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The First and Only Weekly Online Fanzine Devoted to the Life and Works of Edgar Rice Burroughs
Issue 0607t (Text Version)
Presents


ERB HEROINES
of
~ HEARTH ~
STAGE ~ SCREEN ~ RADIO
Part I: Text-Only Version
Continued In:
ERBzine 0608t
See the Fully Illustrated Version at
ERBzine 0607
See the giant Heroines' Mosaic at:
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A chronological checklist of ERB movie titles, dates, times, stars, and the film's featured heroine.
For each heroine we have included: a photo, birth date and place of birth, death information (if relevant),
a short bio, and a sampling of the titles she has appeared in on the screen



THE ISLE OF CONTENT (Arguably an unauthorized version of ERB's The Cave Girl)
(1915 ~ 30m) Eugene Palette ~ Vivian Reed ~ Al Filson
JANE: ANNA LUTHER
BORN: 7 July 1897, New Jersey, USA
DEATH: 16 December 1960, Hollywood, California, USA
BIO: Ann Luther was a very popular star of silent film. Spouse: Edward Gallagher
MOVIES: The Wolf, 1914 ~ The Scarlet Lady, 1915 ~ Jungle Trail, 1919 ~
Casanova Brown, 1944 ~ Easy to Love, 1953 

THE LAD AND THE LION
(1917) Lafe McKee ~ Frank Clark
NAKULA: VIVIAN REED
BIRTH: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
DEATH: 20 July 1989, Woodland Hills, CA
BIO: Height 5' 3" ~ Spouse: Alfred E. Green ~ Mother of Hilton A. Green
MOVIES: Three Wizard of Oz movies, 1914 ~ Vivacious Lady, 1938 ~ Wizard of Oz, 1939
MARIE: GERTRUDE OAKMAN
MOVIES: Perch of the Devil, 1927 ~ Out of the Mist, 1916


TARZAN OF THE APES
(1918 - 55m originally longer) Elmo Lincoln
JANE PORTER: ENID MARKEY
BIRTH: 22 February 1896, Dillon, Colorado, USA
DEATH: 15 November 1981, Bay Shore, Long Island, NY, USA
BIO: Height 5' 4 1/2
This diminutive actress was a major star during the silent film era and is best known as  the movies' first "Jane Porter," Tarzan's eternal love interest, in the 1918 silent version of Tarzan of the Apes and its sequel The Romance of Tarzan. The bulk of her film career came before 1923, after which she appeared on screen only a handful of times. She was the daughter of a Colorado livery stable owner who had gone east and set up long-term residence at the famed Algonquin Hotel in New York City. She also had a long acting career on the Broadway stage,  in radio, and in television shows like Bringing Up Buddy (1961) as Aunt Violet Flower and The Andy Griffith Show as Barney's rooming house landlord Mrs. Manelbright.
MOVIES: Civilization, 1916 ~ Romance of Tarzan 1918 ~ Adventures of Tarzan, 1921 ~ Naked City, 1948 ~ Boston Strangler, 1968
TV: Alfred Hitchcock, 1955 ~ Andy Griffith, 1960 ~ Gomer Pyle, 1964


THE ROMANCE OF TARZAN (Lost film)
(1918) Elmo Lincoln
JANE PORTER: ENID MARKEY  (see Tarzan of the Apes)
LA BELLE ODINE (The Other Woman): CLEO MADISON
BIRTH: 26 March 1883,  Chicago, IL
DEATH: 11 March 1964, Burbank, CA (heart attack)
MOVIES: The Trap, 1913 ~ Great Radium Mystery, 1919 ~ Roughneck, 1924
BIO: Attractive and compelling, Madison began her career on the legitimate stage and vaudeville before acting in films. She was one of the handful of women who were allowed to direct at Universal Studios in the 1910s. Not only did these women direct, they were auteurs involved with every aspect of their projects. Madison directed, wrote and starred in films of her own design. Many reflected her values on social consciousness, such as the rights of workers and women. Her busiest years were 1916 through 1919. She retired completely from the film industry in 1931 and lived out the rest of her years in quiet obscurity. Most of her films have been lost.


