Official
Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute and Weekly Webzine Site
Since
1996 ~ Over 15,000 Webpages in Archive
Volume
6319
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
BACK TO DAILY
EVENTS CONTENTS
MARCH CONTENTS
WEEK 1
MAR 1a ~ MAR
1 ~ MAR 2 ~ MAR 2a ~ MAR
3
MAR 4 ~ MAR
5 ~ MAR 6 ~ MAR 7
Click for full-size images
MARCH
1a
ERB's John Carter and Tarzan Celebrations in Tarzana
~ Lord of the Louisiana Jungle Festival:
Morgan City ~ Bridgewater College Conference ~ Tarzan
Birthday Celebration at U of Louisville
*** 2012: The era of ERB can be said to have had many starting
points, but a major and essential one was the publication of his very first
story, "Under the Moons of Mars," in "The All Story" magazine,
serialized from February to July of 1912.
One hundred years later, as might be expected, there
were a lot of events that took place to celebrate a century of ERB. The
years of celebrations can be said to have begun with the ECOF on Thursday,
March 1, 2012, when fans toured the office of Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Inc., and then gathered at the home of the Danton Burroughs family
in Tarzana, Calif., for an evening of friendship and fellowship.
Then, it was on with Friday and Saturday events at the
Warner Marriott Hotel in nearby Woodland Hills, Calif., and the
very special Saturday night advance fans-only showing of Disney's "John
Carter" at the studio's theater.
There are too many highlights of the weekend to list
here, but they included a Friday showing of the videotaped ERB play, "You
Lucky Girl!," a presentation by author Robin Maxwell on her soon-to-be-published
"Jane, the Woman Who Loved Tarzan," and appearances by Tarzan actors
Ron
Ely and Casper Van Dien and Jane, Lydie Denier.
And all of that was only the beginning.
2012 TARZANA ECOF: ERB CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3572.html
*** Next, on April 13-14, many fans
were able to gather in Morgan City, Louisiana, for the "Tarzan
Festival," a special event designed to premiere the documentary, "Tarzan,
Lord of the Louisiana Jungle," by Al Bohl and daughter Allison
Bohl, as well as showcase a newly restored presentation of the original
ape-man film, "Tarzan of the Apes."
TARZAN: LORD OF THE LOUISIANA JUNGLE FESTIVAL 2012
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3588.html
*** After that, it was a four-month
wait for the next big event, the Dum Dum, Aug. 15-18, once again
in Woodland Hills. The highlight here was unquestionably the issuance of
a commemorative postage stamp honoring Edgar Rice Burroughs and
featuring an image of Tarzan himself beneath the face of his creator. Three
Tarzan actors were present for the ceremony, Van Dien, Ely
and Denny Miller, the latter being the one who had made the suggestion
for the stamp directly into the ears of the then chairman of the Citizens
Stamp Advisory Committee five years before.
Robin Maxwell's "Jane" still
had not been officially published, but fans present were given a copy of
the pre-publication edition, along with a cassette tape of the book, items
which they were sure to treasure as much as the finalized book itself when
it came out shortly thereafter.
Jane Goodall, who drew inspiration
from Tarzan for her studies of primates in Africa, was guest of honor at
the Dum Dum.
2012 TARZANA DUM-DUM
http://www.erbzine.com/mag41/4101.html
Jane: By Robin Maxwell
http://www.erbzine.com/mag37/3706.html
*** But the year wasn't over yet,
and on October 28, 2012, there was a Happy Birthday Tarzan party
at the Edgar Rice Burroughs Memorial Collection, Ekstrom Library, University
of Louisville, attended by Miller, Maxwell, Scott
Tracy Griffin, John Burroughs, ERB Inc. President Jim Sullos,
and ERB collection patriarch George McWhorter among many others.
TARZAN BIRTHDAY PARTY: ERB MEMORIAL COLLECTION, U
of LOUISVILLE
http://www.erbzine.com/mag38/3899.html
*** Finally, at Bridgewater College
in Bridgewater, Va., ERB fan Dr. Stan Galloway hosted the Tarzan
Centennial Conference, which once again put the spotlight on a century
of Edgar Rice Burroughs
TARZAN CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE at BRIDGEWATER COLLEGE
http://www.erbzine.com/mag39/3939.html
*** 2012 ERB CELEBRATIONS AND EVENTS
http://www.erbzine.com/mag39/3939.html
https://www.erbzine.com/2012/
*** March . . . in like a Lion . . .
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0495a.html
MARCH
1
ERB and Bert Weston in their younger days 1901 and
much later in 1947 ~ USS Shaw ~ Tarzana Mansion and
Tarzana Ranch Grounds ~ Tarzan Coffee ~ ERB War Correspondent:
Photo and John Coleman Burroughs Painting
.
*** 1919: Edgar Rice Burroughs purchased Mil Flores
($125,000), the 540-acre country estate of the late General Harrison
Gray Otis, founder of the Los Angeles Times. It was located in the
San Fernando Valley in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. Ed
rechristened the estate, Tarzana Ranch and took on the joys and frustrations
associated with the role of gentleman farmer.
The Local Press Welcomes ERB to the Valley: E. R.
Burroughs Buys Otis Miraflores Estate ~ Van Nuys News ~ March 7, 1919
Tarzana will be the new name of Miraflores,
the beautiful improved country estate formerly owned by Gen. Harrison Gray
Otis, in Van Nuys South Hills, which was purchased last week by Edward
(sic) Rice Burroughs, famous American novelist, author of "Tarzan of the
Apes," and other well known works. Mr. Burroughs has been living in Los
Angeles for several months, but the lure of the country life, where he
can have seclusion for his writings and follow the pursuits of a California
rancher, was the impelling motive for locating in the San Fernando valley.
He has taken possession of the estate and is now living there.
The estate, which comprises approximately
540 acres, lies along the south side of the Ventura Boulevard (State highway),
west of Encino Acres its center faces the newly paved Reseda avenue, and
the property extends back to the sky line of the Santa Monica range of
mountains. A magnificent dwelling of the most modern hollow tile and concrete
construction is built on a commanding knoll a half mile back from the highway,
from which one of the finest and most comprehensive views of the entire
valley is had. This residence was built by General Otis and was occupied
by him as a home at the time of his death.
Rare trees and shrubbery have been
set out on a fifteen-acre plot around the house, which, when they attain
their full growth, will make a veritable elysian paradise of the place.
Acquired with the purchase were a large number of thoroughbreds and registered
goats, which the new owner will utilize on the hill lands and canyons of
the estate. Mr. Burroughs has also decided to engage extensively in the
pig industry, and is making plans for building up a herd of the finest
Berkshire stock that he can secure.
The selection of the Van Nuys country
for a home by Mr. Burroughs is another tribute to the attractiveness of
this locality, for this noted author had all of Southern California to
select from after a thorough search for a location.
Tarzana Memories
http://www.erbzine.com/mag13/1354.html
The ERBzine Tarzana Site
http://www.tarzana.ca
Exploring ERB's Tarzana
http://www.erbzine.com/tarzana/
Tarzana: Then and Now
http://www.erbzine.com/mag11/1161.html
San Fernando Valley Business Journal Article
http://www.erbzine.com/mag13/tarzanah12.jpg
*** Winter had its trials and tribulations
but warmer weather brought about the hope of healing.
In the winter of 1943, ERB was serving as a war correspondent
and had boarded the USS Shaw, a Mahan Class Destroyer. While ERB
was aboard, it chased an enemy submarine and had about as much luck finding
it as ERB had chasing apaches in the 7th Cavalry in Arizona years before.
ERB may have made a big mistake aboard the Navy ship,
though: He may have washed his coffee cup too many times! Navy coffee is
legendary and ERB had been drinking it 'round the clock. As a result, he
was having trouble sleeping. Not only that, but his hands were starting
to shake. Finally, on March 1, 1943, when ERB was back at Pearl Harbor,
he cured the shakes by simply giving up coffee.
Perhaps if he hadn't washed his cup, though, he may have
been okay, at least according to this article which claims that the best
-- if not the only way -- to enjoy good health while drinking Navy coffee
is: Never
wash your cup! ~ Tarzan's
Coffee Cup
Another cure for those blahs might have been if ERB had
been drinking Tarzan-brand coffee. He probably could have picked some up
at a store in some of the exotic Asian ports he visited. Of course, he
would then have needed to file lawsuits because of the likelihood that
the name of "Tarzan" was being used without permission!
