Looking Back: Swoonworthy Tarzan comes to town
One hundred fifty years ago, Sept. 21, 1872, Charlevoix Sentinel editor Willard A. Smith apologized for “the dearth of local items this week.” He made up for it with several column fillers, one of which was “A BIG POND,” regarding the intricate network of waterways that stretched east and north of Elk Rapids, taking in Elk Lake, Torch Lake, Clam River and Lake, Intermediate River and Lake “and we don’t know how many more that lead a very long way into the interior. Where Elk river empties into the bay there is a fall of about seven feet, but by the chute, which is narrow, there seems to be no great quantity of water running and the river appears insignificant, while the lakes are shut out by the hills in the rear.
“’A preacher who was visiting in the Rapids, failed to comprehend how so little water could be made to run so much machinery, and not discovering any important resources he said to John Denahy, one of the foremen of the mill, ‘My friend, it seems to me that there is not sufficient water here, and certainly that it is not much of a mill pond; how far does it extend?’
“’Only about ninety miles’ replied John, leaving the interrogater to pursue his aquatic researches in such a manner and to such an extent as best suited him, he quietly gurgled off to business.”
Fifty years later, the Sept. 21, 1922 Sentinel reported that finally, finally, Belvedere Avenue was going to be paved, at least from Bridge Street as far as Alice Street. Ever since it had been laid out 50 years earlier, the road was nothing but a rutted two track that, for the Belvedere resorters, was such a jolting adventure by either car or horse-drawn wagon that they preferred to take a boat across Round Lake to reach downtown. Work was expected to begin soon, pending an anticipated city approval, after the resort season was over, and was expected to be finished by June 1, 1923.
“This work will make Belvedere Avenue one of the best thoroughfares in the city, a decided improvement as for some time past, as at present, it is one of the worst, as being as it is one of the leading and most traveled streets in the city notwithstanding the fact that large sums of money and a vast amount of labor has been expended to make this driveway even passable.”
In the same issue, the Belvedere resort announced a huge capital improvements program that would update their hotel and add a new building to the grounds, the still in existence green “casino” at the turn of Belvedere Avenue onto Ferry Avenue. “IMPROVEMENTS AT BELVEDERE. Approximately Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars Will Be Spent.” A Google search reveals, depending on the source, that that amount is between $1,209,000 and $1,323,000 in today’s dollars. It “ ... will be required to pay the expense of improvements under contemplation in connection with the hotel, the building of a Casino and other changes essential to make the entire property modern and strictly up to date, from an architectural standpoint for extreme comfort and conveniences.
“The entire grounds, together with its surroundings, is one of Nature’s beauty spots that has been a potent factor in making Charlevoix famous. With the modernizing of the big hotel increasing its capacity materially and the erection of a big new casino comes other changes,” one of which would be the addition of a spacious sunroom on the northeast corner of the hotel that provided its guest a stunning view down the length of Lake Charlevoix. Those guests would include Edward Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan, the “Untouchable” himself, Eliot Ness, and crooner Bing Crosby.
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Speaking of Burroughs, 1922 was also the year that a serialized “The Adventures of Tarzan,” based on the latter chapters of his novel “The Return of Tarzan,” was coming to the local Palace movie theater beginning Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. Each succeeding episode would be shown on Wednesdays over the next 14 weeks. “This serial offers an engrossing story of suspense, mystery, romance and thrills laid in the heart of the African jungle.” The star of the show was Elmo Lincoln, a swoonworthy giant of a man, who became world famous with his Tarzan portrayal, one of Hollywood’s first megastars.
On a personal note, this writer remembers his mother reminiscing about this epic about to arrive in Charlevoix when she was 10 years old. It was the biggest event of the year for every kid in town. The agonizing wait for “The Adventures” was worse than that for Christmas, she said. She wheedled her parents for the few cents required every week for admission, as did every other kid from their parents, and the Palace was packed to the gills for the entire 14 weeks. After each screening, the latest episode was all the town talked about. Such was the power of Hollywood at one time.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Looking Back: Swoonworthy Tarzan comes to town