THE OAKDALE AFFAIR
(1919) Eric Mayne ~ Evelyne Greeley ~ Maude Turner Gordon
GAIL PRIMM: EVELYNE GREELEY (birth name: Evelyn Huber)
BIRTH: 3 November 1888, Austria
DEATH: 25 March 1975,  West Palm Beach, Florida, USA
MOVIES: Volunteer, 1917 ~ His Royal Highness, 1918 ~ Bulldog Drummond, 1923


THE REVENGE OF TARZAN
(1920) Gene Pollar
JANE: KARLA SCHRAMM
BIRTH: 1 February 1891, Los Angeles, California, USA
DEATH: 17 January 1980, Los Angeles, California, USA
BIO: Enid Markey was passed over to play Jane, and Evelyn Fariss was hired for the role. However, when she discovered that she would have to work with actual lions, apes, and elephants, she suddenly took ill and was hurriedly replaced by Karla Schramm. She was popular enough in the role to be hired to play Jane again in the next film in the series: The Son of Tarzan. Even before filming began, the producers were under pressure to conform to new industry moral standards regarding nudity. At issue was not Miss Schramm's apparel, but rather Pollar's. To satisfy the moral guardians, Pollar had to wear an over-the-shoulder animal skin to hide most of his torso, and leggings that covered his thighs.
MOVIES: His Majesty, The American, 1919 ~ Broken Blossoms, 1919 ~ Son of Tarzan, 1920


THE SON OF TARZAN
(1920 - 253m ~ 15 Chapter Serial and 111m ~ Feature version of serial)
P. Dempsey Tabler ~ Kamuela Searle ~ Gordon Griffith
JANE: KARLA SCHRAMM (see Revenge of Tarzan)
MERIEM (as a girl): MAE GIRACI
BIRTH: 22 January 1910, Los Angeles, California, USA
MOVIES: Casey at the Bat, 1916 ~ Fall of a Nation, 1916 ~ Miss Lulu Bett, 1921 ~ Lorna Doone, 1922 ~ Secrets, 1924
BIO: Born as Mae Georgia Giraci to Italian parents Santo Giraci and Anna De Nubila. She was discovered by Cecil B. DeMille and worked as child star in silent films. Her original film name was Tina Rossi.  After graduating from Hollywood High School she changed her name to Mae Giraci. Her career waned in the late '20s and she retired at
the advent of sound to attend nursing school. Mae married Herman C. Platz in May 1931 and they had three children: Ralph, Howard, Carole. Her film, "Miss Lulu Bett," was selected to the National Film Registry, US Library of Congress, in 2001
MERIEM (as a young woman) MANILLA MARTAN
MOVIES: The Wolf's Fangs, 1922
Son of Tarzan: 15 Chapters - 31 Reels: 1. The Call of the Jungle ~ 2. Out of the Lion's Jaws ~ 3. Girl of the Jungle ~ 4. The Sheik's Revenge ~ 5. The Pirate's Prey ~ 6. The Killer's Mate ~ 7. The Quest of the Killer ~ 8. Coming of Tarzan ~ 9. The Kiss of the Beast ~ 10. Tarzan Takes the Trail ~ 11. Ashes of Love ~ 12. Meriem's Ride in the Night ~ 13. Double Crossed ~ 14. Blazing Hearts ~ 15. An Amazing Denouement.


THE ADVENTURES OF TARZAN
(1921 15 Chapter Serial) Elmo Lincoln
JANE: LOUISE LORRAINE (Birth name: Louise Escovar)
BIRTH: 1 October 1901, San Francisco, California, USA
DEATH: 2 February 1981, New York, New York, USA.
BIO: Height 5' 1" ~ Spouses: Art Acord  (? - 1928) (divorced) ~ Chester J. Hubbard  (? - 1963) (his death) ~ 16-year-old Louise Lorraine, went on to become the "Queen of the Serials."
MOVIES: Elmo, the Fearless, 1920 ~ With Stanley In Africa, 1922 ~ McGuire of the Mounted, 1923 ~ Exit Smiling, 1923, Great Circus Mysery serial, 1925 ~ Lightning Express serial, 1930


TARZAN OF THE APES
(1921 Broadway Stage Play) Ronald Adair
JANE PORTER: ETHEL DWYER
BORN: May 30, 1899 ~ Tarrytown, New York
DIED: September 2, 1985 (heart attack) ~ Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
MARRIED: 1924-1978
PLAYS: Fiddlers Three (1918-19), Lombardi Ltd. (1921), Abie's Irish Rose (1922-24)
LADY ALICIA CLAYTON: GRETA KEMBLE COOPER
Cooper played Lady Greystoke  in the Broadway adaptation of Tarzan of the Apes at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York.
This was one of the few times that ERB's work has been adapted to live theatre. Unfortunately it played to generally unfavourable reviews.

YOU LUCKY GIRL!
(1927 Stage Play by Edgar Rice Burroughs)
ANN MASON: JOAN BURROUGHS
BORN: January 12, 1908 ~ Chicago, Il
DIED:
SPOUSE: James H. Pierce ~ Married August 8, 1928
This play was originally written for ERB’s only daughter, Joan, to further her career aspirations on the stage. However, she was married about a year after this play was finished, and it was put away in the family safe and completely forgotten until it was discovered at ERB, Inc. in 1962 by Henry Hardy Heins. The play's first real performance was in 1997 at Palmdale, CA and it was published in hardcover in 1999.

