Triad Toys and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Join Forces 
To Bring The John Carter of Mars Saga To Yet Another Generation Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars Saga is hailed as one of the most influential works to define modern sci-fi and fantasy literature. Written almost a century ago, the epic 11 volume series chronicling John Carter’s adventures have thrilled many, many generations of readers. Triad Toys is proud to announce that it has entered into a two-year licensing agreement with Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. to produce a range of collectibles, including 12-inch action figures and statues of all the central characters from the beloved novels. The collectibles will consist of both modernized concepts developed by Triad Toys as well as the classic Burroughs vision of the Mars saga with the first series of figures releasing early 2009.

JOHN CARTER OF MARS and A PRINCESS OF MARS™ & © 
2008 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. ® All Rights Reserved. 

About Triad Toys, Inc.
Since its inception in 2005, Triad Toys, Inc. has been a specialty manufacturer of 12 inch action figures and collectible products. Formed by a group of artists, Triad Toys’ dedication to innovation and quality quickly earned its credibility among fans and collectors alike.  Its products reflect a passion for creating unique, well thought designs with a quality unsurpassed by many. Triad Toys is headquartered in San Jose, California, and remains one of the few toy and collectible companies that continue to manufacture quality pieces in the United States. Triad Toys products are available online at www.triadtoys.com and through select specialty retailers worldwide.

American Musical Theatre of San Jose folds
San Francisco Chronicle ~  December 6, 2008
Monday, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, the South Bay's longtime primary presenter of Broadway-style musicals, announced that it was going out of business - immediately - in the middle of its 74th season. All future ticket sales ceased. Thirty full-time staff members were laid off, and its extensive outreach programs in the schools were closed. The company was filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, chief executive and Executive Producer Michael Miller said, and the remaining two of its shows were canceled, though he was making arrangements for two touring productions - "Chicago" and "Avenue Q" - to play their dates in January and March. The news sent shock waves throughout the theater community. With a $9.8 million budget and 16,500 subscribers, the theater was one of the region's larger arts organizations and the primary tenant at the 2,600-seat San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, along with Ballet San Jose.

. . . Atlanta's Theater of the Stars, canceled their forthcoming three-way co-production (with Dallas Summer Musicals) of "Tarzan set to open in San Jose in February, This production was more than the anchor of the San Jose company's season. It also represented one of its bigger hopes for the future. "When Disney licensed the show to us, the idea was for us to completely remake it into something new," Miller says. "Disney was going to take a look at what we came up with and potentially purchase our version for a national tour." With more than 15,000 tickets already sold, the loss of "Tarzan" meant $800,000 in ticket revenues had suddenly become an outstanding debt for the theater, along with $225,000 invested with the Atlanta company for the show and other expenses adding up to a combined loss of $1.7 million. Miller says a lawsuit against Theater of the Stars is pending. More>>>

Sci-fi's grand old man, Forrest J Ackerman, dies
(1916-2008)
Associated Press ~ December 5, 2008
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Forrest J Ackerman, the sometime actor, literary agent, magazine editor and full-time bon vivant who discovered author Ray Bradbury and was widely credited with coining the term "sci-fi," has died. He was 92. Ackerman died Thursday of heart failure at his Los Angeles home, said Kevin Burns, head of Prometheus Entertainment and a trustee of Ackerman's estate.

Although only marginally known to readers of mainstream literature, Ackerman was legendary in science-fiction circles as the founding editor of the pulp magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland. He was also the owner of a huge private collection of science-fiction movie and literary memorabilia that for years filled every nook and cranny of a hillside mansion overlooking Los Angeles. "He became the Pied Piper, the spiritual leader, of everything science fiction, fantasy and horror," Burns said Friday.

Every Saturday morning that he was home, Ackerman would open up the house to anyone who wanted to view his treasures. He sold some pieces and gave others away when he moved to a smaller house in 2002, but he continued to let people visit him every Saturday for as long as his health permitted. "My wife used to say, 'How can you let strangers into our home?' But what's the point of having a collection like this if you can't let people enjoy it?" an exuberant Ackerman told The Associated Press as he conducted a spirited tour of the mansion on his 85th birthday.

