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Volume 6349

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
GO TO OUR FULL YEAR'S CONTENTS
 www.ERBzine.com/events

OCTOBER CONTENTS: WEEK THREE
OCT 15 ~ OCT 16 ~ OCT 17
OCT 18 ~ OCT 19 ~ OCT 20 ~ OCT 21

VISIT THE OCTOBER WEEK 3 PHOTO ALBUM
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6349pics.html

BACK TO OCTOBER WEEK 2
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6348.html

Click for full-size images

OCTOBER 15

Brigadier General Kendall J. Fielder: ERB WWII Friend ~ ERB Portrait by son JCB ~ Pearl Harbor Murders
Max Allan Collins and Bill Hillman ~ Escape On Venus: JCB Cover Art, Pulp Segment ~ Johnny Sheffield
*** 1946: Escape On Venus was released by ERB Inc. with dedication: "To Brigadier General Kendall J. Fielder" Brigadier General Kendall “Wooch” Jordan Fielder (August 1, 1893 – April 13, 1981) appears many times across my ERBzine site He was an influential World War II veteran, who settled in Hawaii, and testified before Congress in favor of statehood. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, then Lieutenant Colonel Fielder was the U.S. Army G-2 Chief of Intelligence and Security. He received many decorations for his service to the Hawaiian homefront, his stellar record with the US Army and his many post-war contributions.

Fielder was a wartime friend and bridge partner of Edgar Rice Burroughs and the two socialized at many parties and other events. It was at one of these parties on November 17, 1942 that Fielder wrote in ERB's autograph book: "Best Aloha to my good friend Ed Burroughs ~ Kendall J. Fielder - Col. GSC - G-2" (See ERBzine 2778). Burroughs mentioned him many times in his letters home as can be seen in my Lost Words of ERB section. According to one of these 1944 letters Fielder was an accomplished parlor magician and a member in good standing of the Society of American Magicians.

The two men exchanged many letters during and after the war. I had correspondence with Fielder's grandson-in-law back in 2007 who had letters from the General. He even had a poem that ERB had written for Fielder and according to these letters Fielder had recommended Burroughs for the BMTC and also asked ERB to write the "Laugh It Off" columnns. Later he apparently helped with arrangements to get Burroughs back to California.

Besides dedicating Escape On Venus to Fielder, ERB poked fun at his wartime friend in Tarzan and "the Foreign Legion" by picturing him dressed up as a witch doctor. After the war the General served as technical adviser for the film From Here to Eternity and actor Bill Edwards played Colonel Fielder in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!.

Author Max Allan Collins even worked ERB's friend into his 2001 book: Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Pearl Harbor Mysteries. As the story opens, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Hully are enjoying their time together on Oahu. Ed agrees to arrange a meeting between a sultry Amerasian singer, Pearl Harada, and Army Intelligence Chief Col. Kendall Fielder.  Pearl needs to persuade Col. Fielder that she loves his son and wants his blessing so they can marry. The next morning, a scream awakens Ed, who runs outside to find Pearl's corpse on the beach. Unable to resist investigating her death, Ed begins making inquiries. He wonders if one of Pearl's string of ex-lovers had killed her . . . or perhaps Bill's outraged dad, Col. Fielding, had murdered her . . . or perhaps someone had silenced her because she knew too much on the following day? . . . Chatting with Collins at a 2005 Dum-Dum I was impressed by the Burroughs research he had done for the book. (Bill Hillman)
Kendall J. Fielder / Edgar Rice Burroughs Connection
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag64/6458.html
Also check out the links in my above text

*** 1946: "Escape on Venus" isn't the longest ERB novel. It just reads like it.
It's a seemingly endless capture-escape story, with Carson continuing to make foolish mistakes that get him and Duare captured by fish men, plant men, dividing men and warrior men.
Along the way, at least, they meet some groups of people who do not capture them -- the people of Japal, the horned people of Timal and the Cloud People (who guide them over the mountains).
One of the best moments in the book comes when Carson does too much sight-seeing over a huge land armada and someone fires a shell that blasts the propeller off the anator! Carson pays big time for that one when he ends up as a slave having to shovel manure, one of the most fitting punishments he was ever assigned.
"Escape on Venus" is unique in the Venus canon, though, since Carson learns in the first book of this ERB series, "Pirates of Venus," that there is no religion on Venus. But religion shows up in "Escape" in the person of the goddess of the plant people. She turns out to be an earth woman mysteriously transported to Venus, probably the way John Carter and Ulysses Paxton were mysteriously transported to Mars.
"Escape" also has some good moments of humor, such as when Carson observes that no dogs are allowed among the trees where the green Brokols' babies are growing from the limbs.
Robert B. Zeuschner's "Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Bibliography" reveals that there were actually two variations of the first edition of "Escape," which was published Oct. 15 in 1946.
One featured the standard blue pebbled binding and the second variant, a blue silky smooth textured cover. Dr. Zeuschner says though, that like the chicken and the egg, it has not been established which came first.
The four stories which make up the volume were published a few years early, all in Fantastic Adventure magazine, four months apart, beginning in 1941.
The cover of Fantastic Adventures for July 1941, which featured the segment titled "Goddess of Fire," showed an Angan kneeling at the feet of a woman clad in a diaphanous gown. Both Heins and Zeuschner comment on the cover, but Zeuschner goes into a bit more detail that the original cover by J. Allen St. John (the Venusian and background) included a partially nude woman. The editor suggested to St. John that he revise the cover by painting a robe on the woman, but St. John refused. It was at this point that the editor asked H.W. McCauley to repaint the girl. Interestingly, McCauley had been a student of St. John's." So that painting is the work of two men. See the painting and other information in ERBzine 0751:
Escape on Venus: Credits, covers, art, info
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0751.html
Escape on Venus: Read the book in eText
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/v4ev.html
Venus/Amtor Guide I
http://www.erbzine.com/mag15/1560.html
Venus/Amtor Guide II
http://www.erbzine.com/mag15/1561.html
"All About Amtor"
http://www.erbzine.com/mag45/4510.html