TARZAN AND THE GOLDEN LION
(1927) James H. Pierce (ERB's son-in-law)
JANE: DOROTHY DUNBAR (Lady Greystoke)
BIO: Spouses: Russell Lawson (seventh husband) ~ Max Baer (divorced) ~ Sons: Richard and Russell
Dunbar went to Hollywood in 1924 where she shared top billing with such stars as Lon Chaney, Bette Davis, Joan Blondell, Gloria Swanson, Spencer Tracy, and Will Rogers. She left the movies in the early 1930s to become a full-time mother and housewife, but with enough time to win golf and bridge trophies.
BIRTH: 28 May 1902, Cripple Creek, Colorado, USA
DEATH: 23 October 1992, Seattle, Washington, USA
MOVIES: Flaming Crisis, 1924 ~ Lightning Lariats, 1927 ~ What Price Love, 1927
FLORA HAWKS: EDNA MURPHY  (birth name: Elizabeth Edna Murphy)
BORN:  17 November 1899, New York, New York, USA
DIED: 3 August 1974, Santa Monica, California, USA
BIO: Height  5' 2" ~ Spouse:  Mervyn LeRoy
MOVIES: Show of Shows, 1929 ~ Sap, 1929 ~ Kid Gloves, 1929 ~ Dancing Sweeties, 1930


TARZAN THE MIGHTY
(1928 ~15 Chapter Serial) Frank Merrill
MARY TREVOR: NATALIE KINGSTON
BIRTH: 19 May 1905, Vallejo, California, USA
DEATH: 2 February 1991, West Hills, California, USA
BIO: Height 5' 6" Kingston has the distinction of playing Tarzan's mate twice, but only once as Jane. The heroine of Tarzan the Mighty, Mary Trevor, actually marries Tarzan. Kingston was a tall, lanky-looking Jane with a rather sophisticated air.
MOVIES: Baby Face, 1925 ~ Tarzan the Tiger (Jane), 1929 ~ Romeo and Juliet, 1924 ~ Kid Boots, 1926 ~ A Girl In Every Port, 1928 ~ Street Angel, 1928 ~ His Private Secretary, 1933


TARZAN THE TIGER
(1929 ~ 15 Chapter Serial) Frank Merrill
JANE: NATALIE KINGSTON (See Tarzan the Mighty)
LA OF OPAR: LILLIAN WORTH
MOVIES: Adventures of Tarzan (La), 1921 ~ Docks of New York, 1928 ~ Stairs of Sand, 1929 ~ Stars Over Broadway, 1935


TARZAN, THE APE MAN
(1932 ~ 99m) Johnny Weissmuller
JANE: MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN (Maureen Paul O'Sullivan)
BORN: 17 May 1911, Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland
DIED: 23 June 1998, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. (heart attack)
BIO: Height 5' 6" ~ The incredibly attractive future jungle wife of Tarzan and mother of Mia Farrow was a classmate of Vivien Leigh at the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Roehampton (London). At the age of nine she intended to become a pilot. After more school in Paris, back in Dublin, she met director Frank Borzage who was doing location filming for Fox and who invited her to Hollywood where she arrived, accompanied by her mother, in 1930. In 1932 she signed with MGM and completed nine movies at four studios. Irving Thalberg picked her to play Tarzan's Jane. She was perhaps MGM's most popular ingenue throughout the 1930s in a number of non-Tarzan  vehicles. O'Sullivan felt the role of Jane had hurt her career, held her back from landing roles she might have been a contender for at MGM. Another of her complaints about playing Jane was having to work with the chimps. "They were crazy for Johnny and very jealous of me, so they always tried to bite me if I got near him."She wound up making six films as Jane, then left her jungle hubby, Weissmuller, and her adopted "Boy," Johnny Sheffield, after "Tarzan's New York Adventure" in 1942. She married Australian writer John Farrow (later an award-winning director and author) with whom she had seven children: Michael, Patrick, Maria (Mia), John, Prudence, Theresa (Tisa) and Stephanie. After her last Tarzan film she asked for release from her contract to care for her husband who had just left the Navy with typhoid. She continued making occasional movies, television and stage appearances and operating a bridal consulting service. She made her Broadway debut in 1962 in "Never Too Late" and went on to study in a number of Broadway plays: "No Sex Please, We're British, " "Charley's Aunt, " and "Morning at Seven" "The Subject Was Roses, " "Keep It in the Family."  She was awarded a Star on the Walk of Fame in 1990 at 6541 Hollywood Blvd.
MOVIES: MGM Tarzan Series (see below) Robber's Roost, 1933 ~ Tugboat Annie, 1933 ~ Thin Man, 1934 ~ David Copperfield, 1935 ~ A Day At The Races, 1937 ~ Maisie Was A Lady, 1941 ~ Bonzo Goes To College, 1952 ~ The Great Houdini, 1976 ~ Hannah and Her Sisters, 1986 ~ Peggy Sue Got Married, 1986.
TV: Hart to Hart, 1994 ~ Tarzan: Legacy of ERB, 1996

