Official Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute and Weekly Webzine Site
Since 1996 ~ Over 5,000 Webpages in Archive
Volume 1299

 

ERB CONNECTIONS

The delving into the life and career of Edgar Rice Burroughs I find is an endless pursuit -- the size of our ERB Websites is some indication of this.

The known exploits of the immediate Burroughs family stretch back to the U.S. Civil War and earlier, and ERB's lifestyle, literary creations and business ventures were always ahead of their time. But he never lost the ability to read current trends and to tap into the pulse of contemporary society.

Remarkably, the stories and characters he created almost 100 years ago have adapted marvelously to each new generation and the fast-changing modern media.

As Danton Burroughs and I probe more deeply into the pursuits of his grandfather, we constantly pick up new threads to follow in the man's ever-expanding life tapestry. The ERB library project provided even greater impetus in our search to unravel more of the influences that played roles in further stimulating Mr. Burroughs' boundless imagination. I think it useful then, to set aside a place in this Web shrine that acknowledges and points to some of the fascinating "connections" that have come to light, and the enormous contribution that Edgar Rice Burroughs has made to modern literature and the entertainment arts:
 
 

EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS CONNECTIONS

	The Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893 Intro ~ MMA Cadets ~ New Worlds ~ Magic City ~ Midway: Great Wheel ~ Exotic Lands ~ Mastermind  ~  Ed's Electric Flyer ~ Jessie's Notebook ~ All-Text  ~ Appendix and References ~  3-D Stereoview Albums: Chicago ~ Buildings ~ Exhibits I ~ Exhibits II ~ Midway ~ Peep Show ~ Ed's Tour I ~ Collection I ~ Collection II
	General Charles King Connection King Bio ~ King Biblio ~ Interior Art ~ Michigan Military Academy I ~ MMA II Words of King I ~ Words of King II ~ Words of King III ~ News Clips ~ Expo 93
	Jack London Connection Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4 ~ JL Bibliographies ~ David Adams Article
	Zane Grey Connection Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ ZG Bibliographies ~  Prindle ZG Reviews  ~  II ~ III
	Sears Roebuck Connection ERB: Office Manager and Efficiency Expert 50 Sears StereoViews from ERB's Library
	Civil War: Major George T. Burroughs ~ Mary Evaline Burroughs Maj.G.T.Burroughs~ Memoirs of a War Bride ~ Civil War Anecdotes ~ Genealogy: Births/Deaths Genealogy: Marriages ~ Burroughs Family History  ~ Burroughs/Oldham/Washington Ties
	The Military MilitaryAcademy ~ MMA Gridiron Memories ~ Grad Address ~ Reserve Army Proposal U.S. 7th Cavalry ~ WW I Militia  WWII Years in the Pacific
	Apaches and Cavalry Apache References I ~ Apache References II
	Wild West Sweetser/Burroughs I  ~  Sweetser/Burroughs II
	Oak Park Connection Homes ~ Oak Leaves I ~ Oak Leaves II ~ Oak Park Dum-Dum 2005 ERB/Oak Park Connection Newspaper Clips
	Tarzana Ranch, San Fernando Valley, Southern California Tarzana: Then and Now ~ Tarzana Ranch 1921 ~  Tarzana Trek ~ News Clips 1922 ~ El Caballero Club ~ Tarzana
	Wheels and Wings
	Artists ~ Illustrators Art Encyclopedia ~ Schoonover ~ J. Allen St. John ~ Studley O. Burroughs John Coleman Burroughs ~ Mahlon Blaine ~
	Comics and Comics Artists ERB C.H.A.S.E.R. Comics Encyclopedia ~ Art Encyclopedia Harold  Foster ~ Rex Maxon ~ Burne Hogarth ~ Russ Manning ~ Hal Foster First Tarzan Strips
	Golden Days of Radio Radio's Golden Age ~ Radio Promo Booklet ~ Diamond of Ashair serial ~ Fires of Tohr serial ERB of the Air ~ Radio Show Casts ~ Signal Oil Ad Campaign
	Hollywood ERB of the Silver Screen  ~ Screen Heroines  ~ Elmo Lincoln ~  Johnny Weissmuller ~
	Television ERB-TV
	The Burroughs Legacy and Family Stories ERB Chronology ~ Major George T. Burroughs ~ John Coleman Burroughs ~ Jane Ralston Burroughs Joan Burroughs Pierce ~ Florence Gilbert ~ Studley O. Burroughs ~ Burroughs Brothers ~  Hulbert Burroughs Collection ~ Danton Burroughs
	Nikola Tesla ERB and Tesla at the Chicago Exposition
	Henry Herbert Knibbs: ERB's Favourite Poet H.H. Knibbs I ~ H.H. Knibbs II
	Otis Adelbert Kline Bios & Biblio ~ Articles & Story ~ Illustrated Biblio ~ Bio-Film ~ Weird Gallery & OAK Speaks Den Valdron's: Mighty OAK of Barsoom I  ~ Den Valdron's: Mighty OAK of Barsoom II ~Kline's Venus
	Philip Jose Farmer Part 1 ~ Part 2  ~  Part 3
	Carl Sagan ERB Fan Tribute
	L. Frank Baum ERB and  L. Frank Baum: Fellow Travellers
	Mars, Venus & SF Mars Barsoom Guide ~ Venus Amtor Guide Den Valdron's Fantasy Worlds of ERB
.	Religion ERB and Religion ~ Quotes from ERB's Library ~ Reason vs. Supernatural Quotes ~  ERB Religious Themes by Robert Zeuschner ~ Sword of Theosophy Series by Dale Broadhurst ~ Baum, Burroughs, and the Theosophy Connection by David A. Adams ~ Phil Burger's News from the Neocene ~ Gods of ERB series  by Dale R. Broadhurst ~ Something of Value I & SOV II by R.E. Prindle ~ Fantasy Worlds of ERB by Den Valdron
.	Newspapers ERB and The Press War Correspondent | Hickman Murder Trial Reports
	Magazines ERB  Illustrated Pulp Magazine Bibliography ~ Lost Words of ERB
	Hugo Gernsback Intro & Bio ~ Bibliography, Cover Galleries & Themes Gernsback Clippings ~ Hugo's Annual Forecasts
	Canada ERBzine 1428
	Connection with Contemporary and Favourite Authors The Edgar Rice Burroughs Personal Library of 1,100 titles Bios, Biblios, Publishing History, Photos, Covers, Trivia, Links, Art and e-Texts
	Fandom Dum-Dum and ECOF Convention Dossier ~ Burroughs Bibliophiles Official Site ~ ERBzine Bibliophiles Guide ~ Convention Reports & Photos ~ 2005 Oak Park Dum-Dum Illustrated Reports
	Lewis Hobart Sweetser and the Burroughs Brothers ~ Ranching and Goldmining Adventures in Idaho Sweetser/Burroughs I  ~  Sweetser/Burroughs II
	Baseball / Lou Gehrig ERBzine 1709
	Boy Scouts / Tarzan Clubs ERBzine 1795
	Feral Children ~ Apeman Kith & Kin ERBzine.com/feral
	Disney / Broadway / Holland Tarzan Holland | Tarzan Broadway |  Tarzan Animated
	Other Connections Lovecraft ~ Tarzan/Bomba ~ Saddam  ~ Eddie Gilbert ~ SS Shaw ~ Chicago ~ Disney ~ Holy Land Forry Ackerman ~ Shuttle Commander Astronaut Terry Wilcutt ~ E-Editions ~ Kipling ~ Trivia ~ Schweitzer ~ Scientology