Off-Site Reference:
Story summary

*** 2010: Johnny Sheffield (1931.04.11-2010.10.15), "Boy" in eight Tarzan movies and Bomba the Jungle Boy in a dozen thereafter, died unexpectedly on this date. He passed away after a heart attack four hours after he fell off a ladder while trimming a palm tree. Besides Tarzan and Bomba films, Sheffield had appeared in films with other well-known stars such as Ronald Reagan, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. He played the childhood scenes of the Notre Dame legend in "Knute Rockne: All American." His father produced a proposed television series, "Bantu the Zebra Boy," but it never found a sponsor.
Monogram's Bomba the Jungle Boy film series was inspired by the adventure-book series by Roy Rockwood. Johnny Sheffield, formerly "Boy" in the Tarzan pictures, starred as Bomba. Bomba the Jungle Boy turned out to be one of  Monogram's most successful series.
     Sheffield, who'd been schooled on the MGM lot, got a business degree from UCLA and worked for a Yuma, Ariz., farming company and then turned to real estate. Survivors include his wife of 51 years, Patricia; two sons and a daughter; a brother, Billy Sheffield; plus a grandson.
Johnny Sheffield Remembered: Bio and Films
http://www.erbzine.com/mag31/3198.html
Sheffield's Bomba Movies
http://www.erbzine.com/mag8/0897.html

Off-Site Reference
"Bantu" pilot opening scenes

1946: LETTER  Thelma Terry: Ed comments "I haven't any (a view) from my present home, other than my backyard. My first home out here was on a knoll in the mouth of a canyon. It overlooked the entire San Fernando valley and gave a view of several hundred miles of mountains surrounding - the Coast Range and the Sierra Nevada. But we soon discovered that we seldom viewed our view. Stupid, what?" Ed is proud of the great invention -- the deep-freeze -- which his Nisei gardener is stocking with corn and other produce from the garden. The gardener's wife, Mitzi, has just made dill pickles from the cucumbers. Truman has just released the ceilings of meat supplies. Ed is showing 16mm feature films to the family every Saturday evening. Comments on the political situation: "Things are really a mess here, thanks to the New Dealers and the Communists. There is a shortage of about everything but political oratory. But if we elect a Republican House and Senate next month things will be different - I hope. Fantastic as it may seem, I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with a revolution."
ERB's Letter to fan Thelma Terry
 http://www.erbzine.com/mag15/1524.html
MORE ERB BIO TIMELINE NOTES
1915: Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar was submitted to both Davis and Sessions
1938: Tarzan of the Apes was voted second best Argosy story of all time
1940: ERB started Living Dead Pt 2 of the new Venus series
ERB Bio Timeline and Illustrated Annotated Calendar
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio

OCTOBER 16

John Carter (of Mars) 2012 Disney Film starring Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins ~ Some of countless
Mars images featured in ERBzine ~ Tarzan the Tiger 1929 serial starring Merrill and Kingston
*** 1923: The first seed of the 2012 "John Carter" movie was sown in the imagination of Edgar Rice Burroughs when his story, "Under the Moons of Mars," was published in 1912.
The second seed for the film came on Oct. 16, 1923, when the Disney Company officially came into being, as Walt Disney contracted with M.J. Winkler to distribute the Alice Comedies.
It took Disney a little bit -- like close to 90 years -- to figure out that bringing ERB's John Carter of Mars to the screen might be a good idea. ERB fans knew that a lot sooner. One of those ERB fans was Allan Howard, who wrote "An Open Letter to Walt Disney" in The Burroughs Bulletin #10, published about 25 years after formation of the Disney Company.
In suggesting that Disney film ERB's Mars story, Howard wrote: "Corner any real Burroughs fan at random and ask him about the geography of Mars, according to Burroughs. Watch his eyes light up and that rapt expression cover his face as he speaks of the cities of Helium, Horz and Zodanga and gives you a detailed description of their inhabitants and history. He knows more about the flora and fauna of the red planet than do the scientists at Mt. Palomar. Hear him refer to thoat, calot, sorapus and plant men as easily as the Sherlock Holmes enthusiast talks of gasogene and tantalus."
Howard did use some caution in his open letter, however, knowing about Disney's tendency to fiddle with plots and characters: "It is imperative for John Carter to deal harshly with a foeman, but always considering the juvenile trade, it may be necessary for that foeman to die as subtly as possible, but die he must.” He also pointed out that some Barsoomians are human, and some of the planet’s denizens are Martian counterparts of earthly animals, “and should not be presented as out and out 'horrors' simply because of their unfamiliar forms."
He also warned: "I would like to venture a suggestion that you present it as the straight adventure it is and not weave any whimsy into it. Please don't turn our green four-armed Tharks into so many 'Willie the Giants' nor clothe our thoats and great white apes in ballet skirts and send them simpering across a dead sea bottom."
    If you don't have that Bulletin in your collection, you can read his whole open letter in the ERBzine pages featuring all the Original Burroughs Bulletins. Click on #10 to make it bigger and then you'll still need your reading glasses and a bit of guesswork to figure out some of the words!
The 2012 “John Carter” movie was like just about every other ERB movie that ever there was: Some loved it; some thought it was “okay”; some hated it. But did Disney’s effort “ruin” ERB’s Barsoom for future film productions? Many fans have opinions of how it could be done. One of those fans is Abraham Sherman, whose ideas were posted Oct. 16, 2016, in The John Carter Files and in a much longer analysis in ERBzine 5875.
*** We at ERBzine had waited for such a muli-million high tech adaptation of an ERB book since first reading the Dell John Carter comic in 1952. We weren't disapponted. . . loved it and have viewed it dozens of times. . . a real treat after decades of sitting through lamentable Tarzan films.
ERB and the Lunacy Legacy of Mars By Abraham Sherman
http://www.erbzine.com/mag58/5875.html
John Carter of Mars 2012 Film
http://www.cartermovie.com
John Carter Screenwriter Michael Chabon Interviewed
http://www.erbzine.com/mag30/3047.html
Legacy of Mars Collage
http://www.erbzine.com/cards/writers/marslegacyall.jpg
Open Letter to Disney: Burroughs Bulletin #10: Original Series
http://www.erbzine.com/mag15/1530.html