His collection once included more than 50,000 books, thousands of science-fiction magazines and such items as Bela Lugosi's cape from the 1931 film "Dracula." His greatest achievement, however, was likely discovering Bradbury, author of the literary classics "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Martian Chronicles." Ackerman had placed a flyer in a Los Angeles bookstore for a science-fiction club he was founding and a teenage Bradbury showed up.

Later, Ackerman gave Bradbury the money to start his own science-fiction magazine, Futuria Fantasia, and paid the author's way to New York for an authors meeting that Bradbury said helped launch his career. "I hadn't published yet, and I met a lot of these people who encouraged me and helped me get my career started, and that was all because of Forry Ackerman," the author told the AP in 2005.

Later, as a literary agent, Ackerman represented Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and numerous other science-fiction writers. He said the term "sci-fi" came to him in 1954 when he was listening to a car radio and heard an announcer mention the word "hi-fi." "My dear wife said, 'Forget it, Forry, it will never catch on,'" he recalled. Soon he was using it in Famous Monsters of Filmland, the magazine he helped found in 1958 and edited for 25 years. 

Ackerman himself appeared in numerous films over the years, usually in bit parts. His credits include "Queen of Blood," "Dracula vs. Frankenstein," "Amazon Women on the Moon," "Vampirella," "Transylvania Twist," "The Howling" and the Michael Jackson "Thriller" video. More recently, he appeared in 2007's "The Dead Undead" and 2006's "The Boneyard Collection." Ackerman returned briefly to Famous Monsters of Filmland in the 1990s, but he quickly fell out with the publisher over creative differences. He sued and was awarded a judgment of more than $375,000. 

Forrest James Ackerman was born in Los Angeles on Nov. 24, 1916. He fell in love with science-fiction, he once said, when he was 9 years old and saw a magazine called Amazing Stories. He would hold onto that publication for the rest of his life. Ackerman, who had no children, was preceded in death by his wife, Wendayne.

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See ERBzine's LOST IN ACKERMANSION
Part I  |  Part II

Forrest J Ackerman, writer-editor who coined 'sci-fi,' dies at 92
Los Angeles Times ~ December 6, 2008 ~ By Dennis McLellan
The Los Angeles native influenced young fans with his Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and 
spent a lifetime amassing a vast collection of science fiction and fantasy memorabilia.

Forrest J Ackerman, who influenced a generation of young horror-movie fans with Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and spent a lifetime amassing what has been called the world's largest personal collection of science-fiction and fantasy memorabilia, has died. He was 92. Ackerman, a writer, editor and literary agent who has been credited with coining the term "sci-fi" in the 1950s, died Thursday of heart failure at his home in Los Angeles, said John Sasser, a friend who is making a documentary on Ackerman. As editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland, Ackerman wrote most of the articles in the photo-laden magazine launched in 1958 as a forum for past and present horror films. 

"It was the first movie-monster magazine," Tony Timpone, editor of horror-movie magazine Fangoria, told The Times in 2002. Timpone, who began reading Famous Monsters as a young boy in the early '70s, remembered it as "a black-and-white magazine with cheap paper but great painted [color] covers. It really turned people on to the magic of horror movies." Primarily targeted to late pre-adolescents and young teenagers, Famous Monsters of Filmland featured synopses of horror films; interviews with actors such as Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price; and articles about makeup and special effects. The magazine reflected Ackerman's penchant for puns, with features such as "The Printed Weird" and "Fang Mail." Ackerman referred to himself as Dr. Acula. "He put a lot of his personality into the magazine," said Timpone, who became friends with Ackerman. "It was a pretty juvenile approach to genre journalism, but as kids that's all we had." Among those who grew up reading Famous Monsters of Filmland was author Stephen King. Other childhood readers included movie directors Joe Dante, John Landis and Steven Spielberg, who once autographed a poster of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" for Ackerman, saying, "A generation of fantasy lovers thank you for raising us so well."

Ackerman was a celebrity in his own right, once signing 10,000 autographs during a three-day monster-movie convention in New York City. This, after all, was the man who created and wrote the comic book characters Vampirella and Jeanie of Questar and was the ultimate fan's fan: a man who actually had known Lugosi and Karloff and whose priceless collection of science-fiction, horror and fantasy artifacts ran to some 300,000 items. For years, Ackerman housed his enormous cache of books, movie stills, posters, paintings, movie props, masks and assorted memorabilia in his 18-room home in Los Feliz. He dubbed the house the Ackermansion. The jam-packed repository included everything from a Dracula cape worn by Lugosi to Mr. Spock's pointy ears and from Lon Chaney Sr.'s makeup kit to the paper-plate flying saucer used by director Ed Wood in "Plan 9 From Outer Space."

