Official
Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute and Weekly Webzine Site
Since
1996 ~ Over 15,000 Webpages in Archive
Volume
6341
ERB'S LIFE and LEGACY :: DAILY
EVENTS
A COLLATION OF THE DAILY
EVENTS IN ERB-WORLD
FROM THE PAGES OF ERBzine
CREATED BY BILL HILLMAN
Collated by John Martin and
Bill Hillman
With Web Design, Added Events,
Links,
Illustrations and Photo Collages
by Bill Hillman
FULL
YEAR'S CONTENTS
AUGUST CONTENTS: WEEK THREE
AUG 15 ~ AUG
16 ~ AUG 17 ~ AUG 18
AUG 19 ~ AUG
20 ~ AUG 21
VISIT THE AUGUST WEEK III PHOTO ALBUM
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6341pics.html
BACK TO AUGUST WEEK 2
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6340.html
Click for full-size images
AUGUST
15
Mike Henry: Athlete and Actor: 3 Tarzan Films:
Valley of Gold, Great River, Jungle Boy,
ERB's The Girl From Hollywood based on Tarzana
Ranch events ~ Ed and Emma Burroughs
*** 1936: Tarzan film actor Mike Henry (1936.08.15-2021.01.08)
was
born on this date in Los Angeles, CA.
Mike apparently never strayed far from home, being born
in the little burg of L.A., playing professional football there, working
in movies there, and today still breathing in what ERB would no doubt describe
as the fetid breath of the byproduct of civilization for which the city
is famous. In spite of the air pollution, Mike hangs on, though he retired
from acting in 1988 due to the onset of Parkinson's disease.
In his second Tarzan movie, Henry was bitten by his sidekick,
Dinky the chimp, so badly that he suffered a huge cut on his chin and was
sick three weeks with chimp fever. The rascally Dinky was put down for
his bad behavior and other chimps filled in. Later in his career, Henry
himself played a sidekick to Jackie Gleason -- the head lawman in the "Smokey
and the Bandit" films. However, unlike Dinky, Henry never bit anyone.
The peak of Henry's career, at least
as far as ERB fans are concerned, was his three Tarzan movies, in which
he portrayed the apeman pretty much the way that ERB portrays Tarzan in
his Ape Man movies: "Tarzan and the Valley of Gold" ~ "Tarzan and the
Great River" ~ "Tarzan and the Jungle Boy" Mike was film Tarzan number
14.
Critically acclaimed fantasy author
Fritz Leiber adapted and expanded the screenplay into a full-length, authorized,
Tarzan novel in 1966: Tarzan and the Valley of Gold. It was published in
paperback by Ballantine Books. In 2019, ERB, Inc, published the book in
hardcover featuring brand-new cover art by Richard Hescox and interior
art by Douglas Klauba.
ERBzine's 8-Page Mike Henry Tribute starts at:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1964.html
Tarzan and the Valley of Gold
http://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0210.html
Tarzan and the Great River
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1962.html
Tarzan and the Jungle Boy
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1963.html
Authorized ERB Universe Novels
http://www.ERBzine.com/erbalive
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/film4/mikehenrylifephotosall.jpg
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/biblio2/tarzanvalleyofgold.jpg
Off-Site Trailers:
Valley
of Gold ~ Great
River ~ Jungle
Boy~ "secret"
Valley
of Gold Review
*** 1923: On this date, ERB presented
his wife, Emma, with a copy of his latest novel, "The Girl from
Hollywood," which had rolled off the presses of the Macauley
Company Aug. 10. He inscribed it: "To / My dear wife
/ with all my love / Edgar Rice Burroughs / Good Samaritan Hospital / Los
Angeles / Aug 15 1923." Emma was recovering
in hospital from an appendectomy procedure. Joan's comments about the book:
"My
father did considerable research on the story [The Girl from Hollywood]
and our ranch was used as the basis for the background. Dad even instilled
some of my speeches and mannerisms into the character of one of the girls.
He believed very much in this story and always felt that it was killed
quickly by certain Hollywood elements." ERB was disappointed about the
critical reaction to the book: "The critics said that no ranch such as
I described in the story ever existed. The joke of it was that I merely
described my own ranch!"
Other titles considered for the
book included: Other titles considered were: "Shannon", "Fetters
of Snow", "The Snow Slave", "The Demon of the Snow", "Rancho del Ganado",
"The Little Black Box" - and editor Davis' suggestion, "The Needlewoman."
ERB believed
that resistance from the Hollywood establishment who had been embarrassed
by numerous Hollywood scandals and were determined to cover up any references
to drugs in the town were responsible for the unfavourable reviews and
limited success of the book.
Read our huge collection
of related ERBzine articles in the links below
The Girl From Hollywood: ERB C.H.A.S.E.R.
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0769.html
Read the e-Text Edition
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/girlholl.html
Tarzana Ranch Photos with Art by Studley O. Burroughs
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1091.html
Emma Centennia Burroughs Remembered (3 Parts)
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag67/6750.html
Inspiration of Tarzana Ranch for THE GIRL FROM HOLLYWOOD
By Bill Hillman
PART ONE
https://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6893.html
PART TWO
https://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6894.html
PART THREE: Photo Collage Gallery
https://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6895.html
ERB's Hotel California (22 Pages) by Woodrow Edgar
Nichols, Jr.
https://www.erbzine.com/mag50/5020.html
Family Ties: In ERB's House - Two Parts by John Martin
https://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6891.html
https://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6892.html
Special 2021 Centennial Edition
https://edgarriceburroughs.com/store/product/the-girl-from-hollywood-centennial-edition/
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/erb4/girlfromhollywoodcentennial.jpg
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/erb4/girlfromhollywoodaddictions.jpg
*** 1913: ERB accepted New Story's $500 offer for The
Outlaw of Torn.
Following ERB's success with his first story, Under
the Moons of Mars, Thomas Metcalf of "All-Story Magazine" suggested
that Ed should consider creating his next story in a different setting.