TARZAN OF THE APES Radio Serial No. 1
(1932-34 ~ 286 Episodes) James H. Pierce
JANE PORTER: JOAN BURROUGHS
BORN: January 12, 1908 ~ Chicago, IL
DIED:
SPOUSE: James H. Pierce ~ Married August 8, 1928
The radio scripts, which used a combination of narration, dialogue, sound effects and original music,
 were closely supervised by ERB who had a special interest in the serial since it starred daughter Joan and her husband James Pierce. "Perhaps in my radio contract I shall insist upon the reservation to me of  the interplanetary rights. Why not? Radio rights and sound and dialog rights would have seemed as preposterous twenty years ago... long before my copyrights expire television rights will be worth a fortune..." The series was adapted from the first two Tarzan novels.

TARZAN THE FEARLESS
(1933 ~ 12 Chapter Serial and 85m Feature version of serial) Buster Crabbe
MARY BROOKS: JULIE BISHOP aka JACQUELINE WELLS (birth name) aka Diane Duval
BIRTH: 30 August 1914, Denver, Colorado, USA
DIED: 30 August 2001, Mendocino, CA  (pneumonia)
SPOUSES: Walter Booth Brooks III (1936-39) ~ Maj. Gen. Clarence A. Shoop (1944-68 died) ~ William F. Bergin (1968-2001)
MOVIES:  84 films: Hollywood Canteen, 1944 ~ Rhapsody In Blue, 1946 ~ Sands of Iwo Jima, 1949 ~  Sabre Jet, 1953
TV: Dateline Disneyland, 1955
STAGE: Hamlet (Pasadena Playhouse)
BIO: This titian-haired, 5' 3" actress, appeared in 84 movies opposite such stars as Humphrey Bogart and John Wayne from 1923 to 1957 and in the television series My Hero with Bob Cummings in the early 1950s. She began her career as a child in silents, first in the 1923 Children of Jazz, and worked with such luminaries as Clara Bow and Mary Pickford. Segueing easily into talkies, she made 49 films and four serials from 1925 to 1940. Among them were Tarzan the Fearless with Buster Crabbe, Tillie and Gus with W.C. Fields, Any Old Port and The Bohemian Girl with Laurel and Hardy and the 1934 The Black Cat with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Briefly acting under the name Diane Duval, Bishop starred in the 1940 serial titled Heroes of the West. Born in Denver, the daughter of a wealthy banker and oilman, the actress was reared in Wichita Falls, Texas, and, after her parents divorced, in Los Angeles where she began her movie career. She retained her name through child roles and several credits as an ingenue, but changed it to Julie Bishop at the studio's request in 1940 when she won a contract with Warner Bros. The renamed star flourished, working opposite Errol Flynn in Northern Pursuit, Bogart in Action in the North Atlantic, Wayne in The High and the Mighty, Robert Taylor in Westward the Women, Roy Rogers in The Ranger and the Lady, Gene Autry in Back in the Saddle and Alan Ladd in Her First Romance and The Big Land, her final picture in 1957. The actress appeared infrequently but memorably on stage, in such demanding roles as Ophelia in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" at the Pasadena Playhouse.A licensed private pilot, Bishop painted still lifes, staging several exhibitions and decorating her homes with her art. She also was active in charitable work, beginning with entertaining soldiers at the Hollywood Canteen during World War II. Bishop served as national president of the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists, an organization that provides scholarships for outstanding students of science and engineering. She also lent her energies to the National Charity League, Diadames and the League for Children. During her years as a society matron and doyenne of philanthropic endeavors in Beverly Hills, she was named among the 10 best dressed women in Los Angeles. Bishop was married three times--to wealthy scion Walter Booth Brooks III (1936 - 1939); Maj. Gen. Clarence A. Shoop, a test pilot who flew for Howard Hughes and later became vice president of Hughes Aircraft, from 1944 until his death in 1968; and for the last 33 years to retired Beverly Hills surgeon William F. Bergin. She and Shoop had two children: actress Pamela Susan Shoop and physician Steve Shoop. She is mother-in-Law of ex-Jesuit priest Terrance Sweeney, who was technical advisor for the miniseries, The Thorn Birds.


