.
Only in California
It was fitting that Britney chose the home of Tarzan to shear her
locks
Toronto Sun ~ February 25, 2007
TARZANA, Calif. -- So this is the place where Britney lost her head.
Esther's
Haircutting Studio is a tiny shoebox set back from Ventura Blvd., a
shy little building that looks as if it's trying to hide from the rest
of big California. Clever writers dubbed it the Buzzcut Heard Round The
World. Not since Elvis joined the army has there been a more talked-about
haircut.
Esther's is at 18360 Ventura Blvd. just east of Reseda Blvd.
in Tarzana, a city named in honour of Edgar Rice Burroughs, who
founded this city in his spare time while he wasn't writing his popular
Tarzan stories. You'll find this out if you knock on the door of the ranch-style
bungalow barely five metres from Esther's salon. You'll be invited in to
talk about the Britney fiasco next door and suddenly you're surrounded
by wall-to-wall Tarzan memorabilia, with a balding man politely and gregariously
talking about his grandfather. Upon questioning he'll tell you his grandfather
is Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan. Only in California are such
surreal afternoons possible.
 "My granddad
liked the homey atmosphere, so he had a fireplace here, he had a shower
here, he tied his horse up out in the back, and he'd come in here and create,"
says Danton Burroughs, 63, who manages the office. His grandfather,
originally from Chicago, liked California so much that by the time he was
rich from his novels he was able to buy a 550-acre ranch that had belonged
to General Harrison Gray Otis, founder of the Los Angeles Times, for $125,000.
He called it Tarzana Ranch after the success of his Tarzan character
and moved his family there in February 1919. Later on Burroughs divided
the land up and sold it for residential use, and the locals of the burgeoning
town called it Tarzana in honour of him.
Danton Burroughs is happy with the attention Britney Spears has
brought upon Tarzana. He says we're all "amateur psychologists" trying
to make sense of her fall from grace. "She's precious. She's a wonderful,
cute little thing, but she's vulnerable now, and she doesn't have anybody,"
Burroughs says. "She's just a little lost soul. And she's making all these
decisions herself. Boy."
Burroughs wishes he would've seen Britney outside the night she cut
her hair. He would've invited the pop star and her people inside to find
some refuge inside the quaint cottage. "Oh, she would've loved it in here.
It would've taken her mind off all the weird things. I would've given her
a bunch of books to read. She would've liked that."
The Latest Dateline Jasoom Podcast
from Panthan Press
Episode 28. The BBC interviews Johnny Clayton, recently rescued from
the jungles of Africa, before he sets sail for America. Sam Moskowitz at
the 1994 Dum-Dum discusses the Edgar Rice Burroughs / Otis Adelbert Kline
feud. Guillermo del Toro talks Tarzan with Jimmy Kimmel.
Louisville Life meets Denny Miller and the
McWhorter ERB Collection
Louisville
Life ~ February 26 , 2007
The star of the 1959 version of Tarzan , Bloomington, Ind., native
Denny
Miller talks about his 50 years in Hollywood, followed by a peep into
one of the world's largest collections of Tarzan memorabilia on the next
edition of Louisville Life . Hosted by Candyce Clifft, the program airs
Thursday, March 15 at 7:30/6:30 p.m. CT. Actor Denny Miller has spent five
decades appearing on popular television series such as "The Rifleman,"
"Wagon Train," "The Fugitive," "The Six Million Dollar Man," "Fantasy Island,"
"Murder, She Wrote," "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" and scores of others--many
of them Westerns. In 1959, at the outset of his career, he captured the
starring role in the theatrical release Tarzan, The Ape Man
. In this segment, Miller talks about his days as Tarzan as well as his
connection to former University of Louisville coach Denny Crum, a close
friend since the days the two played basketball together at UCLA.
Next, the program looks at one of the premier collections of Tarzan
memorabilia and pays a visit to a unique and little-known collection in
the University of Louisville photographic archives.
BLOG WATCH
More on Britney's Tarzana Adventure
(News photo removed by request)
From
the Marv Wolfman Blog ~ February 21, 2007
So the other day Noel and I were driving along Ventura
Blvd. when we saw TV news crews lining the street. Well, we see them all
the time, and besides, they were in front of what I knew to be the Edgar
Rice Burroughs offices so I assumed there was some announcement going on
inside. There is supposedly a John Carter movie in the works and there's
always something happening with Tarzan. I was wrong. Butting the ERB offices
happens to be Esther's Hair Salon. The place I've gone to for a zillion
years to have my admittedly sparse hairline trimmed and styled as best
any human can make it, and Esther is about the best I know. But they weren't
there to ask Esther about fringing my follicles. They were there because
just a short bit before what's her name the pop tart shaved off her own
hair and Esther applied the finishing touches.