"I was thinking last night, considering with how much vividness you described
the various fights, whether you might not be able to do a serial of the
regular romantic type, something like, say Ivanhoe, or at least of the
period when everybody wore armor and dashed about rescuing fair ladies.
. . ."
So, somewhat reluctantly, Ed found
himself returning to the thirteenth century to write a pseudo-historical
romance about a gallant outlaw. Amazingly, he completed the story within
three weeks and submitted it to Metcalf. The story was rejected and Metcalf
sent a series of criticisms.
With the rejection of The Outlaw
of Torn Ed had become dubious about his writing ability. As a result,
he now had little faith that "Tarzan," the story that he had started writing
after his first draft of Torn, would be accepted. ". . . When I finished
it I knew that it was not as good a story as The Outlaw of Torn," he commented,
"and that, therefore, it would not sell...."
Ed offered to make a series of reprints
without success. "I am going to do it over again when have time — I shall
stick to The Outlaw of Torn until it is published — I come of a
very long lived family."
Eventually there were three versions:
the original long-hand story of 215 pages; a typed manuscript, quite similar
but with small corrections; and the expanded, detailed form. The revised
manuscript of 1912, a collection of hand-written and typed pages, exhibited
changes that were based upon additional research. Ed's persistence
eventually paid off eight months later when A. L. Sessions, Editor of the
"New Story" magazine, accepted the story for publication. The Outlaw
of Torn was purchased for $1000 and serialized in the January, March,
April, and May 1914 issues.
Years later,Ed said, "I think it is
the best thing I ever wrote, with the possible exception of Tarzan of
the Apes, and next to it, I believe will rank The War Chief of the
Apaches."
The Outlaw of Torn: C.H.A.S.E.R Biblio Series
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0754.html
MORE EVENTS FROM THE BIO TIMELINE
*** 1881: A younger brother, Charles Stuart, was
born,
but died five months later on January 18, 1882.
*** 1945: ERB wrote a letter home to grandson Mike
Pierce in which he described the excitement over the announcement of
War's end.
ERB Bio Timeline
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio
Letter Home to Grandson Mike Pierce
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1027.html
AUGUST
16
Aquanetta (nicknamed the "Venezualan Volcano"):
High Priestess Lea in Tarzan and the Leopard Woman
Oakdale Affair: 1st Ed cover ~ The Mucker in All-Story
~ Script Magazine: ERB's Mystery Puzzles
*** 1921: Acquanetta (1921.07.17-2004.08.16) was born
as Mildred Davenport or Burnu Acquanetta on this date in Newberry, South
Carolina or Norristown, Pennsylvania or Ozone, Wyoming -- she is a woman
of mystery :)
The first indications of overheating in the ozone came
in 1921, when a girl was born in Ozone, Wyoming, near Cheyenne.
She grew up to become Lea, the Leopard Woman,
opposite Johnny Weissmuller in "Tarzan and the Leopard Woman."
Her name was Acquanetta, but she was born either
Burnu Acquanetta or Mildred Davenport, depending on which Hollywood version
you read...and there were several stories the studio publicity departments
dreamed up to promote her, one of which was to nickname her "The Venezuelan
Volcano," though she has no more links to that South American country
than she might have had to Ozone, since she's the one who claimed that
was her place of birth, while other biographers insist that Mildred Davenport,
as she was named by her parents, was actually born in Newberry, S.C. She
also claimed to be part British nobility (her great-grandfather was an
illegitimate son of the King of England).
Acquanetta made several movies, then settled down in
Arizona as the wife of a well-to-do automobile dealer.
Acquanetta passed away on Aug. 16, in 2004, at the age
of 83 in a town not unlike her stage name, Ahwatukee, AZ.
Acquanetta Tribute and Bio in ERBzine
http://www.erbzine.com/mag62/6270.html
Acquanetta Photo Gallery and Filmography
http://www.erbzine.com/mag62/6271.html
Tarzan and the Leopard Woman
http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0626.html
Leopard Woman Cards from Ron de Laat
http://www.erbzine.com/mag13/1382.html
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/film5/acquanettaleopardwomanall.jpg
Off-Site Reference:
Acquanetta's
story
*** 1884: Hugo Gernsback (1884.08.16-1967.08.19)
was born as Hugo Gernsbacher in Luxembourg on this date. He was
an inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher, best known for publications
including the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the
genre as publisher—although not as a writer—were so significant that, along
with the novelists H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, he is sometimes called
"The Father of Science Fiction". In his honour, annual awards presented
at the World Science Fiction Convention are named the "Hugos".
During their school years both Edgar
Rice Burroughs and Hugo Gernsback discovered a book that would have
a profound influence on each of these SF pioneers for the rest of their
lives: astronomer Percival Lowell's book, Mars As the Abode
of Life. This book started Gernsback on a lifelong quest in which
he speculated on the nature of life and civilization on Mars. He wrote
novels and went on to publish a long line of groundbreaking science and
science fiction magazines. Some of his magazines featured reprints of stories
by Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Mastermind of Mars and The Land
That Time Forgot.
As publisher of Modern Electrics and
Electrical Experimenter he drew the attention of such scientists as Guglielmo
Marconi, Robert Goddard, Reginald Fessenden, Thomas Edison, and ERB's
inspiration of 20 years earlier, Nikola Tesla, the mastermind of electricity.
At every chance he bombarded them with ideas from his boundless imagination.
His all-consuming passion was the development of radio-related devices
but he had many other grandeous schemes and predictions most of which he
wrote about with accompanying illustrations in his magazines.
Gernsbach's introduction to his reprint
of ERB's Master Mind of Mars included these words: ". . .If you are a Burroughs
fan -- and you probably are -- this new story by the well-known author
will not fail to impress and stir you to the roots. Here is another of
his Martian stories, entirely new, packed chockfull of adventure and excellent
science. In this theme, Burroughs has hit upon a new idea, which he exploits
throughout the story in a truly masterful and expert manner. Nor is your
interest allowed to lag for a single paragraph, for Edgar Rice Burroughs
knows how to keep you guessing. You will not rest easy until you have finished
reading the story. It is one of this favorite author's best."