The USS Shaw / Edgar Rice Burroughs Connection
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0508.html
ERB's World War II timeline:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1021.html
*** It wasn't the first time ERB
would try to cure his ills on March 1. Back on that date in 1918 he was
visiting Coldwater, Michigan. He had been enduring a seven-year battle
with neuritis, a condition that causes pain and loss of function.
He wrote to his friend Bert Weston, in Nebraska, saying,
"This
dope which I obtained is put up by a druggist in Coldwater from a prescription
given to one of the Coldwater plutes (plutocrats) by a traveling salesman
-- but where the traveling salesman got the prescription, deponent sayeth
not. Anyhow, it cost one and one half bucks per bottle and is absolutely
guaranteed to be harmless. Dr. Earle pooh-poohs the idea that it helped
me and so do I; however it was a remarkable coincidence that immediately
after commencing to take it the pain left me for the first time in years
and I have been steadily improving since. To show what a narrow minded
chump a man can be, I quit taking it because they doubled the price."
ERB/Weston Connection: Hillmans visit Beatrice, NB
http://www.erbzine.com/mag51/5161.html
Ed's Letter to old friend Bert Weston
http://www.erbzine.com/bio/years10.html
*** 1922: William Gaines (1922.03.01-1992.06.03)was
born on this date. He was an American publisher and co-editor of EC Comics.
Following a shift in EC's direction in 1950, Gaines presided over what
became an artistically influential and historically important line of mature-audience
comics. He published the satirical magazine MAD for over 40 years. He was
posthumously inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic
Book Hall of Fame (1993) and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame (1997). In 2012,
he was inducted into the Ghastly Awards' Hall of Fame. MAD published numerous
Tarzan parodies through the years. Many of them we have shared in ERBzine.
*** MAD has been a major influence in my love of collecting
comics, satire, art, paperbacks, and even Burroughs. I was introduced to
MAD in 1955 after buying the Ballantine PB collation: MAD Strikes Back.
I was thrilled by the art of Wally Wood, Will Elder and Jack Davis and
even more so by the parodies on Prince Valiant, King Kong, Mandrake . .
. and Tarzan (featured in the Poopeye! reprint in ERBzine).
I was hooked and had to share it with
my grade 7 classmates. My fellow students were also fascinated and the
book circulated around the classroom eliciting many guffaws. I was very
upset when the teacher confiscated the book. The seed had been planted.
A close buddy and I were soon drawing our own comics, featuring classmates
as the comic heroes. Soon after I found MAD magazine issue #26 on the newsstand
and immediately subscribed. The bonus for subscribing was an issue of 1952's
MAD #1 -- now worth a few thousand dollars. From then on I tracked down
back issues and bought every new issue as it came out -- a ritual I carried
on until the magazine changed its format by adding colour and ads many
decades later.
The MAD experience made me a devout
fan of the original MAD editor, Harvey Kurtzman. And I followed his career
religiously through his Trump, Humbug, Help!, Jungle Book and Little Annie
Fanny projects -- still got 'em all.
MAD Comics Covers 1-23
http://www.erbzine.com/mag55/5594.html
MAD Comics Cover Collage
http://www.erbzine.com/cards/comics/madcomicsall.jpg
Tarzan Meets Poopey: MAD #21
http://www.erbzine.com/mag41/4144.html
Melvin! of the Apes: MAD #2
http://www.erbzine.com/mag36/3638.html
Off-Site Reference
Mad Cover site
MARCH
2
John Carter Anniversary ECOF Program and Logo ~ "Bridge",
"Waldo" and Sue-On with Bob's Leathercraft
ECOF Attendees Collage ~ Mary Burroughs, Billy York,
Thomas Yeates, Stan Gallowway and his Teenage Tarzan book
.
*** (Burroughs, Badges, Bridgewater, Bledig)
Friday, March 2, 2012, was the first full day of activities
at the 2012 ECOF, an event which would feature the Saturday night
advance showing of Disney's "John Carter" and an event which would
also kick off a year of ERB celebrations on the 100th anniversary
of publication of ERB's first Mars and Tarzan novels.
Nels Myrhoj and John Martin, who had traveled
to the ECOF together on Amtrak, joined Brad Vinson for breakfast
and then checked in to get ERB golf shirts with the names of Tarzan and
John Carter emblazoned on them instead of an alligator. The packets included
25 large art prints of the Mars stories from pulps to present. Bob Zeuschner
wrote a guide to the artwork explaining where each piece was originally
used and naming those responsible for making the art available for the
ECOF packets. ERB Inc. supplied many of the goodies, including John Carter-Tarzan
100th anniversary coffee mugs.
Billy and Bonnie York along with Tim Clark
were handling the check-in area at the Hidden Harbor Room of the Warner
Center Marriott hotel, site of this and several other ERB gatherings
over the years.
*** This 100th Anniversary Year was one not to be missed.
Sue-On
and I made a point of flying and driving to both the Tarzana events:
ECOF and Dum-Dum. The trips were certainly worth the effort. . . major
celebrations which I've covered on the Web coverage from the year.
The 2012 Annual ECOF: March 2nd and 3rd, Tarzana,
California
Celebrating the Opening of the Disney John Carter
Film
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3572.html
John Carter (of Mars) Film
http://www.cartermovie.com/
Bob Zeuschner's Barsoom Art Prints
http://www.erbzine.com/mag41/4190.html
ECOF Presenters and Attendees
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3584a.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3582.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3583.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3584.html
*** Mary and Stacy Burroughs had the huckster
room table next to John's and were selling packets of note cards featuring
art by Mary's late husband, John Coleman Burroughs. Bob and Lindy
Zeuschner were just behind them and there were around 20 tables on
the main floor of the room with several more on a platform up a few steps.
Those included an ERB Inc. table and one for Cryptozoic trading
cards, plus some for use by illustrator Thomas Yeates and former
Tarzans Ron Ely and Casper Van Dien and former Jane Lydie
Denier.
Shortly after the huckster room opened,
Bob
"Waldo" Hibbard came in with the leather name badges he had made in
advance for everyone who had requested one. The badges were about four
inches in diameter, the size depending on how much room Bob needed for
our names. The background was the initials JCM in the style used
by Disney for John Carter (of Mars). Sue-On displays our two badges in
our accompanying photos.
*** But Bob had a secret. He had made one
badge a lot larger than the rest, about the size of a pie tin. During one
of the discussion sessions in the Pearls Room, he advanced to the podium
and called Bob Zeuschner up front to present him with the extra-large badge.
I can't remember what it said, but it had a bunch of titles on it. "Waldo,"
as Hibbard is sometimes known, said he made it because he heard that Zeuschner
"liked long titles." That was a humorous commentary on the title of Zeuschner's
earlier bibliography,"Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Exhaustive Scholar's
and Collector's Descripitive Bibliography." When the book was reprinted
in paperback, the title became even longer:
"Edgar Rice Burroughs:
The Exhaustive Scholar's and Collector's Descriptive Bibliography of American
Periodical, Hardcover, Paperback and Reprint Editions."
Zeuschner, of course, had wanted a shorter title, but
the publishers had overruled him! Since then, he has come out with a newer
edition of his book with a much shorter title, "Edgar Rice Burroughs,
The Bibliography," by Robert B. Zeuschner.
Tarzan's father-in-law, Professor A.Q. Porter
himself, showed up in the Pearls Room to give a dime lecture on "Percival
Lowell's Influence on Princess of Mars." For the lecture, Prof. Porter
used notes compiled by well-known ERB fan J.G. "Huck" Huckenpohler.
*** Friday afternoon, Stanley "Woola"
Galloway of Bridgewater College, Virginia, delivered his paper on comparisons
and contrasts between the characters of Tarzan and John Carter. Afterward,
some of those in attendance chimed in with observations of their own.
Stan wrote "The Teenage Tarzan," which explores
the teen years of the ape man, as chronicled in ERB's "Jungle Tales
of Tarzan." Stan and his interest in ERB was also featured in a recent
edition of the Bridgewater College magazine. He brought a few copies to
the ECOF and, after his presentation, made them available to those in attendance.
Next came a panel discussion by contributors to the forthcoming
book, an annotated "A Princess of Mars," which featured ERB's story
plus several short stories by Michael Kogge, Chuck Rosenthal, Dan Moran
and others. Dan Parsons,
artist on the publication, was there as well.
