Page 8/The Battalion/Monday, January 23, 1984
Tarzan entombed Sunday
United Press International
ACAPULCO, Mexico —
Olympic swimming champion
and film star Johnny Weissmul
ler was entombed Sunday in a
funeral attended by hundreds
of local residents and a chimp,
but no Hollywood colleagues
and few relatives came to mourn
“Tarzan the Ape Man.”
Weissmuller, who won gold
medals at two Olympics and mo
tion picture fame as “Tarzan,”
died Saturday of a lung block
age, doctors said. He was 79.
An estimated 1,500 Mex
icans, many of them children,
gathered at the downtown Aca
pulco funeral home as the cor
tege, escorted by six police
motorcycles, set off on the 12-
mile journey to the Valley of
Light cemetery, north of the re
sort town 250 miles south of
Mexico City.
The chimp, named Samanta
About 1,000 of the Mexicans
followed the cortege on foot or
in buses as it proceeded slowly to
the cemetery where Weissmul
ler’s body was interred in a mar
ble tomb.
ap,
— Spanish for Samantha — is
the mascot of Acapulco res
taurant-owner Jose Rodriquez.
Jose Estrada, who worked as
Weissmuller’s double in a Mex
ican-made Tarzan movie, was
also present.
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A few American tourists were
in evidence in the crowd that
accompanied the cortege, but
none of the Hollywood celebri
ties Weissmuller worked with
were present, residents said.
Weissmuller’s wife Maria,
appearing grim and upset, re
fused any comment to repor
ters. Neither daughter Lisa nor
other family members were pre
sent at the funeral.
then as the breast-beating, loin-
clothed king of the jungle in the
film versions of Edgar Rice Bur
roughs’ famed “Tarzan” stories.
“My doctor said I should take
up some sort of exercise to build
myself up,” Weissmuller once
recalled. “I got into a swimming
pool at the YMCA and liked it,”
he said. “And I found I had a
natural flair for it.”
A chimpanzee, like Tarzan’s
ever-present movie companion
Cheetah, accompanied the pro
cession.
Weissmuller overcame child
hood polio and went on to win
five gold medals in the 1924 and
1928 Olympics before appear
ing in some two dozen films.
Born in Windber, Pa., June 2,
1904, Weissmuller rose to prom
inence first as a world-class
swimmer — he never lost a
swimming competition — and
A handsome 200-pounder in
1930, Weissmuller was working
out at the Hollywood Athletic
Club’s pool when he was seen by
novelist Cyril Hume, who was
writing a screenplay for a Tar
zan picture.
Alter a screen test, the former
swimmer got the part.
Although there were other
Tarzans before and after him,
Weissmuller was the most
popular.
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Houston Chronicle
Houston’s leading information source
Riverside seeks to beat
importers’ competition
United Press International
DALLAS — Under the
direction of Richard Udouj,
Riverside Furniture Corp. has
just completed its best year
ever. Still, he warns that grea
ter productivity is needed be-
cause “the imports are
coming.”
Riverside, a subsidiary of
Arkansas Best Corp., is the na
tion’s largest maker of home
desks. The company also
makes tables, chairs, wall un
its, home entertainment cen
ters, computer furniture and
gun cabinets at its five factor
ies in Fort Smith, Ark.
Udouj is a firm believer that
good employees, properly
motivated and equippea with
modern and efficient manu
facturing equipment, can
meet challenges from over
seas. But Riverside is constant
ly striving for a goal of greater
production without lowering
quality.
In 1974 Riverside had total
sales of $30 million with a
work force of 1,800 em
ployees. In 1983 the company
set a sales record of $70 mil
lion with 1,100 workers.
“We are fortunate to be lo
cated in one of the last areas of
the world in which people still
give you a day’s work for a
day’s pay,” he said in an inter
view at the recent Dallas Win
ter Homefurnishing Market.
When the company en
countered financial problems
in the recession year of 1982,
Udouj said, its employees re
sponded with greater produc
tion.
“We cut the price of furni
ture in ’82 to keep sales up and
there were no layoffs,” he
said. “But we worked some
short weeks.”
Riverside’s goal this year is
to produce more furniture
without increasing the work
force.
“We’ll need better produc
tivity because the imports are
coming,” he said. "Taiwan,
Singapore and Korea are the
immediate threats.”
Greater productivity can be
accomplished with more mod
ern equipment, Udouj says.
He expects to introduce
robots into Riverside’s factor
ies this year. Training and
keeping skilled workers is
another key to better produc
tivity.
puter desks. “The first total
new product you’ve had i
years,” the booklet says.
