Erbzine.com Homepage
Official Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute and Weekly Webzine Site
Since 1996 ~ Over 15,000 Webpages in Archive
Volume 6341

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
FULL YEAR'S CONTENTS

AUGUST CONTENTS: WEEK THREE
AUG 15 ~ AUG 16 ~ AUG 17 ~ AUG 18
AUG 19 ~ AUG 20 ~ AUG 21

VISIT THE AUGUST WEEK III PHOTO ALBUM
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6341pics.html
BACK TO AUGUST WEEK 2
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6340.html

Click for full-size images

AUGUST 15

Mike Henry: Athlete and Actor: 3 Tarzan Films: Valley of Gold, Great River, Jungle Boy,
ERB's The Girl From Hollywood based on Tarzana Ranch events ~ Ed and Emma Burroughs






*** 1936: Tarzan film actor Mike Henry (1936.08.15-2021.01.08) was born on this date in Los Angeles, CA.
Mike apparently never strayed far from home, being born in the little burg of L.A., playing professional football there, working in movies there, and today still breathing in what ERB would no doubt describe as the fetid breath of the byproduct of civilization for which the city is famous. In spite of the air pollution, Mike hangs on, though he retired from acting in 1988 due to the onset of Parkinson's disease.
In his second Tarzan movie, Henry was bitten by his sidekick, Dinky the chimp, so badly that he suffered a huge cut on his chin and was sick three weeks with chimp fever. The rascally Dinky was put down for his bad behavior and other chimps filled in. Later in his career, Henry himself played a sidekick to Jackie Gleason -- the head lawman in the "Smokey and the Bandit" films. However, unlike Dinky, Henry never bit anyone.
    The peak of Henry's career, at least as far as ERB fans are concerned, was his three Tarzan movies, in which he portrayed the apeman pretty much the way that ERB portrays Tarzan in his Ape Man movies: "Tarzan and the Valley of Gold" ~ "Tarzan and the Great River" ~ "Tarzan and the Jungle Boy" Mike was film Tarzan number 14.
    Critically acclaimed fantasy author Fritz Leiber adapted and expanded the screenplay into a full-length, authorized, Tarzan novel in 1966: Tarzan and the Valley of Gold. It was published in paperback by Ballantine Books. In 2019, ERB, Inc, published the book in hardcover featuring brand-new cover art by Richard Hescox and interior art by Douglas Klauba.
ERBzine's 8-Page Mike Henry Tribute starts at:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1964.html
Tarzan and the Valley of Gold
 http://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0210.html
Tarzan and the Great River
 http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1962.html
Tarzan and the Jungle Boy
 http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1963.html
Authorized ERB Universe Novels
http://www.ERBzine.com/erbalive
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/film4/mikehenrylifephotosall.jpg
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/biblio2/tarzanvalleyofgold.jpg

Off-Site Trailers:
Valley of Gold ~ Great River ~ Jungle Boy~ "secret"
Valley of Gold Review


*** 1923: On this date, ERB presented his wife, Emma, with a copy of his latest novel, "The Girl from Hollywood," which had rolled off the presses of the Macauley Company Aug. 10. He inscribed it: "To / My dear wife / with all my love / Edgar Rice Burroughs / Good Samaritan Hospital / Los Angeles / Aug 15 1923." Emma was recovering in hospital from an appendectomy procedure. Joan's comments about the book: "My father did considerable research on the story [The Girl from Hollywood] and our ranch was used as the basis for the background. Dad even instilled some of my speeches and mannerisms into the character of one of the girls. He believed very much in this story and always felt that it was killed quickly by certain Hollywood elements." ERB was disappointed about the critical reaction to the book: "The critics said that no ranch such as I described in the story ever existed. The joke of it was that I merely described my own ranch!"
Other titles considered for the book included:  Other titles considered were: "Shannon", "Fetters of Snow", "The Snow Slave", "The Demon of the Snow", "Rancho del Ganado", "The Little Black Box" - and editor Davis' suggestion, "The Needlewoman."
    ERB believed that resistance from the Hollywood establishment who had been embarrassed by numerous Hollywood scandals and were determined to cover up any references to drugs in the town were responsible for the unfavourable reviews and limited success of the book.
   Read our huge collection of related ERBzine articles in the links below
The Girl From Hollywood: ERB C.H.A.S.E.R.
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0769.html
Read the e-Text Edition
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/girlholl.html
Tarzana Ranch Photos with Art by Studley O. Burroughs
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1091.html
Emma Centennia Burroughs Remembered (3 Parts)
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag67/6750.html
Inspiration of Tarzana Ranch for THE GIRL FROM HOLLYWOOD
By Bill Hillman
PART ONE
https://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6893.html
PART TWO
https://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6894.html
PART THREE: Photo Collage Gallery
https://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6895.html
ERB's Hotel California (22 Pages) by Woodrow Edgar Nichols, Jr.
https://www.erbzine.com/mag50/5020.html
Family Ties: In ERB's House - Two Parts by John Martin
https://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6891.html
https://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6892.html
Special 2021 Centennial Edition
https://edgarriceburroughs.com/store/product/the-girl-from-hollywood-centennial-edition/
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/erb4/girlfromhollywoodcentennial.jpg
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/erb4/girlfromhollywoodaddictions.jpg


