BUSTER CRABBE - INVITATION SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: JOHNNY WEISSMULLER - HFSID 250320

BUSTER CRABBE and JOHNNY WEISSMULLER
Program for a 1976 New York testimonial dinner held by the World Body Building Guild and honoring Buster Crabbe, Johnny Weissmuller and two others. Both played Tarzan on the silver screen and were Olympic gold medal swimmers.
Program and invitation signed "Buster Crabbe" and "Johnny/Weissmuller", both in blue ink. 4 pages, 5½x8½ (folded), 1 sheet folded, front and verso, printed on cardstock.Testimonial dinner of the World Body Building Guild honoring Crabbe, Weissmuller, Boyer Coe and Sergio Oliva. Held at the New York Sheraton Hotel on September 11, 1976.Signed by photos (each b/w, 1¼x1¾) on inside cover. Crabbe (1908-1983, born Clarence Linden Crabbe in Oakland, California), who won the Gold Medal in the 400-meter swim at the 1932 Olympic games, went on to star in over 100 adventure films, many set in outer space (most as Flash Gordon) and the Wild West (as Billy "the Kid" Carson). In 1933, Crabbe also starred as Tarzan in the Principal Pictures 16-part serial film. Ironically, in winning his Olympic medal, Crabbe had broken the record set by MGM's rival Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller. WEISSMULLER (1904-1984, born Janos Weissmuller in Freidorf, Banat, Austria-Hungary, now Romania) won five gold medals as a swimmer at the 1924 and 1928 Olympics, setting many free-style records. He appeared in several sports shorts, then was hired by MGM to play Tarzan onscreen. Beginning in 1932, Weismuller starred in 12 Tarzan adventures, from Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) to Tarzan and the Mermaid (1948), doing almost no other film work. In the late 1940s he quit Tarzan and began starring in a new series, Jungle Jim, while occasionally appearing in other films through the mid 1950s, after which he retired from acting. Lightly toned and creased, otherwise in fine condition.