DUM-DUM MEMORIES
From Jerry O'Hara
We had quite a Dum-Dum clan gathering last month in Fort Collins, CO, with enough laughs to go around for everyone!  If you were there -- Hey, you had FUN!  If you weren't there -- then don't miss the ECOF gathering next month in Sacramento, CA, or the 2005 Dum Dum in Southern CA -- (more upcoming information on that soon). Here's a  personal humorous incident that I'll always remember:

LYDIE DENIER
THE AUCTION
(SATURDAY EVENING, June 26th, 2004)

We had femme fatale Lydie Denier (1990's tv Tarzan show JANE) in attendance.  Lydie is scrumptiously (isn't that a great descriptive word for Lydie?) beautiful, down-to-earth friendly, and she was a huge hit with everyone there. 

Saturday night I walked into the auction room and viewed all that would be offered to see if there was anything of interest to me (besides Lydie who was seated second row from the front).  Nothing caught my eye so I left midway through to go change for the upcoming banquet.

A while later Lydie walked over to me outside the banquet room and said with a little pout, "Jerry, how come you didn't bid on me?"

"Huh?  Bid on Lyd..." 

Unbeknownst to yours truly Burroughs Bibliophiles had auctioned off Lydie as a dinner date for the banquet!  The lucky winner (for a queen's ransom) was none other than my good friend Brad Vinson.  Had I known Lydie was to be placed on the auction block that night I would have maxed out my credit cards, and Brad and I would have gone to war!  Alas...I had my chance, but I blew it.
Cary Grant never really said, "JUDY! JUDY! JUDY!"  But, I'm still saying, "LYDIE! LYDIE! LYDIE!"

Hats off to The Burroughs Bibliophiles for a great memorable 2004 Dum Dum!  VANDO!

                                                                                                                         -- Jerry O'Hara
 

We enjoy your many flavored Zine. We also enjoyed Fort Collins. I taught one summer at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. The past two summers we've had a chance to drive though Colorado and have come to the conclusion that it's the most beautiful state we've seen. Aspen, Vail, Uray, Durango remind us of Norway and Switzerland. The air is clean, the water is clean and so are the towns and even the roads. We plan to go back there soon.

The Dum-Dum was a chance to see old friends and those same friends seemed to enjoy my book. 

In October we're going to the "Lone Pine Film Festival," in California. They expect 5,000 Western Fans. This will be our third trip there. The tiny town is located at the base of Mt. Whitney and the interesting  rock formations just west of town have been used in Western film locations for over 50 years. We did an episode of Wagon Train there starring Peter Faulk and Tommy Sands many years ago.

We're also attending the Ray Courts fan gathering at the Burbank Hilton in October. He usually has 50 to 75 TV and Movie personalities gathered in one huge room for fans to talk with and to purchase photos, posters and other memorabilia.

I hope to break into the Sci Fi gatherings. They draw the biggest number of fans with the Trekies and Star Wars fans. 

I think I qualify for their conventions what with Tarzan being among the first Sci Fi characters on film. I also did a "Buck Rogers," and a two part "Battlestar Galactica." and played Superman in 10 TV recruiting spots for the US Air Force. 

I also did an episode of "Wonder Woman." Here's a helpful hint to anyone who meets her in a narrow hallway and has to pick her up and crash through a break-away door: When you stoop to grab her around the waist, turn your face to the side real quick or one of her metal-covered boobs will put a roto-rooter on one of your eyes . . . take it from "ole One Eye."

The President of the Battlestar Gallactica fan club liked my book so maybe he'll put in a good word for me.  It's fun for an old coot like me to be part of the "Trivial Pursuit," game.

~ Denny

The loin-clothed club is as exclusive as any, with just 20 men playing Tarzan over the course of 51 films.

Fans rejoiced in the jungle hero Friday, with the Fort Collins Ramada Inn playing host to the annual Tarzan national convention. The convention runs through today. But if you go, call it a Dum Dum -- as Tarzan did when he called apes together for meetings.

If the Tarzan fraternity was more about great pecs than acting prowess, you'll hear no apologies from Denny Miller.  As the star of the 1959 "Tarzan the Apeman," his dialogue was ... chimp-like? The main line was pronounced oongowa, Miller said -- jungle-speak for everything from "stop" and "go" to "there's a zebra." "It was like being in a circus," said Miller, sitting behind a table heaped with Tarzan books and memorabilia. "Go ride that elephant. Play with that chimpanzee. Jump off that limb into the pond."

Not Shakespeare, perhaps, but there were benefits. Like Jane. "That wasn't too bad. There have been a lot of pretty ones," Miller said, pointing out a calendar with images of a semi-clad Lyndie (sic) Denier. She played Jane in the 1990s Tarzan television series.