*** 1913: ERB accepted New Story's $500 offer for The Outlaw of Torn.
Following ERB's success with his first story, Under the Moons of Mars, Thomas Metcalf of "All-Story Magazine" suggested that Ed should consider creating his next story in a different setting. "I was thinking last night, considering with how much vividness you described the various fights, whether you might not be able to do a serial of the regular romantic type, something like, say Ivanhoe, or at least of the period when everybody wore armor and dashed about rescuing fair ladies. . . ."
    So, somewhat reluctantly, Ed found himself returning to the thirteenth century to write a pseudo-historical romance about a gallant outlaw. Amazingly, he completed the story within three weeks and submitted it to Metcalf. The story was rejected and Metcalf sent a series of criticisms.
    With the rejection of The Outlaw of Torn Ed had become dubious about his writing ability. As a result, he now had little faith that "Tarzan," the story that he had started writing after his first draft of Torn, would be accepted. ". . . When I finished it I knew that it was not as good a story as The Outlaw of Torn," he commented, "and that, therefore, it would not sell...."
    Ed offered to make a series of reprints without success. "I am going to do it over again when have time — I shall stick to The Outlaw of Torn until it is published — I come of a very long lived family."
    Eventually there were three versions: the original long-hand story of 215 pages; a typed manuscript, quite similar but with small corrections; and the expanded, detailed form. The revised manuscript of 1912, a collection of hand-written and typed pages, exhibited changes that were based upon additional research.  Ed's persistence eventually paid off eight months later when A. L. Sessions, Editor of the "New Story" magazine, accepted the story for publication. The Outlaw of Torn was purchased for $1000 and serialized in the January, March, April, and May 1914 issues.
    Years later,Ed said, "I think it is the best thing I ever wrote, with the possible exception of Tarzan of the Apes, and next to it, I believe will rank The War Chief of the Apaches."
The Outlaw of Torn: C.H.A.S.E.R Biblio Series
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0754.html
MORE EVENTS FROM THE BIO TIMELINE

*** 1881: A younger brother, Charles Stuart, was born, but died five months later on January 18, 1882.
*** 1945: ERB wrote a letter home to grandson Mike Pierce in which he described the excitement over the announcement of War's end.
ERB Bio Timeline
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio
Letter Home to Grandson Mike Pierce
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1027.html


AUGUST 16

Aquanetta (nicknamed the "Venezualan Volcano"): High Priestess Lea in Tarzan and the Leopard Woman
Oakdale Affair: 1st Ed cover ~ The Mucker in All-Story ~ Script Magazine: ERB's Mystery Puzzles



*** 1921: Acquanetta (1921.07.17-2004.08.16) was born as Mildred Davenport or Burnu Acquanetta on this date in Newberry, South Carolina or Norristown, Pennsylvania or Ozone, Wyoming -- she is a woman of mystery :)
The first indications of overheating in the ozone came in 1921, when a girl was born in Ozone, Wyoming, near Cheyenne.
She grew up to become Lea, the Leopard Woman, opposite Johnny Weissmuller in "Tarzan and the Leopard Woman."
Her name was Acquanetta, but she was born either Burnu Acquanetta or Mildred Davenport, depending on which Hollywood version you read...and there were several stories the studio publicity departments dreamed up to promote her, one of which was to nickname her "The Venezuelan Volcano," though she has no more links to that South American country than she might have had to Ozone, since she's the one who claimed that was her place of birth, while other biographers insist that Mildred Davenport, as she was named by her parents, was actually born in Newberry, S.C. She also claimed to be part British nobility (her great-grandfather was an illegitimate son of the King of England).
Acquanetta made several movies, then settled down in Arizona as the wife of a well-to-do automobile dealer.
Acquanetta passed away on Aug. 16, in 2004, at the age of 83 in a town not unlike her stage name, Ahwatukee, AZ.
Acquanetta Tribute and Bio in ERBzine
http://www.erbzine.com/mag62/6270.html
Acquanetta Photo Gallery and Filmography
http://www.erbzine.com/mag62/6271.html
Tarzan and the Leopard Woman
http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0626.html
Leopard Woman Cards from Ron de Laat
http://www.erbzine.com/mag13/1382.html
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/film5/acquanettaleopardwomanall.jpg

Off-Site Reference:
Acquanetta's story


*** 1884: Hugo Gernsback (1884.08.16-1967.08.19) was born as Hugo Gernsbacher in Luxembourg on this date. He was an inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher, best known for publications including the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as publisher—although not as a writer—were so significant that, along with the novelists H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, he is sometimes called "The Father of Science Fiction". In his honour, annual awards presented at the World Science Fiction Convention are named the "Hugos".
    During their school years both Edgar Rice Burroughs and Hugo Gernsback discovered a book that would have a profound influence on each of these SF pioneers for the rest of their lives: astronomer Percival Lowell's book, Mars As the Abode of Life. This book started Gernsback on a lifelong quest in which he speculated on the nature of life and civilization on Mars. He wrote novels and went on to publish a long line of groundbreaking science and science fiction magazines. Some of his magazines featured reprints of stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Mastermind of Mars and The Land That Time Forgot.
    As publisher of Modern Electrics and Electrical Experimenter he drew the attention of such scientists as Guglielmo Marconi, Robert Goddard,  Reginald Fessenden, Thomas Edison, and ERB's inspiration of 20 years earlier, Nikola Tesla, the mastermind of electricity. At every chance he bombarded them with ideas from his boundless imagination. His all-consuming passion was the development of radio-related devices but he had many other grandeous schemes and predictions most of which he wrote about with accompanying illustrations in his magazines.
    Gernsbach's introduction to his reprint of ERB's Master Mind of Mars included these words: ". . .If you are a Burroughs fan -- and you probably are -- this new story by the well-known author will not fail to impress and stir you to the roots. Here is another of his Martian stories, entirely new, packed chockfull of adventure and excellent science. In this theme, Burroughs has hit upon a new idea, which he exploits throughout the story in a truly masterful and expert manner. Nor is your interest allowed to lag for a single paragraph, for Edgar Rice Burroughs knows how to keep you guessing. You will not rest easy until you have finished reading the story. It is one of this favorite author's best."
ERB / Hugo Gernsbach Connection (8 Pages) starts at:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag14/1462.html
Accompanying Photo Collage:
http://www.erbzine.com/cards/erb/hugoall.jpg
*** Harold Rudolf Foster (1892.08.16-1982.07.25)
better known as Hal Foster, was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer best known as the creator of the Tarzan and Prince Valiant comic strips His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship and attention to detail and has influenced many generations of famous artists.
    Born in Halifax, NS, and later moved to Winnipeg, MB, Foster rode his bike to the United States in 1919 and began to study in Chicago, eventually taking up residence in the US. In 1929, he began one of the earliest adventure comic strips, an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan in B/W daily strips. In 1931 he took over the Tarzan Sunday page strips which he produced weekly until 1937. In 1937, he created his signature strip, the weekly Prince Valiant, a fantasy adventure set in medieval times. The strip featured Foster's dexterous, detailed artwork; Foster eschewed word balloons, preferring to have narration and dialogue in captions.
    We have reprinted ALL of the Tarzan strips (daily and colour Sundays) plus the early years of his Prince Valiant strips.
Hal Foster Tribute and Guide to his Strips ~ 1929-1937
https://www.ERBzine.com/foster
Hal Foster Biography and Intro to our Foster Tarzan summary project.
https://www.erbzine.com/mag8/0802.html
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/comics2/fostertarzan281all.jpg
http://www.ERBzine.com/cards/art4/haroldfosterall.jpg