For Ackerman, a native Angeleno born Nov. 24, 1916, it all began at age 9. That's when he stopped at a drugstore on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Western Avenue in Hollywood and bought his first copy of the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories. Ackerman was helplessly hooked. By his late teens, he had mastered Esperanto, the invented international language. In 1929, he founded the Boys Scientifiction Club. In 1932, he joined a group of other young fans in launching the Time Traveler, which is considered the first fan magazine devoted exclusively to science fiction and for which Ackerman was "contributing editor." Ackerman also joined with other local fans in starting a chapter of the Science Fiction Society -- meetings were held in Clifton's Cafeteria in downtown L.A. -- and as editor of the group's fan publication Imagination!, he published in 1938 a young Ray Bradbury's first short story.

During World War II, Ackerman edited a military newspaper published at Ft. MacArthur in San Pedro. After the war, he worked as a literary agent. His agency represented scores of science-fiction writers, including L. Ron Hubbard, Isaac Asimov, A.E. van Vogt, H.L. Gold, Ray Cummings and Hugo Gernsback. In 1954, Ackerman coined the term that would become part of the popular lexicon -- a term said to make some fans cringe. "My wife and I were listening to the radio, and when someone said 'hi-fi' the word 'sci-fi' suddenly hit me," Ackerman explained to The Times in 1982. "If my interest had been soap operas, I guess it would have been 'cry-fi,' or James Bond, 'spy-fi.' " 

At the time, Ackerman already was well-known among science-fiction and horror aficionados for his massive collection. After a couple from Texas showed up on his doorstep in 1951 asking to view the collection, Ackerman began opening up his home for regular, informal tours on Saturdays. Over the years, thousands of people made the pilgrimage to the Ackermansion. The Dracula/Frankenstein room featured a casket as a "coffin table" and the cape Lugosi wore in the stage version of "Dracula." A case displayed one of the horror film legend's bow ties, which, Ackerman would gleefully note, contained a drop of blood. Among the collection's other highlights: the ring worn by Lugosi in "Dracula," the giant-winged pterodactyl that swooped down for Fay Wray in "King Kong," Lon Chaney's cape from "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Metropolis" director Fritz Lang's monocle. The affable Ackerman would escort his visitors through the priceless warren of books, posters and memorabilia, settling into a chair in each room and answering questions. "He was always just a big kid," said Fangoria's Timpone. "I really cherished all the times I've been with him."

Ackerman wrote more than 2,000 articles and short stories for magazines and anthologies, sometimes under the pseudonyms Dr. Acula, Weaver Wright and Claire Voyant. He also wrote what has been reported to be the first lesbian science-fiction story ever published, "World of Loneliness." And under the pen name Laurajean Ermayne, he wrote lesbian romances in the late 1940s for the lesbian magazine Vice Versa. Ackerman edited or co-edited numerous books, including "A Book of Weird Tales" and "365 Science Fiction Short Stories." Over the years, he made numerous cameo appearances in films, including Dante's "The Howling" and Landis' "Innocent Blood." Landis also had Ackerman eating popcorn behind Michael Jackson in the movie theater scene in his "Thriller" video. 

Famous Monsters of Filmland ceased publication in 1983, but returned a decade later with Ray Ferry as publisher and Ackerman as editor. Ackerman, however, reportedly had a falling out with Ferry and left the magazine. Years of litigation followed. In 2000, after a civil trial, Ackerman won a trademark infringement and breach-of-contract lawsuit against Ferry, though he said a year later that he had not yet collected a penny of the judgment. 

In recent decades, according to a 2003 Times story, Ackerman slowly sold pieces of his massive collection in order to survive. Because of health problems and his still-unresolved legal battle, he put up all but about 100 of his favorite objects for sale in 2002. The same year, he moved out of the Ackermansion and into a bungalow in the flats of Los Feliz. But he continued to make what was left of his collection available for fans to view on Saturday mornings. "I call it the Acker Mini-Mansion," he said. 

Ackerman's wife, Wendayne, died in 1990; he has no surviving family members. 