ERB / Hugo Gernsbach Connection (8 Pages) starts at:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag14/1462.html
Accompanying Photo Collage:
http://www.erbzine.com/cards/erb/hugoall.jpg
*** Harold Rudolf Foster (1892.08.16-1982.07.25)
better
known as Hal Foster, was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer
best known as the creator of the Tarzan and Prince Valiant comic strips
His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship and attention
to detail and has influenced many generations of famous artists.
Born in Halifax, NS, and later moved
to Winnipeg, MB, Foster rode his bike to the United States in 1919 and
began to study in Chicago, eventually taking up residence in the US. In
1929, he began one of the earliest adventure comic strips, an adaptation
of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan in B/W daily strips. In 1931 he took over
the Tarzan Sunday page strips which he produced weekly until 1937. In 1937,
he created his signature strip, the weekly Prince Valiant, a fantasy adventure
set in medieval times. The strip featured Foster's dexterous, detailed
artwork; Foster eschewed word balloons, preferring to have narration and
dialogue in captions.
We have reprinted ALL of the Tarzan
strips (daily and colour Sundays) plus the early years of his Prince Valiant
strips.
Hal Foster Tribute and Guide to his Strips ~ 1929-1937
https://www.ERBzine.com/foster
Hal Foster Biography and Intro to our Foster Tarzan
summary project.
https://www.erbzine.com/mag8/0802.html
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/comics2/fostertarzan281all.jpg
http://www.ERBzine.com/cards/art4/haroldfosterall.jpg
*** 2014: As of Aug. 16, 2014,
Librivox made a reading of ERB's "The Oakdale Affair" available
online. Ralph Snelson does the reading. If he doesn't read it fast enough
for your liking, there's a tool you can use to speed him up. If you prefer
to read it the old-fashioned way and don't have a copy, it may be read
online in ERBzine.
Oakdale Affair: Art ~ Photos ~ Text ~ History
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0765.html
Oakdale Affair: 1919 Film Coverage
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0765a.html
Read Oakdale Affair free in eText
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/o6oa.html
Off-Site Reference:
Oakdale Audio
Reading
ERB
books at librivox
*** 1913: ERB started The Mucker
which he completed on October 9:
The Mucker
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0757.html
Read The Mucker in eText
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/o1m.html
*** 1915: "His Majesty, The Janitor"
a 7-page synopsis was written at his 414 Augusta St. Oak Park residence.
Burroughs Fans at 414 Augusta St. Oak Park
http://www.erbzine.com/mag33/dc3043h5.jpg
Lost Words of ERB listing
http://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0219.html
*** 1932: "Who Murdered Mr. Thomas?"
appeared in Script Magazine - A Police Inspector Muldoon Mystery.
Who Murdered Mr. Thomas?: Mystery and Solution
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0047.html
AUGUST
17
Fred Small's cover art for The Cave Man for All-Story
~ Bruce Bozarth (R), George McWhorter (M), Jim Thompson (L)
Tarzan Stamp Unveiling: Burroughs Family &
Dignitaries ~ People That Time Forgot Poster
*** 1948: David Bruce Bozarth, known to many simply
as Tangor was born this date. Besides maintaining the website and moderating
the erblist discussion, Bruce has put together an ERB watering hole full
of impressive non-fiction and fictional articles with contributors such
as David Adams, J.H. (Huck) Huckenpohler, Andy Nunez, Ken Webber, Lew Kaye-Skinner,
Dale Robinson, Serena Dubois, Joel Jenkins, John Martin, Bill Hillman and
many others.
Bozarth himself is a featured writer
and has turned in numerous works of fan fiction, including 22 stories about
"Ras Thavas the the Calot;" a novel, "La of Opar," and other tales, sometimes
in collaboration with others, such as "When the Princess Disappeared."
Many treasures turn up in an exploration of the site.
There is also a "Hall of Memories" featuring fan tributes
to people in the world of ERB who have passed on, and memories are still
welcomed for that section.
Like his colleague in the world of
ERB fan sites, Bill Hillman, who provides the ERBzine.com
venue for ERB fans both on the web at large and on social media, Bozarth
is also an accomplished musician and singer, playing electric guitar in
a band known as the Greyfoxxe.
Back in 1996, as I was preparing to
create my ERBzine tribute Webpages to ERB one of the few places devoted
to the Master of Fantasy Adventure was Tangor's ListServ, ERBlist. This
opened a Web door to numerous other ERB fanatics, many of whom I had lost
touch with since joining the Burroughs Bibliophiles back in the '60s. This
was all the incentive I needed to create my site that eventually morphed
into ERBzine.
I soon developed a friendship with
the Texan and before long we were co-writing a years-long ERB parody -
RATNAZ- that eventually reached over 123 chapters before we both moved
on to other things. It was a sort of round-robin effort in which one of
us would write a whacky chapter and the other would continue it on -- each
chapter building on the story which featured ERB characters and worlds
mixed in with family, current affairs, news, and politics of the day. We
each tried to outdo and surprise the other with outrageous plot twists.
As the story developed, each chapter was featured in our respective Websites.
My daughter, China-Li, surprised me one Fathers Day by presenting me with
a one-of-a-kind, thick hardcover book THE RATNAZ TALES that featured all
my chapters. It was a fun project carried on by Tangor of Texas and The
Jeddak of the North of Manitoba.
Code of Tarzan by Tangor
http://www.erbzine.com/mag1/0128.html
War Correspondent's Notebook by Tangor
http://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0203.html
The Ratnaz Files by Tangor and Jeddak of the North
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/meetratz.html
Off-Site References:
Tangor's erblist
Tangor
Responds
Hall
of Memories
*** Open ALL-GORY PULP PARODY
ZINE to the RATNAZ FILES and discover the whacky Worlds of Edgar Nyce as
he Burrows to countless exciting adventures as told to Tangor and Bill
Hillman All-Gory invites you to travel through space and time and follow
the tribulations of a traditional pulp author as he flounders in the fast
lane of our modern electronic age.
