Official Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute and Weekly Webzine Site Since 1996 ~ Over 10,000 Webpages in Archive

Bob Hyde June 25, 1925 - April 7, 2006

Bob Hyde's ODYSSEY OF A TARZAN FANatic The  1990s Decade

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Chapter LXIII ~ 1995
First appeared in ERBapa No. 86 ~ Summer 2005

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My odyssey was starting to slow down in 1995. I didn't take any out-of-town trips, as I did in 1994, except to conventions.

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Boris Vallejo and Joe Jusko

In May, Boris Vallejo and Joe Jusko were guest artists at the annual Pittsburgh Comics Convention, held in Monroeville, just east of Pittsburgh. Joe Jusko collecting cards were very popular at that time, and I obtained autographs on several of his cards. Boris Vallejo autographed two of his Tarzan prints in a book that contained many of his paintings, The Art of Boris Vallejo. Only one autograph was allowed, so I had to go back to the end of a long line for the second one.

Later in May I had a visit from Alison Scott, the head librarian of the Popular Culture section at the Bowling Green (Ohio) University Library. We were on good terms, and I was looking for a place to have my collection kept intact, since my children did not want to inherit it and have to dispose of it. I felt good about transferring it to Bowling Green. My feelings changed in later years. But she was impressed and thought it would be a great addition to the Bowling Green Library.

Bob with Mary Burroughs & Tom Yeates

Holmes' Mahars

Dark Horse Cover

ERB Guide by Bergen

In late June the ECOF gathering was held in Portland, Oregon at the Holiday Inn. The host was James Bergen, Jr. and the Special Guests were Thomas Yeates, Dr. John Eric Holmes, and Pete James from Dark Horse Comics. Dr. Holmes had been one of the physicians for John Coleman Burroughs, helping him to cope with Parkinson's disease. He was the author of two Pellucidar books (Mahars of Pellucidar and the unpublished Red Axe of Pellucidar). An after-convention side trip was an approximately five-mile hike on a trail along the Columbia River with Bill Ross and Mike Conran. Very scenic.

In early August I made another trip to Bowling Green, which was again the site of Pulpcon. I even found a few pulp magazines to add to my collection.

In late August the Dum-Dum was held in Rutland, Vermont, hosted by Will Hagenlocker. He arranged a very special guest for us, Maureen O'Sullivan! She was not there for the complete convention, only for about two hours. She toured the huckster room and stopped at my table to autograph a couple of books. Then a table was set up in the hotel lobby for her to sign photos. A line formed to get her autograph, with only one allowed. Of course, some of us cheated by going back to the end of the line and coming up to her table again. She finally called a halt and left with her husband. She didn't stay for the banquet, or make a speech. But she was gracious and seemingly impressed that she still had so many fans, so many years after portraying Jane to Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan in six 1930-1940s MGM movies. She didn't think very highly about being the best-known Jane, but when her children and grandchildren told her that they were proud that she had played Jane, she finally accepted her fame as THE Jane.

The Guest of Honor was Joe Jusko, who painted a picture of Tarzan and Jad-bal-ja for the program booklet and the T-shirt, and autographed large prints of that painting. It was reproduced as frosting on a birthday cake for Joe (September 1, also ERB's birthday) and also on part of a quilt given to him as a birthday gift.

Joe received the Golden Lion award, and Will Hagenlocker received a lifetime membership award. About 85 attended the banquet, so we had a pretty good turnout for a somewhat distant location.

Unfortunately this was the last time my companion, Margaret Herzog, was able to attend conventions with me.

I didn't do a lot of trips, but I went almost from coast to coast in this year.

Margaret Herzog and Bob Hyde

A (2005) note to those of you who purchased David Spurlock's book, The Drawings of J. Allen St. John: the drawing of Tarzan on page 30 was not commissioned by Vernell Coriell. It was commissioned by me in March of 1945 when I was visiting Mr. St. John in his Chicago studio/home. It is a rare art piece, since I know of only four other St. John art works that were privately commissioned from him. (There may be more.)

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Chapter LXIV ~ 1996
First appeared in ERBapa No. 87 ~ Autumn 2005
Unless more material is recovered in his desk, this is the last of the Odyssey chapters to be written in Bob's hand.