Off-Site Reference
Marketing ERB's Legacy

*** 1927: ERB's "The Illustrator and the Author" article appeared in The Authors' League Bulletin in praise of  J. Allen St. John's art.
The Illustrator and the Author
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0035.html
*** 1929: Ed viewed the first episode of Universal's Tarzan the Tiger serial based on Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar. This was the second serial based upon a property purchased in 1922 - ERB received no royalties from either of them. Tiger was released in 15 episodes that ran until February 1930 in both silent and talkie versions. Each episode is summarized in ERBzine 0593.
TRIVIA: Some of the related Trivia featured in ERBzine 0593:
    * Tarzan the Tiger was a transitional film with one version released as a silent and the other with a parial soundtrack with music, jungle and background noise, and Tarzan's yell for the first time.
    * For many years the film was thought lost but a version, with soundtrack, was discovered in recent times.
    * Frank Merrill, covered in animal skins, headband and slippers is probably one of the most fully-clothed of the Tarzans.
    * Merrill invented the vine-swinging techniques used in all later Tarzan films
    * Despite the curious costume and yell Merrill is one of the most visually appealing and physically capable of the Tarzans.
    * Natalie Kingston, as Jane, is spectacularly sexy and desirable ~ especially in her topless swimming scene.
    * This movie was released in both silent and "sound" versions. The sound consisted of a crude musical score, sound effects and a few lip-synched lines on a record.
    * The record contains the very first Tarzan yell, invented by Merrill ~ a weird and humorous "Nee-yah"
    * "Tarzan the Terrible" was planned but the studio decided Merrill's voice wasn't right for talkies and the film was scrapped.
    * Frank Merrill had doubled for Lincoln in many of the action scenes in Adventures of Tarzan
Frank Merrill was born, Arthur Poll, March 21, 1893 in Newark, New Jersey. He died in Los Angeles, CA on February 12, 1966
Tarzan the Tiger: Photos and Notes plus Illustrated Summaries for all 15 Episodes
https://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0593.html
Frank Merrill Tribute: 3 Illustrated Webpages startintg at:
https://www.erbzine.com/mag28/2870.html
Natalie Kingston Photo Gallery
https://www.erbzine.com/mag41/4174.html
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/film2/nataliekingstonall.jpg
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/film3/tarzanthetiger.jpg
*** 1932: Who Murdered Mr. Thomas? released  in Script Magazine:
Mystery Puzzle from Tarzana
Dear Rob (Wagner):
You have a right to boast of the high order of intelligence of your readers.
Let's see how high it is.
The enclosed murder mystery may be solved logically from the clues given in the story.
There is no "catch" to it.
Ask your readers to time themselves and then tell you how long it took them
to reach the correct solution logically. Also ask them not to lie.
~ Ed
https://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0047.html

*** 1941:  Brother George Burroughs' wife Edna died. She had been committed to a mental institution in August. George invited old friend Lew Sweetser to share the Fontana home
*** 1946: Ed wrote to Caryl Lee that he was too ill to drive over to pick her up.
ERB Bio Timeline
https://www.ERBzine.com/bio

