The Conference was held at Bridgewater College on the weekend of November 1, 2012 and was hosted by Stan Galloway. I've invited Scott Tracy Griffin to add his reflections on what proved to be a very successful weekend. 

A short recap of the event 
by Scott Tracy Griffin We had 30 registered attendees, with a few cancellations due to Sandy. Attendees consisted of about half-and-half -- old regulars and new faces. We gave the newbs a warm welcome, so hopefully some will show up here, on the Burroughs Bulletin roll, in the ERBAPA, etc.

Denny Miller started the day Thursday with a convocation on his career. He was then interviewed for a newspaper article. That afternoon, we had our first presentation by Henry Franke, a PowerPoint on the history of Tarzan -- a presentation similar to the one he had given a few weeks earlier at PulpCon. 

Friday morning, Stan Galloway and I spoke -- my presentation, like Henry's focussed on the history of the franchise, with a bit of rambling into the thought processes that shaped my book. I spent the break signing books for attendees.

Then DJ Howell, Ellen Vartanoff, and local comic shop owner, Jonathan Atkins, spoke about the comic industry and graphic interpretations of Tarzan's world.

Friday afternoon, Lee Strong read a paper by Norah Alsaeed, our Saudi participant, who could not attend. This was followed by Rev. Rand Muender and Professor Charles E. "Chuck" Early, on the topic of psychology.

Friday evening, Denny gave a presentation on fitness, and many of us attended the "You Lucky Girl!" performance, with a talkback session by the cast afterwards. We all got posters signed. (I now have signed posters for the only two performances of this play -- eat your heart out, completists!) Alas, I came up a bit short, missing one of the 11 cast members, but I got the organist, who was a vital part of the performance.

Saturday morning started with a mini-huckster room, and I signed more books for the late-birds. This was followed by presentations by Demo (Jim) Sachlas, a neurologist from Toronto, offering a bio-bibliography of the Tarzan novels, and a presentation by DJ.

After a catered lunch, we watched the Elmo Lincoln Tarzan, then listened to presentations on the legal status of affairs with ERB, Inc. from DJ and Jim Sullos.

After a nice banquet that evening, John Ralston Burroughs spoke on memories of his grandfather; he always remembers new anecdotes when he speaks. Some went to a second presentation of the play, but I checked e-mail and did a bit more housekeeping activities, joining the most hardy souls at 10 p.m. for a screening of Denny's Tarzan movie.

Sunday featured our last panel on science, with presentations by Huck Huckenpohler, Lee Strong, and Stan Galloway. After brunch, most of us went our separate ways. I took a leisurely northern route through West Virginia, along a state highway where there was about 18 inches of snowfall. The roads were clear, but there were a lot of downed branches in the mountains, and crews were working to restore power lines. There were a LOT of dead deer -- don't know if the snows drove them down into the valleys, or what. I counted six fresh carcasses along one 30-mile stretch, and three more in the next stretch. Lost count after that (and I thought we had it bad in the south!)

Luckily, the only live deer I saw ran away from my car, and I made it to Lousville for another half-day in the collection researching a future book. Got back to my apt. about midnight last night. I sold my entire first batch of books (counting a few that John Tyner is stewarding for Panthans), so I was quite pleased; everyone seems very happy with the book.

We cannot thank Professor Stan Galloway enough for the great event--it was truly a memorable time in the annals of Burroughsdom.

~Passmore

Former Tarzan Entertains With Hollywood Tales 
At Bridgewater College Daily Eagle ~ November 2, 2012
BRIDGEWATER — Despite living in Las Vegas for more than a decade, actor Denny Miller, known for playing Tarzan on film and the character Duke Shannon on television’s “Wagon Train,” has “never lost a nickel” gambling. But incidentally, much of the 78-year-old veteran screen star’s career has been a game of chance, including the encounter that led to his foray into film in the first place. “I got started in this business by pure accident,” Miller told an audience at Bridgewater College Thursday morning, during a visit for the Tarzan Centennial Conference now under way at the college.

The conference is one of many taking place across the country to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Tarzan’s appearance in print. “I’m so happy to do this and have a chance for [Tarzan creator] Edgar Rice Burroughs to get more recognition,” said Stan Galloway, a Bridgewater English professor and expert on Tarzan and Burroughs. “[Having Miller] is a huge deal for me and I think for a lot of people … because Denny has appeared in so many of the television shows of either our childhood or of the rerun channels over so many decades.”