TARZAN AND HIS MATE
(1934 ~93m) Johnny Weissmuller
JANE: MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN (see Tarzan the Ape Man)

TARZAN AND THE DIAMOND OF ASHER: Radio Serial
(1934 ~ 39 episodes) Carlton KaDell
MAGRA: JEANETTE NOLAN
BORN: December 30, 1911 ~ Los Angeles, CA
DIED: June 5, 1998 ~ Los Angeles, CA (stroke-related)
SPOUSE: John McIntire (1935 - 1991, his death) ~ Mother of actor Tim McIntire
Jeanette Nolan began her acting career in the Pasadena Community Playhouse and, while a student at Los Angeles City College, made her radio debut in 1932 in "Omar Khayyam", the first transcontinental broadcast from station KHJ. She had a long and varied film career and also appeared in more than 300 TV shows.
RADIO: During the Golden Age of radio through the 1930s and 1940s, she provided the voices of a variety characters on such programs as "The March of Time," "Cavalcade of America," "The Court of Missing Heirs," "The Adventures of Mister Meek," "Life Begins" and "Manhattan at Midnight."
TV: The Virginian ~ Perry Mason I Spy ~ MacGyver ~ Virginian ~ Alfred Hitchcock Presents ~ Charlie's Angels ~ The Awakening Land ~ Love Boat
MOVIES: Orson Welles' Macbeth (film debut) ~ The Miracle Worker ~ Psycho (voice of the mother) ~ The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ~ The Fox and the Hound ~ The Rescuers ~ The Horse Whisperer (final film)
HELEN: KARENA SHIELDS
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN and GREEN GODDESS

(1935 ~ 12 Chapter Serial and 75m Feature and Green Goddess [1938]) Herman Brix
ULA VALE: ULA HOLT
BORN: May 18, 1915 in Los Angeles, CA
DIED: January 18, 1982 in Clay County, FL
BIO: Spouse: Ashton Dearholt (July 1935 - ?)
Producer/Director Dearholt met Ms. Holt (born Florence Eugene Watson) - while he was on a troubleshooting assignment for RKO in their Guatemala office, before the film went into production. He eventually divorced his wife Florence,  married Ula and signed her for the lead in this ERB-produced Tarzan film. Edgar Rice Burroughs later divorced his first wife and married Florence Dearholt. This was Ula Holt's first and only major movie appearance.
TARZAN AND THE FLAMES OF TOHR (Radio Series)

(1936 ~ 39 1/2-hour episodes)
AHTEA: BARBARA LUDDY
BORN: 25 May 1908, Great Falls, Montana, USA
DIED:  1 April 1979, Los Angeles, California, USA. (lung cancer)
MOVIES: Sealed Lips, 1925 ~Lady and the Tramp, 1955 ~  Sleeping Beauty, 1959 ~ 101 Dalmations, 196, Winnie the Pooh movies (Kanga)

TARZAN ESCAPES
(1936 ~ 95m) Johnny Weissmuller
JANE: MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN (see Tarzan the Ape Man)


THE LION MAN
(1936) Jon Hall
EULILAH: KATHLEEN BURKE
BORN: 5 September 1913, Hammond, Indiana, USA
DIED: 9 April 1980, Chicago, Illinois, USA
BIO: Height 5' 4"
MOVIES: Sunset Pass, 1933 ~ Island of Lost Souls (Dr. Moreau), 1933 ~ Murders in the Zoo, 1933 ~ Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back, 1934 ~ Lives of a Bengal Lancer, 1935 ~ Nevada, 1935 ~ The Sheik Steps Out, 1937


DRAG-NET
(1936 ~ 61m) ERB Producer ~ Rod La Rocque, Marian Nixon, Betty Compson, Jack Adair
KIT VAN BUREN: MARIAN NIXON (birth name: Maria Nissinen)
PLOT: A playboy takes a job as an assistant district attorney, and finds himself up against a tough crime boss and his gang.
BORN: 20 October 1904, Superior, Wisconsin, USA
DIED: 13 February 1983,  Los Angeles, California, USA. (aftermath of surgery)
MOVIES: Riders of the Purple Sage, 1925 ~ Show of Shows, 1929 ~ Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, 1932 ~ Charlie Chan's Chance, 1932 ~ Tango, 1936
BIO: Height 5' ~ Her career started in 1923 when she appeared in CUPID'S FIREMAN. She was nineteen. Marian was much in demand for film roles throughout the twenties and made the successful transition to the "talkie" era. Her final film was as Treasure McGuire in TANGO in 1936. When she retired, Marian had been in 73 productions.
Spouses: Ben Lyon (1972 - ?) ~ William A. Seiter ~ (1934 - 1964 his death) ~ Edward Hillman, Jr. (1929 - 1933) ~ Joe Benjamin (1925 - 1926)

