Ramar of the Jungle

Ramar was weekly viewing fare in our house. What would seem corny to today's children was then watched in awe. Information would come to the party via a runner who had to cover more miles than a Range Roveer to get there. I seem to recall a Territorial police official who seems to appear out of nowhere to take someone into custody after Reynolds and Ogden ended their criminal career. Looking back I can still see some of the makeup and costumes that had a lot to be desired to be convincing by today's standards. But, that was then and the good guys always won. There was always a good moral ending to each episode. Babbet the monkey, was a great character too. I even had a "Ramar of the Jungle" board game! I would love to watch this series today.

If you want adventure and action this is the show to watch. Ramar brought medical help to all who needed it, the local natives who he had to educate to modern medicine, fellow adventurer Professor Ogden, or animals. After helping out in Africa he spent his final season in India.

I stepped off the school bus in 1954 and saw a man installing an antenna on the roof. My brothers and sisters and I ran into the house and the first show we saw was Ramar of the Jungle. I'll never forget it as long as I live. TV was simple and entertaining back then. We weren't allowed to watch all day but there wasn't much for a kid to watch after the cartoons in the morning until late afternoon when Ramar of the Jungle came on and other shows like it. At night we watched mostly westerns and cop shows and shows about WWII. They are all fond memories of my childhood. I watch a lot of the same shows today and think how corny they were compared to what we have today but we loved them at the time. Before we got our TV, we had to go into town and watch my big brother's TV. It was usually the Wednesday night fights we watched.

I enjoyed this series as a kid in the 1950's, and I am enjoying it even more now with the DVD releases. Dr. Reynolds and Professor Ogden (Jon Hall and Ray Montgomery) were one of the smoothest working teams ever! Some of their adventures were in Africa while others were in India, but they never failed to provide wholesome (although sometimes violent) entertainment. Their supporting characters (James Fairfax as Charlie, Ludwig Stossel as Peter Van Tyne, M'Liss McClure as Trudy Van Tyne, Nick Stewart as Willy-Willy, and Victor Millan as Zahir) were always dependable, loyal, and lovable. If you like jungle adventures, this series is really fun to watch!

Just as Hollywood was getting far more realistic in its depiction of Africa starting with The African Queen and King Solomon's Mines, television took up the slack with all the clichés that had been done in Africa based films.

Ramar of the Jungle was filmed as a syndicated series in the last days of European colonialism. It starred Jon Hall as Dr. Tom Reynolds who was born to missionary parents there and now was giving back to the community so to speak. His science sidekick was Ray Montgomery as Howard Ogden who was simply identified as a chemist. These two were in every episode.

Hall and Montgomery had several other regulars, a different guide every season. James Fairfax was in for one season as Charley Smart who hailed from Capetown. The show moved to India for a season and latino actor Victor Millan played Zahir who was a Hindu. Then they were back in Africa and it was Nick Stewart as Willy Willy self proclaimed best guide in all Africa. In addition in the first season Ludwig Stossel and M'liss McClure played the Van Dynes father and daughter who owned a trading post. Ramar might have had a little something something going with Ms. Van Dyne, but she was dropped so Ramar concentrated strictly on science and medicine for the rest of the run.

For a scientist Hall certainly got into a whole lot of trouble every episode and most of the time it wasn't necessarily coming out of his research and/or medical practice.

Like another reviewer I too had a Ramar of the Jungle board game as a lad and I remember it seemed Ramar was in syndication on Channel 11 in New York forever. I'm sure if I saw the episodes today I'd probably laugh and be mortified at the appalling ignorance of the show's creators. It certainly couldn't be marketed today given it's white man's burden outlook.

Still I do have a bit of nostalgia for Hall and Montgomery and all the trouble they managed to get into.