THE ALL-STORY MAGAZINE
September - November 1912 Issues
ALL-STORY TABLE TALK
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 We
said last month that we were going to be honest; what follows is going
to prove it. It is a confession.
(If it surprises you to learn that editors can make mistakes, we might
say that once we too believed they were infallible; but that was a long,
long time ago.)
When the manuscript of "Under the Moons of Mars" came to us, the name
signed was Normal (with an "L") Bean. When we came to run the story -o-
from enthusiasm or some other worthy sentiment -- we beefed it and called
the author Norman Bean.
Very likely there is noting so soul-searing as a misprint. We saw a
man last Sunday whose entire day was ruined by a compositor's mistake.
However, Mr. Bean was very decent to us; and then we found out that his
real name wasn't Bean anyway.
Really he is Edgar Rice Burroughs; and he does some important business
stunt or other in Chicago, using the name Bean. Considering the general
mess we made of his nom-de-plume, it has been decided by all hands to return
to his real name; and in October when his next story will appear, things
will be fixed up so that every one will know that Norman bean and Edgar
Rice Burroughs are the same author.
Tarzan of the Apes is the name of Mr. Burroughs' new novel. We are
going to give it to you all at once. It's a crackerjack.
If you will stop and realize how many thousands and thousands of stories
an editor has to read -- day in, day out -- you will be impressed when
we tell you that we read this yarn at one sitting and had the time of our
young lives. It is the most exciting story we have seen in a blue moon
and about as original as they make 'em.
Through a series of catastrophes an English boy is kidnapped by a tribe
of huge anthropoid apes. He grows up among them. The fact that he is a
reasoning animal makes a difference in his development, and then the forces
of civilization obtrude. Zowie! But things happen!
You know what a good story "Under the Moons of Mars" was and how Mr.
Burroughs' imagination got loose and did whatever it wanted to -- well,
the same thing has happened again; so you may bet yourself anything you
want that you'll miss something excellent if you don't see the new yarn.
We have a number of letters about the Mars story. We'll print just one
which makes us feel cheerful, and then talk of something else.
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Dear Editor:
I have read THE ALL-STORY now for many years. The first story I ever
read was "Hurricane Hill," if I am not mistaken. Have just finished the
new fifteen-cent edition and it is far beyond competition. "The Red Book
of Mystery" was fined.
The first thing I do when I get the good old ALL-STORY is to read the
serials.
Pat Norman Bean on the back and tell him to push in some more tales
like "Under the Moons of Mars." That is the best story I have seen in many
years.
The other serials have excellent material in them. Would like to read
a serial pictured in Oregon. We of the "woolly West" appreciate good stories
and gladly hail them. Be a booster. I sometimes see a story I don't care
for, but simply pass it by.
Yours for an ardent reader,
C.R.
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Cap E. S. Otis, Panama
Sept. 14, 1912
EDITOR OF ALL-STORY MAGAZINE
Your October number of All-Story is fine. Let me send you the voice
of hundreds of soldiers here for Norman Bean, or, in his correct name,
Edgar Rice Burroughs', and his great story of "Tarzan of the Apes."
Everybody's talking about it, and every one thinks it's great. Some
say that Bean should write another about "Tarzan" because he lost the girl,
while others wonder if he can get used to living in civilization. What
about it, Mr. Editor?
Yours for the other story,
The Soldiers of the 10th Inf. U.S. Army.
*Burroughs' first work, Under the Moons of Mars, was published
under the pseudonym 'Norman Bean': Burroughs had wanted the name to read
'Normal' Bean, but a typographic error was introduced. Afterwards, he published
almost exclusively under his full name.
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Wilmington, Del, Sept. 11, 1912
Dear Sir:
I thought I would write and tell you what I thought of E. R. Burroughs'
masterpiece in the October All-Story, "Tarzan of the Apes."
I think it is the best magazine story ever written. It was simply swell.
I read a good many magazines, and it is the best story I ever read.
A PLEASED READER.
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Bloomington, Ill., Sept. 12, 1912
Dear Sir:
I have just finished reading "Tarzan of the Apes," and to say that it
is the best story I ever read would be putting it mildly. It is full of
life and action, besides being unique in its plot.
I did not lay down the magazine until I had finished "Tarzan," and since
then I have been trying to figure out what Tarzan did after he was
refused by Jane Porter.
It seems against human nature that he should declare that his mother
was an ape just after it had been proven that he was a man.
What did he do? Did he go back to the jungle or remain in civilization?
The story is so engrossing that I am burning to find out what became of
him.
Cannot you persuade the author to write a kind of sequel? I know many
of the other readers feel as I do. That story was the "best ever."
Respectfully,
A.J.J.