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My odyssey continued in 1996

Gil Kane

In April 1 I went to Monroeville, PA to attend the Pittsburgh Comicon. One of the guests was Gil Kane, an artist who drew the Sunday Tarzan page from July 1, 1979 to February 1, 1981, as well as ERB stories for DC comics. All my Sunday pages are pasted in many volumes of scrapbooks, so I was able to get Gil Kane to autograph his first and his last page. In this photo he is looking through pages in one of my volumes. But he refused my offer of $50 to draw a sketch of Tarzan for me.

In June, on billboards all over town, and in local magazines, were advertisements offering a chair for sale - "Johnny Weissmuller reincarnated as a chair" (see photo). I went to the store and sat in the chair, but didn't buy one.

The ECOF gathering, hosted by the Chicago "Normal Beans" fan club, was held in Oak Park with Denny Miller as the Special Guest of Honor. The convention hotel was the Rosemont Exel Inn located in Elk Grove, near the O'Hare Airport. The banquet was held at the Hermitage Restaurant in Bensonville, IL.

Plaques from ERBzine Dum-Dum Dossier

On tour, we viewed some of ERB's Oak Park homes and awarded a plaque to be mounted on a post in the front yard of one of them. I got the feeling that the current owners were surprised, and perhaps puzzled by the group. (The plaque is still there.) We also visited a building in the business section of Oak Park where ERB had an office in 1918 and 1919.

At the Oak Park Historical Society we saw an exhibit room full of ERB material, selected by "Normal Bean" Jerry Spannraft from his great collection, which we later saw at this home. We then saw Joan Bledig's collection at her home.

Part of the Joan Bledig and Jerry Spannraft ERB Collections from the ERBzine Dum-Dum Dossier

We also had a party in J. Allen St. John's old studio on Ontario Street, very close to the Chicago business district.

The 1996 Dum-Dum was held at the Marriott in Woodland Hills, CA, a short drive from Tarzana, on August 22-25. Harlan Ellison was awarded "The Golden Lion" award. But instead of the usual plaque George McWhorter gave him an original oil painting with a science fiction theme, by an artist unknown to me. This award was for Harlan convincing the Los Angeles Parks Department that the city's honored citizen, ERB, would frequently drive to a certain park location for a family picnic. If the location weren't preserved in its natural state, the view from Harlan's patio would be ruined.

Here is a photo taken at a party Danton Burroughs gave at this home in Tarzana. The two young girls are Danton's daughters.

Bob with Bob Cook and Danton & his daughters

At the suggestion of Bob Cook (above, right), a "Kala Award" was presented to the Brookfield Zoo (in or near Chicago). This was in honor of the chimpanzee that rescued a very young boy who had fallen into the ape enclosure. She picked up the child and took him to the gate used b the keepers to enter the enclosure, thus protecting the child, as did ERB's Kala. But the Zoo refused to accept the award. They didn't want any more publicity about the happening, although it had been widely reported in newspapers, radio and TV news reports, with video clips shown on TV.

Here also is a Dum-Dum photo of Jane (Joanna Barnes) and Tarzan (Denny Miller).

Bob with Joanna Barnes and Denny Miller ~ Elmo Lincoln's daughter Marci'a

On one of the days, we went to the Los Angeles Arboretum where a "Tarzan Tree" was located in the rain forest area. It had been used in filming several of the Johnny Weissmuller MGM Tarzan films.

And finally, a Dum-Dum photo of Marci'a Lincoln, Elmo's daughter, at her dealer's table where she was selling the book she had written about her father's life.

In December, I visited Joe Jusko at his apartment/home/studio in nearby Bethel Park. I had him autograph several Tarzan books in German that featured his paintings for their cover illustrations.

Looks as if I haven't slowed down very much.

Sadly, Bob did not complete writing his Odyssey beyond 1996 . . .
leaving it to his friends and family to fill in the missing years.
We have compiled a series of Web photo displays from
our files and previous ERBzine features
on many of his convention appearances in those years
-- however --
We are sending out an open invitation for photos, memories, anecdotes, letters, etc.
from the last 10 years to help complete Bob's Odyssey.

David Adams has started the ball rolling with photos from the 1997 Dum-Dum
and we present one of those photos below:

Dum-Dum 1997 ~ Newton, Iowa

Photo by David Adams
Bob and Tracy Griffin examine the wares at the Bill Ross and Mike Conran table.

Bob Hyde  Odyssey Contents

Final Chapter  of the Odyssey

Photo Tribute I 2000 Clarksville

Photo Tribute II 2002 Tarzana

Photo Tribute III 2003 Louisville

Photo Tribute IV 2004 Conventions

Photo Tribute V 2005 Oak Park