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Jim Cawthorn (1929-2008)

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Jim Cawthorn, died on Tuesday, 2 December, shortly before his 79th birthday. Born on 21 December 1929, Cawthorn was a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs which led to meetings with other fans and contributions to SF fanzine Satellite in 1953/4 and to ERB fanzines, Pete Ogden's ERBANIA and Burroughsiana in the mid-1950s. The latter was edited by Mike Moorcock, ten years Cawthorn's junior but already about to find his way into publishing. After collaborating with Cawthorn on various fanzines (Ergo Ego, Flail, Eustace), Moorcock took over the editorship of Tarzan Adventures in 1957 and began writing his own series of sword & sorcery adventures featuring Sojan, which Cawthorn illustrated. Another Cawthorn contribution was the brief (4-part) comic strip "Planet Peril" (1958) as well as a handful of his stories featuring Handar the Red (actually, Cawthorn would later point out, a single story published in parts).

Jim collaborating with Mike Moorcock on a full-length Blake novel, Caribbean Crisis (Sexton Blake Library 501, June 1962) published under the house name Desmond Reid. Cawthorn became a cover and spot illustrator for New Worlds when Moorcock became editor in 1964 and continued his collaboration with Mike in a number of different magazines, ranging from Frendz, where he drew "The Sonic Assassins" (Nov 1971), based around the adventures of Hawkwind, and an Elric strip and poster which was never published as Frendz folded.

Cawthorn produced many unpublished strips, including numerous adaptations of Burroughs; amongst them was The Land That Time Forgot, which led to work on the Kevin Connor-directed movie, filmed in 1974, which he co-scripted with Moorcock. Another collaboration was The Distant Suns (Llanfynydd, Unicorn Bookshop, 1975) for which Cawthorn used the pen-name Philip James.

Over the years, Cawthorn illustrated many books, including editions of Lord of the Rings, and children's science fiction anthologies for Armada, although his most successful work was with Savoy Books in the 1970s and 1980s, including graphic novel editions of Stormbringer (1976), The Jewel In The Skull (1979) and The Crystal And The Amulet (1986) and Savoy's reprints of Henry Treece. His fascination with Fantasy as a genre can be seen in Fantasy: The 100 Best Books (London, Xanadu, 1988).

In the late 1940s, Cawthorn had discovered Milton Caniff and Burne Hogarth through the pages of Star Weekly, the Canadian newspaper supplement. Hogarth was later to write of Cawthorn's Jewel In The Skull:

"There is a quality here that is most compelling and fascinating. He has gone far beyond any of the existing fantasy interpretations of the cartoon heroics one finds in most book material today. He has reached a point of the unpredictable in his characterisations, his mood, his strange atmosphere and gross, brutal intensity ... He has an authentic talent." 
Burne Hogarth

“Jim Cawthorn and I have been inseparable for over twenty-five years, sometimes to the point where I can’t remember which came first—the drawing or the story. It is his drawings of my characters which remain for me the most accurate, both in detail and in atmosphere. His interpretations in strip form will always be, for me, the best.”
Michael Moorcock. 

More>>>
http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/cawthpic.html
http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/cawth.html

Chuck Pogue Remembers

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I was really sorry to hear about Jim Cawthorn.  I first became aware of his work through AMRA and was always an admirer of it.  Very original and unimitative. 

Years later, when I was beginning my research for my PRINCESS OF MARS script and I was re-connecting with many of the giants (at least I thought they were) of Burroughs fandom from the sixties, Jim and I made contact.  I don't know whether through some circuitious route (maybe through Pete Ogden) I got in touch with him or he with me, but contact was made.  He was very helpful with some of my inquiries and a sporadic, but lovely correspondence started up.   For several years (I think until I moved back to Kentucky), we exchanged Christmas cards ... Jim's cards, like his letters, were always embellished with original artwork.  They were on various subjects ... sometimes Princess of Mars or my film Dragonheart ... always delightful and witty, and all perserved.

The last I heard from Jim I was trying to find out some background on Henry Treece, of whom I'm a big fan...Jim had illustrated some Savoy paperbacks of Treece's work.  Unfortunately, he knew little more than I did at the time.

But it was always great to see an envelope in the mail with Jim's distinctive, immediately recognizable, handwriting.  He  was to me a "giant" in Burroughs' fandom and a terrifically talented artist.

