Tarzan co-star Cheetah dies at Palm Harbor sanctuary
Tampa Tribune ~ December 27, 2011

Cheetah, the most famous of the sanctuary's 15 chimpanzees, liked to see people laugh

Cheetah the chimpanzee, who acted in classic Tarzan movies in the early 1930s, died of kidney failure Saturday at Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, a sanctuary spokeswoman said. Cheetah was roughly 80 years old, loved fingerpainting and football and was soothed by nondenominational Christian music, said Debbie Cobb, the sanctuary's outreach director. He was an outgoing chimp who was exposed to the public his whole life, Cobb said today. "He wasn't a chimp that caused a lot of problems," . . . "In the wild, the average chimp survives 25 to 35 years and at zoos chimps typically live 35 to 45 years," she said.

Cheetah acted in the 1932-34 Tarzan movies, Cobb said. Movies filmed during that timeframe starred Johnny Weissmuller and include "Tarzan and His Mate" and "Tarzan the Ape Man," according to the Internet Movie Database. Sometime around 1960, Cheetah came to the sanctuary from Weissmuller's estate in Ocala, Cobb said.
 
 
 

Cheetah, the most famous of the sanctuary's 15 chimpanzees, liked to see people laugh. "He was very compassionate," Cobb said. "He could tell if I was having a good day or a bad day. He was always trying to get me to laugh if he thought I was having a bad day. He was very in tune to human feelings."

Ron Priest, a sanctuary volunteer for seven years, said Cheetah stood out because of his ability to stand up – shoulders tall, back straight – and walk like a person. Cheetah also stood out for another reason, Priest said: "When he didn't like somebody or something that was going on, he would pick up some poop and throw it at them. He could get you at 30 feet with bars in between." It doesn't appear Cheetah had any children, Cobb said.

Cheetah put a lot of thought into his art, though if he was tired he would give up easily and not play with it much. He wasn't into watching animal shows on television, but he enjoyed watching all the color and movement when football appeared on screen. Cobb wasn't aware of whether Cheetah had any favorite teams. "I couldn't ask him that," she said. "I'm not a chimp psychic."

Price: $49.95
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The Tarzan Collection Starring Lex Barker (5 DVDs)

Now, for the very first time, these novels will be published and packaged as a formal part of a Wold Newton series.

Second in Titan's lineup is Mr. Farmer's Time's Last Gift, a time travel novel featuring a well known Lord of the Jungle, whose initials, TLG, happen to match the abbreviation of the book's title. First published in 1972, and revised in 1977, Time's Last Gift is one of Mr. Farmer's finest novels, and serves as a prequel to his series of books featuring the land of Khokarsa in Ancient Africa (Hadon of Ancient Opar, Flight to Opar, and the forthcoming The Song of Kwasin.)

Time's Last Gift is currently scheduled for release in June 2012, and will be available at major outlets such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Editions will include trade paperback and digital (Kindle & Nook). Stay tuned to this space, Mr. Farmer's official website, and Facebook (Philip Jose Farmer | Win Scott Eckert) for information on other forthcoming titles.

RON ELY starred as three iconic characters from the Comic Books and the Pulps: as Tarzan in the 1966 NBC-TV Tarzan series, as Doc Savage in the 1975 Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze,and as an alternate universe Superman in the 1988 The Adventures of Superboy TV Series.  RON ELY will be signing autographs from 11:00 A.M.-4:00 P.M., and while there is a charge for each autograph it includes a choice of photo.

YANCY BUTLER has credits that include starring as Sara Pezzini/Witchblade in the Witchblade Television series based on the Image Comic Book; as crimefighting robot Sgt. Eve Edison in the Mann and Machine Television series; and Movies such as John Woo's Hard Target, and Kick-Ass.

The cast of The Adventures of Superboy (1988-1992) Television series appears together for the First Time at a Convention, JOHN HAYMES NEWTON (1st season Clark Kent/Superboy), JAMES CALVERT (TJ White), TRACY ROBERTS (Darla), and ILYA SALKIND (Series Producer).

REX SMITH starred as the first screen Daredevil based on the Marvel Comic Book in the Television Movie The Trial of the Incredible Hulk with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno.  Rex also starred as crimefighter Jesse Mach in the Street Hawk Television series.

ROBERT DIX starred as Crewman Grey in the 1956 Science Fiction Classic Forbidden Planet, and Robert also starred in many cult horror movies such as Frankenstein's Daughter.

Louisiana film history gets centre stage
Free 'Hollywood on the Bayou' presentation
The Times-Picayune ~ December 13, 2011 Almost every year since the state passed its filmmaking tax incentives in 2002, new records have been set as more and more major feature films shoot in-state and more and more A-listers show up to star in them. But local film historian Ed Poole is afraid something is getting overlooked amid all the glitz and glamour.

