreen boom in the 1950s, Panavision expanded its product...
but sold it later. He was briefly in 1967, the president of the CBS Television Network. Weintraub claimed to have discovered several starlet
Starlet
Starlet may refer to:*Toyota Starlet, car*Corby Starlet, airplane*The Starlet, reality TV show*Starlet sea anemone, a species of sea anemone native to the east coast of the United States...
s, including actress Goldie Hawn
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
.
In 1982 Weintraub planned to co-produce six Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
films for television but only two, The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of four crime novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country and tells the story of an...
both with Ian Richardson
Ian Richardson
Ian William Richardson CBE was a Scottish actor best known for his portrayal of the Machiavellian Tory politician Francis Urquhart in the BBC's House of Cards trilogy. He was also a leading Shakespearean stage actor....
were produced in 1983. When Weintraub discovered that Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
had acquired the rights for their own series with Jeremy Brett
Jeremy Brett
Jeremy Brett , born Peter Jeremy William Huggins, was an English actor, most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in four Granada TV series.-Early life:...
he was awarded damages in an out of court settlement.
In 1997, he unsuccessfully sued artist Hiro Yamagata
Hiro Yamagata
is a Japanese author, critic, economist, and translator. He translated some important works in computer technology such as "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" by Eric S. Raymond, "Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace" by Lawrence Lessig into Japanese...
, alleging the latter had reneged on a contract to produce art for Weintraub. After a trial in Santa Monica Superior Court, however, the Jury sided with Yamagata. In that legal action, he was represented by Attorney David Ganezer.
In retirement, he speculated in the silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
market, owned race horses and built one of the world's largest collections of ancient coins
Coin collecting
Coin collecting is the collecting or trading of coins or other forms of minted legal tender.Coins of interest to collectors often include those that circulated for only a brief time, coins with mint errors and especially beautiful or historically significant pieces. Coin collecting can be...
.
He had two daughters, Lori Weintraub, an attorney in Century City, and Cynthia Weintraub, a professor at Harvard University.