Chuck Pogue

Of interest to fans of ERB and Mars fiction: Martianthology
Compiled by Forrest J Ackerman and edited by Anne Hardin
http://www.rockpublishing.com/martianthology.htm
Martianthology (2005) is a collection of fourteen Martian stories “dedicated to the beloved memory of Edgar Rice Burroughs, who transported us via the ether to the wonderful world of the 4th planet, Barsoom, in 1912.”
"Years ago, when these stories were composed, life on Barsoom resided solely in the imaginations of certain special inhabitants of Jasoom (E. R. Burroughs-speak for Mars and Earth). This anthology captures the spirit of that "exploration" -- long before a rocket from Earth had actually visited the fourth planet. These writers gave us heroes and villains, adventure and mis-adventure accompanied by the thrills of conquest and redemption. Martianthology offers something for all readers of “scientifiction” (as it was called during the early years of pulp writing.)" Note: The cover of Martianthology is based on a painting by Frank R. Paul and features the anthologist, Forrest J Ackerman, as the spaceman.
For contents go to:
www.ERBzine.com/swag
See the ERBzine feature on Forrest Ackerman at: www.erbzine.com/mag1/0185.html
Our many features on the Mars fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs may be found at:
www.Barsoom.com

76 year old Cheeta the Chimp looks back on life with Tarzan
China.org.cn ~ September 6, 2008
http://www.china.org.cn/culture/2008-09/06/content_16400466.htm
He has outlived his co-stars, survived addiction to drink and cigars, and seen one of his grandsons follow him into show-business. Now Cheeta the chimpanzee, sidekick to Tarzan in the 1930s films starring Johnny Weismuller, has told his amazing in life story in an autobiography to be published by Harper Collins on October 1. Cheeta proudly shows off the Guinness Book of Records which lists him as the world's oldest Chimpanzee. Cheeta was captured in Liberia in 1932 by Henry Trefflich, a flamboyant adventurer and animal trader who, apart from supplying Hollywood, also provided NASA with monkeys to shoot into space. The chimp's first feature film was Tarzan the Ape Man which made Johnny Weismuller a superstar. In the 1934 sequel, Tarzan and his Mate, co-starring Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane, Cheeta famously stole Jane's clothes while she was swimming. The accomplished ape continued his film career, including an appearance alongside future US President Ronald Reagan, until 1967 when he retired after biting Rex Harrison's finger during the shooting of Dr Dolittle. 

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Barracuda vs. Tarzan et al
Time Magazine ~ September 2, 2008
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837918,00.html
. . . as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor. 
Bogus lists of "Palin's Banned Books" are circulating on the Web in a flood of Blogs: e.g.
World Prout Assembly ~ September 7, 2008
OSI Gazette ~ September 8, 2008
These blogs in their frenzy all display a list of 92 books that then-mayor, Sarah Palin tried to ban from Wasilla, Alaska library. Included are:"
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs plus other classics by authors including: Stephen King, Shakespeare, Arthur Miller, Chaucer, Aldous Huxley, John Steinback, J.K. Rowling, Robert Munsch, Mark Twain, Maya Angelou, D.H. Lawrence, Walt Whitman, William Golding, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, George Eliot, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., J.D. Salinger, Margaret Atwood, Harper Lee, Daniel Keyes, Anthony Burgess, etc.

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The TIME Magazine article is authentic but for a balanced take on this check out the accuracy of "the banned list":
Snopes Urban Legend Site
and
LA Times Blog
Lists of books have been circulated in blog comments and via e-mail. They haven't been reported in papers like The Times because there is no evidence that they are accurate. The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, the local Wasilla newspaper, has reposted a 1996 article covering the censorship inquiries that Palin put to local librarian Mary Ellin Emmons. This piece clearly states that "Palin said Monday she had no particular books or other material in mind when she posed the questions to Emmons." That should put an end to the inaccurate lists that are circulating.

Here's what the Valley Frontiersman says: "Emmons said Palin asked her outright if she could live with censorship of library books. This was during a weak [sic] when Palin was requesting resignations from all the city's department heads as a way of expressing loyalty." The article continues: " 'This is different than a normal book-selection procedure or a book-challenge policy,' Emmons stressed Saturday. 'She was asking me how I would deal with her saying a book can't be in the library.'" . . .