But you might squint yourself blind trying to see the 24-year-old Miller of then in the 70-year-old Miller of now. He's still a giant of a man, maybe 6 foot 4, but his waves of blond hair have gone gray. And a thick, silver beard covers his face.  The look suits the role for which he is now perhaps best known: the Gorton's Fisherman.  From chimps to shrimps, I call it," Miller said.  "The kids love me. If I go to a grocery store with a yellow slicker on, they surround me like I'm Santa Claus."

Besides Tarzan, the primary focus of this year's  convention is a tribute to Glenn Morris, the former Colorado State University athletic standout and Olympic gold medallist.  Two years after winning the decathlon at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Morris starred in "Tarzan's Revenge."

"Glenn Morris had steel blue eyes and when he looked at you, he could look right through you," said Jim Larson, a  memorabilia vendor who has collected  more than 6,000 autographs. "If he were to walk in this room right now, all the eyes would go to him." Larson, 78, served with Morris in the U.S. Navy during World War II.  While celebrated for his athletic and film success, Morris never recovered from what he saw in battle. Tormented by post-traumatic stress disorder,  Morris died in  military hospital in 1974. He was 62.  "I can't say anything bad about him," Larson said. "He was a lonely man."

Larson's wares were on display Friday,  though much of it -- an autographed picture of Christie Brinkley? -- seemed out of place at a Tarzan convention.  The crowd was sparse, though vendors insisted that  more will be on hand today. Most of the attendees were perusing vintage Tarzan movie posters, books and  other materials, as well as novels by Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Gene Arnold, 79, was among the collectors, scanning the items with his wife in tow.  Arnold has a collection of 70-plus Tarzan novels and one play, and noted that Tarzan memorabilia is big business. A mint condition copy of the 1914  "Tarzan of the Apes" could fetch $25,000.

Arnold and his wife, Bea, live in St. Louis,  but attend the national Tarzan convention every year. Bea, 76, isn't as huge a Tarzan fan. But when you get married,  she explained, your husband's hobby can become your own. "I'm very fortunate," Gene said. "She's a dear. She puts up with this." Added Bea, "My love is clothes and his is books. It's as simple as that."

• The awe-inspiring scenery of the magnificent Rocky Mountains
• A chance to share in tributes to one of the lesser-known film Tarzans ~ Glenn Morris ~ a star athlete who won world acclaim as an Olympics Gold Medal winner
• Meeting Mike Chapman, this year's Dum-Dum organizer and the author of the Glenn Morris biography: The Gold and the Glory
• The Glenn Morris panel featuring Mike Chapman and Bob Hyde with Jim Larson, who served in the navy with Morris during WWII, and Morris Ververs, the retired  principal of Glenn's old school in Simla, Colorado.
• Mike Chapman's "Tarzan's Revenge" beer with a label showing a picture of Glenn Morris as Tarzan carrying Eleanor Holm while brandishing a knife.
• The Dum-Dum "goodies bag"
• The continuous showing of Glenn Morris' three films
• The opportunity to examine Glenn Morris' Gold Medal and his other Olympics memorabilia now owned by his brother.
• Lydie Denier's willingness to pose with fans and to make her photos and calendars available.
• Interesting French Tarzan collectibles at the auction.
• Denny Mller's sneak preview of his new autobiography, Didn't You Used To Be What's His Name?,  and his inspiring head table speech on meditation.
• The ERB Achievement Award to Joan Bledig
• A chance to fondle rare ERB memorabilia in the Huckster Room and to examine first editions and dust jackets close up
• And best of all: the opportunity to mingle with, and to bask in the friendship of, fellow fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs

DUM-DUM QUIZ
The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and 
will tell you whether you are qualified to be a member of the 
BB Dum .. or Dummer elite.

After you formulate an answer, highlight the space in the ANSWER BOX at the bottom of each question (click and drag with your mouse) to make the invisible answer become visible.

1. How do you put Omtag the giraffe into a refrigerator?
 

ANSWER BOX: 1 (Click here... and...) The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the Omtag, and close the door.  This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.  (...drag to here)

2  How do you put Tantor the elephant into a refrigerator?
 

ANSWER BOX 2: Did you say, "Open the refrigerator, put in Tantor, and close the refrigerator?" Wrong Answer.  Correct Answer:  Open the refrigerator, take out Omtag the giraff, put in Tantor and close the door.  This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.

3. Numa the lion is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend...
except one ... Which animal does not attend?
 

ANSWER BOX 3: Correct Answer: Tantor the elephant -- he is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there. This tests your memory. Okay even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.

4. There is a river you must cross but it is inhabited by Gimla the crocodile and you do not have a boat. How do you manage it?
 

ANSWER BOX 4: Correct Answer: You jump into the river and swim across. Have you not been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.

According to Anderson Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of non-ERB fans they tested got all questions wrong, but many Burroughs Bibliophiles and preschoolers got several correct answers. Anderson Consulting reports that this seems to back up the theory held by long-suffering spouses that many ERB fans have the brains of a four year old.