"People are all worked up about the new production," Poole said, "but people aren't aware of what has gone on here. History is being forgotten. ... There's been almost no information available about what's been done here through the years. No one is keeping track." Or no one was keeping track, until Poole and his wife, Susan Poole -- hobbyists turned experts on original film posters -- decided to do something about it. The result is their 270-page book "Hollywood on the Bayou," which includes information on more than 1,000 films shot in Louisiana since 1892. Partly to promote the book and partly out of their love for old movies, they've also developed a multimedia presentation on the state's film industry, which they will present for free tonight (Dec. 13) at the Chalmette Movies.

The Pooles' hourlong presentation includes clips from the 1918 silent movie "Tarzan of the Apes," the first film to be based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous character in which the swamps of Morgan City stood in for the jungles of Africa. "This 'Tarzan' was 1918 and that was the first blockbuster shot here," Poole said. "During the presentation, we have a 2-minute clip from the 1918 'Tarzan' while we're talking, because there are some real unusual circumstances with that film. For instance they brought over a lion and a gorilla. The lion was killed on film -- which was OK at the time -- and they didn't want the expense of returning the gorilla, so rumor is it was released into the 'jungles' of Morgan City," Poole said.

Although "Tarzan of the Apes," starring Elmo Lincoln in the title role, is probably the most legendary clip in the Pooles' presentation, it's not the earliest example of Louisiana on film. "The first films done here were in 1898," Poole said. "We cover all through those -- we do a lot of silents, we do the first film studios, locally owned film studios, that were here. We then go through the decades showing a variety of films and clips."It'll be between 50 minutes and an hour. It depends if I get on a tangent or not," he said. "I have a habit of rambling when it gets on to these oddities -- and there are so many oddities that have gone on that have been forgotten."

Bill
I am George McWhorter’s niece and I love your new website for him, however, you made an error in photos on this page:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag30/3002.html

That is a photo of his mother, Nell Dismukes McWhorter, but the man you placed there is a photo of Pinckney Lee McWhorter and he was George’s grandfather – not father.

I am attaching a photo of George Turberville McWhorter, Sr. - George's father.

Cheers
Tricia Petitt

From: Tricia Petitt
To: Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute Sites 
November 18, 2011
Subject: George McWhorter's ERB Books

Bill
I loved your tributes to Uncle George.  I just felt it necessary to let you know something very important.
I want you to know that the ERB books my uncle George said were destroyed by his “sister’s children” isn’t exactly true! I never touched them – nor have I ever read one. I have watched every Tarzan movie and loved them, however,  I was a Nancy Drew reader when I was young.

My older brother, Bill, was given the ERB books by my grandmother – Nell, George’s mother. I am not sure what happened to the books but I believe Bill still has them. Otherwise they may have been lost during his many moves since he was in the USAF for 28 years overseas and now the State Department. I checked with my brother Bill and he says he still has the books and they are in excellent condition. He also told me that he offered them back to you since you were getting together the collection a long time ago and that you told him you had already replaced them and didn’t need them any longer.

To Uncle George:
I just wanted you to know that they were still being taken great care of and if you want them to be part of the collection there at the library – I know Bill would be more than happy to box them up and send to you. Just let me know and I will make it happen.

You know I love and adore you with all of my heart but I didn’t want you to think for another moment that Bill would do such a thing as to destroy these great books! 

I am so proud of all of your accomplishments. I think you know that I have always idolized you and would do anything for you. So if this means a lot to you, then your boyhood books should be a part of the collection!

Love and hugs
Patti 

From: Chip Clements
To: erbzine@wcgwave.ca
November 18, 2011
Subject: Walter White, Jr.

I just stumbled across your website while trying to track down information about my old neighbor Walter White, Jr., producer of the Tarzan radio series.  Although I didn't know him other than exchanging an occasional nod, I used to be a neighbor of his in Hollywood (Franklin and Kenmore).  After he died, I went out to empty a wastebasket one evening and found that a relative of his was dumping the remains of his life into the building's trash bin.  And then I discovered that the guy I'd seen as a courtly old man was not only an actor and producer, but a white supremacist of the first order.  In addition to a bunch of circus stills and stills of Hopalong Cassidy, I recovered boxes of hate literature and multiple copies of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and a bunch of other hateful stuff (all of which I donated to a library of social movements in South Central LA.)  He'd had a mimeograph machine in his apartment and apparently he wrote and distributed a monthly screed of the most vile stuff imaginable.

Not that you're likely to care, but I thought it was an interesting wrinkle in the history of Tarzan...that the portrayal of those African native characters would have been produced by white supremacist.

Thanks,
Chip Clements
Hollywood