*** 2014: As of Aug. 16, 2014, Librivox made a reading of ERB's "The Oakdale Affair" available online. Ralph Snelson does the reading. If he doesn't read it fast enough for your liking, there's a tool you can use to speed him up. If you prefer to read it the old-fashioned way and don't have a copy, it may be read online in ERBzine.
Oakdale Affair: Art ~ Photos ~ Text ~ History
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0765.html
Oakdale Affair: 1919 Film Coverage
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0765a.html
Read Oakdale Affair free in eText
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/o6oa.html

Off-Site Reference:
Oakdale Audio Reading
ERB books at librivox


*** 1913: ERB started The Mucker which he completed on October 9:
The Mucker
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0757.html
Read The Mucker in eText
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/o1m.html
*** 1915: "His Majesty, The Janitor" a 7-page synopsis was written at his 414 Augusta St. Oak Park residence.

Burroughs Fans at 414 Augusta St. Oak Park
http://www.erbzine.com/mag33/dc3043h5.jpg
Lost Words of ERB listing
http://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0219.html
*** 1932: "Who Murdered Mr. Thomas?" appeared in Script Magazine - A Police Inspector Muldoon Mystery.

Who Murdered Mr. Thomas?: Mystery and Solution
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0047.html


AUGUST 17

Fred Small's cover art for The Cave Man for All-Story ~ Bruce Bozarth (R), George McWhorter (M), Jim Thompson (L)
Tarzan Stamp Unveiling: Burroughs Family & Dignitaries ~ People That Time Forgot Poster


*** 1948: David Bruce Bozarth, known to many simply as Tangor was born this date. Besides maintaining the website and moderating the erblist discussion, Bruce has put together an ERB watering hole full of impressive non-fiction and fictional articles with contributors such as David Adams, J.H. (Huck) Huckenpohler, Andy Nunez, Ken Webber, Lew Kaye-Skinner, Dale Robinson, Serena Dubois, Joel Jenkins, John Martin, Bill Hillman and many others.
    Bozarth himself is a featured writer and has turned in numerous works of fan fiction, including 22 stories about "Ras Thavas the the Calot;" a novel, "La of Opar," and other tales, sometimes in collaboration with others, such as "When the Princess Disappeared." Many treasures turn up in an exploration of the site.
There is also a "Hall of Memories" featuring fan tributes to people in the world of ERB who have passed on, and memories are still welcomed for that section.
    Like his colleague in the world of ERB fan sites, Bill Hillman, who provides the ERBzine.com venue for ERB fans both on the web at large and on social media, Bozarth is also an accomplished musician and singer, playing electric guitar in a band known as the Greyfoxxe.
    Back in 1996, as I was preparing to create my ERBzine tribute Webpages to ERB one of the few places devoted to the Master of Fantasy Adventure was Tangor's ListServ, ERBlist. This opened a Web door to numerous other ERB fanatics, many of whom I had lost touch with since joining the Burroughs Bibliophiles back in the '60s. This was all the incentive I needed to create my site that eventually morphed into ERBzine.
    I soon developed a friendship with the Texan and before long we were co-writing a years-long ERB parody - RATNAZ- that eventually reached over 123 chapters before we both moved on to other things. It was a sort of round-robin effort in which one of us would write a whacky chapter and the other would continue it on -- each chapter building on the story which featured ERB characters and worlds mixed in with family, current affairs, news, and politics of the day. We each tried to outdo and surprise the other with outrageous plot twists. As the story developed, each chapter was featured in our respective Websites.     My daughter, China-Li, surprised me one Fathers Day by presenting me with a one-of-a-kind, thick hardcover book THE RATNAZ TALES that featured all my chapters. It was a fun project carried on by Tangor of Texas and The Jeddak of the North of Manitoba.
Code of Tarzan by Tangor
http://www.erbzine.com/mag1/0128.html
War Correspondent's Notebook by Tangor
http://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0203.html
The Ratnaz Files by Tangor and Jeddak of the North
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/meetratz.html

