Pushing the Envelope No.
251
TARZAN OF OHIO
Kellie Ann Conetsco of Ohio drew Tarzan traveling by
vine on a #10 cover, and added a Cinderella "Tarzan and the Mermaids"
stamp. The stamp image is from a poster for the "Mermaids"
movie, which was released in 1948, starring Johnny Weissmuller.
Since the stamp is not good for actual postage, she mailed
it to me inside a larger envelope. She includes a quotation by Edgar Rice
Burroughs: "Imaginatiion is but another name for super intelligence."
When he said that, Burroughs added: "Imagination it is which builds
bridges, and cities, and empires."
Kellie wrote that she loves mixed media art and her talent
is evident in this scene. Kellie is a member of the Art Cover Exchange,
an organization whose members regularly exchange art mail. Thanks for a
great cover of Tarzan, Kellie Ann!
Pushing the Envelope No. 252
ERB heroes face Jeopardy
Questions, or
should I say Answers, about the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs pop up
on the TV game show Jeopardy now and then.
And many fans of ERB and Jeopardy are standing by with
their cameras to preserve these "Answers" to share with others.
An image of a Tarzan placard was posted recently and I
printed it on a few covers to obtain a cancellation on the first day of
issue for the stamp honoring the late Alex Trebek, longtime host of Jeopardy,
as well as the 60th anniversary of the show. I added a photo of Trebek
and another of the book which gives away the "Question."
Over the years, there have been lots of other ERB "Answers"
on Jeopardy, including:
--He wrote that "It is impossible that the ape, Kala,
was your mother...you are pure man...the offspring of highly bred parents."
--This creator of Tarzan never set foot in Africa
--Johnny Weissmuller never said this 4-word phrase in
a movie, though he did in a 1932 magazine interview.
--This prolific author's "A Princess of Mars"
transported itself to the silver screen as the more masculine "John Carter."
--For $125,000, this author bought 550 acres in the San
Fernando Valley; the area is now called Tarzana.
--This Edgar Rice Burroughs hero first visited Barsoom,
also known as Mars, in a 1912 tale.
--She is promised to Robert Canler but the man also called
Lord Greystoke asks "If you were free would you marry me?
...
Thanks to Mike Smith, James Farrance and Rachel Cohen
Ellis, who have posted pictures of TV screens with these Jeopardy "Answers."
There are no doubt many more.
And, there will probably be more. With plenty of ERB
books out there, those who come up with the "Answers" for Jeopardy have
lots more raw material to work with.
Pushing the Envelope No. 253
Preservinig pinbacks on paper
Most Edgar Rice Burroughs fans manage to pick up a few
pinback buttons while attending fan gatherings, or perhaps in other ways.
The Postal Service on Thursday, Aug. 15, issued a sheet
of 20 stamps with two each of 10 different one-word expressions one might
see on some Pinback buttons.
None of these buttons had much to do with the characters
and worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs, since there are none with sayings such
as "I Still Live," "Incomparable," "I Am An Ape Man" or "Iron Mole."
But that's where the first-day cover maker comes in and,
since I happen to be one, I made sure that my covers were adorned with
images of ERB-related Pinbacks.
Many of these buttons are ones I have collected myself
over the years while others are images I found online. I scanned the images,
cut them out and glued them onto envelopes, then added the stamps and got
the cancellations at a post office.
And the ones shown are only a few of the many such doodads
one can find "in the wild."