*** Back in the mid-90s Tangor challenged readers
of his ERBlist listserv to join him in the writing of a round-robin parody
on the life and works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. I was the only one
who took up the challenge and the next few years were spent goading each
other on in silliness. Tangor wrote an opening chapter for which I did
a follow-up. We took turns writing sequel chapters and displayed the results
on our respective Websites. We even worked ourselves, families, contemporary
news events and personalities of the day into the plot. The result was
123 chapters of a book like no other: THE RATNAZ FILES. My daughter
even rewarded my craziness by lifting my text from the Web and having it
bound in a rare one-of-a-kind self published hardback book -- a surprise
gift to her dad on Father's Day. We had hoped to carry the storyline even
further, but real life got in the way and we never returned to the adventure.
The results of this immense waste of time are still preserved for posterity
on the Web at:
Ratnaz: 123-Chapter ERB Parody by Tangor and Hillman
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/meetratz.html
JoN: Jeddak of the North (Bill Hillman) and Tangor (Bruce Bozarth)
~ Art by Duane Adams
*** 2012: A USPS Commemorative
Stamp honoring Edgar Rice Burroughs was issued nationwide this date,
Aug. 17, 2012, with official first-day-of-issue postmark offered at a ceremony
in Tarzana, Calif. The Dum-Dum was timed to coincide with the first-day
ceremony, which was held at the Tarzana Cultural Center. Several different
postmarks were available for fans who bought stamps there.
Four Tarzans were in attendance at the ceremony -- Denny
Miller, Ron Ely, Casper Van Dien and a local hunk in a loin cloth!
The Burroughs Family -- proud of the recognition
bestowed on grandfather/great grandfather, Edgar Rice Burroughs -- were
in attendance and addressed the huge crowd.
Not many people at the ceremony realized it, because
Denny had been bound by the U.S. Postal Service to keeping a low profile,
but the stamp was actually made possible because Denny himself had made
the suggestion to the man who was, at the time, the chairman of the Citizens
Stamp Advisory Committee.
ERBzine Stamp Ceremony coverage in Tarzana
http://www.erbzine.com/mag41/4106.html
Story Behind the Stamp by John Martin
http://www.erbzine.com/mag43/4395.html
First impressions of the Stamp
http://www.erbzine.com/mag37/3718.html
Tarzan Stamp Previews
http://www.erbzine.com/mag36/3611.html
Off-Site Reference
John
Martin Story of the Stamp
*** 1977: When they made the movie version
of "The People That Time Forgot," they must have wanted you to forget
the people who were in ERB's original book, along with the plot. The film
was released Aug. 17, 1977, in France, after its earlier release July 6,
1977, in New York City.
The movie plays havoc with ERB's sequel
to "The Land that Time Forgot." They couldn't get Susan Penhaligon
back, so they killed off Lys La Rue (Oops! I mean Lisa Clayton, who they
had named the Lys La Rue character in the previous LTF film!). She was
killed off before "People" even started, and then, so Bowen Tyler wouldn't
have to spend the rest of his life in mourning, they put him out of his
misery during "People" as well. They changed the name of the lead character
from Tom Billings to Major Ben McBride, for no perceptible reason, and
they saved on the makeup budget by simply decorating bald-headed villains
with eye shadow.
The People That Time Forgot: ERBzine Silver Screen
http://www.erbzine.com/mag30/3029.html
Off-Site Reference
People
Time Forgot Trailer
*** 1881: Frederic Charles William
Small (1881.08.17-1960.09.10), often identified as just Fred W.
Small, was born on this date in San Francisco, California. He worked
for newspapers and pulp magazines -- Munsey, All-Story, Argosy -- and was
involved in the first public presentation of some ERB stories through that
venue. He did the covers for The Warlord of Mars, The Beasts
of Tarzan, The Mad King and The Cave Man (sequel to "The
Cave Girl") and also "headpieces" for ERB's first pulp appearance: "Under
the Moons of Mars" and such stories as "A Man Without A Soul" (part 1 of
"The Mucker") and "Sweetheart Primeval," (part 2 of "The Eternal Lover").
In 1948 at the age of sixty-seven
he retired from commercial art. In 1952 he moved to Tucson, Arizona, and
lived at 1432 North Catalina. Frederic C. W. Small died in the Tucson Medical
Center, at the age of seventy-nine on September 10, 1960.
ERBzine's ERB Artist Encyclopedia
Fred W. Small Bio and Links to his ERB Art
https://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1016.html
The Warlord of Mars
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0424.html
The Beasts of Tarzan
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0485.html
"The Mad King": All-Story Weekly: March 21, 1914 ~ Cover Art
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0758.html
The Cave Man
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0755.html
Off-Site Reference
Small
in pulpartists.com
ERBzine Bio Timeline Notes
*** 1914: ERB sent Cave Man to Davis
*** 1921: The Burroughses decided to try educating the
children with a tutor for one year. Ed wrote the Hollywood School for
Girls to tell them he was satisfied with Joan's education there but
the daily commute was getting too hard to handle. He also requested that
the tuition he had paid for Hulbert's and Jack's attendance
there be refunded since they did not plan to attend.
*** 1930: Ed noted receiving letters from the
Dearholts
who were travelling around the Southwest in their "land yacht" --
a mobile home constructed by Ashton.
*** 1935: Rothmund began a barrage of submissions
of ERB's 1930 western That Damned Dude now renamed The Brass
Heart by John Mann. It met with 24 rejections but eventually
was purchased by Thrilling Wonder stories in 1939 and serialized
in 1940
The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0777.html
ERB Bio Timeline
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio
AUGUST
18
Robert B. Zeuschner's "ERB: The Bibliography":
Most comprehensive ever published ~ Rafer Johnson:
Ron Ely TV, two Mike Henry Tarzans ~ Sears Dept.
managed by ERB ~ Zeuschner first Biblio 1996, Yeates art
*** 2016: "Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Bibliography," by
Robert B. Zeuschner is the comprehensive work listing first and reprint
editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs books, became available Aug. 18, 2016.