The booklet describes dif
ferent types of computersand
the proper desks for them
“Statistics show that 60 per
cent of people who buy a com
puter today will buy furniture
toaccomodate that computer
within two years,” it says.
It urges retailers to become
familiar with the computer
market. “Always display your!,
computer desks with a realfe
computer,” it advises. “Yot ?’
won’t have to buy one if you're iR
on good terms with yourlodj
computer store; simply wort,. ,,
out a trade.™
On the sales end, Udouj
wants Riverside to be a leader
in making computer desks, a
product-line expansion which
he believes will boost company
sales. The company has pro
duced a booklet to guide its
4,000 dealers in sales of com-
The book also has a l
sary of basic computer terms.|
A second marketing idei
being pushed by Riversidei
the gallery of desks concept.
The company wants retailer!
to feature desks arrangedin|
gallery-style presentationj
Riverside will send in at
ner to suggest how theretailei
should display the desisl
advising on such aspects J
lighting, wall coverings, qi[
peting and even woodwortj
At the factory, a Riversidtj
coordinator is appointed it]
expeditite handhngofehe^]
lery order.
It
Pitch aimed at Reagan
Kids make commercial!
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Three
fifth graders will make their
pitch in radio spots this week as
part of a campaign by the Amer
ican Federation of Teachers to
get President Reagan to spend
more on education.
cized Reagan for seeking cuts in
money to public schools.
Shanker said the 580,000-
member AFT recommends fed
eral funding of education be
raised to about $18 billion dur
ing fiscal 1985 — up $3 billion
from current levels.
The children, students at an
elementary school in Houston,
talk about teachers, discipline
and their future in the 60-
second ads prepared to coincide
with Reagan’s State of the Union
address Wednesday.
1 he “special message to Pres
ident Reagan and Congress” will
be aired Tuesday, Wednesday
and Thursday on most of the
860 stations of the Mutual Radio
Network. The teachers union is
paying for the announcements,
but information on the cost was
not available.
The children participating in
the spots are Laura Turner,
Jacob Farinelli and Demosth
enes Psifidis, all of Longfellow
Elementary School for the Per
forming Arts. Jacob’s father is
principal of the public school.
Laura: “Most teachers!
really great — trying to ta]
track of 25 kids — that’s at
job.”
Announcer: “Jacob, hono
you feel about discipline?”
Jacob; “l realty led site
about discipline and I wisfifl
kids could be not disrupt*
while other people nj
working.”
“We went with the kids as a
new way to get across the mes
sage,” said Ruth Whiteman, an
AFT spokeswoman.
After the announcer!
there is “an unfinished agi
for education” that desen
presidential and congressio
support for' excellence, eqr
and teacher pay, Demo isaib
“ Any last message for Pre
Reagan?”
Fc
“The theme of the spots (is)
what the AFT believes is the un
finished federal agenda in edu
cation,” said AFT President
Albert Shanker, who has criti-
The first spot, which will run
before the State of the Union
address, begins with an announ
cer asking, “Laura, President
Reagan will be making his State
of the Union speech soon. What
would you like to tell him about
teachers?”
Demo; “Good luck!"
In the second spot, wl
run the after the Stateoflhtli
ion. Demo is asked if “edu
is important to prepare him
his future.”
Demo: “If ypu wanttogd
job it’s important. If you want
get a hard job, like in compulfi
you have to know a lot, lot,I#
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United Press Internationil ' v h>ch \
around
DALLAS — An assistantf ^ La F<
planner said a search fores' zation,
funds has been launchedto<4 food fe
er security costs not included the pas
federal election grants or ihtj
ty’s $3.1 million budget for{
Republican Party conveiP
this summer.
Stanley H. Kaplan
The Smart
MOVE!
Levi Davis said the bul
allows a cushion ofol
$ 100,000 for dn simiscellan(J
costs. He said he’s lookingfl
$150,000 to $200,000 gd
possibly from the Repp
party.
• GOP officials said theyd
know whether they will sifl
merit the budget. A spokest
for the party, Bill Greener,
they have not yet I)
approached by city planned
Greener said the pad
budget is not complete andi
not know whether enou
funds will remain to trit*
Dallas.
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Both the Republican
Democratic parties recei'™
$5,871 million frofn thej
Elections Commission.
The parties are mounti'
bipartisan effort to extract®
funds from the FEC to
swallow security costs, whit
til this year were included®
initial grants.
Both Dallas and San FH
co, which is hosting theft
cratic convention, will oft
security budgets approxii®
$2 million less than the 1
convention costs.
Greener said Republics®
happy with Dallas' set 6
plans. Dallas’ chief of
also said they aren’t worrit
out safety precautions,