Off-Site References:
Tangor's erblist
Tangor Responds
Hall of Memories


*** Open ALL-GORY PULP PARODY ZINE to the RATNAZ FILES and discover the whacky Worlds of Edgar Nyce as he Burrows to countless exciting adventures as told to Tangor and Bill Hillman All-Gory invites you to travel through space and time and follow the tribulations of a traditional pulp author as he flounders in the fast lane of our modern electronic age.
*** Back in the mid-90s Tangor challenged readers of his ERBlist listserv to join him in the writing of a round-robin parody on the life and works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. I was the only one who took up the challenge and the next few years were spent goading each other on in silliness. Tangor wrote an opening chapter for which I did a follow-up. We took turns writing sequel chapters and displayed the results on our respective Websites. We even worked ourselves, families, contemporary news events and personalities of the day into the plot. The result was 123 chapters of a book like no other: THE RATNAZ FILES. My daughter even rewarded my craziness by lifting my text from the Web and having it bound in a rare one-of-a-kind self published hardback book -- a surprise gift to her dad on Father's Day. We had hoped to carry the storyline even further, but real life got in the way and we never returned to the adventure. The results of this immense waste of time are still preserved for posterity on the Web at:
Ratnaz: 123-Chapter ERB Parody by Tangor and Hillman
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/meetratz.html

JoN: Jeddak of the North (Bill Hillman) and Tangor (Bruce Bozarth)  ~ Art by Duane Adams

*** 2012: A USPS Commemorative Stamp honoring Edgar Rice Burroughs was issued nationwide this date, Aug. 17, 2012, with official first-day-of-issue postmark offered at a ceremony in Tarzana, Calif. The Dum-Dum was timed to coincide with the first-day ceremony, which was held at the Tarzana Cultural Center. Several different postmarks were available for fans who bought stamps there.
Four Tarzans were in attendance at the ceremony -- Denny Miller, Ron Ely, Casper Van Dien and a local hunk in a loin cloth!
The Burroughs Family -- proud of  the recognition bestowed on grandfather/great grandfather, Edgar Rice Burroughs -- were in attendance and addressed the huge crowd.
Not many people at the ceremony realized it, because Denny had been bound by the U.S. Postal Service to keeping a low profile, but the stamp was actually made possible because Denny himself had made the suggestion to the man who was, at the time, the chairman of the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee.
ERBzine Stamp Ceremony coverage in Tarzana
http://www.erbzine.com/mag41/4106.html
Story Behind the Stamp by John Martin
http://www.erbzine.com/mag43/4395.html
First impressions of the Stamp
http://www.erbzine.com/mag37/3718.html
Tarzan Stamp Previews
http://www.erbzine.com/mag36/3611.html

Off-Site Reference
John Martin Story of the Stamp


*** 1977: When they made the movie version of "The People That Time Forgot," they must have wanted you to forget the people who were in ERB's original book, along with the plot. The film was released Aug. 17, 1977, in France, after its earlier release July 6, 1977, in New York City.
    The movie plays havoc with ERB's sequel to "The Land that Time Forgot." They couldn't get Susan Penhaligon back, so they killed off Lys La Rue (Oops! I mean Lisa Clayton, who they had named the Lys La Rue character in the previous LTF film!). She was killed off before "People" even started, and then, so Bowen Tyler wouldn't have to spend the rest of his life in mourning, they put him out of his misery during "People" as well. They changed the name of the lead character from Tom Billings to Major Ben McBride, for no perceptible reason, and they saved on the makeup budget by simply decorating bald-headed villains with eye shadow.
The People That Time Forgot: ERBzine Silver Screen
http://www.erbzine.com/mag30/3029.html

Off-Site Reference
People Time Forgot Trailer


*** 1881: Frederic Charles William Small (1881.08.17-1960.09.10), often identified as just Fred W. Small, was born on this date in San Francisco, California. He worked for newspapers and pulp magazines -- Munsey, All-Story, Argosy -- and was involved in the first public presentation of some ERB stories through that venue. He did the covers for The Warlord of Mars, The Beasts of Tarzan, The Mad King and The Cave Man (sequel to "The Cave Girl") and also "headpieces" for ERB's first pulp appearance: "Under the Moons of Mars" and such stories as "A Man Without A Soul" (part 1 of "The Mucker") and "Sweetheart Primeval," (part 2 of "The Eternal Lover").
    In 1948 at the age of sixty-seven he retired from commercial art. In 1952 he moved to Tucson, Arizona, and lived at 1432 North Catalina. Frederic C. W. Small died in the Tucson Medical Center, at the age of seventy-nine on September 10, 1960.
ERBzine's ERB Artist Encyclopedia
Fred W. Small Bio and Links to his ERB Art
https://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1016.html
The Warlord of Mars
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0424.html
The Beasts of Tarzan
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0485.html
"The Mad King": All-Story Weekly: March 21, 1914 ~ Cover Art
 http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0758.html
The Cave Man
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0755.html

Off-Site Reference
Small in pulpartists.com


ERBzine Bio Timeline Notes
*** 1914: ERB sent Cave Man to Davis
*** 1921: The Burroughses decided to try educating the children with a tutor for one year. Ed wrote the Hollywood School for Girls to tell them he was satisfied with Joan's education there but the daily commute was getting too hard to handle. He also requested that the tuition he had paid for Hulbert's and Jack's attendance there be refunded since they did not plan to attend.
*** 1930: Ed noted receiving letters from the Dearholts who were travelling around the Southwest in their "land yacht" -- a mobile home constructed by Ashton.
*** 1935: Rothmund began a barrage of submissions of ERB's 1930 western That Damned Dude now renamed The Brass Heart by John Mann. It met with 24 rejections but eventually was purchased by Thrilling Wonder stories in 1939 and serialized in 1940
The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0777.html
ERB Bio Timeline
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio


AUGUST 18

Robert B. Zeuschner's "ERB: The Bibliography": Most comprehensive ever published ~ Rafer Johnson:
Ron Ely TV, two Mike Henry Tarzans ~ Sears Dept. managed by ERB ~ Zeuschner first Biblio 1996, Yeates art