The edition has 736 pages, and more than 600 images, 500 of which are in
color on glossy stock. There is more about Bob's guide to ERB books as
well as information on other new editions of ERB books for sale in ERBzine's
ERB Still Lives. This was a full-expanded, updated and shortened title
edition of his first bibliography -- "Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Exhaustive
Scholar's and Collector's Descriptive Bibliography".
Years ago, when I created my online
illustrated bibliography in ERBzine, I titled it with a nod to Bob's excellent
book with the long name: EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS C.H.A.S.E.R. Encyclopedia:
A Collector's Hypertexted and Annotated Storehouse
of Encyclopedic Resources by an Exhausted Scholar: William
G. Hillman
Edgar Rice Burroughs Still Lives!
http://www.erbzine.com/erbalive
http://www.erbzine.com/mag62/6264.html
ERBzine's ERB C.H.A.S.E.R.
http://www.ERBzine.com/chaser
Off-Site Reference
https://www.erbbooks.com/erb-bibliography.html
*** 1935: It is known that some
ERB fans on facebook are residents of The Lone Star state and there
have even been ERB gatherings held in the great state of Texas.
Sadly, though, not everyone loves Texas all that much.
One of those who hasn't much use for the state is Rafer Johnson,
who was born this date, Aug. 18,1935, in Hillsboro, Texas.
"I don't care if I never see Texas
again," he said. "There's nothing about it I like...."
Johnson is probably most well known to the world, and
that would include ERB fans, as an Olympic record setter in the Decathlon.
However, ERB fans are also aware of his other career,
in the film industry, where he played opposite Mike Henry's Tarzan
in two movies and with Ron Ely in "The Prodigal Puma," an
episode of "Tarzan" on TV.
MARTIN POEM:
In youth, Rafer Johson won races ~ With speed like a
fully grown Bambi.
In “Jungle Boy” he battled Tarzan ~ In the role of the
evil Nagambi
In "Tarzan and the Great River," ~ He was cast as the
tough guy, Barcuna,
And on TV with Ely he landed ~ A role in”The Prodigal
Puma.”
Denny Miller Career Flashback: Rafer Johnson
http://www.erbzine.com/mag45/4588.html
Ron Ely TV Series
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0014.html
"Tarzan and the Jungle Boy," plus Allsup review:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1963.html
"Tarzan and the Great River":
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1962.html
Off-Site Reference
Johnson's
thoughts on Texas
*** 1908: Ed left his success and security
at Sears to go into business for himself. Ed and a partner started
an advertising agency based upon a correspondence course aimed at preparing
students in salesmanship: Burroughs and Dentzer, Advertising Contractors.
It failed.
Seeing a great future in the mail
order business, 32-year-old Ed Burroughs had applied for a position at
the Sears, Roebuck and Company in early 1907. Sears was one of the fastest
growing companies in American and its thousand-page mail order catalogue
was a cherished item in homes across the country -- especially in rural
areas. He was given a position in the correspondence department, but was
soon promoted to Manager of the Stenographic Department. Grandson Danton
shared 50 Sears Stereoview 3D cards from his Tarzana Family Archive. This
was a welcome addition to our research on ERB's Sears years and his experiences
at the Chicago World's Fair 1893: Columbian Exposition . . . and they also
had a welcome home in our huge collection of thousands of stereoviews featured
in our personal hillmanweb.com Website. These 3D cards were very popular
from 1880-1920 and our collection features cards of a multitude of themes
and countries: WWI ~ Canadian and American Indian Life ~ Canada ~ China
~ Hong Kong ~ Cambodia ~ Indochina ~ India ~ Japan ~ Misc.
ERB: Manager of the Sears Stenographic Department
https://www.erbzine.com/mag12/1288.html
Hillman Collection of 3D Stereoview Cards (thousands)
http://www.hillmanweb.com/3d/
Introduction To Our TARZAN'S AFRICA IN 3D Circ. 1900
9 Galleries starting at:
https://www.erbzine.com/mag55/5582.html
*** 1908 Ed wrote the poem "Poverty!"
and pawned Emma's jewelry.
ERB's Poem: Poverty!
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0003.html#poverty
*** 1907: ERB inquired about books
on fingerprinting and on the care of infants, suggesting that the
first ideas for his Tarzan of the Apes plot may be developing. ERB
had been first introduced to the new technique of fingerprinting when he
spent the summer of 1893 at Chicago's Columbian Exposition. A major
part of the anthropological exhibit was the one put together by Joseph
Jastrow of the American Psychological Association. He had created
a replica of Sir Francis Galton's Anthropometric Laboratory, which had
been doing research into heredity and in the promoting of his theory of
eugenics. There was a constant line of visitors to the display -- anxious
to have their heads measured by a team of anthropologists led by Jastrow
and his assistant, Franz Boas. They claimed that these measurements could
determine where the subject ranked on the scale of human evolution.
Of special interest was Galton's new
book, Finger
Prints - Macmillan 1892, which presented a revolutionary means
of identifying people -- by the prints made by the ridges and furrows of
skin on their fingers. Francis Galton's intensive use of measurement methodologies
led him to discover and establish fingerprinting as a reliable method of
identification. Having collected hundreds of fingerprint samples, Galton
created a taxonomic classification system still largely in use by forensic
scientists of the twenty-first century
1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition
https://www.ERBzine.com/expo
Ed and Emma's Grand Adventure II
https://www.erbzine.com/mag12/1278.html
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/erb/expo1893.jpg
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/erb3/searsstereocardsall.jpg
*** 2012: We were honoured to have
Dr. Jane Goodall as the Guest of Honour and dinner speaker at the Edgar
Rice Burroughs Centennial celebration in Tarzana, CA on this date. The
three-day centennial event also featured the introduction of “Jane,
the Woman Who Loved Tarzan” by Robin Maxwell. This was appropriate
since Dame Goodall credited ERB's "Tarzan of the Apes" novel and other
stories as the source of her lifelong interest in primates. She began reading
Tarzan stories when she was eleven and professed to be very jealous of
Tarzan's Jane at that time.