(The cut locks are being auctioned off on eBay for
a possible cool million)
FOLLOW-UP NOTE:
An interesting Burroughs Connection. . . the hairdressing shop that Spears
had gone to for the hair clipping is right next door to ERB, Inc. offices
on Ventura Blvd in Tarzana, CA.
The connection continues: While Sue-On and I were in New York to
cover the Premiere of the Broadway Tarzan Stage Musical (at the invitation
of ERB, Inc., Phil Collins and Disney) the David Letterman staff thought
we would be interesting guests on his show so they gave us tickets to appear
at the Ed Sullivan Theatre. This was on the eve of the premiere and they
thought it an interesting connection: Tarzan invades NYC and the previous
episode of Britney having shaved her head in the salon next to the "Tarzan
Offices" in Tarzana. At that time Dave made a point of interviewing guests
in the audience -- live on his show.
Disappointingly, this was not to be. Previous plans for the show
were scuttled when Britney -- very much in the news -- showed up a surprise
guest with whom Dave did a long interview. It was a thrill to meet
her, however.
TARZAN INVADES NEW YORK CITY
www.erbzine.com/disney
ME TARZAN? Well almost.
DELL
WINDERS' TREASURE PSYCHIC ADVENTURES ~ 2007/02/22
I sat anxiously in the waiting room of Orlando, Florida,
attorney Russel Hornsby, (deceased). I had just been interviewed by the
board of directors of a planned multi-million dollar TARZAN LAND attraction
adjacent to the highly secretive planned DISNEY WORLD attraction on farm
land near Kisssimmee, Florida. Several years prior I had leased the MARINE
WONDERLAND, facilities located on US Highway 1, in Titusville Florida,
to winter my Dolphins, Sea lions, and other aquatic animals. I met JOHNNY
WEISMUELLER, and his agent JERRY EDEN, when they stopped by unannounced
and visited the attraction one day. We became friends, and continued to
remain friends throughout the years. Unknown to me at the time Johnny,
and his company were conducting a nation wide media search for someone
of description and talent to portray JOHNNY WEISMUELLER, in his life story
(MGM) and continue on as the next TARZAN. I later learned that Johnny,
had wanted me to portrait him in his life story and that was the
reason I had been called for an interview with the TARZAN LAND, board of
directors for their approval.
JERRY EDEN, came out of the meeting room and asked me
to come back in. The chairman, informed me that they had all agreed, and
that I would portrait JOHNNY WEISMUELLER, in his life's story, become the
next movie TARZAN, and also appear at the proposed TARZAN LAND attraction
until the age 50, when the contract would expire. I was 37 at the time.
Financial agreements had already been drawn up and were signed. It was
a surreal moment to believe that me, an uneducated country hick from
the back woods of Kentucky, would someday carry on the legacy of movie
land Tarzans. BUT, IT WAS NOT TO BE! From my understanding the heirs
of EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS, exercised their proprietary rights and demanded
a larger portion of the revenue. A satisfactory mutual agreement could
not be achieved and my contract to become the next TARZAN, was rendered
useless when the project was abandoned.
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Martian
novels ahead of their time
 Campbell
University News Release ~ February 16, 2007
Tharks, Therns and a race of black supremacists called
the Pirates of Barsroom inhabit early 20th century writer Edgar Rice Burroughs’
series of novels about the planet Mars. Dr. Ronnie Faulkner, director of
Campbell University’s Carrie Rich Memorial Library, contends that far from
expressing the views of his time, Burroughs’ attitudes about race relations
were as futuristic as his novels. "The Martian novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs
provide an early paradigm of racial tolerance by displacing the race conflicts
involving whites, Native Americans, African Americans and Asians to a remote
interplanetary location," Faulkner said at a recent program sponsored by
the Department of Government, History and Justice.
Ironically, in novels like A Princess of Mars,
The
Gods of Mars and Thuvia, Maid of Mars, Burroughs’ hero is a
Virginian and a Confederate soldier, Captain John Carter, who has been
mysteriously transported to the Red Planet. Through conflicts with the
different ethnic groups—Red Men, Green Men (Tharks), white men (Therns)
and so on, Carter introduces a level of racial acceptance, integration
and harmony almost unheard of on earth at the time. Burroughs also endows
the Pirates of Barsoom, his race of black supremacists, with superior powers.