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Spokane, Wash., Sept. 10, 1912
Dear Sir,
I have read THE ALL-STORY MAGAZINE for the past year, and I think "Tarzan
of the Apes" is a swell story, except the ending, which was rotten.
Yours truly,
O. B.
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NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Sept. 13, 1912
Dear Sir:
Have been a reader of THE ALL-STORY MAGAZINE for some time, and am
well pleased with it.
The story, "Tarzan of the Apes," in your last issue, was an exceptionally
interesting one. I admired Tarzan's strength and prowess, pitied his ignorance
while in the jungle, and sympathized with him in his sorrow, when, after
many months, he had found his soul-mate and was rejected.
I was sorry when I reached the end of the romance, which ended so unhappily
for the hero, and, if it is at all plausible, I for one wish that a sequel
could be written which would tell us more of "Tarzan of the Apes."
Yours as a devoted reader,
D. A. H.
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DETROIT, Mich., Sept. 18, 1912
GENTLEMEN:
"Tarzan of the Apes," which appeared in the October number of The All-Story,
is, I think, one of the most intensely absorbing stories I've ever read,
but Mr. Burroughs's climax seems to me to fall flat.
Acts of sacrifice such as Tarzan commits when he refuses to recognize
his parentage are in keeping with he middle of a story, but at the end,
in these days of love-stories, some friend (D'Arnot) turns up an d "sets
things right," and the hero and heroine "live happily ever after." Clayton
is a good character, but I can't see where he's done anything to merit
the sacrifice Tarzan makes.
Can't you persuade Mr. B. to write a sequel to this story, wherein T.
will be treated as his character deserves?
It don't make much difference what becomes of Clayton. Miss Porter can
simply break the engagement, or, for all I care, Mr. B. can kill Clayton
in a train-wreck. I hope Mr. B. will see fit to write such a sequel,
because I've "talked over" this story with a number of persons, and they
all agreed that it would be improved upon by this addition.
Hoping to read this sequel in The All-Story, of which I have always
been an enthusiastic reader, I am,
Sincerely yours,
J. O. B.
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Harrow, England,
September 1912
Dear Sir:
I see you have many appreciative letters from readers on your side
of the water. Perhaps it may gratify you to know that your
magazine is appreciated over here as well. I have taken it regularly
for some years now, and have always found it a refreshing change from our
English magazines.
I like the change recently made, and the long stories included in your
recent numbers, especially "The Souls of Men." I am now reading "Tarzan
of the Apes," which promises to be even more enthralling.
Accept my congratulations on behalf of your English readers.
Yours faithfully,
J. C.
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"Holcombe," Southend-On Sea,
England
Dear Editor:
I do not think I can say more than that to convince you that
on the whole I have nothing but praise for the magazine.
We are allowed to complain a little as well as to praise, are we not?
That being so, I want to say how disappointing I found the end of "Tarzan
the Apes," his action seeming to me a quite unexplainable bit of quixotism,
because he knew the woman loved him, and it was hardly for the happiness
of any of the trio that he should give her up, especially as the other
man was a sane individual, and it seems a bit incredible that it would
be possible to deceive him always as to where his wife's affections lay.
Apart from that, however, I think it is a splendid story and finely
worked out, and to me it seems that the writer of "Tarzan of the Apes"
should go very far, indeed, in his profession.
Believe me, faithfully yours,
(Miss) E. F. D'A
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16 Kilmartin Aven;ue
Norbury, London, S. W. England
Dear Editor:
I have just finished reading "Tarzan of the Apes," and of all the engrossing
stories I have ever read, I am sure this has been one of the best. It is
certainly one of the best I have encountered in THE ALL-STORY during the
several years I have been reading the publication.
The end of the story would perhaps be a little disappointing were it
not for the fact that it leaves the author the opening of giving us further
glimpses of his gifted imagination. I am sure I voice the feelings of other
readers when I express the hope that we shall, at some future date, have
the pleasure of the continued adventures of "Tarzan of the Apes."
An English reader,
F. Y.
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SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Sept. 17, 1912
Dear Sir:
In "Tarzan of the Apes" the author stumbled into what has often proved
an effective trap for the unwary. One of his principal quadruped characters
is Sabor, the tiger, who is thoughtlessly placed on the continent of Africa,
where he does not belong.
The tiger is not and never has been included in the fauna of the African
continent. Neither history, science, nor the personal experience of the
explorer or hunter records the tiger as being indigenous to Africa.
The newspaper cartoonists blundered into the same pitfall at the time
of Colonel Roosevelt's hunting trip,* and
the surprising thing is that no one seemed to care enough about the matter
to correct them.
G. J. M.
Ed.: Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth president of the United
States, went on safari in AFrica in 1900, just after the end of his presidency.
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WOODLAWN, Pa., Sept. 17, 1912
Dear Sir:
I want to fall in line with the rest of your boosters and express my
opinion of your magazine. I have been a reader for about five years, and
have yet to find anything to beat it.