Dame Jane Morris Goodall, DBE born
on April 3, 1934, is considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees,
Goodall is best known for her over 55-year study of social and family interactions
of wild chimpanzees since she first went to Gombe Stream National Park
in Tanzania in 1960.
Meeting Jane Goodall: I was
host for the Tarzan ape yell contest at this special convention in Tarzana.
At the end of the contest I thought it would be appropriate to invite her
into the convention room to give her version of an ape call . . . even
though there were never any chimps in Burroughs' books. I escorted her
to the lecturn where she blew the crowd away with her authentic and exciting
Chimp call. A remarkable lady.
Jane's Chimp Call at Tarzan Yell Contest
http://www.erbzine.com/mag41/4110.html
Jane Goodall: Guest of Honour at ERB Centennial
http://www.erbzine.com/mag41/4117.html
Jane, The Woman Who Loved Tarzan
http://www.erbzine.com/mag37/3706.html
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/cons/janegoodalltarzanaall.jpg
*** 1915: Ed wrote two synopses:
Lion
Hunter (5-page comedy) and The Mucker to be submitted as film
ideas
ERB Bio Timeline
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio
AUGUST
19
Frank E. Schoonover Art for ERB's A Princess of
Mars and The Gods of Mars ~
Schoonover at Work ~ Gene Roddenberry ~ Roddenberry's
rare Tarzan Film Script
*** 1877 Frank Schoonover (1877.08.19-1972.09.01)
who illustrated two ERB books, dust jacket and inside: "A Princess of
Mars" and "The Gods of Mars," was born this date in New Jersey,
and passed away a few days shy of his 95th birthday.
His cover for "A Princess of Mars," with John Carter
defending Dejah Thoris, became the classic and oft-imitated image for the
novel, and the followup cover for "The Gods of Mars" was first to feature
a Barsoomian airship.
Schoonover's subject matter covered
a broad spectrum but he seemed most at home with frontier and adventure
themes and rugged landscapes. His forms were simple and well defined and
his moods powerful. Later in his career, his style became less rigid and
more impressionistic. Schoonover was also an accomplished watercolorist
and muralist and an avid photographer. Schoonover, a devout Episcopalian,
devoted much energy to Immanuel Church, Wilmington, where he designed 16
stained glass windows and served as warden for 41 years until 1959.
After a series of paralyzing strokes,
which ended his artistic career in 1968, Schoonover died in Wilmington,
Delaware at the age of 95 in 1972.
Bill Hillman's ERBzine presents Schoonover at:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0422.html
A Princess of Mars: Art ~ History ~ e-Text ~ etc.
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0421.html
The Gods of Mars: Art ~ History ~ e-Text ~ etc.
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0423.html
Off-Site References
Schoonover
site
Schoonover
at americanillustration
Schoonover
studio visit
*** 1921: Gene Roddenberry (1921.08.19-1991.10.24)
was born on this date and, as any schoolboy knows, created "Star Trek."
After the USS Enterprise completed its five-year mission in only three
years, thanks to warp drive and other factors, Roddenberry decided to write
a Tarzan script for a new movie. The feature script that Roddenberry wrote
was never produced, primarily because the script was deemed too expensive
for the company and budget cuts brought it down to a movie-of-the-week
level. This was not in line with Roddenberry's vision, as he wanted to
get out of television at the time. A secondary reason why the script remained
unused was that Roddenberry had allegedly written many sexually oriented
moments in his characterization of our intrepid hero, not something for
television. Roddenberry got as far as location scouting in Mexico for the
film and writing a full 169-page script, but very quickly, the project
was quashedeven before casting had been considered. This means we don't
know who might have become Gene Roddenberry's Tarzan! The script has survived,
however, and I have it in my ERB library along with many other unfilmed
Tarzan scripts.
Roddenberry Quote: "I
wish I had more control, more like Edgar Rice Burroughs had, but I'm a
realist, too. I work in television. I don't know that I would want to spend
the rest of my life controlling my characters." Gene
Roddenberry
An Interesting
Factoid from our ERB Genealogy Series: Roddenberry is 11th cousin one-time
removed to Edgar Rice Burroughs (Famous Kin Site)
The Story of Roddenberry's Tarzan Film Script
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0038.html
Quotes Recognizing the Influence of ERB in Popular
Fiction
http://www.erbzine.com/mag28/2875.html
Roddenberry: Distant Cousin to ERB ~ ERB Eclectica
2016.07
http://www.erbzine.com/mag58/5814.html
Off-Site Reference
10
Roddenberry Facts
ERB Bio Timeline Notes
*** 1927: Tarzana Bulletin "an aid to the development
of Tarzana" was published. Edited by Ed's new secretary Ralph Rothmund.
"Building Notes" section reported construction of a new store ad office
building at 18352 Ventura Blvd. and made references to the "beautiful old
walnut tree in the centre of the yard" and Ed's study
*** 1938 : Ed and Flo left on the Lurline for Hawaii
vacation
ERB Bio Timeline
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio
Off-Site Reference
History of Tarzana: Tarzana Property Owners
http://www.tarzanapropertyowners.org/tarzana%20history.html
AUGUST
20
Rand McNally ERB Rejection Letter and Building
~ McClurg's Tarzan of the Apes and Building ~ ERB's Tarzana Theatre
Lad and the Lion: 1st Pulp & 1st Ed. ~ ERB's
Aircraft ~ Gray Morrow's Tarzan's Conquest Strip
*** 2012: Bill Hillman was interviewed
on this date for part of a major documentary on Pulp Authors. The Hillman
emphasis was on the legacy of Edgar Rice Burroughs. He was filmed in front
of blue screen backdrop on which art and photo images would be projected
in the finished documentary.