MOLLY COLE: BETTY COMPSON
BORN: 19 March 1897, Beaver, Utah
DIED: 18 April 1974, Glendale, California,  (heart attack) ~ Interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery,Mission Hills, California
BIO: Height 5' 2 1/2"
Spouses: James Cruze (25.10.25 - 20.05.30 divorced) ~ Irving Weinberg (?? 2nd) ~ Silvius Jack Gall (? - 1962) (his death)
After retiring from film she and her husband ran a business called "Ashtrays Unlimited" until her death. She was interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, California, USA, Section B, Lot 853, Grave 4.
MOVIES: He Loved The Ladies, 1914 ~ Slight Case of Murder, 1938 ~ Mr. and Mrs. Smith, 1941 ~ Here Comes Trouble, 1948



TUNDRA
(1936 ~ 75m) aka Mighty Thunder ~ ERB Producer
RKO re-released TUNDRA in the late 40s, using much of its principal footage with added scenes of a wife & child for the doctor (a bachelor in the original) and one of the most interesting bits of matching work:  in the original, character actor Merrill McCormick plays a longbearded trapper who goes to the doc's rescue at the end.  McCormick was still around when they revised TUNDRA, and they put him in matching clothes & dyed his beard black & had him in perfect replication of his character in the original footage.  (Rich Wannen)


TARZAN'S REVENGE
(1937 ~ 70m) Glenn Morris
ELEANOR: ELEANOR HOLM
BORN: 6 December 1913, New York, New York, USA
BIO: Spouses: Billy Rose (1939 - 1954 divorced) and Arthur Jarrett (2 September 1933 - 1938 divorced). She won the 1932 Olympic gold medal in swimming, 100-meter backstroke. Holm developed a bit of a reputation as being a wild character and was removed from the 1936 Olympic team for drinking champagne, but was soon in demand for show business jobs. She played Jane as a saucy independant character and she did most of her own swimming in the picture opposite Glenn Morris, the 1936 Olympic decathlon champion. She was portrayed in Funny Lady, 1975.
MOVIES: Ted Husing's Sport Slants, 1934 ~ Hollywood on Parade No. 9, 1933


PHANTOM OF SANTA FE
(1937 ~ 75m) Colour - ERB Producer ~ Ben Corbett, , Norman Kerry, Frank Mayo, Merrill McCormick, Jack Mower
PLOT: One of the earliest color westerns. "Tarzan" creator Edgar Rice Burroughs produced this colorful tumbleweed tale in which a band of renegades attacks and loots a Santa Fe mission. stealing some priceless treasures.  Area residents think it's the work of an enigmatic Zorro-like figure known as "The Hawk" or "The Phantom of Santa Fe.  Is he responsible? And just who is this mysterious person?
TERESA VALARDI: NINA QUARTERO
BORN: 17 March 1908, New York, New York, USA
DIED: 23 November 1985,  Woodland Hills, California, USA
MOVIES: Virginian, 1929 ~ Frozen River, 1929 ~ Bachelor Father, 1931 ~ Under Secret Orders  (1933) ~Cyclone Ranger  (1935) ~ The Outlaw, 1942
LOLITA: CARMELITA GERAGHTY
BORN: 21 March 1901, Rushville, Indiana, USA
DIED: 7 July 1966, New York, New York, USA. (heart attack)
MOVIES: Mysterious Stranger, 1925 ~ Great Gatsby, 1926 ~ Last Trail, 1927

TARZAN SHOWCASED IN COLLEEN MOORE'S
MINIATURE FAIRY CASTLE
(Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago ~ 1937 to Present)
LITTLE PRINCESS: Inspired by COLLEEN MOORE
BORN: 19 August 1900, Port Huron, Michigan, USA ~ Birth name: Kathleen Morrison
DIED: 25 January 1988, Paso Robles, California, USA (cancer)
BIO:  Collen was daughter of an irrigation engineer.  She was educated in parochial schools and  the famed Detroit Conservatory. Her family moved to Atlanta and later to Tampa.  She had a happy childhood and was fascinated with films.  She kept a scrapbook of actresses such as Marguerite Clark and Mary Pickford and went so far as to perform plays for her friends on a homemade stage.   Colleen's uncle, Walter Howey - editor of the Chicago Tribune - had contacts with D.W. Griffith  and helped her get a start in the  motion picture industry in 1917.  By 1927, she was the top box-office draw in the US, earning the phenomenal sum of $12,500 a week, much of which she invested in the stock market. She successfully made the transition into the "talkie" era but retired from films in 1934 and went on to write two books on investing and to marry two stockbrokers.
MOVIES: The Savage, 1917 ~ Little Orphan Annie, 1918 ~ Flaming Youth, 1923 ~ Scarlet Letter, 1934 (final)
TV: Hollywood, 1980 (documentary mini-series)
Beginning in 1926, Moore enlisted the help of many talented professionals to help her realize her vision. In 1937 she asked ERB for a few words from a Tarzan book and an autograph to add to her miniature Fairy Castle Collection at The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. What was returned to her was an original fable featuring a princess and Tarzan, Jr. written by ERB and illustrated by ERB and John Coleman Burroughs. The unusual thing about this story is that it was printed, by hand, in a one-of-a-kind, one inch by one inch, miniature book.