Bill Hillman Goes To Town
by Dugald Warbaby

     It has been quite a year for Mr. Hillman.  Not only has he compiled a wonderful list of the remaining books in ERB's personal library, but he has provided us with a plausible account of ERB at the Columbian Expo of '93, the affinities between Jack London and ERB and an account of similarities between ERB and Zane Grey.  Walk, don't run, Bill.

     What can we say of such a phenomenal burst of energy?  Just be envious, I suppose.

     The effort that must have gone into compiling and researching the 1100+ volumes of the library alone is staggering.

     I haven't been able to sort out the color scheme of the Master List as yet, but I have been able to appreciate some of the details Mr. Hillman has collated.  For instance the significance of knowing that ERB finished reading Gibbon's 'Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire' on September 6th, 1915 is very important.  Too bad we don't know when ERB purchased the set.  One imagines after he came into big bucks along about 1913.

     Now,  The Decline And Fall is somewhat over 5000 pages long.  I have a twelve volume edition, probably identical to ERBs since his had the notes, alternate text refuting Gibbon actually, of Reverend Milman.  So we know that ERB was busy reading Gibbon possibly from 1913 to 1915. He got both Gibbon's side and the religious counter arguments from Milman.

     For those of you who haven't read The Decline And Fall let me tell you that it is a life changing experience.  Well might ERB have noted the date he finished.  I almost date my life as before and after reading those monumental volumes.  I'm sure anyone who has already read the set will agree.  So we may assume that ERB's intellect was greatly expanded in 1915.  The book also gives you a clue as to where he found some sources for his attitude toward religion.