It was pretty much an all-day event
involving meetings, lunch at Vegas Seafood Buffet, still photo shoots,
and video enactments. . . culminating in a 90 minute on-camera interview
conducted by Galaxy Press President, John Goodwin, at their Hollywood Blvd
studio location - a few doors down from the Grauman Chinese Theatre in
Hollywood.
L. Ron Hubbard.
like Burroughs, was a very successful pulp writer. He put out a huge body
of work, using a pseudonym for many of the stories. LRH was born the year
that ERB was first published.
The ERB/Hubbard Connection
http://www.ERBzine.com/hubbard
The L. Ron Hubbard Library Tour
http://www.erbzine.com/mag33/3371.html
ERBzine's ERB/Authors Connection Series
http://www.erbzine.com/mag23/2341.html
*** 1913: "For of all sad words
of tongue or pen, ~ "The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'
Did the editors at Rand McNally ever ponder that stanza
near the end of the John Greenleaf Whittier poem, "Maud Muller?"
The firm is certainly in good company with many book publishers who have
rejected something, only to see it go on to everlasting fame in the hands
of someone else.
Such was the case for Rand McNally, which wrote
a letter this date, Aug. 20, in 1913 to struggling author Edgar Rice
Burroughs, to inform him that their editors had given "Tarzan of
the Apes" some "careful consideration"
but, while it was interesting, they wrote, "we find
it does not fit in with our plans."
Yes indeed! Considering that "Tarzan of the Apes" was
a story based on a new concept, it is easy to see that Rand McNally did
not have any "plans" for such a story (but neither did any other publisher!)
Obviously, Rand McNally didn't plan for the unanticipated, either!
After Tarzan became a success, Rand
McNally changed its tune some years later and was quite happy to become
the publisher of a couple of Tarzan coloring books.The Rand McNally building
pictured stood from 1889 to 1911, and was also headquarters for the Chicago
Worlds Fair in 1983, in which ERB had a role, so the Rand McNally outfit
may have seemed a logical place to market his book. By the time ERB wrote
"Tarzan of the Apes," this building had been razed and a new one erected.
Bookselling was profitable enough to build new buildings when the old ones
burned down. The first McClurg building burned down in the Great
Chicago Fire of 1871 and the second one also was destroyed by fire. The
current building was raised in 1899, in plenty of time to publish "Tarzan
of the Apes" in 1914.
Rand McNally Rejection Letter to ERB
http://www.erbzine.com/mag9/0940.html
ERB's remarkable summer of 1893
http://www.erbzine.com/mag12/1275.html
Tarzan of the Apes
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0483.html
Off-Site Reference
ERB
and Rejection
Rand
McNally Buildings
ERB
and A.C. McClurg
*** 1890: Howard Phillips Lovecraft
(1890.08.20-1937.03.15),
an American writer of weird fiction and horror fiction, was born on this
date in Providence, Rhode Island. Lovecraft was virtually unknown during
his lifetime and published only in pulp magazines before he died in poverty,
but is now regarded as one of the most significant 20th-century authors
of weird and horror fiction. His writings were the basis of the Cthulhu
Mythos, which has inspired a large body of pastiches, games, music and
other media drawing on Lovecraft's characters, setting and themes, constituting
a wider body of work known as Lovecraftian horror.
THE ERB/LOVECRAFT CONNECTION: Lovecraft
wrote a fan letter in the March 7, 1914 issue of All-Story Weekly that
ran ERB's The Eternal Lover.
We've featured this little-known piece of writing in
ERBzine by the great master of the supernatural -- H. P. Lovecraft -- who
is well known to lovers of the weird tale. It gives us a glimpse of him
as "fan." And it was such letters as his that encouraged the Munsey chain
to continue printing their so-called "different" stories, and probably
let to the eventual founding of Weird Tales magazine nine years
later.
From this interesting letter it is
obvious that Lovecraft was familiar with Burroughs' works and ERB was possibly
one of his main literary influences. Many of the recurring elements HPL
later used are similar to the elements used in Burroughs' works -- especially
those from the Pellucidar tales: the reptile race, subterranean tunnels,
the earth's interior with its eternal day, ancient cities, prehistoric
creatures, superior "Old Ones" -- a winged web-footed, scholarly race --
who control "Shoggoths" and use men as cattle (At the Mountains of Madness
1931). There are numerous other clues and coincidences scattered
across HRL's body of work: Randolph Carter who experiences an out-of-body
experience while in a mystical cave (The Silver Key, 1926), an English
nobleman who discovers that his ancestor was of a hybrid race resulting
from the matings of apes with inhabitants of the last surviving city of
a prehistoric white civilization in Africa (Arthur Jermyn, 1920),
pterodactyls, advanced earth drilling machines, limestone caverns, subterranean
worlds and a multitude of fantasy worlds.
THE ERB/LOVECRAFT CONNECTION
By Darrell C. Richardson
http://www.erbzine.com/mag11/1137.html
THE ALMOST-HUMAN RACE OF LOVECRAFT’S MYTHOS
By Den Valdron
http://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1787.html
Short Story 1: The Hound
http://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1787a.html
Short Story 2:
Horror At Red Hook
http://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1787b.html
*** 2000: "The Contest,"
by Gray Morrow and Mark Kneece, began Aug. 20, 2000, in Sunday
newspapers and continued through Nov. 26.