OCTOBER 17

Mahlon Blaine ERB cover art for Canaveral Press ~ Richard Lupoff: Canaveral Editor and wife Pat,
Master of Adventure ~ Tarzana Ranch Theatre/Ballroom ~ Herman Brix and Ula Holt in Guatemala
*** 1962: If you wanted to read Edgar Rice Burroughs's "The Land That Time Forgot," on this day you had two choices -- either locate a copy of it in a used book store (the last reprint came out in 1940) or, probably even more difficult, locate one of the old pulp magazines which had originally carried the stories that made up the trilogy.
There were no other copies available, as the internet and Gutenberg Press had not yet been invented, and neither Ace nor Dover had published their paperback editions (that would come in the spring of 1963).
But then came Canaveral Press, which, starting in 1962, put 24 ERB books back on the market in new, hardbound editions, including some stories which had never been in book editions of any kind before, including "Beyond the Farthest Star," "The Resurrection of Jimber-Jaw," "The Wizard of Venus," four Pellucidar short stories, "Skeleton Men of Jupiter," one Tarzan novel and three Tarzan short stories.
Canaveral published its first three ERB titles in May of 1962 and followed that up with "The Land That Time Forgot" on Oct. 17 of that year.
Canaveral did some things which had ERB fans scratching their heads. The ERB trilogy, "The Moon Maid," was, instead published as "Moon Men," named for the second leg of the trilogy. It was a little odd and seemingly for no apparent reason, but at least ERB fans could now have two different hardback ERB moon titles on their bookshelves. (Alas, "The Red Hawk," part three of the trilogy, never earned a volume of its own, but was included with the hardbacks "Maid" and "Men" and the Ace paperback of "The Moon Men" which, of course, did not include "Maid.” [The cover illustration for Ace’s “Moon Maid,” however, illustrated a scene from “The Red Hawk.”] Pity the poor paperback purchasers who opted for the paperback of "The Moon Men" instead of the Canaveral hardback, thinking they had "the whole story"!).
Of course, if one did want a separate publication with "The Red Hawk" on the cover, one could always look up the old pulp magazine edition!
And since the 60s there have been other options available, including probably the best of all, "The Expanded Moon Maid," which includes passages that originally appeared in the pulps but were trimmed from many hardback editions.
*** The driving force behind the long line of ERB Canaveral Press editions was Richard Lupoff, longtime ERB admirer and researcher -- as well as being an award winning author of scores of critically acclaimed novels. The ERB Canaveral covers and dates are all featured in ERBzine 2805 and ERBzine C.H.A.S.E.R.
Cover gallery and dates of the Canaveral editions:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag28/2805.html
Richard Lupoff: Editor of Canaveral Press ERB Books
http://www.erbzine.com/mag30/3048.html
Canaveral ERB Covers Collage
http://www.ERBzine.com/cards/biblio/canaveralall.jpg
Land That Time Forgot: History, Covers, Art, Info
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0766.html
Moon Maid: History, Art, Rare Info, Links
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0767.html
*** 1962: Mahlon Blaine (1894.06.16-1969) was illustrator of seven of the ERB books published by Canaveral. "Blaine's personal life was and remains mostly a mystery, because he wanted it that way."
ERB fan Roland Trenary, who is also a fan has pointed out that Blaine actually provided illustrations for eight of the Canaveral entries. His illustrations for “Cave Girl” were rejected in favor of art by Roy G. Krenkel.
    Many fans have been critical of Blaine’s work. However, he apparently read the books carefully. Whereas St. John, Krenkel, Frazetta and others depicted the Va-gas as Centaur-like beings, with a total of six limbs, Blaine correctly rendered them with four, just as ERB actually wrote! Trenary has written other books about Blaine’s art, including “Sindbad” and “Mahon Blaine: One-Eyed Visionary.”
    Blaine's last significant contract would come in 1962, when the early fantasy & science fiction publishing house Canaveral Press hired him to illustrate their reprints of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. At the time, Blaine was living over the small bookshop out of which the publishing house was run, and was considered an elder statesman in the world of specialty publishing. Though by the '60s, Blaine was in fact elderly, his work remained before its time. Though Blaine's illustration's for the Burroughs's line are far from his most technically proficient, the series represented a turning away from the heroic, literal-minded approach to book illustration. The images were widely disparaged at the time, but they introduced a generation of artists and cartoonists to Blaine’s genius. His influence on the underground cartoonists of the 1970s is powerful, with visionaries like Robert Crumb and Art Spiegelman referencing his work. No one, least of all Blaine, ever sorted out fact from fiction regarding his life story, but that doesn't matter. Blaine emobodied the myth of the artist throughout his dynamic career. Mahlon Blaine died in poverty and obscurity in 1969.
Mahlon Blaine: All the ERB Art
http://www.erbzine.com/blaine/
Mahlon Blaine: Bio and Biblio
http://www.erbzine.com/mag8/0880.html

Off-Site References
Trenary website:
Blaine's Visionary
Blaine in Amazon

*** 1921: ERB's October 17 Notice to all employees: The following pictures will be shown at the Burroughs Tarzana Ranch Theatre:" Oct. 21: Open Shelter ~ Tough Luck (short) ~ October 28:  Desperate Youth ~ Harem Skarem ~ November 4:  The Beautiful Gambler ~  November 11:  Thunder Island ~ The Kiddie's Pal
    After purchasing which was to become Tarzana Ranch, Ed and Emma soon recognized the need for alterations and additions to the old Otis residence to suit their life-style. The most ambitious project was a building to be constructed about 30 metres west of the main house. This new addition comprised a three-car garage on the ground level and a second story containing rooms for two servants, a photographic darkroom, a workshop, and a study which later was used as a schoolroom where the children were tutored. Later, Ed used it for his writing.
    The lowest level of this three-storied building was a combination ballroom and movie theatre with a small balcony at one end that served as a projection booth. This large playroom became the centr of much weekend social activity. Because of the prohibitive distance to the nearest motion picture houses in those years, Ed brought the movies to his own little theatre. Every Friday evening Burroughs and his Tarzana Ranch theatre played friendly host not only to his own family and friends but to neighbours of the area. Burroughs was both host and projectionist, screening the popular comedies and features of the day. He particularly enjoyed Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Douglas Fairbanks. Following the production of The Son of Tarzan as a serial, he personally edited and cut the 15 episodes to a feature length picture in this ballroom-theatre. Jack Burroughs recalls the many lines of string in the tiny projection room on which Ed hung the labeled film clips ready for splicing. (Ironically, it was this very Tarzan film, printed on hazardous nitrate base, that spontaneously ignited 38 years later and nearly destroyed the Burroughs office building. )
 Hillmans Visit The ERB Theatre/Ballroom at Tarzana Ranch
http://www.erbzine.com/mag9/0964.html
Oct/Nov 1921 Films shown by ERB in his Tarzana Theatre/Ballroom
http://www.ERBzine.com/cards/film6/erbtarzanatheatrefilmsall.jpg
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/erb2/tarzanaballroomall.jpg