Kogge had the idea for his Martian anthology a year ago,
but publishers told him there wasn't enough time to do it by the time he
wanted. So, in the spirit of American entrepreneurism, he decided to do
it himself to get it out earlier in both print and electronic form.
*** Later it was time for a presentation
of Joan Bledig's videotape of "You Lucky Girl!" in three
acts, ERB's only play. ERB Inc. and the play personnel had approved her
request to tape it, and she attended the first two performances at the
Palmdale, Calif., Playhouse in April of 1997 and edited the two tapes together
to get the best overall presentation of the play.
It was during the play that it occurred to John that
we were actually watching a film production of something that was virtually
exactly as ERB wrote it (the director was present and later told us that
the only changes they made were in a couple of places where non-contractions
were changed into contractions for the easier presentation of the actors
and the listening of the hearers).
The first and third acts were in daytime and the middle
act was at night, helping to show the passage of time. The original audience
present could be heard laughing and applauding several times, demonstrating
that the ERB style and wit worked fine in a format with which he really
did not have much experience.
*** In comments after the play, the director
said they wanted to stick as close as possible to ERB's original script
because it is important to stick very close in the first presentation of
a play, which this was. ERB wrote "You Lucky Girl!" in 1927 and
its first presentation before an audience was 70 years later! The director
noted that, unlike many playwrights, ERB never had a chance to see his
play performed, even in a rehearsal, and thus he had no opportunity to
see how well everything would work on stage. Apparently, those who write
plays sometimes revise parts of them when they see how the dialogue and
actions actually work out with real actors, as opposed to what the author
envisions when he puts those words and instructions on paper.
For more information about the play, see my many ERBzine
links below.
*** As seen in my ERB: Playwright Features
in ERBzine, ERB had dabbled in playwriting. The second one he wrote was
obviously aimed at aiding daughter Joan's stage career. Described as "A
Love Story in Three Acts," "You Lucky Girl!" reveals Burroughs
in a surprising role; he had never hesitated to enter controversial areas,
but here he becomes an iconoclast in attacking the cherished marriage concept
of woman's subservience to her husband. He ridicules the familiar woman-belongs-in-the-home
belief, the contention that child-bearing is her main purpose in life,
and the idea that she must accept her life as a mere extension of her husband's.
The defense of woman's individuality is developed by Burroughs through
the conflicts faced by two girls, Anne Mason and Corrie West, who must
choose between marriage and a career.
In one section of "You Lucky Girl!"
he even ventures a step farther, stressing his previously stated views
on uncontrolled births. A lengthy speech contains an attack on woman as
a mere breeding machine and emphasizes the concern of modern science about
the dangers of over-population. The play ends with a scene in which Anne
and Corrie point joyfully at each other and proclaim in unison, "You
lucky girl!"
You Lucky Girl!
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0774.html
You Lucky Girl! Review by Bob Zeuschner
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0084.html
ERB: Playwright
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag36/3674.html
Meet Joan Bledig:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag15/1534.html
Stanley Galloway and The Teenage Tarzan:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag29/2990.html
J.G. "Huck" Huckenpohler's Lowell Presentation
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3582.html
Mary and Stacy Burroughs
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/rm05.jpg
ECOF Souvenirs
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3577.html
Bob Hibbard: Master Leatherworker
http://www.erbzine.com/mag58/5831.html
Off-Site Reference
Galloway
Article in Bridgewater Mag
*** For Friday night dinner, Nels and
John joined a group that eventually totaled nine and went across the street
to the China Bistro, where we were seated at a large round table
near tables full of other ERB fans. The place was noisy, and unless you
were a lip reader it was hard to understand what someone across the table
from you was saying. But that made for the opportunity to get to better
know those sitting next to you. To John's left was John Pappas and his
wife Paula. They talked for most of the meal and shared quite a few
things in common besides ERB, including the fact that he occasionally comes
up John's way to visit his son, who, at the time, was maintenance chief
for the old steam engines run by the Mount Rainier Railroad, which operates
a tourist excursion line along the edge of the county in which John lives.
"I have since enjoyed visiting with John and Paula at other ERB gatherings
as well as in my home of Centralia when they have stopped in on the way
to visit their son. Back at the hotel, there were more informal discussion
groups in the lobby. I asked Joan Bledig about the exploration she and
John
Tyner did of Edgar Rice Burroughs country in Southern Idaho, in preparation
for the
2011 Dum Dum in Pocatello."
They made many exciting ERB-related discoveries and Joan
has written an account of them which appeared in "The Burroughs Bulletin."
Photos of most of the ECOFers dining at P.F. Chang's
China Bistro
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3586.html
John Martin with John and Paula Pappas
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/dn06.jpg
2011 Pocatello Dum-Dum
http://www.erbzine.com/mag36/3660.html
MARCH
2a
WWII Oldest War Correspondent, Edgar Rice Burroughs
~ USS Show and its Commander's Autograph
Bob Lubbers: Photos through the years and sample Tarzan
work ~ Celardo's Tarzan Strip
.
*** 1943: ERB on the USS Shaw Arrived at Pearl Harbor:
Excerpt from ERB's Personal War Journals featured in our War Years Section:
"Got up during General Quarters and
went to the bridge. Oahu loomed black against the eastern sky. Molokai,
Lanai, and Maui seemed very close to starboard. Nothing seemed familiar.
I had never approached the island from this direction before. It took us
some time to locate Diamond Head, which is usually an unfailing landmark.
Many patrol ships and planes guarded us as we approached the harbour. By
now it was full daylight, and the island presented a beautiful picture.
We passed the sunken Oklahoma and
Arizona, and a little after 9:00 tied up alongside a dock. Jose and Vincent,
two Filipino mess attendants, carried my gear to the Officers Club, where
I telephoned Hully, who seemed both surprised and glad to hear my voice.
I had been gone ghree months, had
a wonderful time, and written twenty-five stories, practically none of
which have ever reached United Press. They have so notified Frank Tremaine,
UP Bureau Chief in Honolulu. We think they may be mouldering in the War
Department in Washington, where Colonel Stead asked me if he might send
them direct.
Hully drove over to Pearl from Hickam
and picked me up. And, gosh! was I glad to see him!"
*** Sue-On and I were filled with bitter sweet memories
when we visited Pearl Harbor. We vicariously relived many of the events
and views of the places mentioned in the War Journals of ERB and those
of my Dad, Chief Petty Officer Jerry Hillman. Dad's ship, HMCS Prince Robert,
had docked at Pearl in 1945 on their way to Hong Kong to free the Canadian
POWs and to accept the Jap surrender. He reported seeing the same carnage
in the harbour that ERB had mentioned in his journals.
We spent much of our time tracing
their footsteps and even drove to the beach area where ERB and Florence
had first lived while on the island. We drove around Hickam Field, explored
a docked US sub, visited the Arizona Memorial, spent time exploring the
USS Missouri -- and stood on the deck where the final surrender treaties
had been signed on September 2, 1945 in Tokyo Bay, Japan. (A few
years later we also cruised around Tokyo Bay during our Japan visit, but
that's another story.)
ERB's "Diary of a Confused Old Man - Buck Benny Rides
Again"
ERB's 50-page Wartime Journal transcribed and illustrated
by Bill Hillman
https://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6800.html
Final March 2 Entry
https://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6850.html
ERB: The War Years
http://www.ERBzine.com/war
The Hillman and HMCS Prince Robert Tribute
http://www.hillmanweb.com/rcn
*** (Burroughs, Biggs, Bird, Bob)
The USS Shaw, with ERB aboard, ended a month-long
cruise March 2, 1943, pulling into Pearl Harbor. The captain of the Shaw,
Lt.
Cmdr. G.P. Biggs, signed ERB's autograph book with these words:
"Best
wishes to a grand shipmate." Over the course of the patrol,
others on the ship also signed his book, which he purchased in Sydney,
Australia.
Capt. Phil Bird wrote in the book, "And when he said
Sydney, Australia, he should of said "Whoopee!!!!"
During one of the many visits that
Sue-On and I made to Tarzana to visit Danton at his home we discovered
among the Dan's large collection of his Grandfather's collection, a series
the series of autograph books that ERB had brought to important. . . and
unimportant . . . events. I spent a long afternoon taking photos of the
pages which I since shared in ERBzine. For an easier read I attempted to
decipher all the handwritten names and comments and key them onto Webpages.
