Official Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute and Weekly Webzine
Since 1996 ~ Over 10,000 Webpages in Archive
Volume 3639

ECLECTICA v.2011.11

Announcement from Martin Powell I will be writing a graphic novel of TARZAN AT THE EARTH'S CORE, illustrated by Tim Burgard, for Sequential Pulp/Dark Horse Comics.  This is officially licensed and authorized by the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the book will be published as a special edition in celebration of the ape-man's 100th Anniversary next year.  Tarzan has always been at the top of my list for characters to write, and this is possibly the biggest project of my twenty-five year career. I honestly never thought I'd get this chance. Very special thanks to ERB, Inc. and Michael Hudson for making this possible.

Pulp AdventureCon
November 5th, 2011
Ramada Inn, Bordentown, NJ
Thousands of rare PULP MAGAZINES, vintage paperbacks and movie collectibles on display in this pleasant one-day show that attracts collectors and exhibitors from as far as New Hampshire and Virginia. Held the first Saturday of November from 10AM until 5PM.

Hotel: Ramada Inn, 1083 Route 206, Bordentown, NJ, super-convenient to Exit 7 of the New Jersey Turnpike.
Time: 10 am to 5 pm
Admission: $5
Email for information -- boldventurepress@aol.com

LORD OF THE TREES ALEX SIMMONS and ERIC BATTLE will be special guests. As the writer and illustrator team of the syndicated TARZAN newspaper strip, between the years of 2000 and 2002, they provided Lord Greystoke with plenty of challenges and hair-raising thrills.

Book Review:
Jungle Rock Blues by Nigel Cox
Victoria University Press $40
NZHerald.co.nz ~ Oct 18, 2011

Sometimes you pick up a novel and you know the stars have aligned. The sentences shimmer, the characters get under your skin, the narrative achieves a fitting momentum and the world of the novel adds to your world in surprising and delightful ways. So it was with this, Nigel Cox's fourth novel, first released in 2004 under a title no longer able to be used. I rate this as one of my all-time New Zealand favourites.

I loved the audacious premise. Cox takes two cultural icons - Tarzan and Elvis Presley - and makes a single character. This, however, did not please the estate of Tarzan's author and, under an agreement with the publisher, Victoria University Press, Cox's novel could only be reissued if all the Tarzan-related characters had a name change. So Cox's novel has been re-released as Jungle Rock Blues (a title that Cox had toyed with initially) and Tarzan becomes Caliban. This tender, insightful portrait of a man is also a portrait of a world mad with consumption, mad over iconic figures, mad with pain and love and loss.

Caliban, raised by gorillas in the Wairarapa, discovers a hut with a radio left on. This, along with the books with photographs, is his first key to the outside world. Cox evokes Caliban's childhood vividly - from the tenderness he feels towards his gorilla mother to the senses he uses to understand where and how he lives. The radio, with its music of the time (the 1950s), ignites his musical core. Caliban can sing, but he cannot talk; he can read the world, but not books. Looking at everything in the shack full of strange (but everyday) things, Caliban cannot yet grasp how humans constantly seek to change and transform their world into something other.

This absorption of music, this pouring over images that shift his gorilla soul into something human, is part of the novel's magic. June, an American etymologist on the hunt for scarily large cave weta (human size), is Caliban's second key to the outside world. They meet. They fall in love. They move to America. He sings. The world listens.

Caliban becomes Elvis. He lives his life, yet it is also the life of a man who barely knows how to know the world. Food, clothes, ideas, television, love, money, even sadness are alien and instantly available without the instructive contours of childhood and adolescence. The narrating voice lays down Caliban's history, dropping hints here and there as to his or her identity. It is a marvellous voice, reflective, original, insightful, haunting. When Caliban is in America, we learn, he is always inside something. He is inside his clothes, the expectations of others, buildings, behaviours, relationships, descriptions, rooms. He hungers to be outside this.

He hungers to be a man. The book we get to read brings that man to disconcerting, soaring, substantial life, and what makes this novel extra special, is the way Cox's narrative represents the world in a similar light: disconcerting, soaring, substantial. The arrival of the reissue coincides with the fifth anniversary of Cox's death. This seems to me to be a very fine way to celebrate a novel that deserves to back in print and to gain new readership. I loved reading it just as much the second time, whatever the main character is called.

