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LOST WORDS OF ERB ~ ERBzine 0219 |
The Tribe of Tarzan Organized
Letter written December 20, 1916
All-Story Weekly ~ January 20, 1917
The Death Valley Expedition ~ 1933 (Description)
THE TRIBE OF TARZAN ORGANIZED
Letter written December 20, 1916
All-Story Weekly ~ January 20, 1917
The boys of Staunton, Virginia, have organized the first Tribe of Tarzan. They would like to hear from boys in other cities and towns who are interested in forming tribes in their own jungles. The men of Staunton are helping the boys of Stuanton. The latter have a Tribe Room where they hold their meetings; they have grass ropes, bows and arrows, hunting knives, and the author of "Tarzan of the Apes" is having medallions struck for them symbolic of Tarzan's diamond-studded golden locket. Boys who are interested are invited to write to HERMAN NEWMAN, Acting Chief of THE FIRST TRIBE OF TARZAN, 113 North Jefferson Street, Staunton, Virginia.The editors of the All-Story extend their heartiest congratulations and best wishes to Herman Newman and the Tribe, and assure them that they will do all in their power to help make the organization such a brilliant success that, in a short time, it shall rival, in membership and popularity even, the Boy Scouts. It is the earnest hope and belief that in a few years Tribes of Tarzan will exist in every city and town in the United States, and will have become, not only a source of keen joy and amusement to the youth of the country, but also a powerful influence for good.
ERB COMMENTS ON HIS APACHE NOVEL (THE WAR CHIEF)
This note was found with the manuscript for The War Chief which ERB wrote in 1926. The War Chief was first published in Argosy All-Story Weekly in April through May, 1927 as a serial. It was then published as a novel by A. C. McClurg in September 1927 and reprinted by Grosset and Dunlop in the early '30s.I have gone over the 'copy' carefully and have indicated a number of phrases, sentences and paragraphs deleted by them, which I wish to have retained.
The preparation of the manuscript required considerable research work and as it is necessary for the reader to be able to understand the viewpoint of the Indian, if he is to be in sympathy with the principal character, it is essential that much of the matter deleted should remain even though it draws comparisons that may be odious to some people of our own race and sometimes shocking to people whose religious convictions are particularly strong.
I should also call your attention to an Indian name and an Indian word concerning which the magazine editor and I seem not to agree.
The name is that of an famous Apache Chief, Mangas Colorado, variously spelled Mangus and Magnus. From a very old book I obtained the suggestion of the derivation of this name, which in Spanish means coloured sleeves. The author supposed that the name may have been given to him by the Mexicans, either because of the garment he wore with coloured sleeves or from the fact that his sleeves or arms were stained with the blood of his victims.
The other word to which I refer is Izzo-Kolth, which the magazine editor insisted on changing to Izze-Colth. My authority for this spelling is an article by John G. Bourke, THE MEDICINE MAN OF THE APACHES, which appeared in the annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology for 1887 and 1888.
The magazine editor deleted what evidently appeared to him tiresome descriptions of Indian customs, such as burial ceremonies and the decoration of the bodies of medicine men, but as there is not a great deal of this and I believe that it is all based on good authority, it should be permitted to remain.
WHATSOEVER A MAN SOWETH
Honolulu Advertiser ~ October 21, 1942
Alternate at: www.erbzine.com/mag11/1128.html
Russia reproaches us. She reproaches us for the paucity of aid we have given her. She forgets that we lost the Philippines perhaps because we sent bombers and fighters to Russia instead of to MacArthur. She forgets that we have fought and still are fighting some of the greatest naval battles of all times. She forgets that against her two thousand-mile front, we have a twenty-five thousand-mile front, and that we are sending ships and planes and men to every continent and sub-continent. The war is not alone on that two thousand-mile front.* * * * We admire Russia as a great and powerful ally. We want to do and we have done all that we have been physically able to do. We shall continue to do all that we are physically able to do. But we must protect ourselves. We must be able to protect ourselves not only now but after the peace.If Russia forgets, we do not. We do not forget that for a quarter of a century Russia has been trying to undermine and overthrow our government. Every intelligent American knows that behind the skirts of the Communist Party, it has been the Russian government that has been doing these things. The Russian government could have stopped it. When peace comes, they can see that it is not revived.