To actually see what his other shipmates wrote in Ed's autograph book,
see:
ERB's WWII Autograph Books:
February 1943 (On the USS Shaw)
http://www.erbzine.com/mag27/2782.html
ERB's WWII Autograph Books Project
Photographed from Danton's personal collection and
Transcribed by ERBzine where legible ;)
http://www.erbzine.com/mag27/2776.html
*** 1923: Incorporated himself as
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. and started to draw a salary from the
corporatioon
ERB Bio Timeline and Daily Calendar
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio
*** 1933: The
motion picture "King Kong" had its world premiere at New York's
Radio City Music Hall and the Roxy on this date. ERBzine contributor Den
Valdron remembers the release of King Kong on this date back in 1933 with
two major articles:
KING KONG I:
THE LOST CIVILIZATION OF SKULL ISLAND
http://www.erbzine.com/mag15/1520.html
KING KONG II:
HOW DID THAT MONKEY GET SO BIG?
http://www.erbzine.com/mag15/1521.html
King Kong Screenplay
http://www.erbzine.com/mag51/5171.html
*** "Tarzan and the Incas"
by Bob Lubbers and Dick Van Buren, began in Sunday newspapers on
March 2, 1952.
"Tarzan and the False Legionnaire" by Lubbers
and Van Buren began a 70-strip daily run March 2, 1952.
Feature on Bob Lubbers:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag48/4855.html
*** "Tarzan and the Diamond Smugglers"
by John Celardo, started March 2, 1967, and ran for 53 days.
http://www.erbzine.com/mag46/4680.html
MARCH
3
Actor Casper Van Dien and ERB, Inc. President Jim
Sullos ~ T-Shirt Logo ~ Robin Maxwell ~ Mary and Stacy Burroughs
Michael Sellers: Presentation and Book ~ John Carter:
Hillman at Pre-release, Books, Logo, Posters
.
*** On March 3, 1866, Capt. James K. Powell said farewell
to fellow prospector John Carter and started out for civilization to purchase
more mining tools. As we know from "A
Princess of Mars," he never made it.
On Saturday evening, March 3, 2012, ERB fans said farewell,
temporarily. to the Warner Center Marriott and started out for the
Disney
Studio to watch a movie about the further adventures of Powell's gold-mining
partner, John Carter.
Saturday morning at that Woodland
Hills/Tarzana ECOF John Martin came downstairs to the hotel gift
shop and bought a copy of the Saturday edition of the "Sunday" L.A. Times,
which was wrapped in "John Carter orange," a large-size movie poster covering
the front of the newspaper.
The day was filled with more huckstering
in the huckster room and several special presentations. They included meetings
led by
Jim Sullos,
Robin
Maxwell and Michael
Sellers:
Jim Sullos, president of ERB Inc., gave fans a
preview of previewed coming events, mentioning that Warner Bros. had optioned
a new Tarzan movie (that turned out to be "The Legend of Tarzan,"),
Constantin
Films of Germany had plans for a motion-capture Tarzan movie, and Al
Bohl was finishing his documentary, "Tarzan,
Lord of the Louisiana Jungle."
In the merchandising department, he mentioned Tarzan
slot machines in Vegas and the upcoming release of the Cryptozoic
trading cards.
In books, he mentioned special
edition Disney books was publishing that would feature both a novelization
of the "John Carter"
movie as well as ERB's
original story.
A change in attitude at ERB Inc. resulted in the allowance
of books by other authors, he said, noting the authorization of books by
Andy
Briggs, aimed at juveniles, as well as Robin Maxwell's forthcoming
"Jane: The Woman Who
Loved Tarzan."
"When Edgar Rice Burroughs died," said Mr. Sullos, his
family was running the business and at first they wanted to leave the canon
alone. "But that attitude has changed." The corporation has made the decision
to allow others to take up the keyboard to write stories about ERB characters.
Introduction to ERBzine's coverage of the 2012 Centennial
ECOF
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3572.html
Jim Sullos ~ President of ERB, Inc.
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3557.html
Meet Robin Maxwell
http://www.erbzine.com/mag37/3706.html
JANE: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan By Robin Maxwell
http://www.erbzine.com/mag39/3945.html
ECOF PRESENTERS: JIM SULLOS ~ ROBIN MAXWELL ~ MICHAEL
SELLERS
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3584.html
Casper Van Dien in Tarzan and the Lost City
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0038.html
A Conversation with Mary Burroughs
http://www.erbzine.com/mag3/0336.html
Special Edition Disney books related to the John Carter
release
http://www.cartermovie.com/books/
*** A Featured Presentation by Robin
Maxwell the author of JANE: THE WOMAN WHO LOVED TARZAN
Robin started her presentation by saying, "Tarzan
was my first heart throb" and she went on to explain how she had
gotten the idea for telling the story of Tarzan's early life in the jungle
from Jane's point of view, and of her meeting with Jim sullos to win approval
for the idea. She also did a lot of research on Africa (among her discoveries
was the fact that tigers do not live there :))
Her Jane would be a modern, forward-thinking
woman, someone that modern readers could relate to, she told everyone.
And at that point, the ERB fans became rather alarmed. That was because
a beep was sounding from the hotel's fire alarm. Everyone obediently left
the room, but it soon became apparent it was a false alarm, so we all went
back and Robin continued her talk, outlining differences between her approach
to Tarzan and Jane's story and ERB's. ERB fans are a brave lot and quite
used to coping with such emergencies :)
JANE met with many glowing reviews
from literary publications, including this one (an excerpt) from The Book
List: "Maxwell improvises brilliantly on Burroughs'
indelible novel (recently handsomely reissued by the Library of America).
In her eventful, keenly imagined, and thrilling tale of African life, colonial
crimes, an opulent lost city, and "living missing links" (the primates
who raised Tarzan, the orphaned Lord Greystoke), Maxwell also orchestrates
glorious sexual awakenings in an Edenic jungle. With riveting action and
suspense, earthy humor, a piquant look at the debate over evolution, and
the love between heroic, resourceful, and tender Tarzan and smart, strong,
and passionate Jane, this is lush and satisfying entertainment."
On our way home after the 2012 ECOF,
Sue-On and I had a wonderful visit with Robin Maxwell and Max Thomas at
their fantastic High Desert Eden -- a unique retreat in California's High
Desert. We shared our memories of this visit in a series of ERBzine pages.
We were then entertained during our entire trip back to Canada by a stack
of CDs that featured the dramatic reading of the entire text of Robins's
JANE by award-winning actress Suzan Crowley. We found both the book and
the reading to be exciting entertainment and added a new dimension to ERB's
100-year-old book.
Robin Maxwell's Presentation
https://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3584.html
Meet Robin Maxwell
https://www.erbzine.com/mag37/3706.html
JANE: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan By Robin Maxwell
https://www.erbzine.com/mag39/3945.html
Hillmans Visit Robin's High Desert Retreat
https://www.hillmanweb.com/desert
*** Everyone wants kids to be interested
in ERB. Michael Sellers, who would later write a book titled "John
Carter and the Gods of Hollywood," had set up "The
John Carter Reading Project" in some area schools. Becky Garland,
along with some of her elementary school students who had read "A Princess
of Mars," put on one of the programs.
Garland shared the results of a survey she had given
the students. One question was whether they thought the story was too old-fashioned,
noting ERB's use of words such as "vouchsafe." In response, none of the
young people thought it was old-fashioned and all said they would recommend
it to a friend.
One said that, because the book was written 100 years
ago, he thought it might not be interesting. "But you could understand
personally," he said. "I read it and was thoroughly shocked. I thought:
This book interersts me...and it's old!"
The group of nine, including boys and girls from Caucasian,
Black, Asian, Middle East and Hispanic cultures. Among the reasons they
liked reading about John Carter on Mars was that ERB spent more time talking
about the makeup of his Martian world and its culture, than talking about
technological things.
The young people each shared some positive thoughts on
the book and then several of them answered questions from the older ERB
fans.
After the session, the young people went shopping in
the huckster room and, later that evening, accompanied the group to the
Disney Studio theatre for the preview showing of "John Carter."
Michael Sellers' John Carter Reading Project
http://www.erbzine.com/mag36/3684.html
*** The big moment
of the ECOF came Saturday night, with everyone piling onto buses and braving
a ride through heavy traffic instead of through hostile Apaches.