*** 1934: Olympic athlete Herman Brix was chosen to play Tarzan in Guatemala. Ed refused to write a movie tie-in novel, preferring to leave the promotion to a special Whitman Big Little Book, a Tarzan Club campaign, and Signal Oil. The film was released as The New Adventures of Tarzan.
The film  is somewhat unique, in that Edgar Rice Burroughs himself had input into the project. He slammed out a story which served as a basis for the screenplay, he selected the actor to play Tarzan, and he saw that the character was presented as literate, articulate and yet savagely violent when appropriate. It's the dichotomy of the sophisticated Lord Greystoke and the feral Apeman which gives Tarzan so much of his appeal. He even financed much of  the film.
    The serial was shot on location in Guatemala, so the scenery is often stunning or miserably hot and filthy like real jungles are. (Stock footage seems to be telling us that there are rhinos and giraffes in Central America, which is kind of a shock to learn.) The actors are obviously sweaty, grimy and uncomfortable in most shots, which seems more authentic than the usual Hollywood backlot emoting.             Unfortunately, this location shooting also means the sound recording is atrocious. Dialogue is hard to follow, and the lack of normal noises sometimes gives the impression of watching a silent movie but without the benefit of constant musical scoring. Money spent on a decent Foley artist or dubbing in some of spoken lines would have helped immensely.
The New Adventures of Tarzan: Herman Brix in Guatemala
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0585.html
Edgar Rice Burroughs: Film Producer
https://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0287.html

*** 1938: October 17 - April 17: Land of Terror was written (60,000 words). It was rejected by all magazines. ERB started losing confidence in his work. David Innes, discoverer of the Inner World of Pellucidar, had carved out his own empire among the cavemen there. When David disappears while exploring new territories, his followers set out a search for him under the leadership of his cavewomen queen, Dian the beautiful.
Land of Terror: ERB C.H.A.S.E.R. Bibliography
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0746.html
Full chapter summaries and essay
http://www.erbzine.com/mag3/0324.html
1914: Jerry (Jerome) Siegel (1914.10.17-1996.01.28), American comic book writer, was born on this date. His most famous creation was Superman, which he created in collaboration with his friend, Canadian Joe Shuster. He was inducted (along with the deceased Shuster) into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993. Siegel once said that Superman was influenced by Tarzan and John Carter, two characters from the adventure novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. In fact, originally Superman could did not fly ("able to leap tall buildings in a single bound") . . . very much like John Carter taking advantage of the lower gravity on Barsoom.
    ERB Met Siegel in Wakiki in 1944 "Fathers of Superman, Tarzan, Renfrew Meet" ~ Midpacifican: The Armed Forces Newspaper in the Pacific Ocean Areas. Siegel even has entries in ERB's Wartime autograph books.
ERB Meets Jerry Siegel in Wartime Hawaii
http://www.erbzine.com/mag31/3199.html
ERB WWII Autograph Book - August 1944
http://www.erbzine.com/mag27/2794.html
http://www.ERBzine.com/cards/comics2/jerrysiegelsuperman.jpg

OCTOBER 18

Edgar Rice Burroughs on radio's Texaco Star Theatre: Ken Murray, Frances Langford, Kenny Baker,
Irene Ryan ~ ERB's Favourite Poet HH Knibbs ~ Mucker Pulps ~ Bandit of Hell's Bend illustrated
*** 1939: Edgar Rice Burroughs  was guest on Ken Murray's Texaco Star Theater radio program. Murray tried to talk Burroughs into starring him as Tarzan instead of Johnny Weissmuller and put on his production of "Tarzan" entitled; The Home Life of Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan or The Apes of Wrath. ." Along with Ken Murray and ERB were Frances Langford, Kenny Baker and Irene Ryan. This skit takes up a portion of the first half of the hour-long program.
Ed received much good feedback concerning the show.
From the President of the Evergreen Theatres Corporation, Seattle: "Listened to our radio broadcast last week, and you wer very good. As a matter of fact, you sounded as if you were part of the program and had been doing it every week."
From George Carlin, head of the United Feature Syndicate, NYC: "I just happened to tune in on the Texaco Radio program tonight and found that Edgar Rice Burroughs was appearing on same. He certainly was good. He did his stuff in a quite professional manner with ease and poise and a winning way far superior to the average radio guest."
ERB on Texaco Star Theatre Radio Show
http://www.erbzine.com/mag15/1546.html
Listen to ERB's Radio Appearance
http://www.erbzine.com/mag15/texaco.mp3
*** 1916: Edgar Rice Burroughs one day picked up a magazine which had printed a poem titled "Out There Somewhere."
He said he was "so greatly taken by it that I could not resist the temptation of using it in my book," referring to "The Mucker."
Prior to book publication, when the second half of "The Mucker" appeared in magazine form, one of the readers of that magazine was H.H. Knibbs, the author of the poem. ERB had quoted eleven of the poem's 14 stanzas at various key places throughout his story.
Knibbs, who lived in L.A., learned that Burroughs was temporarily staying in the Southern California metropolis, and wrote a letter to him.
ERB was delighted, and, on Oct. 18, 1916, responded:
"I, too, dreamed of a Penelope. On night herd beneath the brilliant stars along the Snake, I dreamed of her, and amidst the dark, nocturnal shadows of the cottonwoods beside the Gila, while the troop slept and I stood guard, I dreamed of her. For ten long years I dreamed, and then my dream came true.
"Penelope and I are here, and we’d like mighty well to have you come and see us.
"We are old and bald-headed now, and have eight or eleven children and very few teeth; but the spirit of romance still burns brightly in our withered hearts…." (Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan, by Irwin Porges, p. 278, Chapter 14) Whether Knibbs ever visited ERB or not is not known
*** . . . but his relatives have been in contact with ERBzine and shared photos and other family memorabilia with me. Unfortunately, his wealth of poems, stories, scripts, etc. were donated to a California university where it all remains in boxes in a basement area. An all-to-common fate of so many treasured life-long collections that have been donated to Universities and Libraries. (Bill Hillman)
H. H. Knibbs bio, photos and the full poem (2 pages)
http://www.erbzine.com/mag9/0950.html
"Out There Somewhere" by Knibbs from The Mucker
http://www.erbzine.com/mag9/0950.html#OUT%20THERE%20SOMEWHERE
The Mucker: History, Covers, eText, etc.
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0757.html
Info on Porges ERB biography:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3571.html
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag64/6426.html
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag64/6445.html
.
*** 1915:  The 1st edition of Ben, King of Beasts was  published as The Man-Eater by the NY Evening World newspaper (37,000 words). It had been written in May 1915 as Ben, King of Beasts ~ first as a film synopsis
The Man-Eater
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0762.html
The Man-Eater: Read the e-Text Edition
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/maneater.html
1924: Bandit of Hell's Bend serial ended in Argosy. This was Edgar Rice Burroughs' first novel about the West. It is an authentic picture of Arizona ranch life in the 1880's, including a full gallery of colorful and often comic characters. The story centers around a young, attractive, intelligent orphan, Diana Henders.
    A Group of swindlers, led by her new foreman, Hal Colby, plotted to steal her Bar-Y ranch and gold mine and defraud her out of her rightful inheritance. They were also out to prove that her longtime friend and associate, bull is the stage robbing and murdering bandit of Hell's Bend. Diana was brave and independent, but she relied on Bull and he helped her survive a series of perils that left the most stalwart reader breathless: Apache raids, stagecoach hold-ups, shoot-outs and even an abduction! But the identity of the mysterious villain remains unknown...
    Much of this novel was adapted to a graphic version illustrated by Al Martin Napoletano in Bill Dutcher's JASOOMIAN '70s Fanzine.
    A good deal of the novel's authority and amiability consists in its accurate and pervasive use of frontier humour. The Bandit Of Hell's Bend is full of fun, adventure, and suspense from start to finish.
Bandit of Hell's Bend: Full info, e-text, illustrations, links, etc.
https://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0771.html
Pulp Appearances in Argosy
https://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0225.html
https://www.erbzine.com/mag7/banditall.jpg
Bandit of Hell's Bend Illustrated in Jasoomian
https://www.erbzine.com/mag28/2860.html
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/art3/banditartall.jpg

