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The third stamp to honor Elvis
Presley was issued Aug. 12, 2015, in Memphis, Tennessee, four years
ago today. Yes, I made some covers just for Elvis, but I also saw it as
an opportunity to do some Tarzan tie-ins.
What did Elvis and Tarzan have in common? Both Elvis and
a Tarzan actor had starring roles opposite Juliet Prowse, that’s what!
And, for a cover maker, that’s all that’s needed!
And then there was a second tie-in, “that book” published
in New Zealand.
“Tarzan Presley” was an attempt to combine the
fictional life of Tarzan with the non-fictional life of Elvis. Some might
have liked the story, but I didn’t care much for it. ERB Inc. didn’t appreciate
the author’s use of Tarzan’s trademarked name, either, and the book’s title
was soon changed to “Jungle Rock Blues.”
For more information,
see: http://www.erbzine.com/mag56/5647.html
But it made a great first-day cover!
The second cover features Denny
Miller, star of 1959’s “Tarzan the Ape Man.” Later, Denny
was in a situation comedy, “Mona McCluskey,” with Juliet Prowse. He played
a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force who was married to a showgirl.
In his biography, “Didn’t You Used to be What’s His
Name?”, Denny wrote about his fond recollections of working on the
sitcom with Juliet, and spoke admiringly of her dancer’s legs. The same
Juliet Prowse had starred in “GI Blues” with Elvis.
Both men were comfortable in uniform, Elvis and Denny
both having served their country in the U.S. Army in Germany. No, there
was no movie “Our Boys in Uniform” starring all three of them – that’s
just a joke I made up to put on the cover, which could actually be said
to be a Juliet Prowse cover!
I made this cover a year after Denny passed away. I sure
would have loved to send him this one! (I did send one to Nancy, though).
More info on Juliet, Denny and that other guy: http://www.erbzine.com/mag56/5652.html
The first Elvis Presley stamp, showing only the name “Elvis,”
was issued on a full sheet of stamps on Jan. 8, 1993.
PUSHING THE ENVELOPE NO.
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Joe Doles of Rochester, N.Y., sent
this cover on Aug. 16, 2004, 15 years ago today, to mark the 112th birthday
of Harold R. Foster.
If anyone wants to get a postmark today, it would have to be the 127th
birthday! Foster was born Aug. 16, 1892, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
He also, of course, created the Prince
Valiant strip after doing Tarzan for a few years.
Looks as if this cover took a short detour before it got
to me, with a machine cancel from Portland, Oregon, sprayed on at the top
on Aug. 20!
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Tarzana, Calif., was the official location
for the First Day of Issue cancellation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs stamp
on Aug. 17, 2012, just seven years ago today. It was a gala affair at the
Tarzana Cultural Center; a Dum Dum in Woodland Hills made it possible for
many ERB fans to attend. The folks from Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., were
there, along with three Tarzans – Denny Miller, Ron Ely and Casper Van
Dien. Denny was actually the one who was instrumental in persuading the
Postal Service to go through the five-year process of approving, designing
and issuing a stamp to honor the creator of Tarzan and other fabulous characters.
But Tarzana wasn’t the only place one could obtain a first-day
cancel. All across the nation, as the stamps went on sale at post offices,
anyone could purchase them and stick them on an envelope and get a first-day
cancel.
The challenge for the cover designer is: What aspect of
ERB to celebrate on a cover? There’s the man himself, his characters, the
books, the movies, the parodies, the doodads, the art. The only answer
is: Commemorate as many different things as possible and have fun doing
it!
With this post, I am showing covers with some of the various
cancels offered that day at Tarzana, as well as some from other parts of
the country.
Denny Miller and the ERB stamp:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag43/4395.html
A cancellation available at
Tarzana, Calif., on Aug. 17, 2012, was this Dum Dum cancellation. My cachet
featured St. John’s Tarzan and Jad-bal-ja while the cancellation featured
the one done later by Roy G. Krenkel
Lloyd de Vries makes “Dragon
Cards.” This has the Digital Color Postmark, a Tarzan cancellation not
available at the First Day ceremony in Tarzan. This cancellation is applied
with special machinery and could only be obtained by mailing covers to
Stamp Fulfillment Services.
Dennis Gelvin of Olympia, Washington, obtained a local
postmark for this first-day cover featuring the first Tarzan movie.
Pam Frahm of New Zealand made this first-day cover and sent
it to a postal hobbyist in Colorado to obtain this unique first-day cancellation.
Charlie Delgado of Ohio drew
his own image of Tarzan for this cover, featuring the official pictorial
first-day cancellation.
Ted N. Tompkins sent away
for the regular “four-bar” machine first-day cancellation for this cover,
featuring the jacket image of the first Tarzan book.
My cover, featuring Burne Hogarth art, was “galvanized”
with a first-day-of-sale cancellation fro the Galvin, Washington, post
office.
I had a 30-day grace period to obtain this first-day
cancellation from Tarzan, Texas. I made four designs, this one, for ERB’s
“The Bandit of Hell’s Bend,” two with Ron Ely images, and one with a poster
for a movie of Ken Maynard with his horse, Tarzan.
Cartoons make good covers! The Cover Monster made this
one and had it canceled with the First Day of Sale postmark from Elyria,
Ohio.
Award-winning cachet maker Thomas Peluso made this first-day
cover and got it canceled with a special stamp show cancel from Sacramento.
The Tarzana Cultural Center was one of those offered at the
First Day of Issue ceremony Aug. 17, 2012, in Tarzana, Calif. This cover
was my design, made on my computer.
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When the Edgar Rice Burroughs commemorative
stamp was issued Aug. 17, 2012, seven years ago this month, I made a whole
bunch of different covers.
For some of them, I took other stamps and found a connection,
however frivolous, with Tarzan, so I could use both the ERB stamp and the
character’s stamp on the same cover for the first-day-of-issue cancellation.
The most difficult one was the Beetle Bailey stamp. In
2010, the Postal Service issued a sheet of five “Sunday Funnies” stamps
featuring Beetle, Archie, Garfield, Calvin & Hobbes and Dennis the
Menace. I wanted to use all five stamps but was able to find pretty good
tie-ins for only four so I had to settle for one of Sarge grabbing a vine
for the Beetle Bailey tie-in.
I made a few duplicates of some of these but some of them
are one-of-a-kind.
Teaming up the ERB stamp with
other stamps that, somehow, are connected to Tarzan:
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” wasn’t so lonely
with all those people behind the Fab Foursome, including Tarzan himself.
Baseball great Lou Gehrig was interested in playing Tarzan:
See: http://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1709.html
Filmation's Tarzan and Batman in a promo.
Batman moves in on Jane.
Mad Magazine got Tarzan and
that Wonder gal together.
One of several visits by Tarzan to DC's lineup.
Teaming up the ERB stamp with other stamps that, somehow,
are connected to Tarzan:
Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery but
it can also get you a lawsuit.
The Henry Mancini stamp featured a panther cameo
just as the ERB stamp featured a Tarzan image.
Sarge may not have been playing Tarzan but this
vine sure came in handy at Camp Swampy.
Betty is an all-around good gal.
Betty to the rescue of Archie and the gang.
This cartoon has made the rounds of ERB fans a few times!
Yes, cats climb trees.
When the opportunity came to talk about Tarzan,
Mr. Wilson could temporarily forget that Dennis was a
menace.
USPS stamps celebrating artwork of Romane Bearden.
This one depicts Odysseus but it could be a Waziri warrior
as well.
Tarzan and Prince Valiant
If he can fly air sorties he can swing on a vine.
Steve Irwin captured them; Tarzan knifed them.