They aren’t portrayed negatively, but as fearless fighters who raid the
Therns and carry off female captives. The figure who sits at the apex of
Martian religion, the Goddess Issus, is also of the black race. Unlike
other novelists of his day Burroughs broke racial stereotypes. For example,
Thomas Dixon, author of The Clansman (1905), describes a black
Union soldier in his novel as "short, heavy-set, with a neck like the lower
order of animals," but Burroughs' race of black Martian men have "clear
cut, handsome features and skin of polished ebony."
"The popular racial attitudes in the United States at
the beginning of the 20th century centered on the concept of white supremacy
and Anglo-Saxon superiority," Faulkner said. "Burroughs' hero served as
a catalyst to move all of the races on the planet Mars toward a unified
humanity, a lesson that could benefit the 21st century world." Born in
1875, Edgar Rice Burroughs is also the author of the Tarzan books.
Serb village to erect monument to 'famous
son Tarzan'
 AFP
News ~ February 16, 2007
A tiny Serbian hamlet on the border with Romania has
launched an initiative to build a monument to Johnny Weissmuller, the late
actor famed for his role as "Tarzan." Weissmuller, a five-time Olympic
swimming gold-medallist, was born in 1904 in the village of Medja, in the
Banat region that straddles the two countries but was then part of the
Austro-Hungarian empire. He died in 1984. The inhabitants of the hamlet
were inspired by the decision earlier this week by another Serbian village
to erect a statue of Sylvester Stallone's famous film character, boxer
Rocky Balboa, in a bid to rid itself of bad luck. The house in which Weissmuller
was born still exists, and several members of his family were buried in
the local cemetery, said Kosnic, adding a family descendant, Tereza Stojanovic,
lives in the Serbian capital Belgrade. The monument would be the third
such initiative launched in the former Yugoslavia in recent years to honour
Hollywood icons. In neighbouring Bosnia in November 2005, the southern
town of Mostar unveiled a statue of late martial arts legend Bruce Lee
as a symbolic protest against ethnic division. More>>>
Johnny Weissmuller Tells Me:
1938.01.29
LAX Hollywood Parade blog reprint
That he has disappointed and disillusioned more people
than probably any other actor that ever came to the screen. The brawny
star of jungle pictures who deserts the superman standard set by his Tarzan
in his new film, Man of Borneo, is delighted over his change of
character. "It’s been several years since I began the first Tarzan, and
now I don’t mind telling you that the toughest part of it was the off-screen
role I had to play."At parties I was a definite disappointment to those
who expected me to grab the first pretty brunette to the right and depart
via the chandelier and a tree outside the window. "After her first meal,
every new cook we ever had would look upon me with undisguised scorn just
because I didn’t eat a meal that would choke a horse. "Once, to please
a bunch of kids, I attempted the Tarzan yell — you know, that ear-shattering
howl which the sound men create by dubbing the voices of three men with
iron lungs. Well, for three weeks I couldn’t speak, either on the screen
or off."
TARZAN’S I.Q. GOES UP TWO POINTS
1939.01.29
~ SFC Douglas Churchill blog reprint
Tarzan is becoming downright garrulous. In his current
artistic masterpiece, Tarzan in Exile, he will speak 118 words,
which Johnny Weissmuller says puts him in the young intellectual class.
Weissmuller says further that if the trend persists he will have to begin
studying his role. With Tarzan rated as one of the better minds, his followers
will no longer be content with chest-thumping and occasional grunts. The
ape-man’s vocabulary resulted from MGM’s recognition of the fact that it
would be impossible for a man to live with a woman for five years without
being able to say something in his own defense. Tarzan in Exile –
the title probably will be changed to Son of Tarzan – picks up the
purveyor of anthropoid grunts five years after he and Maureen O’Sullivan
find Master John Sheffield in the wreckage of a plane which crashed and
killed the youngster’s parents. Metro felt that the plot has been used
in the other Tarzan films has worn itself out and that novelties must be
injected in future epics. In keeping with this theory Tarzan Jr., is brought
into the picture and Miss O’Sullivan dies under the feet of an elephant
stampede, although studio attaches have great faith in her ultimate survival
and believe that in the next one her miraculous escape will be accounted
for.