Just finished "Tarzan of the Apes," and think it is the best ever. I
like the ending where the reader may feel a little disappointment on the
outcome. "Under the Moons of Mars," by the same author, is another winner
with a good finish.
No doubt, most of your readers like to see the hero marry the heroine,
but let us have more of the kind that you can't guess the outcome.
Yours Truly,
C. R. L.
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1409 Rhode Island Street,
Lawrence, Kansas, Sept. 25, 1912
EDITOR ALL-STORY MAGAZINE,
Care Frank Munsey Co.
New York.
Dear Sir:
I have read your October "Table-Talk." It is good. I can appreciate
better now why the Munsey publications are such a success.
I bought an October ALL-STORY at Wichita, enroute to Lawrence. I began
to read "Tarzan of the Apes." My university friends with me upon the train
promptly pronounced me a "grouch." For the story fascinated me such that
the football and the old frat were simply overshadowed.
I reached Lawrence only half-way through "Tarzan of the Apes." There
I received a wire to return to Kiowa, Kansas on a business matter of my
father's.
I forgot to slip the October ALL-STORY into my grip. At the depot I
missed it and tired to purchase another. They were sold out.
I rushed up town only to find the news-depots with none unsold. The
train news-boy and the Fred Harvey stands*
for three successive stops were unable to supply me. After two hundred
miles of chafing I found a solitary copy at Wichita. I finished the story.
At Wellington I discovered two more copies of your magazine for October.
I bought them both. I slashed the less desirable half of the remaining
pages from the binders.
At Harper I mailed three rolled "Tarzan of the Apes" to as many friends.
I was afraid they might have missed a good thing.
After all of this 'tis useless for me to say that I think the story
more than ordinarily good.
When I had finished the article I felt the keenest sorrow for Mr. Burroughs's
"Tarzan of the Apes." No -- he had become my Tarzan. For several
seconds I sat deeply touched.
Further, if you will bear a moment more, after "Tarzan of the Apes,"
my appetite for further reading failed me.
"The Spaniard"** looked uninteresting
beyond expression. I felt sorry, indeed, for the author of an article which
was destined to follow "Tarzan of the Apes" (for I've written a bit myself).
But imagine my surprise when, as I hastily ran over Mr. Comstock's little
narrative, I found my already overflowing imagination absorb every thought,
and when I had finished, crave for more.
Sincerely,
G. W. von S.
* Fred Harvey created the first US restaurant chain, which was tied
to the rail-lines, and also offered news-stand services.
** "The Spaniard," by Frank Comstock, follows Tarzan of the Apes
in the October 1912 All-Story (pp. 373-5)
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Oly, Sept. 17, 1912
Editor of The All-Story,
There are so many stories in The All-Story I like I cannot single out
any particular few for preference! But "Tarzan of the Apes" was, as my
brother would say, "a dinger." But when the end of a story would make a
lady swear, that's some provoking.
Mr. Bean must have grown tired or had a grouch, hence the ending upon
a sea of ideas, when, "all ter [sic] once," the think-feast is over
-- and, end -- that's all! They don't always go to suit the reader, but
--
Jane wasn't far from an "Ape-a-renas" herself. But Tarzan had left Ape-dom
behind, and she admits she loves him! Was it because he was still a monkey
that Tarzan let go all holds and let the other fellow have the whole basket
of peaches?
I hope Tarzan goes back to the island and stays there. The rest of the
story was so good, except the end. I'm only mad at Tarzan, Mr. Bean, so
come again soon; shall be watching for you, sir!
Also John D. Swain and Ella B. Argo*
-- I may as well include the rest I like them all.
A constant reader
Mrs. A. C. P. F.
* Ed: These are both authorsof stories that appeared in the same
issue as Tarzan. John D. Swain, 'The Goat of Dolores Valdez' (pp. 417-23);
Ella B. Argo, 'On the Zodiac Turnpike' (pp. 472-6)
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Spokane, Washington, Sept. 10, 1912
Dear Sir:
I have just finished the complete book in the October issue, entitled
"Tarzan of the Apes," and never saw anything in print that could get on
the same block with it up to the last page -- but gee! -- the finish is
rotten.
Yours for a better finish,
F. G. R.
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New York, Final Word From the Editor
There are many other letters about "Tarzan." Most all of them are complimentary,
though lots of folks don't seem to like the finish and are sitting around
and barking for a sequel.
It would seem that no editorial comment was necessary. But we are tempted
to say -- oh, why should we?
Mr. Burroughs wrote us a letter the other day, and he ended by saying:
"About a score of readers have threatened my life unless I promise to write
a sequel to 'Tarzan' -- shall I?"
We wonder.
The Editor.
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