Read the original 2004 review of TARZAN PRESLEY www.erbzine.com/swag/books2.html

Centennial Project book tour starts in Alpine
wmicentral.com ~ October 21, 2011
WHITE MOUNTAINS – Cowboys, outlaws, Martians, Apaches, the birth of the Conservation Movement and strong women in Arizona history are all on tap as the authors of “Story of the American West,” an official Centennial Legacy Project, make appearances around the state beginning in Alpine. The book, which is nominated for OneBookAZ, traces the history of east-central Arizona from the formation of the state’s geology to the migrations and development of Indian cultures, on through the Apache Wars, outlaw battles and settlement by Hispanics, Mormons and others.

The statewide tour for Story of the American West will start in Alpine with a talk on the famous writers of east-central Arizona. Zane Grey, who did more than anyone to create the Myth of the West, frequently visited the White Mountains and Rim Country to find material. Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, who was in the cavalry in Arizona during the Apache Wars, also worked in the White Mountains. In fact, his first science fiction success was based on a swashbuckling horse soldier who traveled back and forth between the White Mountains and Mars.

Story of the American West is available at shops and independent bookstores throughout Arizona, as well as Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Kindle. The Book's Website: www.storyoftheamericanwest.com

ME CHEETA ~ A Review of this re-release from Amazon.ca

Cheeta the Chimp was just a baby in 1932 when he was snatched from the jungle of Liberia by the great animal importer Henry Trefflich. That same year, Cheeta appeared in Tarzan the Ape Man, and in 1934 in Tarzan and His Mate, in which he famously stole clothes from a naked Maureen O'Sullivan, who was dripping wet from an underwater swimming scene with Johnny Weissmuller. Other Tarzan films followed, and later roles with Bela Lugosi in the 1950s. Cheeta finally retired from the big screen after the 1967 film Doctor Dolittle with Rex Harrison, whose finger he accidentally bit backstage while being offered a placatory banana. Cheeta now lives in Palm Springs, where, at age seventy-seven, he is by far the oldest living chimpanzee ever recorded.

A “lyrical and profane memoir-cum-love-story. The book is hilarious, catty, melancholy and, occasionally, deep.” (Washington Post )

“A rude, hilarious and infectious memoir of Hollywood’s golden age. . . . The Hollywood spoofing is certainly entertaining, but Me, Cheeta evolves into something grander: a broad, cutting satire on the differences between man and beast.” (Chicago Sun-Times )

“As a premise, Me Cheeta is glorious. What wouldn’t be entertaining about the memoir of a chimpanzee, ghostwritten by James Lever, who witnessed Hollywood’s Golden Age and is more than willing to spill? Cheeta is one articulate primate, and he’s not afraid to dish.” (Denver Post )

About the Author
Cheeta the chimp was just a baby in 1932 when he was snatched from the jungle of Liberia by the great animal importer Henry Trefflich. That same year, Cheeta appeared in Tarzan the Ape Man, and in 1934 in Tarzan and His Mate, in which he famously stole clothes from a naked Maureen O’Sullivan, who was dripping wet from an underwater swimming scene with Johnny Weissmuller. Other Tarzan films followed, and later roles with Bela Lugosi in the 1950s. Cheeta finally retired from the big screen after the 1967 film Doctor Dolittle with Rex Harrison, whose finger he accidentally bit backstage while being offered a placatory banana. Cheeta now lives in Palm Springs, where, at age seventy-seven, he is by far the oldest living chimpanzee ever recorded.

Pulp Fiction:
Arvid Nelson Talks Warlord of Mars and Lord of the Jungle
TFAW.com ~ Oct 14 2011
Although he's been gone since 1950, Edgar Rice Burroughs has had an amazing influence on the recent pop-culture landscape. One of his most popular characters, John Carter–a Civil War veteran who is mysteriously transported to Mars for incredible adventures–is starring in several new comic book series and reprinted collections, plus he’s also getting a movie: Disney’s John Carter is due out March 9, 2012. Meanwhile, Burroughs' most famous character, Tarzan, is getting a no-holds-barred comic book adaptation, Lord of the Jungle, courtesy of Dynamite Entertainment, this December!

When checking out these classic pulp adaptations, it’s no coincidence that one name keeps popping up: Arvid Nelson. Nelson, who is currently writing Warlord of Mars, Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris, and Lord of the Jungle for Dynamite, has been a longtime fan of the genre, which also influenced his original series, Rex Mundi.