*** 2016: "Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Bibliography," by Robert B. Zeuschner is the comprehensive work listing first and reprint editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs books, became available Aug. 18, 2016. The edition has 736 pages, and more than 600 images, 500 of which are in color on glossy stock. There is more about Bob's guide to ERB books as well as information on other new editions of ERB books for sale in ERBzine's ERB Still Lives. This was a full-expanded, updated and shortened title edition of his first bibliography -- "Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Exhaustive Scholar's and Collector's Descriptive Bibliography".
    Years ago, when I created my online illustrated bibliography in ERBzine, I titled it with a nod to Bob's excellent book with the long name: EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS C.H.A.S.E.R. Encyclopedia: A Collector's Hypertexted and Annotated Storehouse of Encyclopedic Resources by an Exhausted Scholar: William G. Hillman
Edgar Rice Burroughs Still Lives!
http://www.erbzine.com/erbalive
http://www.erbzine.com/mag62/6264.html
ERBzine's ERB C.H.A.S.E.R.
http://www.ERBzine.com/chaser

Off-Site Reference
https://www.erbbooks.com/erb-bibliography.html


*** 1935:  It is known that some ERB fans on facebook are residents of The Lone Star state and there have even been ERB gatherings held in the great state of Texas.
Sadly, though, not everyone loves Texas all that much. One of those who hasn't much use for the state is Rafer Johnson, who was born this date, Aug. 18,1935, in Hillsboro, Texas.
"I don't care if I never see Texas again," he said. "There's nothing about it I like...."
Johnson is probably most well known to the world, and that would include ERB fans, as an Olympic record setter in the Decathlon.
However, ERB fans are also aware of his other career, in the film industry, where he played opposite Mike Henry's Tarzan in two movies and with Ron Ely in "The Prodigal Puma," an episode of "Tarzan" on TV.
MARTIN POEM:
In youth, Rafer Johson won races ~ With speed like a fully grown Bambi.
In “Jungle Boy” he battled Tarzan ~ In the role of the evil Nagambi
In "Tarzan and the Great River," ~ He was cast as the tough guy, Barcuna,
And on TV with Ely he landed ~ A role in”The Prodigal Puma.”
Denny Miller Career Flashback: Rafer Johnson
http://www.erbzine.com/mag45/4588.html
Ron Ely TV Series
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0014.html
"Tarzan and the Jungle Boy," plus Allsup review:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1963.html
"Tarzan and the Great River":
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1962.html

Off-Site Reference
Johnson's thoughts on Texas


*** 1908: Ed left his success and security at Sears to go into business for himself. Ed and a partner started an advertising agency based upon a correspondence course aimed at preparing students in salesmanship: Burroughs and Dentzer, Advertising Contractors. It failed.
    Seeing a great future in the mail order business, 32-year-old Ed Burroughs had applied for a position at the Sears, Roebuck and Company in early 1907. Sears was one of the fastest growing companies in American and its thousand-page mail order catalogue was a cherished item in homes across the country -- especially in rural areas. He was given a position in the correspondence department, but was soon promoted to Manager of the Stenographic Department. Grandson Danton shared 50 Sears Stereoview 3D cards from his Tarzana Family Archive. This was a welcome addition to our research on ERB's Sears years and his experiences at the Chicago World's Fair 1893: Columbian Exposition . . . and they also had a welcome home in our huge collection of thousands of stereoviews featured in our personal hillmanweb.com Website. These 3D cards were very popular from 1880-1920 and our collection features cards of a multitude of themes and countries: WWI ~ Canadian and American Indian Life ~ Canada ~ China ~ Hong Kong ~ Cambodia ~ Indochina ~  India ~ Japan ~ Misc.
ERB: Manager of the Sears Stenographic Department
https://www.erbzine.com/mag12/1288.html
Hillman Collection of 3D Stereoview Cards (thousands)
http://www.hillmanweb.com/3d/
Introduction To Our TARZAN'S AFRICA IN 3D Circ. 1900
9 Galleries starting at:
https://www.erbzine.com/mag55/5582.html
*** 1908 Ed wrote the poem "Poverty!" and pawned Emma's jewelry.

ERB's Poem: Poverty!
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0003.html#poverty
*** 1907: ERB inquired about books on fingerprinting and on the care of infants, suggesting that the first ideas for his Tarzan of the Apes plot may be developing. ERB had been first introduced to the new technique of fingerprinting when he spent the summer of 1893 at Chicago's Columbian Exposition. A major part of the anthropological exhibit was the one put together by Joseph Jastrow of the American Psychological Association.  He had created a replica of Sir Francis Galton's Anthropometric Laboratory, which had been doing research into heredity and in the promoting of his theory of eugenics. There was a constant line of visitors to the display -- anxious to have their heads measured by a team of anthropologists led by Jastrow and his assistant, Franz Boas. They claimed that these measurements could determine where the subject ranked on the scale of human evolution.

    Of special interest was Galton's new book, Finger Prints - Macmillan 1892, which presented a revolutionary means of identifying people -- by the prints made by the ridges and furrows of skin on their fingers. Francis Galton's intensive use of measurement methodologies led him to discover and establish fingerprinting as a reliable method of identification. Having collected hundreds of fingerprint samples, Galton created a taxonomic classification system still largely in use by forensic scientists of the twenty-first century
1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition
https://www.ERBzine.com/expo
Ed and Emma's Grand Adventure II
https://www.erbzine.com/mag12/1278.html
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/erb/expo1893.jpg
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/erb3/searsstereocardsall.jpg
*** 2012: We were honoured to have Dr. Jane Goodall as the Guest of Honour and dinner speaker at the Edgar Rice Burroughs Centennial celebration in Tarzana, CA on this date. The three-day centennial event also featured the introduction of “Jane, the Woman Who Loved Tarzan” by Robin Maxwell. This was appropriate since Dame Goodall credited ERB's "Tarzan of the Apes" novel and other stories as the source of her lifelong interest in primates. She began reading Tarzan stories when she was eleven and professed to be very jealous of Tarzan's Jane at that time.