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Governor Sarah Palin addressing the graduating class of commission students at her one-time church, Wasilla Assembly of God:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG1vPYbRB7k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k84m2orSOaM

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Hugging benefits fractious chimps
BBC News ~ September 8, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7603691.stm
If you have just had a big falling out with a colleague, there is nothing better than the comforting and consoling arm of a good friend. Chimps, it seems, feel the same way, according to a study at Chester Zoo. The research is said to provide the first evidence that consolation in primates, such as hugging and stroking, can reduce stress levels after a fight. The behaviour could indicate some level of empathy, Dr Orlaith Fraser told the British Association Science Festival. "We can't actually say what's going on in a chimpanzee's mind; we can only deduce from their behaviour what's going on," the Liverpool John Moores University researcher said. "Because this behaviour is actually reducing stress levels and it's being offered by a valuable partner, it seems likely that this is an expression of empathy." Dr Fraser and colleagues spent 18 months observing 22 adult chimps at Chester Zoo. More>>>

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Frank Frazetta Top 100 artists that you should know
I Draw Girls Blog ~ September 6, 2008
http://idrawgirls.blogspot.com/2008/09/frank-frazetta-top-100-artists-that-you.html
Frank Frazetta: definitely this guy is also a machine and the god of fantasy illustration who inspired us for generations! Frank Frazetta (born February 9, 1928) is an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for his Buck Rogers comic book covers for Famous Funnies and paperback book cover paintings on series' such as Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard. His paintings gained added popularity in the 1970's, appearing in books, posters, prints, record covers, and various other merchandise. He is the subject of the 2003 nationally televised American film documentary Frank Frazetta, Painting with Fire.

 
"Mummy" director unwraps new "Tarzan"
September 2, 2008 ~ Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Stephen Sommers is in negotiations with Warner Bros. to bring a new version of the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs creation "Tarzan, Lord of the Apes," to the big screen. The project was first announced two years ago with Guillermo del Toro attached to direct. But Sommers will get his shot now that Del Toro is committed to a four-year stint choreographing dwarves in New Zealand for the "Hobbit" movies.

Over the decades, Tarzan has come in for any number of epic treatments, from John Derek's 1981 Jane-driven "Tarzan, the Ape Man," to the 1984 drama "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes," which famously earned pseudonymous screenwriter Robert Towne's dog, P.H. Vazak, an Oscar nomination. Disney released its take on the jungle king in 1999, replete with an incongruous (but Oscar-winning) Phil Collins soundtrack.

Sommers and the project's screenwriter, Stu Beattie ("Collateral"), are developing an entirely new approach, which will be inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Tarzan of the Apes" book rather than the Disney film or otherwise, but isn't specifically based on that or any other previously material.  With the "Mummy" movies, "The Scorpion King" and "Van Helsing," Sommers has become a connoisseur of the big-budget, effects-driven spectacle. More>>>

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Sommers circles new 'Tarzan'
Director in negotiations for a reimagining of the classic
September 2, 2008 ~ Hollywood Reporter
He's already tackled Huckleberry Finn and Mowgli, so let's see what Stephen Sommers can do with Tarzan. The "Jungle Book" director is in negotiations with Warner Bros. to bring a new version of the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs creation "Tarzan, Lord of the Apes," to the big screen. "Collateral" screenwriter Stu Beattie will write the project with Sommers. Jerry Weintraub ("Ocean's Eleven") is producing through his Jerry Weintraub Prods. Jessica Goodman and Jesse Ehrman will oversee for the studio. More>>>

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Tarzan Returns: From Guillermo del Toro to Stephen Sommers 
www.firstshowing.net

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Sommers in talks to direct 'Tarzan'
Stuart Beattie to write script for WB, Weintraub
September 2, 2008 ~ Variety.com
Stephen Sommers is in negotiations to direct a bigscreen version of "Tarzan" for Warner Bros. and producer Jerry Weintraub. Sommers will also co-write the "Tarzan" script with Stuart Beattie. Warner Bros. and Weintraub have been developing "Tarzan" since 2003, when John August was hired to pen a new take on the Edgar Rice Burroughs-created character. Two years ago, the studio was negotiating with Guillermo del Toro to direct.