Miller says he’s been in around 200 commercials, approximately 230 television episodes and about 20 films. But Miller, who holds a degree in physical education from University of California, Los Angeles, had every intention of being a football or basketball coach, until a “happy accident” occurred. A talent scout caught sight of Miller, who was working as a mover, as he rolled a chair down Hollywood Boulevard. “I heard this, ‘Hey you!’” Miller said. “I got about two steps away from him and he said, ‘Let me see your hairline.’”

Approving, the man gave Miller his card, which immediately was tucked away in a sock drawer. But after the scout persisted with phone calls, Miller eventually agreed to a screen test. That’s what led to a seven-year contract with MGM, the Tarzan role and many more lucky breaks, like when he landed a coffee commercial in France. “The reason I got the job is because I looked like the guy who started the coffee company. He’s been dead for 200 years. That’s luck,” Miller said. “It’s just absolutely amazing how lucky I’ve been.”

Many of Miller’s stories Thursday were quirky tales about some of Hollywood’s most notable names in television and film, like the one about teaching his favorite actress, Katharine Hepburn, how to body surf. “She talked us into it,” said Miller, who, with his brother, took a 50-something-year-old Hepburn into rough surf in Malibu, where the actress eventually ended up face-first in the sand. “I could see the headlines: Two dumb athletes kill Katharine Hepburn by letting her surf in [rough tide],” Miller said.

Other inside tidbits Miller shared were about actor David Janssen’s photographic memory, which Miller encountered working on the show Janssen starred in, “The Fugitive,” and that off screen, Dean Martin was quite the opposite of the boozer he was known as by the public. Miller remembers on the set of his first film, “Some Came Running” with Shirley MacLaine, Frank Sinatra and Martin, coming across Martin backstage in his dressing room, sick from drinking. “He was holding his head in his hands and moaning,” Miller said. “I couldn’t help but laugh.” 

Miller will speak again at 3:30 p.m. today in the college’s Carter Center in a talk more focused on his role as Tarzan. The event is free and open to the public.

Read coverage of Denny Miller's recent appearances at the 
ERB Celebrations in Louisville and Bridgewater:
ERBzine 3899

English professor Stanley Galloway, Ph.D., has put together a unique event to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Tarzan’s appearance in print this weekend at Bridgewater College titled: The Tarzan Centennial Conference. his four-day academic conference examines the impact of the life and writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Galloway, a published expert in Edgar Rice Burroughs and conference coordinator, said his initial impulse was to provide an academic forum for discussion of the writing of Burroughs.

“His first two novels ran serially in 1912, but Burroughs spills over any academic boundaries into a number of areas in popular culture, beginning with the first Tarzan movie in 1918,” Galloway said. The film, which was based on another of his books, “The Lad and the Lion,” was produced in 1917. He adds that the conference attempts to raise awareness of Burroughs work beyond academia as he impacts popular culture.

Special features of the conference include: “You Lucky Girl,” the only play ever written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which received only one performance on the West Coast in 1997, produced by Bridgewater’s theater department; A showing of the 1918 silent film “Tarzan of the Apes,” with live musical accompaniment by the head of the Bridgewater music department, and starring Elmo Lincoln, the first movie Tarzan; A Tarzan flea market titled, “Burroughs Bazaar,” where people can bring items related to Burroughs to sell or display; and a special banquet speaker: John Ralston Burroughs, grandson of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Guest speakers include: Denny Miller, the oldest living Tarzan actor; Jim Sullos, president of Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.; Scott Tracy Griffin, author of Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration and artist-in-residence; and “Raz” [Kevin Rasel], artist of Savage Planet.

Larry Taylor, associate professor of music and the chair of the music department at Bridgewater College, said he’s excited to be participating in the conference. Taylor, who’s an organist, will provide the music for a showing of the classic silent film “Tarzan of the Apes” from 1918. “Tarzan has captivated people’s imaginations since his creation one-hundred years ago and his character is often cited as the first super hero and an important influence on the super heroes such as Superman that were to come in the 1930s and ’40s,” Taylor said. He adds that he feels this conference is especially interesting because of the variety of activities — academic papers about Edgar Rice Burroughs, a staging of a rarely-seen play by Burroughs, a lecture by Denny Miller and a chance to see one of the great action movies of the silent era with live music accompaniment.