    Dame Jane Morris Goodall, DBE born on April 3, 1934, is considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best known for her over 55-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees since she first went to Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania in 1960.
    Meeting Jane Goodall: I was host for the Tarzan ape yell contest at this special convention in Tarzana. At the end of the contest I thought it would be appropriate to invite her into the convention room to give her version of an ape call . . . even though there were never any chimps in Burroughs' books. I escorted her to the lecturn where she blew the crowd away with her authentic and exciting Chimp call. A remarkable lady.
Jane's Chimp Call at Tarzan Yell Contest
http://www.erbzine.com/mag41/4110.html
Jane Goodall: Guest of Honour at ERB Centennial
http://www.erbzine.com/mag41/4117.html
Jane, The Woman Who Loved Tarzan
http://www.erbzine.com/mag37/3706.html
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/cons/janegoodalltarzanaall.jpg
*** 1915: Ed wrote two synopses: Lion Hunter (5-page comedy) and The Mucker to be submitted as film ideas

ERB Bio Timeline
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio


AUGUST 19

Frank E. Schoonover Art for ERB's A Princess of Mars and The Gods of Mars ~
Schoonover at Work ~ Gene Roddenberry ~ Roddenberry's rare Tarzan Film Script


*** 1877 Frank Schoonover (1877.08.19-1972.09.01) who illustrated two ERB books, dust jacket and inside: "A Princess of Mars" and "The Gods of Mars," was born this date in New Jersey, and passed away a few days shy of his 95th birthday.
His cover for "A Princess of Mars," with John Carter defending Dejah Thoris, became the classic and oft-imitated image for the novel, and the followup cover for "The Gods of Mars" was first to feature a Barsoomian airship.
    Schoonover's subject matter covered a broad spectrum but he seemed most at home with frontier and adventure themes and rugged landscapes. His forms were simple and well defined and his moods powerful. Later in his career, his style became less rigid and more impressionistic. Schoonover was also an accomplished watercolorist and muralist and an avid photographer. Schoonover, a devout Episcopalian, devoted much energy to Immanuel Church, Wilmington, where he designed 16 stained glass windows and served as warden for 41 years until 1959.
    After a series of paralyzing strokes, which ended his artistic career in 1968, Schoonover died in Wilmington, Delaware at the age of 95 in 1972.
Bill Hillman's ERBzine presents Schoonover at:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0422.html
A Princess of Mars: Art ~ History ~ e-Text ~ etc.
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0421.html
The Gods of Mars:  Art ~ History ~ e-Text ~ etc.
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0423.html

Off-Site References
Schoonover site
Schoonover at americanillustration
Schoonover studio visit


*** 1921: Gene Roddenberry (1921.08.19-1991.10.24) was born on this date and, as any schoolboy knows, created "Star Trek." After the USS Enterprise completed its five-year mission in only three years, thanks to warp drive and other factors, Roddenberry decided to write a Tarzan script for a new movie. The feature script that Roddenberry wrote was never produced, primarily because the script was deemed too expensive for the company and budget cuts brought it down to a movie-of-the-week level. This was not in line with Roddenberry's vision, as he wanted to get out of television at the time. A secondary reason why the script remained unused was that Roddenberry had allegedly written many sexually oriented moments in his characterization of our intrepid hero, not something for television. Roddenberry got as far as location scouting in Mexico for the film and writing a full 169-page script, but very quickly, the project was quashedeven before casting had been considered. This means we don't know who might have become Gene Roddenberry's Tarzan! The script has survived, however, and I have it in my ERB library along with many other unfilmed Tarzan scripts.
    Roddenberry Quote: "I wish I had more control, more like Edgar Rice Burroughs had, but I'm a realist, too. I work in television. I don't know that I would want to spend the rest of my life controlling my characters." Gene Roddenberry
    An Interesting Factoid from our ERB Genealogy Series: Roddenberry is 11th cousin one-time removed to Edgar Rice Burroughs (Famous Kin Site)
The Story of Roddenberry's Tarzan Film Script
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0038.html
Quotes Recognizing the Influence of ERB in Popular Fiction
http://www.erbzine.com/mag28/2875.html
Roddenberry: Distant Cousin to ERB ~ ERB Eclectica 2016.07
http://www.erbzine.com/mag58/5814.html

Off-Site Reference
10 Roddenberry Facts


ERB Bio Timeline Notes
*** 1927: Tarzana Bulletin "an aid to the development of Tarzana" was published. Edited by Ed's new secretary Ralph Rothmund. "Building Notes" section reported construction of a new store ad office building at 18352 Ventura Blvd. and made references to the "beautiful old walnut tree in the centre of the yard" and Ed's study
*** 1938 : Ed and Flo left on the Lurline for Hawaii vacation
ERB Bio Timeline
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio

Off-Site Reference
History of Tarzana: Tarzana Property Owners
http://www.tarzanapropertyowners.org/tarzana%20history.html


AUGUST 20

Rand McNally ERB Rejection Letter and Building ~ McClurg's Tarzan of the Apes and Building ~ ERB's Tarzana Theatre
Lad and the Lion: 1st Pulp & 1st Ed. ~ ERB's Aircraft ~ Gray Morrow's Tarzan's Conquest Strip


