Bantu The Zebra Boy (1956)

This unsold television pilot was produced, directed and created by Reginald Sheffield (John's father). The production values are extremely high compared to other television jungle efforts of the era.

The story is pretty standard fare, Bantu must rescue a friendly native chief and his son from a greedy white hunter and his treacherous witch-doctor compatriots. Bantu doesn't do much vine swinging, preferring to ride a zebra throughout the adventure. He does manage to defeat a crocodile and turn the villains over to the authorities.

Bantu wears a nifty little wristband that was obviously intended to be used as a marketing tie-in! How many cereal box-tops would Bantu's wristband have cost?!