Burroughs’ "Tarzan of the Apes" was written in 1912. Onscreen, the ape-man character became strongly identified with Johnny Weissmuller during the 1930s in MGM’s series of features. Warner Bros. put the character back on the bigscreen with its 1984 pic "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes," starring Christopher Lambert. Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow also made 1998’s "Tarzan and the Lost City," starring Casper Van Dien. In 2003, Warner Bros. TV produced a short-lived "Tarzan" skein for the WB Network. Beattie’s other credits include "Collateral," the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise and Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming "Australia." More>>>

Chantal "Jane" Janzen is pregnant!  by Wilma Nanninga
Amsterdam - The 29 -year-old musical star would like to share her secret with Holland. "Many women become pregnant. But now I realize how wonderful it feels. Our child will come at the end of January. I am now three-and-a half-months pregnant. My partner Marco says that I never looked so happy. Not long ago we decided that we would have a baby and now it's happened already. Great! I realize that not everybody has such luck."

She plans to play the role of 'Jane' until her belly becomes visible.

Marco (37) and Chantal have been together for two years. But they've known each other since their childhood from the tiny town in Limburg where they grew up. Chantal: "After years we met again and fell in love. Marco and I were both single, so nothing could restrain our relationship. We had a wonderful life together and very soon we decided to live together. It is nice that Marco doesn't have anything to do with showbiz. It makes him very academic. I am very academic myself, too." She laughs: It is possible to be so in this profession." 

Marco and Chantal complement each other in their two different careers. "I stimulate him in his mercantile job and he in the choices I make. I can talk with Marco about what I want to do. Being a mother will not mean the end of my career. I have good examples like Sophia Wezer. She also plays in Tarzan now. While in "The Wiz" she easily could do a splits when she was in her sixth month of pregnancy."

Chantal is very happy that she is pregnant. "My parents were immediately very enthusiastic. While I was worried about how we would have to organize everything it didn't come to their attention. Their first grandchild is more than welcome. And my elder brother Roger has already noticed my pregnancy. He told me that he could see it in my looks: I was sparkling. Roger is married but does not have any children yet."

Marco is already a father. He was divorced five years ago when he met Chantal again. "We told my children of 17, 13 and 9 years right away. They are very happy for us and that counts most for me." Chantal chuckles: "For Marco it is not his first childbirth... for me it is. He can help me with mine. 

Erwin van Lambaart, managing director and producer of Joop van den Ende Theaterproducties, ordered the technical staff to go through the flying scenes in the musical to be sure that it is safe for his pregnant leading actress. "Chantal and I are going to sit around the table to discuss the situation," he told the press. "Her health and that of the child has the highest priority."

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From Ron de Laat's Holland Meets ERB Website:
http://www.hollandmeetserb.nl

See all the Tarzan in Europe News at:
www.ERBzine.com/europe

ICH TARZAN, DU JANE!: FINALISTS
Tarzan and Jane are chosen for the German production of Tarzan the Musical
Tarzan in Europe News Friday, May 2, was the last live television show of "Ich Tarzan, Du Jane!" from Stuttgart, Germany. The special guest was Phil Collins. There were six finalists, three Tarzans and three Janes and, in the opinion of Collins and the three-man jury, all were fine talents.  It was up to the viewers at home to vote for the ones they thought should be Tarzan and Jane. In the final selection, the winners were Anton Zetterholm, of Swedish extraction, with a great voice and a very athletic and acrobatic physique. Jane is Elisabeth Hübert from Germany and she's a very pretty blonde with a fantastic voice

All the lyrics of the musical have been translated into German. Both finalists can sing fluently in either English or German. The Tarzan Musical premiere is slated for October 18, 2008, in Hamburg. Eventually the show will move to Berlin.

The TV show may be accessed at www.sat1.at/comedy_show/tarzan

 Submitted by Walter Taucer ~ Austria

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. vigorously enforces and defends its rights in the Tarzan character and stories.  In 2003, for example, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the trial court's decision in ERB's favor that two Tarzan books published in 1972 and 1976 illustrated by artist Burne Hogarth are works for hire owned by ERB, notwithstanding erroneous registrations stating that Hogarth was the author of the works. 

The district court initially sanctioned ERB's adversaries and their counsel, though the court later vacated the sanctions on the condition that ERB be reimbursed for certain of its attorneys' fees that had been the subject of the sanctions motion.