American writer Harold Robbins had seen Claude Vermorel's original 13 part series, Yao on French television in 1969, and subsequently bought the rights for it to be edited to feature-film length.
The original soundtrack language was Swahili, and had been dubbed into French. Robbins wanted to bring the film to America and re-cut it with English dialogue. But the filmmakers wouldn't allow the negative to be taken out of France.
So Robbins arranged for his old and close friend James Baldwin to write new dialogue for the film, who was then living in Paris.
American editor James D. Wells and Robbins' assistant Diana Jervis-Read went over to Paris, to make a feature length rough-cut assembly out of the 13 hours of film and numerous out takes. Jervis-Read acted as Wells' assistant and
translator at the CTM Lab at Gennevilliers Film Studios, Paris. This part of the process took 8 weeks.
Jervis-Read then hired an editing suite off the Champs Elysees, and worked with Baldwin as he wrote the new dialogue whilst
watching the film on a Moviola, in her role as Robbins' story supervisor. This part of the process took 6
weeks.
Baldwin maintained contact as the film was later dubbed in L.A.
The premiere of Yao Of The Jungle took place in Richmond, Virginia in 1972, shown in aid of the Sickle Cell Anemia Charity.