As part of Dynamite Month, we asked Nelson what attracts him to these classic stories, what he thinks of the upcoming movie, and what he’d like to tackle next. Plus, we’ve got an exclusive five-page preview of Warlord of Mars #11, out October 19, so feast your eyes!

TFAW.com: Hi Arvid, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions!
Arvid Nelson: Let the jabbering commence!

TFAW.com:
Between your work writing Thulsa Doom, the Warlord of Mars series, Queen Sonja, and your original series, Rex Mundi, it’s clear that classic pulp adventure stories are in your blood. What was your introduction to the genre?
AN: I’ll never forget pulling R Is for Rocket by Ray Bradbury at my local library. It was mixed up with the children’s books. I think I was about 10. There was a story in it about a man encased in an alien chrysalis . . . I got sucked down the black hole, right then and there!

TFAW.com: There are a ton of comics today inspired by legendary writers like Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs. What makes their stories so comics-friendly, besides their serialized nature?
AN: The stories are so visual! I sort of reject the idea anyone can do a “definitive” take on a story. I love seeing how different writers and artists handle the same material.

TFAW.com: What is it about these stories that keeps attracting new fans, decade after decade?
AN: Small publishers like Arkham House and Gnome Press–and devoted fans–deserve a lot more credit. If not for them, time would have gobbled up most of these stories.

TFAW.com: What are the challenges you face adapting Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Barsoom series for Warlord of Mars? What’s your process?
AN: There’s a colossal amount of information in the originals. Colossal. Deciding what to cut is very painful, like having six children and only enough food for one of them to make it through the winter.

TFAW.com: From what I’ve read of your Warlord of Mars comics, it looks like you’ve completed Princess of Mars and are embarking on Gods of Mars. Will you adapt the entire Barsoom series?
AN: We’ll see how it goes! Right now I’m working on one story at a time. We’ll also be doing original interludes here and there. Currently, we’re in the throes of an original bridge between Princess of Mars and Gods of Mars.

TFAW.com: What have you changed in these stories for a modern audience, if anything?
AN: The artists and I try to give the stories a more present-day look and feel. For instance, Martian scout ships–I’d always seen them as flying canoes. We decided to make them jet bikes. Totally rad! There’s also a certain amount of racial stereotyping in the original stories. So that’s not very cool.

TFAW.com: Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris is a prequel to the original stories, which must give you a lot more freedom in terms of storytelling. How hard is it to tell essentially original stories that still fit into Edgar Rice Burroughs’ world?
AN: Not hard at all! Burroughs did such an amazing job creating the world, the stories practically jump out at you.

TFAW.com: What do you think about the upcoming John Carter movie? Have you seen the trailers?
AN: I did see the trailers! And I’m excited, very. The artists working on it have come up with some weird and wonderful designs.

TFAW.com: You’re about to take the reins of another classic epic with Lord of the Jungle, an adaptation of Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes, which, in the solicitation copy, promises to be “uncensored.” What does that mean?
AN: It’s not going to be X-rated or anything! We just want to present readers with the original character, as Burroughs conceived of him. Most adaptations stray pretty far from the source.

TFAW.com: You’re also going to be expanding on the original story and adding some original elements. What aspects of the story are you most excited to flesh out?
AN: Ah, that would be telling! You’ll just have to read the story.

TFAW.com: Juggling so many series at once, you’re probably Dynamite Entertainment’s most prolific writer. What makes Dynamite a good fit for you?
AN: Dynamite offers me stories any writer would strangle puppies for a chance to script. They really get behind their titles, too–for instance, offering Warlord and Jungle #1 at $1 a piece. I feel great about everything we’ve accomplished with Warlord, and I can’t wait to unleash Jungle on the world.

TFAW.com: What other projects are you looking forward to?
AN: Gods of Mars, the next installment of Warlord of Mars! We’re telling it at a much faster pace than the first story arc, so hold on tight. I’m also writing a novel. Which is terrifying.

TFAW.com: Fifty years from now, how do you want to be remembered as a comic book writer?
AN: If I’m remembered at all, it will be a sign of the impending collapse of Western Civilization.

Using and Enjoying Misquotations
Huffington Post ~ October 15, 2011
Sometimes the misquotation is a smoother or pithier alteration of the original. . . . ' The words 'Me Tarzan, you Jane' have become emblematic of the character of Tarzan of the Apes introducing himself to his future wife - but they were first used by the former Olympic swimming champion Johnny Weissmuller, in Photoplay Magazine, summing up his role as Tarzan in the 1932 film Tarzan of the Apes. They do not occur in the original book by Edgar Rice Burroughs, or in the film. More>>>

Another Official Tarzan Release from Marvel
Vol. 1 No. 4 ~ To be released in January.