As we walked to the theater entrance, young Disney employees
gave us lanyards with a "John Carter" placard to wear, and checked
in any cameras or cell phones that people had. Inside the small lobby,
we were given 3-D glasses, a plastic bucket filled with popcorn, and our
choice of bottled water or soft drinks.
The last number we heard on theater attendance was 227,
but it could have ended up being more. They showed a short introductory
film that had been prepared for Disney employees to help give them director
Andrew
Stanton's vision for the film.
After the movie, we saw a couple of the young people
who had read "A Princess of Mars," so we asked them how they liked the
movie and they were quite thrilled with it.
Outside, Disney people were handing out free John Carter
posters in tubes, suitable for mailing home, and smaller collectibles.
One was a pack of John Carter trading cards and the other was a fold-out
cardboard promo with movie scenes.
Most fans can appreciate the film for what it is -- a
well-done action movie based on one of ERB's worlds. It can be said to
have been based on an ERB story, and brings to life many of the fantastic
things of which ERB wrote, and has many moments that bring ERB scenes to
life.
*** The last day of the 2012 Tarzan ECOF weekend was a
fitting climax to the Centennial Celebration. Attending the pre-release
showing of John Carter of Mars on the Disney lot was a not-to-be
missed event. We had attended the animated Tarzan pre-release on this lot
back in 1999, but this showing proved to be a much more exciting and satisfying
adventure.
A Princess of Mars had
been my introduction to ERB's stories of Barsoom -- although via a coverless
Dell comic in 1952. Princess was also the book with which I introduced
Sue-On to the fantastic worlds of ERB just after our marriage in 1966.
We had both suffered through endless Hollywood adaptations of ERB characters
and plots from films all the way back to 1918. At last Hollywood had created
a serious, big budget adaptation of ERB's very first novel from 1912 --
the story that had been the inspiration for so many SF/Fantasy multi-media
projects throughout the next century. And it was only fitting that the
actor chosen to play the warlord of Mars was a fellow Canadian: Taylor
Kitsch.
We weren't disappointed and it has
proven to be one of my all-time favourite films. A few months later we
even traced and explored the Western USA locations used in the filming.
We were very familiar with most of the locations since we had travelled
through these areas many times over the last 50 years. So familiar that
before the production we had pressed for the film to be done in China,
which would have offered many more intriguing alien landscapes and the
experience and expertise of their film studios. In any case, the locales
enhanced with so much elaborate CGI did a fine job of transporting us to
Barsoom.
During our later travels in Malaysia,
China, etc. we were excited and pleased to see how popular the film was
to become internationally and how it generated even bigger box office than
in the fickle and poorly promoted US domestic market. We made sure to buy
many Asian language DVDs in shopping malls and from street vendors across
Asia. I've shared many of the cover images in our online film tribute.
Back in 2010 I was really pleased
when Richard Lupff offered to interview the film's screenwriter, award
winning writer Michael Chabon. He sent me the taped interview and I transcribed
it for a feature page in ERBzine. Michael had described how he came to
the project: Andrew Stanton contacted me. He said, "I hear you're
really into Edgar Rice Burroughs and Mars.. . I was wondering if
you'd like to just come over and check out what we're up to and what we've
done? I'll show you what we've got." . . . I went over there, and
saw all the cool stuff they had done, production art, models, storyboards,
some previsuals. And then Andrew asked me if I'd be interested in coming
on board and doing a rewrite. Their script was in good shape. They'd already
been through a few drafts. . . . Mark Andrews and Andrew Stanton had written
the script together. They had done a lot of heavy lifting, had worked out
and solved many of the thorny story telling issues that the first novel
presents. . . . you know, a lot of the wonders of Mars, and the marvelous
things ERB is describing read like satirical exaggerations of American
society at the time, of racial attitudes and cultural attitudes. ERB seems
to be poking fun at human foibles -- creating little micro-societies that
live by absurd rules. . . . The idea was to gather up the important threads
of story from all of the first three novels and weave them into a coherent,
three part whole, yet with each part standing on its own.
ERBzine's coverage of the 2012 ECOF starts at:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3572.html
Disney's John Carter of Mars film: Full report
in ERBzine
http://www.cartermovie.com
The Michael Chabon Interview by Richard Lupoff
http://www.erbzine.com/mag30/3047.html
*** 1933: ERB wrote a funny Tarzan
play "Tarzan and Jane, a Jungleogue" Porges reports that it was:
. . . a 5,000-word play that featured characters from the original Tarzan
of the Apes. Those present included Professor Archimedes Porter, Samuel
Philander, William Clayton, Esmeralda, and two familiar animals, Numa the
lion and Terkoz the bull ape. The plot, humorously embellished, is a sequence
from the novel, with Jane, her father and the others, after being put ashore
by the mutineers of the Arrow, finding Tarzan's cabin with his warning
note. In the play, presumably designed for amateur production, Ed has suggested
props and sets and inserted stage directions. Among these he mentions a
runway or chute for the lion and piles of rotting logs and boulders for
jungle realism. Movements of the characters are prescribed: "Tarzan listens
off R. Crosses and enters L. Enters lion chute L." and similar instructions.
ERB was fascinated
with stage and screen, probably going all the way back to his exciting
summer of 1893 when he was drawn to the many live attractions in the midway
of the Columbian Exhibition. On a number of times he purchased camera and
projection equipment through friend Burt Weston and took pleasure in filming
events at Tarzana Ranch, including plays he had written to feature family
and friends.
ERB: The Playwright
http://www.erbzine.com/mag36/3674.html
*** 1925: ERB had received an inquiry
from Enrico Caruso, Jr. of Florence, Italy, concerning the distribution
of Tarzan of the Apes, came from the bearer of a famous musical name .
On this date Ed responded: ". . . I am inclined to think that my foreign
agents, Messrs. Curtis Brown, Ltd. of London have made arrangements for
the Italian book rights. . . . I hope you will be able to see them, or
at least communicate with them, however, as I believe that a name so illustrious
as yours would add greatly to the selling value of my stories in Italy."
ERB Annotated Calendar
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0563.html
*** In the world of newspaper comics,
on March 3, 1963, "Tarzan and the Poachers," written and illustrated
by John Celardo, began in Sunday newspapers and ran for 10 weeks.
On March 3, 1985,
"The Price of Honor," by Gray Morrow and Don
Kraar, began in Sunday newspapers and ran for 12 weeks.
The Price of Honor: 12 Tarzan Sundays by Gray Morrow
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3511.html
*** As reported by Scott
Tracy Griffin, Edgar Rice Burroughs was included in an exhibit
which opened March 3, 2018, at the Pasadena, Calif., Museum of History.
The exhibition was "Dreaming the Universe: The Intersection of Science,
Fiction, & Southern California," which ventured into the world of sci-fi
that was created in the surrounding areas of Southern California.
Off-site references:
Pasadena
History
Pasadena
Star News
MARCH
4
Under the Moons of Mars: Serialized in All
Story 1912 ~ Beasts of Tarzan: All Story and 1st. Ed
Lost On Venus: Argosy and 1st Ed ~ John
Carter: Still and Poster ~ Planned Sequel ~ Celardo Strips
.
*** John Carter's gold-prospecting days were ended
on March 4, 1866, when he was astrally projected -- in a brand new body
-- from an Arizona cave to the surface of the planet Mars, where he then
took up residence for the rest of his very long life, a life which continues
at this very moment.
This story was first told by Norman Bean (later
proved to be a nom de plume for Edgar Rice Burroughs) in "The
All-Story" in a serial beginning in February of 1912. The account,
under the title of "Under the Moons of Mars," appeared each month
in the magazine through July.
The story has been retold many times in various book
publications and was told again in 2012, this time in a major motion picture.
Through the magic of computer-generated special effects,
the movie showed John Carter arriving on Mars wearing the same dirty and
wrinkled clothing he wore while prospecting. The original story had stated
that his clothing had been left back with his dead body in the Arizona
cave.
Thus, John Carter originally arrived on Mars just 146
years and five days before he arrived in theatres. He hardly noticed the
passing of the time.
A Princess of Mars
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0421.html
The All-Story Pulp Magazine Covers for "Under the
Moons of Mars"
http://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0221.html
Film version of A Princess of Mars: John Carter
http://www.cartermovie.com
*** 1914: ERB completed "The
Lad and the Lion," a story he had started back on February 12,
1913, on this date. He also drew a one-line map showing the Caravan
Trail, with the French Camp, canyon, and mountains marked. The tents of
Ali-Es-Hadji are also marked, and at the farthest point south is entered
the "Gorge." It was published much later in All-Story Weekly: June 30 and
July 7, 14, 1917 with a Modest Stein cover. It had been held three years
to coincide with the release of the Selig movie. Then, over 20 years later,
from August 20 1937 to August 31 1937, he revised it for book release.