The Contest: All 15 Tarzan Strips by Gray Morrow
http://www.erbzine.com/mag34/3487.html
*** 1934: Ed writes a letter to
daughter Joan with talk about the baby crying. Plus "Am
going over this afternoon to watch Jim Granger test his new ship that he
is to fly in the London-Melbourne race in October." (Jim Granger
would die in this ship on Oct.3)
Ed's Letter to Joan
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1049.html#August%2020,
*** 1937: ERB Added 21,000 words
to the 1914 novelette Lad and the Lion for book release -
the retitled Men and Beasts
The Lad and the Lion
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0760.html
*** 1950: Last Burne Hogarth Tarzan Sunday page
~ Next week's strip by Bob Lubbers
ERBzine Comics Archive
http://www.ERBzine.com/comics
*** 1921: August films that Ed showed
in the Tarzana Ranch Ballroom Theatre included Stuffed Lions (short)
~ The Fire Cat ~ Tee Time ~ Society Secrets ~ Colorado
with Frank Mayo.
ERB's Tarzana Ranch Theatre Today
http://www.erbzine.com/mag9/0955.html
Tarzana Ranch: Then and Now
http://www.erbzine.com/mag11/1161.html
AUGUST
21
TOP: JCB: Artist, Writer, Pomona Grad ~ JCB cover
~ Whitman letter ~Other Artists' Ant Men ~ Tarzan Escapes
BOTTOM: Tarzan the Fearless Marquee ~ Hulbert:
Pomona Golfers ~ Sweetheart Primeval ~ Tarzan Escapes Marquee
*** 1944: The deal was solidifed on Aug. 21, 1944, in a letter
from Thomas Penfield of Whitman Publishing Company: John Coleman
Burroughs, ERB's youngest son, would do the cover for the Better Little
Books version of "Tarzan and the Ant Men." See my scan of that letter,
and the cover, along with some other JCB work -- both illustrative and
literary -- in ERBzine 1982.
"WHITMAN PUBLISHING CO. ~ Racine,
Wisconsin ~ August 21, 1944 ~ BOOKS * GAMES * GREETING CARDS * PLAYING
CARDS
To: Mr. John Coleman Burroughs
~ Tarzana, California ~ Dear Mr. Burroughs:
Thank you for your letter of August
15 accepting the assignment to do the cover for our Better Little Book,
TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN.
If you have not already started
this cover, please use the scale of 1 to 2, as laid out on the tissues
which I sent to you a week or so ago.
We will need this art as soon as
you can complete it for us. I believe that you have all the material necessary
to work from.
Very truly yours, WHITMAN PUBLISHING CO. ~ Thomas
Penfield"
John Coleman Burroughs: The Writer
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1982.html
Our John Coleman Burroughs Tribute Site
http://www.johncolemanburroughs.com
Tarzan and the Ant Men: Better Little Book Gallery
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0044c.html
Tarzan and the Ant Men: The Original
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0497.html
*** 2003: Raid
on the JCB Treasure Vaults: Danton
Burroughs and I used a large bolt cutter (key was lost many years ago)
to break into one of the numerous JCB storage lockers in the valley.
We sorted and transferred the contents to Dan's SUV and trailer. Among
the contents were stacks of art, documents, carvings, photos and books
as well as ERB items such as a film projector, chair, bust sculpture, uniforms,
and other memorabilia. Of particular interest were the many SF manuscripts,
some which had been published in pulp zines and many others that had never
been released. All were written by JCB -- many with wife Jane and Hully
as co-writers. We moved these treasures up to the old Tarzana Ranch location
for storage in the attached garage. I took numerous photos of the locker,
trailer and storage garage at the time. Tragically, sometime later much
of this treasure disappeared -- but that's another story.
Raid on the JCB Treasure Vaults
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1053.html
John Coleman Burroughs the Writer
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1982.html
*** 1914: Ed started Sweetheart
Primeval which he finished on September 14 (Part II of The Eternal
Lover).
The Eternal Lover
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0759.html
*** 1933: Tarzan the Fearless
was released
Tarzan the Fearless
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0595.html
*** 1933: Hulbert graduated
from Pomona College and attended the U. of New Mexico summer school of
archaeology at Jemez Springs. Both Hulbert and his younger brother, Jack,
were Pomona grads.
Hulbert at Pomona College and More
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1985.html
*** Herbert Mundin(1898.08.21-1939.03.05)
was
born Aug. 21, 1898, in St. Helens, Lancashire, England. He was added to
the cast of the second version of "Tarzan Escapes" for comic relief,
to help tone down the violence in the first version of the film. Mundin,
a short, blubbery-jowled Hollywood character actor of the 1930's, with
prior experience in UK theatre and cinema generally played comic characters.
He also appeared in Charlie Chan’s Secret (1936),
The Adventures
of Robin Hood (1938), David Copperfield (1935) and
Another
Dawn (1937). His last film was Society Lawyer for
MGM.
Over breakfast one morning at a past
Dum-Dum, a few of ERB fans got into a conversation about the different
ways that non-locals pronounce the names of places. England's own Laurence
Dunn told John Martin, his grandson Schuyler and Tom Tolley that, in England,
the word "shire," by itself, is pronounced with a long "i" and two syllables.
When it is added to another word though, such as Yorkshire, or the above-mentioned
Lancashire, the "shire" is pronounced as "sure." It is funny, he said,
to hear tourists mispronounce the names of such places.
When tourists flock to visit the boyhood home of Herbert
Mundin nowadays, though, there may not be as many mispronouncing the "shire"
part of the name, since St. Helens is now, geographically, considered part
of Merseyside.
Herbert Mundin was killed in a road
accident on March 5, 1939 in Van Nuys, California, USA at age 40.
Herbert Mundin in "Tarzan Escapes"
http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0618.html
"Escapes" missing Vampire Bats footage
http://www.erbzine.com/mag21/2141.html
"Escapes" BLB's Original Script
http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0648.html
"Escapes" 3 Lobby Displays
http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0618a.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag21/2141a.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag21/2141b.html
http://www.ERBzine.com/cards/film4/tarzanescapesmundinall.jpg
Off-Site References
Mundin
in IMDB
Mundin
in Wikipedia
VISIT AUGUST WEEK 3 PHOTO ALBUM
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6341pics.html
BACK TO AUGUST WEEK 2
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6340.html
BACK TO DAILY
EVENTS INTRO and CONTENTS
www.ERBzine.com/events
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