MUSCLES II : Wouldn’t Schwarzenegger Make a Gorgeous ‘George’?

Just when you thought Hollywood had tapped out all possible TV remakes for the big screen, movie producers Al Ruddy and Andre Morgan have dug through the scrap heap and found a ‘60s Jay Ward prize: “George of the Jungle.”

George who?

You know the cartoon with that “catchy” little ditty that opens “George, George, George of the Jungle, strong as he can be . . . watch out for that tree!” Yeah, he’s the spaz Tarzan that swings into trees, not through them.

While Jay Leno, with his jutting signature chin, could easily step in for the character George, Ruddy and Morgan are hunting down Arnold Schwarzenegger to don this loincloth. But the superstar, who is swinging from a crane on the set of “True Lies” now shooting in Miami, couldn’t be reached to see if he was remotely interested.

His agent Lou Pitt laughed at the notion and says this one’s strictly up to Arnold.

The Ruddy Morgan Organization picked up all rights to the “Jungle” property after unearthing George about a year ago. It was at that time they began negotiating with Tiffany Ward, daughter of the late Jay Ward and administrator of his estate. Ward was also creator of the “Bullwinkle” cartoon series.

“We wanted ‘George’ because it had the same sensibilities as ‘Bullwinkle’ . . . incredibly funny, but with these wonderful underlying messages that speak to audiences of all ages. In George’s case, it has to do with taking care of the jungle and nature,” says Ruddy.

Ruddy is known for producing such films as “The Godfather,” “The Longest Yard” and “Cannonball Run” (and its sequel) as well as creating the TV series “Hogan’s Heroes” and “How the West Was Won” to name a few. Morgan is the financial and international sales wiz, once involved with Hong Kong-based Golden Harvest that produced such films as “Enter the Dragon.” As Ruddy Morgan, the two have produced “Farewell to the King” with Nick Nolte, “Impulse” with Theresa Russell and Rodney Dangerfield’s “Ladybugs.” Their current movies include the just-wrapped all-female Western “Bad Girls,” starring Madeleine Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson, Drew Barrymore and Andie MacDowell and the now-lensing Albert Brooks comedy “The Scout.”

When the duo started delving into the negotiations with Ward they found they were not alone. “Disney and Universal were both coming at Tiffany for TV rights,” says Morgan. “They both tried to get the rights to ‘Bullwinkle’ to do a Rocky & Bullwinkle ride at their theme parks. But something happened and they got into a heated discussion over royalties. Anyway, Universal ended up with the ‘Bullwinkle’ rights, so Disney really wanted George.

“We realized the only way we could make a deal with her and beat out the other guys was we had to option all the rights.” And they did, for about $100,000, sources say. (Ruddy Morgan isn’t confirming.)

If all goes as planned and the two can get a top-notch director (Ivan Reitman and Frank Oz are on the producers’ wish list) and a strong script, they’ll start filming the live-action comedy either in the jungles of Mexico or Hawaii next summer for a 1995 release.

Ruddy said he plans on at least partially financing the movie “in-house,” and down the road will approach foreign and domestic distributors about putting up the most of the production cash.

The plot will undoubtedly have George trying to save the rain forest.

“Remember when Hollywood was trying to save the rain forest in ’89 and we started seeing all of these movies like ‘FernGully’ and ‘At Play in the Fields of the Lord’? Well, we missed the boat,” Ruddy quipped. “Seriously, this screwed-up Tarzan has an important message. Maybe we’ll start the ‘save the forest’ craze all over again!”

Swing on that one for awhile.