In addition to Cheetah, the ape, who has aided Tarzan
in many of his major acts of mercy, the jungle household now includes a
goat with Cheetah serving as dairymaid, a sloth, whose disposition is not
all it should be, and a baby elephant for Junior to ride. This tiny pachyderm
supposedly is the smallest one in the United States, it is 16 months old,
45 inches tall and weighs 560 pounds. The young beast has been adopted
by Tarzan’s two mature elephants, which are owned by Frank Whitbeck, head
of MGM’s advertising department. Having once been with a circus, Whitbeck
has his two animals around for pets and to keep from being homesick for
the sawdust. Certain people around the lot who feel that Tarzan pictures
should make an occasional concession to fact called attention to a glaring
flaw. Tarzan lives in Africa; the three elephants are from India. So the
makeup department was called upon and rubber ears were built to make them
indistinguishable from the African variety and forestall criticism from
mammologists.
Kintaro - Tarzan of the Japanese Jungle
Intermediate
Lesson #47 - Podcast ~ February 16th, 2007
Learn intermediate Japanese with JapanesePod101.com!
Today we are back with another mukashi banashi, or folk tale. In this lesson,
we introduce a classic that pretty much every native Japanese person will
know - Kintaro. In many ways similar to the Tarzan of the west, this is
a tale that many of us can find something familiar in. Tune in to listen.
More>>>
Interview Excerpt: Joe R. Lansdale Channels
Edgar Rice Burroughs
 SciFi.com
~ February 13, 2007
SciFi: Your book Tarzan:
The Lost Adventure was co-authored by the late Edgar
Rice Burroughs. How did that project come about? What were you given
to work with to write this book?
Lansdale: I was given the first pages of the book
he started. About 80 or so. I moved some of the scenes he wrote to later
places in the book, used lines of his in later places. Used most of the
opening as was. Had I not moved these things about, Tarzan would have whacked
a lion or panther on every other page. I also changed the dialogue, which
was kind of out of step. The blacks were all Stepin Fetchit characters.
It wasn't Burrough's best work, and that may have been the reason it had
lain in the safe. It was fun to work with, though. Sentimentally, Burroughs
is my favorite writer. More>>>
Recommended for all ERB fans and collectors:
FILMFAX #113 January/March 2007 - a giant double
issue - is currently on newstands and has a four-page interview with Lee
Chase done by Scott Tracy Griffin of the L.A. subERBs. The interview
had originally been conducted in 2002 at Lee's home as part of Patrice
Bonnyrat's planned documentary on ERB. The magazine features the St. John
jacket illo from Tarzan at the Earth's Core and displays the headline:
"The Boy Who Knew TARZAN! Lee Chase Remembers His Stepfather Edgar Rice
Burroughs!" Interior photos, dj illos, and graphics were provided
by George McWhorter, Phil Normand and Frank Puncer. Look for a photo of
Glenn Morris's wife that is mistakenly identified as Florence Gilbert (Burroughs).
Episode 27: 1st Anniversary Edition
of Jeff "Elmo" Long's
Dateline Jasoom Podcast
. 
.
is currently beaming to all ERB Worlds via Gridley Wave.
Visit www.PanthanPress.com
It's been a year of podcasting on the Gridley Wave Network.
Thanks to Pete
Ogden at ERBANIA
this week's Podcast brings you a 1960s interview with
Joan
(Burroughs) Pierce
that includes a soundbite of ERB dictating a Tarzan
novel.
Also: Johnny Carson as the Apeman.
Guillermo del Toro, filmmaker, speaks:
Hollywood
Reporter ~ February 8, 2007
"We're developing the screenplay with (screenwriter)
John Collee (for Warners). What I'm fascinated about Tarzan is the same
thing I'm fascinated about Hellboy or about the story of Ofelia in "Pan's
Labyrinth," which is how we are shaped by the choices we make, how we basically
will ourselves into being. I love the fact that Tarzan is a character that
has to learn to become an ape, and then he has to learn to become a man.
His final life and persona are shaped by these two decisions." More>>>
More del Toro Motes & Quotes
The celebrated Mexican moviemaker says he has always
felt cheated by Tarzan films because they never focus on the jungle hero's
childhood. He says, "The idea is to try to do a version unlike any other,
in the sense that Tarzan's formative years, growing through the jungle,
are incredibly tough and brutal. . . . There's always this idyllic sense
of the jungle being like a Disney set and I want to portray how this guy
becomes the toughest animal in the jungle."
Chud.com:
I’m reading mostly Tarzan novels right now. I’m reading the entire canon
of Tarzan, in order. He’s one of those characters that you remember one
way as a kid, and you say, ‘Was he that cool?’ I had read 15 of the novels
– I was lacking a good chunk – so I said, why don’t I go complete the collection,
buy them all, and read them in order? They’re much nastier than the Tarzan
in the movies, and much more complex than the Tarzan in the movies. They
have more monsters and adventures and lost cities. They have a lot more
going in the fantasy aspects.