TARZAN FINDS A SON
(1939 ~ 90m) Johnny Weissmuller ~ Johnny Sheffield
JANE: MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN (see Tarzan the Ape Man)


TARZAN'S SECRET TREASURE
(1941 ~ 81m) Johnny Weissmuller ~ Johnny Sheffield
JANE: MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN (see Tarzan the Ape Man)


TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE
(1942 ~ 71m) Johnny Weissmuller ~ Johnny Sheffield
JANE: MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN (see Tarzan the Ape Man)

THE ADVENTURES OF CHINESE TARZAN
(1940) Peng Fei
JANE PORTER: LEE CHACHA
BIO: This Chinese actress was featured in the earliest known unauthorized Tarzan movie.
This popular movie was produced by the Hsin Hwa Motion Picture Company of Singapore
and was to have been the first of a series that never materialized.
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS' JUNGLE GIRL (ERB's only input appears to be the title.)

 (1941~ 15-episode serial) Tom Neal ~ Tommy Cook
NYOKA MEREDITH: FRANCES GIFFORD
BIO: See Tarzan Triumphs
BORN: 7 December 1920, Long Beach, California, USA
DIED: 22 January 1994, Pasadena, California, USA. (emphysema)
MOVIES: The Reluctant Dragon, 1941 ~ Jungle Girl 15-part serial, 1941, Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour, 1943 ~
Luxury Liner, 1948 ~ Sky Commando, 1953.

TARZAN TRIUMPHS
(1943 ~ 78m) Johnny Weissmuller ~ Johnny Sheffield
ZANDRA: FRANCES GIFFORD
BORN: 7 December 1920, Long Beach, California, USA
DIED: 22 January 1994, Pasadena, California, USA. (emphysema)
BIO: Spouse: James Dunn (1938 - 1942 divorced). Gifford played
the scantily clad Nyoka in the ERB inspired 1941 Republic serial, Jungle Girl. This brunette beauty began her acting career right out of high school, Gifford played bits and did extra work in such films as Stage Door (1937) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and later co-starred with husband James Dunn. She suffered serious head injuries in an auto accident in 1948 and never really regained her self-confidence. She retired from the screen a few years later. After continued repercussions, she was admitted to Camarillo State Hospital in 1958 from which she was released in 1978. She finally defeated her personal demons and, as recently as the late 1980s, was doing volunteer work for charitable organizations in Southern California.
MOVIES: The Reluctant Dragon, 1941 ~ Jungle Girl 15-part serial, 1941, Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour, 1943 ~ Luxury Liner, 1948 ~ Sky Commando, 1953.


TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY
(1943 ~ 70m) Johnny Weissmuller ~ Johnny Sheffield
CONNIE BRYCE: NANCY KELLY
BORN: 25 March 1921, Lowell, Massachusetts, USA
DIED: 2 January 1995, Bel Air, California, USA. (diabetes-related)
SPOUSES: Warren Caro (25.11.55-1968 divorced, 1 daughter) ~ Edmond O'Brien (19.02.41-02.02.42 divorced) ~ Fred Jackman Jr. (14.02.46 - 13.01.50 divorced) ~ Kelly died the day after the death of her third husband.
BIO: Sister of actor Jack Kelly and daughter of actress 'Nan Kelly. Tony Award for The Bad Seed on Broadway.
Film Daily 1929 reported: "Little Nancy Kelly...has worked in 23 pics during the past two years; Nancy must be the most photographed child in America due to commercial posing."
MOVIES:  Great Gatsby, 1926 ~ Jesse James, 1939 ~ One Night In The Tropics, 1940 ~ Bad Seed, 1956