His notes list it as containing 40,000 words.
The Lad and the Lion: C.H.A.S.E.R. Biblio Info
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0760.html
The Lad and the Lion: e-Text Edition
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/ladlion.html
The Lad and the Lion: The Film
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0450.html
*** 1917: Ed had been looking for a
larger home in Oak Park. On this date, W. H. Gardner
in Chicago, wrote to Ed in Los Angeles to describe the home at 700 Linden
Ave., Oak Park, that he was offering for sale: "... occupies half a block
at the Northeast corner of Augusta St. & Linden Ave, having a frontage
of 132 ft. 9 in. on Augusta and 135 ft. on Linden Ave. My original price
on this property was $26,000, but in order to be sure of the sale ... I
have reduced this to $23,000. . . . The Billiard Room in the basement is
of figured Gum and panelled to the height of the doors and has a large
boulder fireplace. The entire first floor is trimmed in selected, genuine
Mahogany of the very best quality and figure, excepting the kitchen, which
is white enamel. The second floor is trimmed in white enamel with genuine
Mahogany doors and the third floor is trimmed in white enamel with Birch
Mahogany veneered doors. We have four good rooms on the third floor . .
. plumbing is of the best, the glass is plate and the workmanship on the
building is as good as can be produced. The construction of the house is
double wall, reinforced concrete with slate roof. . . . would not be necessary
for you to wait until April, when, I understand, you expect to be in Oak
Park... ."
*** Sue-On and I have visited and photographed many of
the home sites that the Burroughs family lived in over the years and have
featured them in our three part ERBzine series starting at ERBzine
250
It's an impossible task to visit them all since he moved
around a lot, but as indicated in this article from ERB's personal notebooks,
home always held a special place in his heart:.
*** HOME
Home is where the children are and love... companionship...
security... ownership... and permanence.
"My father was born in a house in
Massachusetts that was built in 1741. His father owned it. My father never
owned a home of his own. He lived for forty years in the same rented house
in Chicago, although he was a wealthy man and could easily have afforded
to own a home.
I was born in that rented house. It
was home to me in the real sense of the word, because my father and mother
made it a home; but it lacked something - it could not impart pride in
ownership nor a sense of permanency. One result was an ambition to own
my own house.
I have lived in several houses in
several cities. Two of them, in Illinois, I owned, and two in Southern
California. But I have never lived long enough in one place to acquire
a solid sense of permanency, which has always appeared to me to connote
security. And home and security seem almost synonomous (sic), for home
is sanctuary.
Yet my homes were real homes in every
respect other than permanency. They had comfortable furniture, selected
because it was what we wanted and not because it represented any period,
nor because some interior decorator told us to get it. It represented us.
Perhaps a lot of it didn't harmonize, but at least our home did not look
like the show window of a furniture store.
Our home had children, and dogs, and
white rats, and horses. It had books, and easy chairs in which to read
them. Our friends and our children's friends were welcome there. And so,
to me, home is where the children are and love and companionship and dogs
and security and horses and ownership and white rats and books and permanence."
~ Edgar Rice Burroughs ~ Tarzana, California
Home by Edgar Rice Burroughs
http://www.erbzine.com/mag9/0932.html
Homes of ERB: Starting at:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0250.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0251.html
Oak Park Dum-Dum
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag14/1430.html
*** The A.C. McClurg & Co.
first edition of "The Beasts of Tarzan" was published March 4, 1916,
exactly 50 years after John Carter arrived on Mars. The story had appeared
earlier in "All-Story Cavalier Weekly" in 1914 and McClurg
had also published sample editions for reviewers and salesmen, but this
was the public's first opportunity to buy the book off the store shelves.
The Beasts of Tarzan
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0485.html
All-Story Cavalier pulp serialization of The Beasts
of Tarzan
http://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0222.html
*** Seventeen years after "The
Beasts of Tarzan" was published, Burroughs fans could find an ERB other-worldly
story, "Lost on Venus," in "Argosy All-Story Weekly." The
date on the magazine was March 4, 1933. However, magazines usually are
on the stands a few days earlier than the actual date shown on the cover.
So, no doubt some fans were enjoying this story -- a sequel to "Pirates
of Venus" -- even before March 4 of that year.
Lost On Venus
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0749.html
Argosy pulp serialization of Lost On Venus
http://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0228.html
*** "Tarzan and the Strandlopers,"
by John Celardo and Dick Van Buren, began March 4, 1958, and ran
for 60 days in newspapers.
Tarzan and the Strandlopers: 60 Daily b/w strips by
Celardo
http://www.erbzine.com/mag43/4323.html
MARCH
5
A quick paste-up while storm-stayed at Winnipeg Airport
. . . waiting for our flight to Japan
NOTE:
MANY OF OUR EVENTS POSTS
FOR THE REMAINDER OF MARCH 2018
WILL BE SPORADIC AND TEMPORARY
WE ARE ON TOUR ACROSS 4 ASIAN
COUNTRIES
FULL EXPANSION THE COLLATIONS
WILL BE DONE UPON OUR RETURN
~ Bill and Sue-On~~
B
|
Forgotten Sea of Mars by Mike Reznick ~ Tarzan
Battles Ape: Joe Jusko Art ~ 200 Year Stramp for
ERB's Birth State ~ Mike Resnick ~ Morrow's Tarzan/Barsoom
Odyssey strip
*** Terkoz breathed his last this day in 1901 when
Tarzan trailed him and then killed him after the ape had abducted Jane
Porter, the young lady the ape-man was destined to marry. (Or, it could
have been March 5, 1893, according to Greystoke Chronologist James Michael
Moody) The "jungle idyll" episode.
A CHRONOLOGY OF LORD GREYSTOKE
Adapted from Tarzan Alive by Philip Jose Farmer
http://www.erbzine.com/mag15/1501.html
Read the episode in Chapter 19: The Call of the Primitive
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/t1ta.html
Off-Site Reference
Greystoke
Chronologist
*** 1942: Mike Resnick,
author of "The Forgotten Sea of Mars," sequel to "Llana of Gathol,"
was born on this date in Chicago, which was also the birthplace of Edgar
Rice Burroughs 67 years earlier. Resnick was born eight years before
Burroughs passed away.
Resnick's "Forgotten Sea" was originally published in
a fanzine-size magazine with color front and back cover, as a supplement
to ERBdom 12. It was authorized by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., and
is one of the best pastiches ever written, reading almost as if ERB himself
had written it.
It was also included in the 2013 anthology, "Worlds
of Edgar Rice Burroughs," edited by Resnick and Robert T. Garcia
*** I was thrilled when FORGOTTEN SEA came with my ERB-dom
subscription so many years ago -- a great read. I was a bit frustrated
though, when I found that the centre pages were mis-collated and duplicated.
It wasn't for a few more years that a friend sent me photocopies of the
missing pages which I inserted into my original. Of course, I purchased
Mike's World of ERB anthology when it came out which Mike graciously signed
at the 2016 Chicago Dum-Dum.
Now both versions have an honoured place on my ERB bookshelves.
*** An update from Mike Resnick.
The real story behind
THE FORGOTTEN SEA OF MARS and the
GANYMEDE books.
I wrote THE FORGOTTEN SEA OF MARS
in 1963, when I was 21 years old, at the request of Vern Coriell, who was
editing the Burroughs Bulletin. He sat on it for 2 years, so I pulled it
back and gave it to Camille Cazedessus Jr., editor/publisher of ERB-dom.
Had Vern not initially requested it, the novella would never have been
written. I met Don Grant at Tricon, the 1966 Worldcon. He'd seen THE FORGOTTEN
SEA OF MARS and told me if I'd lose the copyrighted characters but keep
the plot as part of a novel, he'd buy it. And he did. Paperback Library
then contacted me amd offered a 2-book contract, for THE GODDESS OF GANYMEDE
and a second GANYMEDE book (which I'd already written: PURSUIT ON GANYMEDE).