Great book. Why isn't it a movie?
Toronto
Star ~ Feb 03, 2007
Good intentions aside, some of the best-known books of
all time have yet to make it to the big screen. Will they ever? . . .thanks
to prima donna authors, dying directors and the occasional world war, some
of the best-known books of all time just never get made.
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Few
books have flummoxed Hollywood quite as effectively as the Tarzan author's
first novel about an American Civil War veteran who goes prospecting in
Arizona and, when set upon by Indians, is mysteriously transported to Mars.
Published in 1917, it was lined up to be Disney's first animated feature
but was beaten to the toss by Snow White. Another attempt was made in the
'80s with Tom Cruise but it bankrupted the production company. Paramount
recently acquired the rights. More>>>
What Disney's deal with Robert Zemeckis
really means for WDFA . . . and ERB
Jim
Hill Toon Tuesday ~ February 6, 2007
The multi award-winning team of Robert Zemeckis, Jack
Rapke and Steve Starkey join forces with The Walt Disney Studios to set-up
a new performance capture film company, it was jointly announced by Dick
Cook, chairman, The Walt Disney Studios and producer/director Robert Zemeckis.
The company will create films using the performance capture technology,
a technique of digitally recording actors' movements that are fed into
a computer allowing for the development of state-of-the-art 3D motion pictures.
In making the announcement Cook said, "The creation of this new company
is yet another step in our leadership role in cutting edge technology as
it relates to the movie industry."
Following up on the success of "Polar Express," Zemeckis
was executive producer on his second performance capture film, the Academy
Award-nominated Best Animated Film "Monster House," with Rapke and Starkey
producing. Additionally, Zemeckis is directing and producing the performance
capture film, "Beowulf," with Rapke and Starkey also producing. The film
is due out in theaters in 2007.
Once John Lasseter & Robert Zemeckis join forces (This
is reportedly why the Walt Disney Company just optioned Edgar Rice Burroughs'
(www.Tarzan.org) "John Carter of Mars"
books. So that John & Robert could then then work together to develop
this potential new franchise for the studio. The first installment of which
will supposedly will be directed by "Finding Nemo" helmer Andrew Stanton)
... Well, there'll just be no stopping Mickey then. Disney will literally
be able to steamroller right over its competition (I.E. DreamWorks Animation,
Sony Animation, Blue Sky Studios et al). More>>>
FAA Approves Aeros Airship in Tarzana
San
Fernando Business Journal ~ February 5, 2007
Worlwide Aeros Corp. received Federal Aviation Administration
approval for its Aeros 40D Sky Dragon, the Tarzana company announced. The
Type Certification is given by the FAA when an aircraft has met its regulations
for airworthiness. The Sky Dragon was designed around the market demand
for an airship capable of multi-mission applications ranging from advertising
and broadcast camera work to sensor suites platform while maintaining a
low cost of operation, the company said. The Sky Dragon is 153 feet long
with 100,000 cubic feet of volume.
More>>>
Brief bios tell tales behind the names
on Author's Walk
News-Leader.com
~ January 30, 2007
Back in November 1999 when the Library Center,
the Springfield-Greene County Library District's first destination library,
opened to the public, patrons were intrigued and appreciative of the innovative
Authors' Walk. Eight years later, visitors to the Library Center still
remark on the Authors' Walk of 93 names of classic and contemporary writers
who represent the best of world literature. Each name is separated
by a brass leaf, the motif that is used throughout the 83,000-square-foot
facility. In addition to the purely decorative and cool nature of the Authors'
Walk, it could also serve as a quick primer to the literary greats. If
you are of a mind to pursue this educational project, librarian Mary Harrison
has made it easy for you.
She has researched and compiled brief biographies for
each author: Isaac Asimov, Jane Austen, James Baldwin, Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Truman Capote, Willa Cather, Anton Chekhov, Beverly Cleary, Emily Dickinson,
John Dos Passos, Robert Frost, Carson McCullers, Sylvia Plath, Marcel Proust,
John Steinbeck, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jonathan Swift, Leo Tolstoy, Kurt
Vonnegut, Booker T. Washington, Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde are some examples.
This extensive list is on the library's Web site, thelibrary .org. Click
on the "Library info" link at the top of the page and "Hours & locations."