*** 2012: Bill Hillman was interviewed on this date for part of a major documentary on Pulp Authors. The Hillman emphasis was on the legacy of Edgar Rice Burroughs. He was filmed in front of blue screen backdrop on which art and photo images would be projected in the finished documentary.
It was pretty much an all-day event involving meetings, lunch at Vegas Seafood Buffet, still photo shoots, and video enactments. . . culminating in a 90 minute on-camera interview conducted by Galaxy Press President, John Goodwin, at their Hollywood Blvd studio location - a few doors down from the Grauman Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
    L. Ron Hubbard. like Burroughs, was a very successful pulp writer. He put out a huge body of work, using a pseudonym for many of the stories. LRH was born the year that ERB was first published.
The ERB/Hubbard Connection
http://www.ERBzine.com/hubbard
The L. Ron Hubbard Library Tour
http://www.erbzine.com/mag33/3371.html
ERBzine's ERB/Authors Connection Series
http://www.erbzine.com/mag23/2341.html
*** 1913: "For of all sad words of tongue or pen, ~ "The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'

Did the editors at Rand McNally ever ponder that stanza near the end of the John Greenleaf Whittier poem, "Maud Muller?" The firm is certainly in good company with many book publishers who have rejected something, only to see it go on to everlasting fame in the hands of someone else.
Such was the case for Rand McNally, which wrote a letter this date, Aug. 20, in 1913 to struggling author Edgar Rice Burroughs, to inform him that their editors had given "Tarzan of the Apes" some "careful consideration" but, while it was interesting, they wrote, "we find it does not fit in with our plans."
Yes indeed! Considering that "Tarzan of the Apes" was a story based on a new concept, it is easy to see that Rand McNally did not have any "plans" for such a story (but neither did any other publisher!) Obviously, Rand McNally didn't plan for the unanticipated, either!
    After Tarzan became a success, Rand McNally changed its tune some years later and was quite happy to become the publisher of a couple of Tarzan coloring books.The Rand McNally building pictured stood from 1889 to 1911, and was also headquarters for the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1983, in which ERB had a role, so the Rand McNally outfit may have seemed a logical place to market his book. By the time ERB wrote "Tarzan of the Apes," this building had been razed and a new one erected. Bookselling was profitable enough to build new buildings when the old ones burned down. The first McClurg building burned down in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the second one also was destroyed by fire. The current building was raised in 1899, in plenty of time to publish "Tarzan of the Apes" in 1914.
Rand McNally Rejection Letter to ERB
http://www.erbzine.com/mag9/0940.html
ERB's remarkable summer of 1893
http://www.erbzine.com/mag12/1275.html
Tarzan of the Apes
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0483.html

Off-Site Reference
ERB and Rejection
Rand McNally Buildings
ERB and A.C. McClurg


*** 1890: Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890.08.20-1937.03.15), an American writer of weird fiction and horror fiction, was born on this date in Providence, Rhode Island. Lovecraft was virtually unknown during his lifetime and published only in pulp magazines before he died in poverty, but is now regarded as one of the most significant 20th-century authors of weird and horror fiction. His writings were the basis of the Cthulhu Mythos, which has inspired a large body of pastiches, games, music and other media drawing on Lovecraft's characters, setting and themes, constituting a wider body of work known as Lovecraftian horror.
    THE ERB/LOVECRAFT CONNECTION: Lovecraft wrote a fan letter in the March 7, 1914 issue of All-Story Weekly that ran ERB's The Eternal Lover.
We've featured this little-known piece of writing in ERBzine by the great master of the supernatural -- H. P. Lovecraft -- who is well known to lovers of the weird tale. It gives us a glimpse of him as "fan." And it was such letters as his that encouraged the Munsey chain to continue printing their so-called "different" stories, and probably let to the eventual founding of Weird Tales magazine nine years later.
    From this interesting letter it is obvious that Lovecraft was familiar with Burroughs' works and ERB was possibly one of his main literary influences. Many of the recurring elements HPL later used are similar to the elements used in Burroughs' works -- especially those from the Pellucidar tales: the reptile race, subterranean tunnels, the earth's interior with its eternal day, ancient cities, prehistoric creatures, superior "Old Ones" -- a winged web-footed, scholarly race -- who control "Shoggoths" and use men as cattle (At the Mountains of Madness 1931).  There are numerous other clues and coincidences scattered across HRL's body of work: Randolph Carter who experiences an out-of-body experience while in a mystical cave (The Silver Key, 1926), an English nobleman who discovers that his ancestor was of a hybrid race resulting from the matings of apes with inhabitants of the last surviving city of a prehistoric white civilization in Africa (Arthur Jermyn, 1920), pterodactyls, advanced earth drilling machines, limestone caverns, subterranean worlds and a multitude of fantasy worlds.
THE ERB/LOVECRAFT CONNECTION
By Darrell C. Richardson
http://www.erbzine.com/mag11/1137.html
THE ALMOST-HUMAN RACE OF LOVECRAFT’S MYTHOS
By Den Valdron
http://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1787.html
Short Story 1: The Hound
http://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1787a.html
Short Story 2:
Horror At Red Hook
http://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1787b.html
*** 2000: "The Contest," by Gray Morrow and Mark Kneece, began Aug. 20, 2000, in Sunday newspapers and continued through Nov. 26.