I had no illusion
about the quality of these things. I wrote the pair of them in less than
two weeks, while holding down a full-time editing job. I wanted to use
a pseudonym -- I didn't mind 400 ERB fans (Grant's hardcover print run)
knowing I wrote them, but I didn't want 100,000 people thinking these books,
which I ground out for filthy lucre, were typical of what I could do. They
said No, that GODDESS was already copyrighted in my name, and they were
using my name.
I did one more
grind-it-out-for-cash job, REDBEARD, in 1967, though it didn't come out
until 1969. Then one day I was in New York, having lunch with Lin Carter.
He told me he had just finished a Leigh Brackett book, and was embarking
on an ERB book, and had just signed to do a Robert E. Howard book. I asked
him when he was going to do a Lin Carter book. He just stared at me, as
if the question had no meaning to him -- and in that instant I realized
that I didn't want to grow up to be Lin Carter, spending my whole life
copying other writers' styles and ideas.
I stayed away
from science fiction (as a pro, not as a fan) for eleven years, long enough
(I hoped) to give people time to forget those three books. (Didn't quite
happen; they still come back to humiliate me at autograph sessions.) I
still get offers every year from publishers who want to bring the Ganymede
books back into print. I will never allow that to happen, and I myself
have not opened either of them in 45 years.
There is nothing
wrong with Edgar Rice Burroughs. In fact, THE WORLDS OF EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS,
an anthology I co-edited, will come out from Baen Books this October. What
was wrong was trying to write like Edgar Rice Burroughs instead of like
Mike Resnick. Since 1980 I have written only Resnick books and stories,
and I think the record speaks for itself: 71 novels, 260 stories, 3 screenplays,
editor of 41 anthologies, and according to Locus I am the all-time leading
award winner, living or dead, for short fiction.
*** Mike was invited to the ERB Dum-Dum near Chicago
in 2016. During the weekend-long event Mike gave presentations in which
he discussed his long award-winning career as a writer and ERB fan. During
the event, friends and fans had a great chance to chat with Mike while
he graciously autographed the many items that floated by him. Following
the Saturday banquet, Mike was presented with the Golden Lion award on
behalf of The Burroughs Bibliophiles by BB president Joan Bledig. Sadly,
Mike Resnick died not too long after on January 9, 2020.
The Forgotten Sea of Mars
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1931.html
Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs
http://www.erbzine.com/mag49/4996.html
Forgotten Sea of Mars Reviewed
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1931.html
https://www.erbzine.com/mag19/valdronforgottensea.jpg
2016 Dum-Dum in Morris, Illinois
https://www.erbzine.com/mag57/5752.html
https://www.ERBzine.com/cards/writers3/mikeresnickgoldenlionaward.jpg
*** Speaking of Chicago, the U.S.
Postal Service issued a Forever stamp honoring the 200th anniversary
of
the state of Illinois.
Off-Site Reference
Virtual
Stamp Club
*** "Tarzan and the Cattle Rustlers,"
by John Celardo, began in newspapers March 5, 19 67, and ran for 12 Sundays.
*** In 1995 on March 5, "Odyssey Part II," by
Gray Morrow and Don Kraar, began and ran for 12 Sundays.
Odyssey Part II: (Barsoom) ~ Pt. 1: Sunday Strips
by Gray Morrow
http://www.erbzine.com/mag48/4805.html
MARCH
6
Frank Hoban: Photo and Sample Art ~ ERB and Bert Weston
~ Bill Hillman visits Weston's hometown Beatrice
Bob Hyde Interview Clipping ~ Tarzan of the Apes:
Handwritten MS and All-Story ~ Maxon and Morrow Tarzan Strips
*** 1870: Frank Hoban, who illustrated ERB stories
for "Blue Book Magazine," was born on this date in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The June 1926 issue of Blue Book was the first to place spot illustrations
throughout a story. Prior to that the magazine had used only illustrated
headings, which was the custom with most pulps. The July 1926 issue was
the first to feature the drawings of Frank Hoban, who illustrated
"Mountain Mail" by Reginald Barker. Throughout the remaining months of
1926 Hoban illustrated one story per issue. By the last months of 1927
he was illustrating two, three, and occasionally four stories per issue.
Frank J. Hoban died in Chicago, IL, at the age of seventy-three
on June 12, 1943.
Frank Hoban in the ERBzine Art Encyclopedia plus Blue
Book Covers
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1009.html
Frank Hoban illustrations for "A Fighting Man of Mars":
http://www.erbzine.com/mag8/0860.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag8/0861.html
A Fighting Man of Mars in the ERBzine C.H.A.S.E.R.
Bibliography
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0735.html
Off-Site Reference
Pulp
Artists
*** WWII Hospital Care / Weston Connection:
From the middle of the Pacific Ocean, ERB touched Beatrice, Nebraska, in
a rather roundabout way, he reported in a dispatch which was published
this date, March 6, 1945, in "The Vidette Messenger." HOSPITAL CARE OF
CASUALTIES IN PACIFIC AREA UNEXCELLED
ERB the war correspondent, on "an
island base in the Pacific," wrote an article on the type of treatment
wounded warriors were receiving in Medical Corps hospitals. His aim was
to reassure mothers that their offspring were getting the best of care.
In addition to the Vidette, the article was released to other newspapers
in the U.S.
ERB noted that on his tour of the hospital he was taken
by the hand and led around by Josephine Jack who, while not named
Beatrice, was from Beatrice, Nebraska. Therefore, ERB reasoned,
she was also a link to his dear friend, Bert Weston, who lived in
Beatrice,
which provided a setting for part of his story, "The Mad King":
". . . Miss Christine Herman of Washington,
D.C., a Red Cross girl, took me by the and and led me around. She being
exceedingly pulchritudinous, I was not hard to lead. And then there was
another beauteous Red Cross girl -- Josephine Jack of Beatrice, Neb., whose
father is a close friend of the last of my school day friends, Bert Weston,
who, like me is older than God. It's a small world."
See the newspaper article at:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1757.html
The Mad King entry in ERB C.H.A.S.E.R. Bibliography
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0758.html
The Hillmans Visit Bert Weston's Hometown of Beatrice,
Nebraska
http://www.erbzine.com/mag51/5161.html
Mad King: Summary and Comments by "Bridge"
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6787.html
*** "Pen Pals Meet to Talk Tarzan"
was the headline over an article which appeared March 6 in 1959 in the
"Minneapolis Morning Tribune." Longtime fan and ERB expert Bob
Hyde had been interviewed for the article, while visiting a collector
friend. After the article appeared, Hyde realized that one is never safe
in the hands of a newspaper reporter. Any ERB fan can spot at least a couple
of errors in the article and know that Bob Hyde never gave out that misinformation.
Read the article and judge for yourself:
Bob Hyde article
http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0693.html
*** Perhaps ERB's first description
of his "Tarzan of the Apes" story in progress was written March
6, 1912, when he wrote to Thomas Metcalf about his current project.
He assured Metcalf, editor of "The All Story," that he planned to
write a sequel to "Under the Moons of Mars," which at that time
was being serialized monthly in the magazine, but said he had another story
he was going to finish first:
"The story I am now on is of the
scion of a noble English house -- of the present time -- who was born in
tropical Africa where his parents died when he was about a year old. The
infant was found and adopted by a huge she-ape, and was brought up among
a band of fierce anthropoids. . . . I am especially adapted to the building
of the 'damphool' species of narrative."
Letter to Metcalf re: new story
about man and apes
http://www.erbzine.com/mag28/2833.html
http://www.erbzine.com/bio/years10.html
*** "The Yellow Triangle,"
by Rex Maxon, began March 6, 1944, and continued for 24 days.
The Yellow Triangle: 24 Maxon strips
http://www.erbzine.com/mag54/5442.html
*** "The Most Dangerous Prey,"
by Gray Morrow, began March 6, 1983, and ran for eight Sundays.
The Most Dangerous Prey: 8 Sundays by Gray Morrow
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3502.html
MARCH
7
The Eternal Lover: Both parts in All-Story,
Newspaper serial, 1st Ed. ~ Harrison Gray Otis and ERB: Tarzana Ranch
Madame Sul-Te-Wa: Tarzan of the Apes ~ Scott
Tracy Griffin's Tarzan On Film book ~ WWII Autographs
*** The March 7, 1914, edition of "All-Story Weekly"
is collectible for more than one reason. First, it has ERB's entire novelette,
"The Eternal Lover," inside. Later, that story was combined with
another an ERB pulp sequel, "Sweetheart Primeval," and published
in hardback with the title of the first story.