OCTOBER 19

ERB: MMA Footballer ~ Tanar of Pellucidar: Canaveral Ed.: Mahlon Blaine Art ~ ERB's WWII Autograph Book
You Lucky Girl!: Script, Playbill, World Premiere Cast ~ Golden Anniversary of ERB Bibliography by HH Heins
*** 1892: Young Ed's letter sent home to family back in Chicago from the Michigan Military Academy, suggested that he was lonely and missed his family, but had channeled excess energies into football. Edgar Rice Burroughs was captain and quarterback of the the Michigan Military Academy football team in 1893 and 1894, and possibly in 1896, when he took a position with academy as a geology instructor and Assistant Commandant. Under Ed's leadership the team rose to the top of Northeast Independent Conference.
ERB Gridiron Memories
http://www.erbzine.com/mag9/0949.html
MMA: Three Pages of Photos starting at:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag70/7052.html
*** 1962: Another new hardback edition of an Edgar Rice Burroughs book rolled off the press on this date. "Tanar of Pellucidar" was the fifth ERB book to be published by Canaveral Press and, though it was the third story in the Pellucidar series, it was the first Pellucidar book to be published by Canaveral. Some of the other books in that series followed shortly.
Like the four books Canaveral had published before “Tanar,” the illustrator was Mahlon Blaine.
*** See ERBzine 0743 for a look at some “Tanar” editions and more info. At ERBzine 0882 I've featured the Blaine interior art looking every bit like old woodcuts from something like Dante's Inferno.
Tanar of Pellucidar: History, Covers, Art,
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0743.html
Tanar of Pellucidar: Blaine Art in Canaveral
http://www.erbzine.com/mag8/0882.html
Tanar of Pellucidar: Read the e-Text
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/p3tp.html
Collage of Mahlon Blaine "Tanar" Art
http://www.erbzine.com/cards/art/tanarall.jpg
*** 1927: On this date, ERB presented daughter Joan with a rough draft of You Lucky Girl! The play was written just for her. It was not actually performed, however, until 70 years later, nor published commercially until 72 years later.
From Danton Burroughs' Introduction to the Book:"You Lucky Girl!" was written expressly for Joan as an aid to her theatrical career. Ed gave Joan a copy on which he had written a short note: "This is the first copy of the longhand ms. It has not been corrected or revised and is rather rough. Please explain this to Mr. Gould when you hand it to him." Dr. Gould was probably the director of the theatrical company which Joan belonged to at the time. Although Ed would correct and revise the play, it was never performed by Joan or anyone else at the time, probably due to the fact that Joan would soon become engaged to James Pierce and married in 1928. Four years later Joan and her husband would portray Tarzan and Jane on the radio.
    It is interesting to note that "You Lucky Girl!", in theme and subject, was years before its time and must surely reveal that Ed had a most modern attitude towards women. In the play he ridicules the accepted part of women in the marriage bond: subservience to her husband, belonging at home, a bearer of children as her major role, an extension of her husband, but remaining in the background. The idea of a woman's independence and individuality are portrayed through the conflicts endured by the female leads and how they resolve their relationships with the men in their lives. The play is surprisingly modern considering the time that it was written. It should also give further argument against oft prevailing attitude that Ed's heroines merely exist to be rescued by his heroes.