See more covers in last month's ERB Eclectica

Craig Brewer Says ‘Tarzan’ Script is
‘The Best Thing I’ve Ever Written’
Screen Rant ~  Oct 18, 2011 by Roth Cornet Like

Craig Brewer is directing a Tarzan reboot Now that director Craig Brewer’s remake of the beloved ’80s dance drama Footloose has made a respectable showing at the box-office, it’s possible that we may start to hear more about the filmmaker’s next passion project — a new version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan.

Warner Bros. commissioned both Brewer and Adam Cozad to submit dueling versions of the tale, as they chart a path forward developing the film. Earlier this summer, it was reported that Brewer was crafting his script as the first in a planned trilogy – an idea that the writer/director immediately dispelled when we sat down to speak with him about the project.

SR: What will we see in your iteration of Tarzan, and why would it be a trilogy?
    “You know, I’ll go ahead and clarify one thing. No one ever talked to me about it being a trilogy – it just suddenly was reported that it was. I think that maybe somebody heard that I wanted it to be able to be serialized, meaning there could be more than just one “Tarzan,” but I’m going to keep it kind of secret right now. But just know this: I’m not doing anything where I’m modernizing it or hip-hopping it or anything like that. I’m a big fan of the books and and I found a way in that I think people are really going to enjoy. It’s something that they haven’t seen. I’m a big fan of “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan” starring Andie MacDowell, who played Jane. But I just turned in the script recently. So far everyone really loves it, but we need to see what the big brass at Warner Brothers thinks. But I would love to make that movie now. I think that people would really, really get something that they haven’t gotten out of the Tarzan legend in a while.”

SR: What kind of tone would it be?
    “Do you mean is it an adventure or a drama?”

SR: Yes, and also, is it comedic, it it dark, is it satirical, is it gritty…?
    “It’s definitely not going to be satirical, and I don’t know if I would say it’s not going to be light. There’s sometimes humor in my movies—but you know this one is going to be respectful to the original characters. But I do want to kind of keep it a little mysterious, because I don’t know if they’re going to want to make it immediately. I don’t know if it’s something I’m going to do next. That’s kind of up to Warner Bros. But I personally think it’s the best thing that I’ve ever written. I love it. I hope that they’ll agree that we get to make it, because it’s going to really kick ass. And it’s also about love; I mean, John Clayton, who’s Tarzan, and Jane, are the most complicated, interesting couple in cinematic history, you know? She’s a woman that has fallen in love with a savage, and there’s a part of her that wants to take that and…(refine him). There’s another part of her that wants to keep him wild. And, you know, I’ve been married to the same awesome woman for twenty years and we’re kind of the same way.”

Tarzan Remake
CoventryTelegraph.com ~ October 16, 2011
Another classic getting an update is Tarzan. No dates for production are scheduled yet, but Craig Brewer - the man behind the new Footloose remake - is writing and directing the new movie.

"I am so excited about it because I just turned my script into the studio," he tells I Am Rogue. "I'm waiting to see what they think. My producing team loves it, and some other people at the studio have read it so I'm waiting to see. I can tell you it's the best thing that I've ever written. I don't want to get too in to it but it definitely doesn't take place in a modern context. I was a big fan of the Edgar Rice Burroughs' books and it takes place in the African Congo around the turn of the century so it's the classic legend."

On the challenge of another remake, he added: "One thing that Footloose taught me was balancing the people that want to see something new vs the people who loved the original. With Tarzan that is even harder because you got the kids who were raised on the Disney movie, then you got the people that were raised on Weissmuller's black and white movies, then you got the people who love the books and the comics, so I have a lot of people that I have to make happy."

But he remains optimistic he can pull it off. "I really think we are going to make an incredible Tarzan," promises Brewer. No casting has been mentioned at this early stage so all we need now is someone to wear the loincloth. More>>>

'Tarzan' swinging into CCA this winter
Times Free Press / Chattanooga ~ October 14th, 2011
Nooga.com ~ October 16, 2011

Center for Creative Arts, Hamilton County's performing arts magnet school, is one of four high schools in the United States to be handpicked by Disney Theatrical Productions to stage "Tarzan," a musical based on Disney's animated feature film.