     I have by no means digested the mass of material Mr. Hillman collated but there were many surprises in the library.  One assumes that two or three thousand volumes have been lost as writers ERB notes who were influences on him such as Haggard, Conan Doyle, Verne E.W. Hornung and others are either sparsely represented or not there at all.  For instance, Jules Verne's Mysterious Island which Burroughs alludes to several times.

     One is gratified that Burroughs had many Sax Rohmers whose influence I had detected.  One is somewhat astonished at the number of volumes of George Barr McCutcheon and E. Phillips Oppenheim.  That Kathleen Norris is well represented comes as no surprise since Burroughs said he was not only impressed with her writing but her pulchritude.  Still the large number of girls' series and novels with heroines as protagonists raises one's eyebrow.  Definite indication of the Anima problem.

     Well, I could go on but Mr. Hillman has done Bibliophiles a real service in cataloguing the library which will provide enough grist for my mill for the next year or two.

     If the effort of the library weren't enough, in addition to serving as Editor and Webmaster Bill then presented a huge work in his ERB's Summer of '93.

      Now, I don't know how noticed this has been but Mr. Hillman is one of the great innovators of the www.  In producing a weekly magazine of a couple hundred pages he provides not only text but an assemblage of pictures that not only adorn but educate.  His hyperlinks used as hard copy writers use footnotes is both innovative and extensive.  These often amount to an additional several hundred pages of text all of which are edifying.

     ERB's Summer of '93 gave more than enough scope for Mr. Hillman's proclivities.  One is especially impressed with his chapter on Nikola Tesla, the electrical wizard who competed with Edison.  A study of the chapter and its hyperlinks will give you an adequate background on this particular electrical genius.

     Mr. Hillman was even able to come up with the make and model of the Electric ERB drove at the fair.  No small achievement.

     As if both of those astonishments weren't enough Mr. Hillman then launched his series on Jack London and ERB.

     I sneered at that one.  I've never liked Jack London, still don't, but Hillman's article convinced me that there was a real connection.  I dug out The Call Of The Wild and The Sea Wolf for rereading and darned if the influence wasn't as long and high as the Chilcoot Pass.  D.A. Adams of Ours has also done some significant work on London and Burroughs but there is room for a lot more.  Don't sit there idle; the subject hasn't been exhausted.

     Then, following hard on the heels, or rather in the stride, of that one, Hillman has begun his photo/literary essay on Zane Grey and ERB.  It is interesting tha ERB had only three titles of Grey in his library:  The Rainbow Trail, The Last Of The Scouts, and The Mysterious Rider.  I'll be reading those next.

     I'm not much of a Zane Grey fan either; he impresses me as a stuffed shirt.  Strictly a commercial writer as Under The Tonto Rim, published in magazine form as "The Beehunter" attests.  I don't find Grey's cowboys realistic.  If one compares them with Burroughs', who also lived and worked among them, one gets a much more true idea of the type.  I've met a few myself out here in the wild west and I have to agree with Waylon Jennings:  'Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.'  I'm sure ERB would have sung along.

     I eagerly await the appearance of Mr. Hillman's comparisons ERB with other writers

     One can't tell how long this phenomenal burst of creativity will last or where Hillman will go next.  Lest his energy flag keep a hot steaming coffee on his desk beside him.

     While I haven't heard of any WWW award commensurate with Hollywood's Oscars, the Emmys and such, if one were invented, the Gates, perchance, my candidate for the first one would be the Bibliophiles' own man, Bill Hillman.

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Editor's Comment:

It is very gratifying to receive positive appreciation for my efforts here at ERBzine.  I also have felt that the previous year or so has been productive.  I have been gratified to receive significant contributions from Dale Broadhurst, David Adams, R.E. Prindle, Phil Burger, and many other Biblibophiles, which have made my job of publishing the weekly Webzine that much easier.

Of course the unfailing good offices of ERB, Inc. and ERB's grandson, Danton Burroughs, have made so much of our content possible, including the Library Project, which was actually the centerpiece of the year. It was hard but gratifying labor.

Our gratitude also goes out to Bruce Bozarth, George McWhorter, and Phil Burger who contributed so much of the information that helped in the Library collation. The titles that each had a hand in providing are identified by colour coding on the Master List at ERBzine 1264.

Organizing and preparing the Project was a time consuming major project for which Mr. Warbaby's kind appreciation is very welcome.

Modesty forbids my doing more than accepting the accolades in the spirit they were offered, as sincere thanks for providing some useful information.  If I have provided access to further avenues of exploration I am satisfied.

Let me just say that a little bit of praise feels good.

Bill Hillman - Editor and Webmaster

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