Zoom to the Library Center and find the link to the Authors' Walk. More>>>
Episode 26 of Jeff "Elmo" Long's Dateline
Jasoom Podcast is currently beaming to all ERB Worlds
via Gridley Wave. Visit www.PanthanPress.com to hear: THIS IS POLODA
~ Introducing Della and, "Damsels in Distress" -- a panel discussion from
WindyCon 2006 led by S. T. Clemmons.
ACCLAIMED CIRCUS DOCUMENTARY
“TRAVELS WITH TARZAN” RE-RELEASED ON DVD
Circus
News ~ January 30, 2007
“A Circus Season: Travels With Tarzan” has been
re-released and is now available on DVD. “Travels With Tarzan” goes inside
the world of a traveling tent circus for an intimate look at one of the
few remaining family-owned shows in America—the Tarzan Zerbini Circus.
The spellbinding performances along with the daily grind of constant travel,
backbreaking work and changing weather form the background against which
the characters are revealed struggling with love, loss, betrayal, and the
weight of their family legacies during one hard season on the road. Featured
performers are Patricia Zerbini with The Tarzan Zerbini Performing Elephants,
Joseph Dominick Bauer on the Wheel of Thrills, Othmar Vohringer with his
Siberian White Tigers, and many others. Produced by Pony
Highway Productions, with an original score by Charles Gross, the feature-length
“Travels With Tarzan” was broadcast nationally on PBS, and was previously
available only on VHS. More>>>
Disney Theatrical Productions Press
Release
NEW YORK, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Following an historic
2006 marked by tremendous growth and unparalleled success on Broadway,
in touring markets, and internationally, Disney Theatrical Productions
(Thomas Schumacher, Producer, Disney Theatrical Productions) is preparing
for a 2007 which promises exciting collaborations with some of theatre's
most talented artists. . .
TARZAN(R) THRILLS BROADWAY AUDIENCES
Disney Theatrical Productions started 2006 with the world
premiere of Broadway's high-flying adventure, TARZAN(R), one of the most
artistically innovative shows to come to Broadway in recent memory. Featuring
direction, set, and costume design by multi-Tony Award(R) winner Bob Crowley,
and music by Academy Award(R) and multiple-GRAMMY(R) winner Phil Collins,
TARZAN(R) has thrilled audiences since opening in May 2006. Heralded by
Time Magazine as "sensational" and by The Financial Times as "the only
show of the [2005-2006] season that places us joyously in a world of wonder,"
TARZAN(R) has proven to be a hit, having set the box office record at the
Richard Rodgers Theatre an impressive five times in 2006. Audiences have
responded enthusiastically with over 368,000 people having seen the show
on Broadway to date.
EXPANDING GLOBAL SUCCESS
Disney's first international production of TARZAN(R)
is currently in rehearsals and will open April 15, 2007 at the Circustheatre
near Amsterdam. The production is a continuation of a long-standing partnership
between Disney Theatrical Productions and Stage Entertainment, the collaboration
that has mounted six Disney musicals in Europe, grossing over $400 million
in ticket sales.
(C) 2006 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., and Disney Enterprises
Inc. All rights reserved.
TARZAN(R) owned by Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. and used
by permission.
The
Collected Comics Library
PODCAST
and BLOG
The premiere site for news and information for DC Archive
Editions, Marvel Masterworks, Marvel Essentials, other high-end comic books
and trade paperbacks! This week's feature is all about Tarzan, Lord of
the Jungle, the newspaper strips, the comic books and the collected editions.
"Prison Break" star Sarah Wayne
Callies, who plays Dr. Sara Tancredi on the U.S. TV show, is expecting
her first child with husband Josh Winterhalt. The baby is due in late summer,
People magazine reports. Callies, 29, has been seen in several television
shows throughout her career, including the short-lived series "Queens Supreme"
and "Tarzan."
This Jane is the Tarzan of the wild
 Economic
Times News ~ January 23, 2007
KOLKATA: She is a legend. However, mention that to her
and pat comes her reply: “But I am also real... I am me. When she arrived
in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park in 1960, Jane Goodall was just in her
mid-twenties, inspired by Tarzan and her intense love for animals and her
passion for Africa.
She was presented a stuffed chimp called Jubilee by her
father when she was 18 months old. “But, this had nothing to do with my
later journey into the wilds, Ms Goodall told ET in an exclusive interview.
“I saved up for the travel to Africa. It was Professor Lewis Leakey, the
palaeontologist, who triggered this journey that finally created my destiny.