THE UNDERGROUND WORLD (A Max Fleischer Superman Animation Short)
(1943 ~ 8m) Bud Collyer
LOIS LANE: JOAN ALEXANDER
Although not credited, some sources recognize ERB's At the Earth's Core as being the basis for this Superman cartoon. It is also believed that Superman creators - Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster - were inspired by John Carter of Mars in their creation of a super hero from another planet who could "leap tall buildings in a single bound." In this subterranean adventure Clark Kent and Lois Lane go exploring in unknown regions of Henderson Caverns. Henderson and Lois enter an underground world of hawk-men who have deadly plans for them.
RADIO: Superman (1940-1951 Mutual) as Lois Lane ~ Perry Mason, 1943 ~ Dimension X - "The Belt" (1950-1951 NBC)
TV: Captain Video, 1949 ~ The Name's the Same, 1951 ~ Superman Series - Lois Lane Voice-Overs (1966 and 1967)
MOVIES: Superman Animated Features - Lois Lane Voice-Overs (1941-1943)

TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS
(1945 ~ 76m) Johnny Weissmuller ~ Johnny Sheffield
JANE: BRENDA JOYCE (birth name, Betty Leabo - nickname, Graftina)
BORN: 25 February 1917, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
BIO: Height 5' 4" ~ Spouse: Owen Ward (1941 - ?) ~ Joyce was a  square-jawed, blond-haired leading lady of lower-budget US films of the 1940s. She succeeded Maureen O'Sullivan as the Jane character for five Tarzan films.
MOVIES: The Rains Came, 1939 ~ Enchanted Forest, 1945 ~ Little Giant, 1946


TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN
(1946 ~ 72m) Johnny Weissmuller ~ ~ Johnny Sheffield
JANE: BRENDA JOYCE (see Tarzan and the Amazons)
LEA, THE HIGH PRIESTESS: ACQUANETTA (birth name: Burnuacquanetta)
BORN: 17 July 1921, Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA
BIO:  Born on an Arapaho reservation in Wyoming, Acquanetta grew up in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and began her professional career as a top-salaried Manhattan model. New York columnists fabricated a South-of-the-Border background for the girl they dubbed "The Venezualan Volcano", and she soon landed in Hollywood with a contract at Universal Pictures.
MOVIES: Arabian Nights, 1942 ~ Jungle Woman, 1941 ~ Lost Continent, 1941 ~ Sword of Monte Cristo, 1951

LONGER BIO: Acquanetta
Known as "The Venezuelan Volcano", the actress Acquanetta had a series of exotic roles in jungle dramas during the 1940s, including high priestess of a leopard cult in Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946). Burnu Acquanetta (Acquanetta), actress: born Cheyenne, Wyoming 17 July 1921; married 1953 Jack Ross (four sons, and one son deceased; marriage dissolved 1985); died Ahwatukee, Arizona 16 August 2004. Known as "The Venezuelan Volcano", the actress Acquanetta had a series of exotic roles in jungle dramas during the 1940s, including high priestess of a leopard cult in Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946).

A former fashion model, who claimed to be "part-Arapaho Indian and part-English aristocrat", she was born Burnu Acquanetta, meaning "burning fire, deep water", on an Indian reservation in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1921. She was later adopted, and moved to Pennsylvania with her new family, who renamed her Mildred Davenport. After graduation, she headed East, where she was hired by the Harry Conover modelling agency in Manhattan as "Acquanetta". "I became an actress by accident," she recalled. "I was visiting Los Angeles, which I loved, staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and a chap came up - a talent scout, I guess you'd call him - and said I should be in the movies. They said "sign here", so I signed and, bang, I was an actress." Tall, with olive skin and piercing green eyes, she was promoted by the studio as "The Venezuelan Volcano"  put her looks to good use with a series of small roles.

In 1946, Acquanetta made her most memorable film. Johnny Weissmuller had defected from MGM when the studio lost interest in the Tarzan series after Maureen O'Sullivan decided to stop playing Jane. The producer Sol Lesser picked up MGM's option on Tarzan and released Tarzan and the Leopard Woman through his own company, Sol Lesser Productions. The film, which has been cited as the most camp and therefore cultish of the Tarzan adventure series, won Acquanetta good reviews. As Lea, the high priestess of a bizarre leopard cult, she is responsible for her tribe attacking caravans travelling across the African plains. It is Tarzan's job to stop them, particularly after a young member of the cult kidnaps Jane (Brenda Joyce) and takes her back to camp to prepare her for a stew. Acquanetta, typecast and unimpressed with the roles being offered to her, headed to Mexico. "I just fell in love with Mexico when I visited there, so I decided not to go back to Hollywood," she recalled in 1998. In recent years, when most of her films for Universal were released on DVD, she was credited in the trailers as "the legendary" Acquanetta, a desciption she accepted with a chuckle, "The one and only. I don't know if the world could stand two of me."


Volume 0607t

BILL HILLMAN
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