"They want to see what this production can be like when presented in a high school," said Debbie Smith, principal of Center for Creative Arts. "We are thrilled to have been chosen for this project, and we look forward to offering our students and the Chattanooga community a remarkable and highly entertaining theater experience."
Whitehead said the stage show is so new that "they don't even have scripts to send us. They are emailing scripts to us, and we are printing them out."

Whitehead said the only other schools thought to be presenting "Tarzan" are one in Wisconsin and two in California. More>>>
 
 

New ToonSeum gallery honors Lou Scheimer
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ~ October 26, 2011

Part of the ToonSeum's new space at 947 Liberty Ave., Downtown, will be named The Lou Scheimer Gallery for the Emmy-winning Pittsburgh native and founder of Filmation Studios. There will be a dedication ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, and the space will be open to the public on Nov. 13.

Executive director Joe Wos said additional galleries will be added over the next few months, including the Charlie The Tuna Legends Gallery and The Sprout Fund Comics Courtyard. The recent acquisition, adjacent to the ToonSeum's Pittsburgh Cultural District storefront, triples the museum's space to 6,000 square feet.

Mr. Scheimer, 83, produced animated and live-actions shows, sometimes providing character voices, featuring such Saturday-morning staples as The Archies, Fat Albert, Superfriends, He-Man, She-Ra, Tarzan, Isis, Shazam and more. He and his family will be in attendance for the dedication; tickets are $10, free for ToonSeum members, at www.louscheimer.eventbrite.com

Submitted by James S. O'Brien

A SAMPLING OF RECENT ADDITIONS TO OUR
ERBzine SILVER SCREEN GALLERIES

Mike Henry and Nancy Kovack in Tarzan and the Valley of Gold

Ailing Jock Mahoney during the filming of Tarzan's Three Challenges

Buster Crabbe and Friend Tarzan the Fearless

Don Bragg posing as Tarzan during Olympics.

Don Bragg posing dramatically  at the colosseum.

Don Bragg killing imaginary serpent  at the arch of Titus

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NEW LOBBY DISPLAYS


www.erbzine.com/mag6/0624.html
ENTER TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY LOBBY DISPLAYS

DISPLAY I

DISPLAY II

DISPLAY III

TARZAN MEETS LA OF OPAR
FRITZFRAZETTA ~ Thursday, October 13, 2011


On his FRITZFRAZETTA blog, Frazetta historian and collector DocDave Winiewicz
shares a story about Frazetta's Tarzan Meets La of Opar painting. Just before the big Frazetta Halloween show in 1994 being held at the ALEXANDER GALLERY on Madison Avenue in NYC, Alex Acevedo (the owner) was buying a lot of Frazetta originals. Frank was in a selling mood because he was trying to pay off his newly purchased home in Boca Grande, Florida. This was going to be the new home of the Frazetta Museum.

Alex was quite interested in buying the Tarzan meets LA of Opar watercolor. Frank would not sell it because of the pornographic nature of the piece. Tarzan was shown with a huge erection. This made the piece. One of the slave girls was looking down at the erection with obvious lust in her eyes. The Queen was lifting herself off the throne and thrusting her pubic area toward Tarzan. Great Frazetta ribald humor! A masterpiece. Frank put a lot of work into the details.

Alex wanted it. Frank said that he would have to remove the penis. Alex agreed. I was thoroughly despondent sitting there watching this scenario play out before my eyes. "My God, Frank, you can't take out that penis. It will ruin the piece." I said it calmly and quietly while Alex was looking at other potential acquisitions. Frank simply said: "I can draw another one." I've heard this before and it never happened. Alex was willing to pay 45K for the piece.

Frank got out his gouache bottles and a little water. In a few minutes he had scraped off the penis and flawlessly filled-in the open area. He matched every tone perfectly. It was an amazing thing to see. It is impossible to see that anything different was there before.

Alex bought it, framed it, and put it up for sale. He brought it to the SanDiego Con. Alex always had an incredible display of first-tier originals. I ended up trading him a color Robert Crumb cover from the 60's for it. I kept it for several years, then traded it back to Frank. I was always bothered by the composition missing that central energizing element. It was the whole reason for the idea in the first place. In typical fashion, and this fact would be an ongoing source of frustration with me, Frank did not take any pictures of the piece in its original state. What a loss! What a travesty! I had hopes that he would place the original back to its former state. He did not. Ellie sold it.

It still remains a magnificent work of art.

(c)2010 DocDave Winiewicz