The Contest: All 15 Tarzan Strips by Gray Morrow
http://www.erbzine.com/mag34/3487.html
*** 1934: Ed writes a letter to daughter Joan with talk about the baby crying. Plus "Am going over this afternoon to watch Jim Granger test his new ship that he is to fly in the London-Melbourne race in October." (Jim Granger would die in this ship on Oct.3)

Ed's Letter to Joan
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1049.html#August%2020,
*** 1937: ERB Added 21,000 words to the 1914 novelette Lad and the Lion  for book release - the retitled Men and Beasts

The Lad and the Lion
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0760.html

*** 1950: Last Burne Hogarth Tarzan Sunday page ~ Next week's strip by Bob Lubbers
ERBzine Comics Archive
http://www.ERBzine.com/comics
*** 1921: August films that Ed showed in the Tarzana Ranch Ballroom Theatre included Stuffed Lions (short) ~ The Fire Cat ~ Tee Time ~ Society Secrets ~ Colorado with Frank Mayo.

ERB's Tarzana Ranch Theatre Today
http://www.erbzine.com/mag9/0955.html
Tarzana Ranch: Then and Now
http://www.erbzine.com/mag11/1161.html


AUGUST 21

TOP: JCB: Artist, Writer, Pomona Grad ~ JCB cover ~ Whitman letter ~Other Artists' Ant Men ~ Tarzan Escapes
BOTTOM: Tarzan the Fearless Marquee ~ Hulbert: Pomona Golfers ~ Sweetheart Primeval ~ Tarzan Escapes Marquee



*** 1944: The deal was solidifed on Aug. 21, 1944, in a letter from Thomas Penfield of Whitman Publishing Company: John Coleman Burroughs, ERB's youngest son, would do the cover for the Better Little Books version of "Tarzan and the Ant Men." See my scan of that letter, and the cover, along with some other JCB work -- both illustrative and literary -- in ERBzine 1982.
"WHITMAN PUBLISHING CO. ~ Racine, Wisconsin ~ August 21, 1944 ~ BOOKS * GAMES * GREETING CARDS * PLAYING CARDS
To: Mr. John Coleman Burroughs ~ Tarzana, California ~ Dear Mr. Burroughs:
Thank you for your letter of August 15 accepting the assignment to do the cover for our Better Little Book, TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN.
If you have not already started this cover, please use the scale of 1 to 2, as laid out on the tissues which I sent to you a week or so ago.
We will need this art as soon as you can complete it for us. I believe that you have all the material necessary to work from.
Very truly yours, WHITMAN PUBLISHING CO. ~ Thomas Penfield"
John Coleman Burroughs: The Writer
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1982.html
Our John Coleman Burroughs Tribute Site
http://www.johncolemanburroughs.com
Tarzan and the Ant Men: Better Little Book Gallery
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0044c.html
Tarzan and the Ant Men: The Original
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0497.html
*** 2003: Raid on the JCB Treasure Vaults:
Danton Burroughs and I used a large bolt cutter (key was lost many years ago) to break into one of the numerous JCB storage lockers in the valley.  We sorted and transferred the contents to Dan's SUV and trailer. Among  the contents were stacks of art, documents, carvings, photos and books as well as ERB items such as a film projector, chair, bust sculpture, uniforms, and other memorabilia. Of particular interest were the many SF manuscripts, some which had been published in pulp zines and many others that had never been released. All were written by JCB -- many with wife Jane and Hully as co-writers. We moved these treasures up to the old Tarzana Ranch location for storage in the attached garage. I took numerous photos of the locker, trailer and storage garage at the time. Tragically, sometime later much of this treasure disappeared -- but that's another story.
Raid on the JCB Treasure Vaults
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1053.html
John Coleman Burroughs the Writer
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1982.html
*** 1914: Ed started Sweetheart Primeval which he finished on September 14 (Part II of The Eternal Lover).

The Eternal Lover
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0759.html
*** 1933: Tarzan the Fearless was released

Tarzan the Fearless
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0595.html
*** 1933: Hulbert graduated from Pomona College and attended the U. of New Mexico summer school of archaeology at Jemez Springs. Both Hulbert and his younger brother, Jack, were Pomona grads.

Hulbert at Pomona College and More
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1985.html
*** Herbert Mundin(1898.08.21-1939.03.05)
was born Aug. 21, 1898, in St. Helens, Lancashire, England. He was added to the cast of the second version of "Tarzan Escapes" for comic relief, to help tone down the violence in the first version of the film. Mundin, a short, blubbery-jowled Hollywood character actor of the 1930's, with prior experience in UK theatre and cinema generally played comic characters. He also appeared in Charlie Chan’s Secret (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), David Copperfield (1935) and Another Dawn (1937).  His last film was Society Lawyer for MGM.
    Over breakfast one morning at a past Dum-Dum, a few of ERB fans got into a conversation about the different ways that non-locals pronounce the names of places. England's own Laurence Dunn told John Martin, his grandson Schuyler and Tom Tolley that, in England, the word "shire," by itself, is pronounced with a long "i" and two syllables. When it is added to another word though, such as Yorkshire, or the above-mentioned Lancashire, the "shire" is pronounced as "sure." It is funny, he said, to hear tourists mispronounce the names of such places.
When tourists flock to visit the boyhood home of Herbert Mundin nowadays, though, there may not be as many mispronouncing the "shire" part of the name, since St. Helens is now, geographically, considered part of Merseyside.
    Herbert Mundin was killed in a road accident on March 5, 1939 in Van Nuys, California, USA  at age 40.
Herbert Mundin in "Tarzan Escapes"
http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0618.html
"Escapes" missing Vampire Bats footage
http://www.erbzine.com/mag21/2141.html
"Escapes" BLB's Original Script
http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0648.html
"Escapes" 3 Lobby Displays
http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0618a.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag21/2141a.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag21/2141b.html
http://www.ERBzine.com/cards/film4/tarzanescapesmundinall.jpg

Off-Site References
Mundin in IMDB
Mundin in Wikipedia



VISIT AUGUST WEEK 3 PHOTO ALBUM
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6341pics.html

BACK TO AUGUST WEEK 2
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6340.html

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



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