The play was finally performed in 1997 at Palmdale Playhouse, CA. ERBzine 0774 contains an Henry Hardy Heins entry telling the story of an ERB fan who spent hours with pencil and paper in the catacombs of the Library of Congress and made the amazing discovery that such a thing as “You Lucky Girl!” even existed!
You Lucky Girl!: C.H.A.S.E.R. Bibliography
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0774.html
Henry Hardy Heins tribute
http://www.erbzine.com/mag8/0894.html

*** 1944: ERB's WWII autograph books provide a lot of dates of interest. On Oct. 19, in 1944, a poet got hold of ERB's autograph book "up in Millie's room," wherever that was, and wrote this little rhyme: "October 19, 1944 (Ed: up in Millie's room) I've ridden burrows ~ I've fed burros ~ I read Burroughs ~ Now I've met Burroughs ~ And for my money ~ Edgar Rice Burroughs ~ Is one "Burrough" that can't be beatten: Bill"~ Lt. W. D. Bacon - A.V.(s) USNR.
*** See that and other entries in ERB's autograph books that I photocopied from Danton's Tarzana Family Collection for my ERBzine pages.
ERB's WWII Autograph Book Entry:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag27/2795.html
ERB WWII Autograph Book Intro
http://www.erbzine.com/mag27/2776.html
*** MORE NOTES FROM MY ERBzine PERPETUAL ANNOTATED CALENDAR
1920: Tarzan the Terrible serial ended in the British magazine, Ideas
1947: Ed returned to writing. He wrote a six week story in one week - possibly a newspaper strip?
ERBzine Annotated Calendar for October
http://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0269.html

OCTOBER 20

The Revenge/Return of Tarzan: with Gene Pollar ~ Tarzan and the Golden Lion Strips by Rex Maxon
Tarzan the Fearless Big Little Book: Buster Crabbe, ERB on Fearless film set with Jacqueline Wells

*** Gene Pollar (Joseph Charles Pohler)  (1892.09.16-1971.10.20) probably starred in the greatest Tarzan movie we never saw. It was one of the greatest, because it is said to have actually followed the plot of author Edgar Rice Burroughs's book, "The Return of Tarzan," (for awhile, anyway). We never saw it because no known copies survive, except for one that might be at a major Southern California university (but the cost of restoring it is prohibitive).
    The movie was originally titled "The Return of Tarzan" but it was changed to "The Revenge of Tarzan." Thus, it is known by both titles.
Since the movie producers were in a name-changing mood, they figured they might be on a roll and so they also changed Joseph Pohler's name to Gene Pollar. He was a New York fireman (that's what they called 'em in the old days before they became firefighters and then, later, first responders.)
    Pohler was born Sept. 16, 1892, in New York, and died Oct. 20, 1971, at the age of 79 in Fort Lauderdale.. His death came following a toe operation, but no word on whether that operation actually caused his death or whether it was just that "his time had come."
Pollar had to battle lions in the film, just like the real Tarzan. He bravely confronted four lions at once, including a lioness who had just been separated from her cubs and wasn't particularly happy about it. He also had a go-round with an orangutan named Joe Martin: "I made a leap and as my weight relieved it, a bough snapped back and hit Joe in the face. He thought I had done it on purpose, started jibbering, and the first thing I knew he was after me and on my back, ready for fight. It took some effort to pull him off, and it took triple the amount of effort and all of the pastry included in my lunch-box, to put him in friendly humor with me again."
While he was still alive, Pollar was invited to a Tarzan actor reunion in which James Pierce was billed as the oldest living Tarzan. Pollar gently set the record straight. At that time, he was the oldest!
Gene Pollar Scrapbook and Story
http://www.erbzine.com/mag29/2986.html
The Return/Revenge of Tarzan
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0588.html
Pollar's Tarzan in Collage
http://www.ERBzine.com/cards/film3/pollartarzanreturn.jpg
http://www.erbzine.com/cards/film/pollarall.jpg
1921 Theatre Marquee for "Revenge"
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/rev02.jpg

Off-Site Reference
Pollar in Wikipedia

*** 1930: A Tarzan-lion story hit the comic pages today, with Rex Maxon's daily strip telling the story of "Tarzan and the Golden Lion", beginning Oct. 20 in 1930. The strips were adapted later into a Big Little Book format with cover by John Coleman Burroughs
Tarzan and the Golden Lion: 96 Maxon Daily Strips
http://www.erbzine.com/mag30/3061.html
Guide to ALL the Maxon daily and Sunday strips
https://www.ERBzine.com/maxon
https://www.ERBzine.com/cards/comics3/tarzangoldenlionmaxonstripsall.jpg
*** 1934: was the copyright date for the Big Little Book version of the “Tarzan the Fearless” movie, where Buster Crabbe made his one and only appearance as the ape-man.
Tarzan the Fearless BLB Summary (3 Pages)
https://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0596.html
https://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0597.html
https://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0598.html
Tarzan the Fearless: 8-page Film Coverage
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0595.html

MORE NOTES FROM OUR ERB BIO TIMELINE
*** 1926: The day of Harry's son, nephew Studley Oldham Burroughs' second marriage, to Alice Carroll Armstrong.
*** 1929: Oct. 19: ERB received word from Elser of renewed interest in the Tribes of Tarzan club. There followed a series of renewals and revisions of the club formations
*** 1934: Ed moved temporarily into the Dearholt apartment in West Hollywood when lease on his Pinehurst Road home ran out
*** 1946: Ed was visited by four fans: "A Mr. Evans and his daughter, Mr. Ackerman, and 'Tigrina', a pretty blonde."
ERB Illustrated Annotated Calendar
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0560.html
ERB Bio Timeline
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio

OCTOBER 21

JOHN CARTER OF MARS 2012 Film: Behind the Scenes: Director Stanton and Dafoe ~ Lynn Collins and
Taylor Kitsch riding "Thoats" ~ THARKS: (Top) Church ~ (L-R) Dafoe, Morton, Walker
*** 2009: We know that when John Carter tried to recall events of his long, long life, he easily remembered his sword being red with blood in the service of many a king, but we don't read much about his recollection of his school days if, indeed, he ever had any.
He did, however, go to school on Mars -- the school with his tutor, Sola, and "The School of Hard Knocks," as he learned to cope with the dangers of Mars or die. His education was, necessarily, rapid when he was among the Tharks, and he learned by observation and gut instincts. What he didn't learn from firsthand experience, he picked up from his close association with Tars Tarkas.
To play the role of a Thark requires some degree of education, too. In an interview published Oct. 21, 2009, Ain't It Cool News reported that actor Willem Dafoe said, in order to learn the movements and language of Tharks, among other things, "We're going to Thark school," presumably including in the "we're" the other humans who were playing roles of Tharks.
We can be thankful that Andrew Stanton was thoughtful enough to educate the actors for the "John Carter" film by sending them to Thark school.
As for Lynn Collins, Stanton's first thought was to send her to Martian Princess School. But, after thinking it over, he decided instead to send her to Martian Scientific Warrior Princess School.
Not everyone can go to Thark school, of course. But if you study hard, do your homework, and get good grades, you will at least be allowed to submit an application.
Our Giant John Carter of Mars Film Site: Background ~ Hundreds of Photos and Art, etc.
http://www.cartermovie.com
Compilation of John Carter Pre-Production News
http://www.erbzine.com/news/news28.html
Thark Gallery: 100s of Artist Interpretations (8 Pages)
http://www.erbzine.com/mag13/1390.html
A Princess of Mars
https://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0421.html
*** 1942: Edgar Rice Burroughs, in an opinion piece for the Honolulu Advertiser, Oct. 21, 1942, chose a partial quotation from Galatians 6:7 "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," as the closing line in a piece in which he gave a piece of his mind to Russians who were complaining about the U.S.
ERB Article "Whatsoever A Man Soweth"
http://www.erbzine.com/mag11/1128.html#oct21
http://www.erbzine.com/mag3/0392.html
*** 1929: Universal released Tarzan the Tiger - the second serial based on Tarzan and Jewels of Opar purchased in 1922. ERB received no royalties from either of the Universal serials.
Following the success of Tarzan the Mighty, Merrill and Kingston reprised their roles (although she was now correctly referred to as Jane). Al Ferguson, who had played Black John returned as another villain, this time an explorer who kidnapped Jane and sold her into white slavery. Tarzan lost his memory in chapter three of the serial struggled to overcome his amnesia through most of the serial with its endless cliffhangers.
*** The success of "the talkies" prompted Universal to add music and sound effects to this silent serial and audiences were able to hear the Merrill's version of the apeman's ape cry for the first time. The serial was a success despite its untimely release which coincided with the October 1929 stock market crash.
*** Universal bowed out of the serial market and the next Tarzan project would be by MGM where the apeman's vocabulary would be suddenly relegated to one of monosyllabic grunts and pidgeon English. The end of the silent era would spell the end of some of filmdom's most faithful adaptations of the Tarzan novels.
Tarzan the Tiger: Photos ~ Credits ~ Serial Synopses
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0593.html
Tarzan and Jewels of Opar
https://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0490.html
*** 1920: ERB wrote a LETTER to "My dear little girlie" Joan still in the convent.
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1049.html#Oct 21
*** 1934: Ed and Flo travelled to Las Vegas where he took up residency. He spent his time playing tennis, writing, phoning Flo, and in visits to LA. Emma planned to contest the divorce and moved to 10452 Bellagio Road in Bel Air.
    Walter Winchell, in his column, stated matters in his familiar, blunt style: "A man named Edgar Rice Burroughs is at the Apache Hotel. . . for the usual reason — after 34 years of marriage.
His next bride will be Florence Dearholt of Queens Road, Hollywood."
    The collapse of Florence's marriage, as she recalled, came abruptly as a result of Dearholt's consuming interest in the actress Ula Holt. After Florencs's separation from Dearholt, Florence and Ed, both in deep distress — sufferers in common — were drawn to each other. "We were two lost souls that got together," Florence said. Ed's misery and guilt were so strong that [he told her] he was "ready to shoot himself." More than once in the passing weeks he credited her with saving his life. His sharpest anguish was about Hulbert who now, because of the separation, was left with the burden of the problem at home.
    The monotony of waiting in Las Vegas was alleviated by playing tennis, doing a little writing and "watching gambling" at one of the clubs. Ed had noted he was "terribly lonely" but phone calls between him and Florence helped, and soon she began to make regular trips to Las Vegas. Ed also returned for brief visits to Los Angeles. On November 11, when Florence and he decided to drive back to Las Vegas together.  Emma, still stunned and incredulous about the happenings, had moved with her two sons to 10452 Bellagio Road in Bel-Air. She still hoped that Ed would return to her, and on November 21, in a letter to Jack, mentioned, "something to bring Ed to his senses before too late."
    On December 4 Ed's six-week residency was ended, and with Emma deciding not to offer any objections, the suit was filed the next day and a quickie divorce granted on the sixth. A property agreement had already been reached, with Emma receiving a generous settlement.
    Ed and Flo married on April 4, 1935 and honeymooned in Hawaii. ~ Ref: Porges
ERB Bio Timeline
https://www.ERBzine.com/bio
Letter to Joan from Las Vegas in the previous year 1933.
https://www.erbzine.com/mag16/1636.html
https://www.erbzine.com/mag16/1636.html#April%204,%201933
ERB's Step-son Lee Chase's Photos of Ed and Flo
https://www.erbzine.com/mag41/4119.html
Las Vegas Wedding Certificate
https://www.erbzine.com/mag63/wedding.jpg

VISIT OCTOBER WEEK 3 PHOTO ALBUM
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6349pics.html

BACK TO OCTOBER WEEK 2
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6348.html

BACK TO MONTHLY EVENTS INTRO and CONTENTS
www.ERBzine.com/events



BILL HILLMAN
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