The pulp featured a Modest Stein
cover and told readers that they would meet Tarzan again in its pages,
since Tarzan makes an appearance in this story.
However, the magazine is also collectible and sought-after
because of a letter to the editor, which many believe was written by H.P.
Lovecraft.
All-Story letter and reasons why the issue is collectible
at:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag11/1137.html
The Eternal Lover: History, Art, Info
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0759.html
A larger and more defined picture of the cover is
at:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0222.html
The Eternal Lover: Read the e-Text Edition
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/o7el.html
*** On March 7, 1919, The Van
Nuys News ran a feature story on the fact that ERB had purchased the
estate of Los Angeles Times founder Harrison Gray Otis. The article
told of ERB's plans to rename the spread Tarzana Ranch. See:
News article on ERB and Tarzana purchase
http://www.erbzine.com/mag13/1354.html
*** 1873: Madame Sul-Te-Wan
(born Nellie Crawford; (1873.03.07-1959.02.01) was an American stage, film
and television actress. The daughter of freed slaves, she began her career
in entertainment touring the East Coast with various theatrical companies
and moved to California to become a member of the fledgling film community.
She became known as a character actress, appeared in high-profile films
such as The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916), and easily
navigated the transition to the sound films. Her career spanned over five
decades, and, in 1986, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall
of Fame. Sul-Te-Wan was the first African American actor, male or female,
to sign a film contract and be a featured performer. However, as
a black woman in the era of segregation, she was consistently limited to
appearing in roles as minor characters who were usually convicts, "native
women", or domestic servants, such as her role as a "Native Handmaiden"
in the 1933 box-office hit King Kong. Despite the motion picture industry's
limitations for African-American performers, Sul-Te-Wan worked consistently
throughout the 1930s and 1940s.
Thanks to Scott Tracy Griffin,
we know that Madame Sul-Te-Wan played Esmeralda in 1918's "Tarzan
of the Apes" movie. Oddly, neither her present-day IMDB page or wikipedia
page acknowledges her role, but Tracy dug up the fact while researching
his book, "Tarzan on Film." She receives credit in my ERBzine
Silver Screen pages for that film, as well as for the sequel, Romance
of Tarzan. Interestingly, she was to play years later in another Tarzan
film, "Tarzan and the Trappers," with Gordon Scott.
She was born on this date, in Louisville,
where photos of her no doubt reside now in the Edgar Rice Burroughs
collection at the University of Louisville. "Jet" magazine reported
on Sept. 10, 1953, that plans were set to "Honor Hollywood's Oldest
Negro Actresss" The story said "Madame Sul-te-wan,
oldest Negro actress in Hollywood, will be honored at a special program
Sept. 12 which will commemorate her 40th year in motion pictures, her 70th
year in show business and her 80th birthday. During the program, slated
for the Hollywood Playground Auditorium, a showing will be made of the
actress' first role in the movies, a part in 'In Old Chicago.' Madame Sul-te-wan,
a native of Louisille, Ky., signed her first movie contract in 1913. A
character actress, she has played in such movies as Tarzan of the Apes
and Mighty Joe Young."
Madame Sul-Te-Wan died after suffering
a stroke at the age of 85 at the Motion Picture Actors' Home in Woodland
Hills, California. "We never did discover the origin of her name. No one
was bold enough to ask." - Lillian Gish.
Madame Sul-Te-Wan info
http://www.erbzine.com/mag63/6303.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0503.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag45/4507.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1956.html
http://www.ERBzine.com/cards/film2/esmeralda.jpg
Off-Site Refs:
Internet
Movie Data Base
Wikipedia
Entry
*** ERB's WWII autograph books
include more than one poem and one of those was written on March 7, 1944,
by Navy Lt. Walter R. Alleton, one of the interpreters quartered
next to his office. ERB seems to bring out the poetic muse in some people,
and Alleton was so affected and wrote:
Edgar Rice Burroughs is the name of a man
Who is known the world over, including Siam
For his story of "Tarzan" has reached great acclaim
And his autograph hobby may soon be the same
So I feel it an honor to have signed my name
Along with the Admirals and Generals of fame.
When this war is all over I hope you will say
"My neighboring officers all were okay."
See that and other autographs from ERB's WWII Autograph
Book:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag27/2789.html
Autograph Contents
https://www.erbzine.com/mag27/2776.html
https://www.ERBzine.com/mag63/autopoem.jpg
*** 1934: Remembering
GRAY MORROW (1934.03.07-2001.11.06) on the date of his birth.
Over 1,000 Morrow Tarzan Sunday Pages are featured in ERBzine.com
Gray Morrow was born in Fort Wayne,
Indiana, and made his professional debut with a Chicago advertising agency.
He then worked for Timely, where the unpublished 'Conan - The Elephant
Tower'. While serving in Korea he discovered oriental art and became the
main pin-up artist for his company. Back in civil life, he was introduced
to Cracked magazine by Angelo Torres in 1958.
Morrow eventually focused on illustration
and did many illustrations for Galaxy, IF, and other digests in the science-fiction
genre. He also did many paperback cover paintings and independent comics
projects. He returned to comics in 1964, when he became one of the regular
artists for the Warren magazines, Creepy, Eerie and Blazing Combat.
Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s
he worked for numerous companies, including DC, Marvel and Archie Publications.
He was also hired to assist on syndicated strips like Rip Kirby (by John
Prentice), Prince Valiant (by Hal Foster), Big Ben Bolt (by John Cullen
Murphy), Secret Agent X-9 (by Al Williamson) and Friday Foster (by Jorge
Longaron). He took over the Buck Rogers strip in 1979 and illustrated the
Tarzan Sunday comic strip from 1983 to 2001.
MORROW and BATTLE and KANE TARZAN SUNDAY PAGES I
http://www.erbzine.com/mag34/3499.html
GUIDE TO THE GRAY MORROW TARZAN SUNDAY PAGES II
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3501.html
GUIDE TO THE GRAY MORROW TARZAN SUNDAY PAGES III
http://www.erbzine.com/mag48/4801.html
GUIDE TO THE GRAY MORROW TARZAN SUNDAY PAGES IV
http://www.erbzine.com/mag58/5801.html
http://www.ERBzine.com/cards/art4/graymorrowartall.jpg
1941: J. G. Huckenpöhler
(Archimedes
Q. Porter), (1941.03.07-2022.08.26) generally known as Huck, was born on
this date.
As you can see in the links below, Huck has been a major
ERB fan for most of his life. Over 20 years ago I asked Huck to share some
information about himself for our FANS ON THE NET I feature in ERBzine
0017. Huck provided the following info about himself:
"I first read TARZAN OF THE APES in
1947 (and permanently stunted my mental growth thereby) and have been a
member of the Burroughs Bibliophiles since 1964. I spent 32 years
as a Statistical Analyst for the National Science Foundation and retired
as soon as eligible (i. e., the day after my 55th birthday). Now I am a
free-lance writer and all-around authority, stamp collector, judge at PURIPEX
'97, expert at large, consultant to the Luthan Government in Exile, and
one of the founding members of the National Capital Panthans (the Panthans
have hosted the ECOF Convention numerous times). I'm a general know-it-all
and thoroughly obnoxious character. I've been married for over half a century
to Victoria (who finally read APES and PRINCESS a few years back without
being converted). We have one self-employed son who outgrew ERB some years
ago.
"In the immortal words of W. C. Fields
(MY LITTLE CHICKADEE), 'I hope that satisfies your morbid curiosity' (producing
a carefully-selected fistful of aces)." ~ AQP
Huck is greatly missed and remembered
so fondly by his countless friends and fellow ERB fans.
HUCK REMEMBERED
https://www.erbzine.com/huck/
HUCK FEATURES IN ERBzine
Huck and Friends Pt. I
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6790.html
ERB and I: The Early Years
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0060.html#2
Huck's lists of Tarzan daily and Sunday strips in
ERBzine:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag22/2293.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag22/2292.html
Huck's Barsoom Gazetteer:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0076.html
Huck's Barsoom glossary:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0078.html
Huck's "Outline of Luthanian History"
http://www.erbzine.com/mag51/5107.html
Fans on the Net
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0017.html#J.%20G.
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/bb/huckall.jpg
NEXT: MARCH WEEK II
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6320.html
MARCH WEEK ONE PHOTO ALBUM
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6319pics.html
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