* * * * The American people have chosen and will continue to choose their own form of government. They have never attempted to force their form of government on Russia. They do not wish Communism, and they demand that in the future Russia leave them alone.Before one plane or one bullet was sent to the aid of Russia, we should have demanded this assurance from the Russian government. If such assurance was not demanded and received; then some day we shall have to fight to win it. It would be tragic; for we like the Russian people, and we do not want to fight them.
Perhaps, if we were convinced that Russia would always be our ally, and would never again attempt to interfere in our politics, we could and would redouble our efforts to aid her now. But deep in the fibre of our being is suspicion and distrust of the Government of Russia. It is nothing of our own doing. The Government of Russia, sowing deep for a quarter of a century, planted it there.
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he shall also reap.
The Death Valley Expedition of the Intrepid Thirty-Threers Another of the many vacation trips, this time to California's Death Valley, is humorously reported in a nine-page article titled, "The Death Valley Expedition of the Intrepid Thirty-Threers." With the opening "The spirit of the Forty-Niners lives again!" Burroughs sets the amusing theme in which he contrasts the obstacles and dangers faced by the original gold rush pioneers with the "sufferings" of the intrepid Burroughses. "To reduce the possibility of greatly increasing the number of bleached bones which already clog the trails into the valley," he writes, "we limited the personnel of the expedition to four." A description of the four explorers follows:
The spirit of the Forty-Niners lives again!
By Edgar Rice Burroughs (Description from Porges)Pomona College loans us two able scientists, Hulbert Burroughs and John Coleman Burroughs, both experts in comparative anatomy. The former was the leader of the expedition, having been unanimously chosen for this position by himself. The latter was the official photographer. The services of Emma Hulbert Burroughs were finally obtained after a vast outlay in hats, shoes, sportswear, and a complete pharmacy; and she was signed up as expert radio operator. The fourth member of the expedition, Old Burroughs, went along for the ride. He was the life of the party.The expedition "assembled" five miles east of Point Dume, "a smuggler's rendezvous known locally as Malibu La Costa Beach." Ed is referring to the family home at Malibu. The "goggle-eyed natives" who witnessed the departure included Joan, Florence Dearholt, Mrs. Alvin Hulbert, and Jessie Hulbert. The family trips were always by automobile, and on this occasion they drove in a Lincoln Twelve Sedan, which, Ed noted, was especially equipped to visit the two fashionable department stores, Robinson's and Bullock's Wilshire, and thus was "ideal for a trip to Death Valley."Departing on the morning of April 3, 1933, the adventurers "limped" into "the tiny desert outpost of Barstow" that afternoon and then pushed on: "Into the valley of death rode the Burroughses." Their agonies were vividly pictured in Ed's words: "We were stranded in this arid waste without iced water and only a few cookies." Soon Furnace Creek Inn came in view. "Would the desert tribe give us shelter?" Their primitive accommodations consisted of large, luxurious rooms and the use of the pool. On April 6, in their exploration of Death Valley, they arrived at Dante's View, an elevation of 6,000 feet. Earlier, Hulbert and Jack, who were eager to collect salt crystals, could not find any and finally settled for two bottles of salt water.
They faced new challenges on the return journey. "At 7 a.m. April 7, 1933, we set out in search of the Pacific Ocean." The appalling difficulties that awaited them were compared to those encountered by the explorers William Manly and John Rogers, who struggled for two weeks "to cross burning waterless deserts and formidable mountain ranges to reach Los Angeles." The Burroughs family covered the distance to Malibu in nine hours and twenty-five minutes. At the close of the account of these "intrepid thirty-threers" Burroughs noted, "If we accomplished nothing else, we have at least proved the value of a college education and brought two bottles of salt water to the Pacific Ocean."
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DantonBurroughs.com |
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BurroughsBibliophiles.com |
JohnColemanBurroughs.com |
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JohnCarterOfMars.ca |
ERBzine.com/edgarriceburroughs |
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Pellucidar.org |
John Carter Film |
ERB, Inc. Corporate Site |
ERB Centennial |
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