This was in 1960,” she said. As her research into the behavioural mechanisms
of primates progressed, she discovered and drove home how close chimpanzees
were to humans. This silently revolutionised prevalent theories on primate
behaviour. In 1977, the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) crystallised in Arlington,
Virginia. But it was a Wildlife Congress in 1986 which brought about a
radical transformation. “I realised that chimps were vanishing. This turned
me into an activist.” More>>>
Pulp Artist: David Burton
SeaCoast
News ~ January 21, 2007
Leanta Books, based in Lee, is the brainchild of David
Burton, Kate Wiggin and Kylen Wiggin. Leanta means "well-read" in Gaelic.
Leanta opened in May 2006 and thus far, it has published two books, with
two more to come before May. Burton worked as an illustrator for a British
publisher that is now out of business. His beloved genre was classic science-fiction.
He had illustrated five chapters of "A Princess of Mars." The fans loved
his work. After the publisher went out of business, his fans begged him
to publish himself. He researched the market, talked to an intelligent
property lawyer and began last May. "We hope to bring these books to younger
people, to bring the classics to a whole new generation."
Read complete review at David Burton Artist Journal IV in ERBzine
1715
http://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1715.html
Caz in Time Magazine
 Time
~ January 22, 2007 issue
Camille E. Cazedessus -- longtime ERB fan and scholar,
and publisher of the award-winning fanzine, ERB-dom and of the current
zine Pulpdom -- has appeared in TIME's Letters Section in response to the
magazine's choice for Person of the Year: YOU (representatives of the New
Digital Democracy). "U.S. Troops in Iraq were the People of the Year, not
a select group of computer users sitting on their backsides. We may be
watching videos online, but they are putting their lives on the line. ~
Camille E. Cazedessus - Chimney Rock, Colorado."
See the Caz & ERB-dom Tributes in ERBzine
www.erbzine.com/mag11/1152.html
'Half-Animal' Woman Is Discovered
After Spending 19 Years Alone in Cambodian Jungle
 Fox
News ~ January 19, 2007
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A woman who disappeared
in the jungles of northeastern Cambodia as a child has apparently been
found after living in the wild for 19 years, police said Thursday. The
woman — believed to be Rochom P'ngieng, now 27 years old — cannot speak
any intelligible language, so details of her saga have been difficult to
confirm. The girl, then 8 years old, disappeared one day in 1988 when she
was herding buffalo in a remote northeastern jungle area. She was discovered
this month after a villager noticed that food disappeared from a lunch
box he left at a site near his farm. "He decided to stake out the area
and then spotted a naked human being, who looked like a jungle person,
sneaking in to steal his rice," said Chea Bunthoeun.Since being found,
the woman has had difficulty adjusting to normal life, apparently because
of her long stay in the wild, said Mao San. Authorities want medical experts
to take DNA samples from the parents and the woman to see if they match.
The woman's parents have given verbal consent for such a test, he said.
More>>>
Discover the long history of humans raised
in the wild in our massive Feral
Children Project.
www.ERBzine.com/feral
Jungle Girl Comes Home
TimesNow.TV
~ January 22, 2007
It's a story which strongly resembles Edgar Rice Burrough's
'Tarzan of the Apes' but the difference is this story is true.
A woman, believed to be about 26 years old, went
missing 18 years ago in the jungles of Cambodia. More>>>
Cambodia's 'jungle woman' offered trauma
treatment
Canadian
Press ~ January 22, 2007
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Human rights groups fear that
Cambodia's "jungle woman" is suffering from the spotlight cast on her since
she emerged from the wild, and offered Monday to provide any needed medical
and psychiatric treatment. A family claims the woman is 27-year-old Rochom
P'ngieng, who disappeared in the jungle of Cambodia's northeastern Rattanakiri
province while herding water buffaloes when she was eight years old. The
family claims she is their long lost daughter, based on a scar on her right
arm from an accident that occurred before her disappearance from the remote
village of Oyadao. Their hut has drawn crowds of villagers and journalists,
keen to see the woman whose family says she was found Jan. 13 walking like
a monkey out of the jungle. She pats her stomach when hungry and uses animal-like
grunts to communicate. Licadho, a non-governmental human rights group,
fears the woman is enduring trauma after returning to society and could
have been a victim of abuse, said Kek Galabru, the group's president. "We
believe that this woman is a victim of some kind of torture, maybe sexual
or physical," said Kek Galabru. "She must have experienced traumatic events
in the jungle that have affected her ability to speak." Since the woman
is unable to speak, her identity remains unclear with many questioning
if she is indeed Rochom P'ngieng. More>>>
Disney on mission for "Mars" rights
Reuters
~ January 17, 2007
 LOS
ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Walt Disney Co. is in final negotiations
to acquire the film rights to Edgar Rice Burroughs' novels known collectively
as the "John Carter of Mars" series. The 11-volume series began with the
story titled "A Princess of Mars," published serially in All-Story magazine
in 1912 and in novel form in 1916. Burroughs wrote it in longhand, and
the original manuscript lies in a vault at a Bank of America in Tarzana,
the Los Angeles municipality that takes its name from Burroughs' more famous
creation, Tarzan. The series told of a Civil War officer named John Carter
who is transported to Mars and finds himself a captive of the savage green
men from Thark. Carter eventually rises to become a great warrior, marries
a princess, raises a family and embarks on numerous adventures.
A representative of the Burroughs estate said the studio was acquiring
the live-action rights for a possible franchise. However, sources at Disney
believed "Mars" to be headed for animated adaptation through its Pixar
unit. Disney declined comment. Disney had the rights to the series through
most of the 1990s, when then-studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg wanted to
turn it into a cartoon. At one point, the project morphed into live action,
and John McTiernan was involved as a director. Paramount Pictures nabbed
the rights to the series in 2002, and more directors came and went, including
Robert Rodriguez ("Sin City"), Kerry Conrad ("Sky Captain and the World
of Tomorrow") and Jon Favreau ("Iron Man"). Sources said Paramount let
go of "Mars" about a year ago, and it was without a home until about a
month ago, when Disney and Pixar came calling.
On Barsoom
Britannica
Blogs ~ January 15, 2007
In June-July 2003 the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration launched two probes toward the planet Mars. . . .What have
they found? Among other things, powerful evidence that salty water deep
enough to splash in once flowed over at least part of the surface. Other
evidence of water in layered rocks. Clouds and dust devils in the atmosphere.
. . .
The exploration of Mars, which in fact has hardly begun,
stands in sharp contrast to the long history of wild speculation that has
swirled about the “Red Planet,” some of it intended to be science fiction
and some of it not. Two names stand out in the history of Mars-thought:
H.G. Wells, whose novel War of the Worlds (1898) imagined a race of cruel
creatures who invade Earth to destroy it, and Percival Lowell, who convinced
himself that Mars had been inhabited once and that faint markings on the
surface showed the locations of great canals constructed by the Martians.
Then there was Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan, who had his
Virginia-born hero John Carter become a warlord among the various races
of Mars in a long series (http://www.tarzan.org/barsoom.html) of romantic
novels. Ray Bradbury’s altogether different The Martian Chronicles (1950)
is considered a masterpiece of science fiction. More>>>
Tarzan's children: Why movies about
Africa require white saviors.
Tracing the history of the 'White folks to the rescue!' genre, from
Tarzan to 'Blood Diamond.'
LA
Times Opinion ~ January 14, 2007
. . . "White Folks to the Rescue!" is a glorious tradition
that stretches back at least as far as the Tarzan movies, in which a selfless
Caucasian — for mysterious self-actualization reasons — has taken up residence
in the bowels of the primeval forest and repeatedly ensures that truth
and justice prevail in sub-Saharan Africa, something the local black community
has been unable to effectuate.
In all these films, the underlying theme is the same:
If you're black and you're poor, and your nation is torn by horrendous
strife, and your neighbors are dropping like flies, there's no reason to
get down in the dumps because sooner or later the Great White Hope will
come through for you. Which, of course, is exactly the way things happen
in real life. More>>>
|
Herman
Brix, who parlayed a silver medal for the shot put in the 1928 Olympics
into a Hollywood career that included playing Tarzan in a 1935 movie, has
died. He was 100. Brix, who later adopted the stage name Bruce Bennett
and appeared as Joan Crawford's husband in "Mildred Pierce" and as an ill-fated
gold prospector in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," died of complications
from a broken hip Saturday at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, his son
Christopher said Tuesday. A former University of Washington football and
track and field star who played in the 1926 Rose Bowl, Brix moved to Los
Angeles in 1929 after being invited to compete for the Los Angeles Athletic
Club. He became friends with actor Douglas Fairbanks, who arranged a screen
test for the handsome young athlete at Paramount. But while playing a small
role as a running back in the 1931 Paramount college football movie "Touchdown,"
Brix broke a shoulder. The injury caused the world record-setting shot-putter
to fail to qualify for the 1932 Olympic trials. It also ended his chance
to play Tarzan at MGM, where he is said to have been the studio's leading
candidate for the role. Instead, the star-making role in MGM's 1932 hit
"Tarzan the Ape Man" went to Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, who went
on to appear in a string of Tarzan movies.