Jungle Tales of Tarzan reportedly sold well enough to justify its continued existence. The creative team of Masulli, Sam Glanzman, and Joe Gill, kept their pledge to the readers. However, even though the stories Sam Glanzman drew and Joe Gill adapted were free of copyright, Western Publishing and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., argued that Tarzan was still a trademark. Jungle Tales of Tarzan folded after only four issues.

Hi Bill,
I really love your ERB websites!!
I'm hoping you can help me. I am the local producer for a Spanish wildlife documentary series looking to film in California. The series is set around Tarzan and how he was one of the first advocates for animals.

We're looking for Tarzan fans based in Los Angeles, San Diego or San Francisco who could appear in the series. (Where are you  based?) We'd want to interview them on camera and show off their Tarzan memorabilia. Is there anyone you could put is in touch with? Any fans who also own any animals/ California wildlife would be a big plus!!

About the show:
"Wild Frank" is a top rated prime time nature series airing on the Discovery Max network (DMAX) in Spain (owned by Discovery) and 30 other countries. Hosted by acclaimed herpetologist and Premio Ondas award winner Frank Cuesta, the ninth season of the show is focusing on California and it's incredible flora, fauna and people.

Any help showcasing ERB's wonderful character Tarzan and the fabs whose lives he has touched is greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,
Nick
Nicholas Coles
Producer
(310) 883-8460
nickcoles@gmail.com

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Congratulations Linda, Dejah and Llana Jane Burroughs!
When Spanish producer Nick Coles contacted me last month looking for Tarzan fans in the LA area, 
you folks were at the top of the recommended list I sent him.
*** "Wild Frank" is a top rated prime time nature series airing on the 
Discovery Max network (DMAX) in Spain (owned by Discovery) and 30 other countries. 
Hosted by acclaimed herpetologist and Premio Ondas award winner Frank Cuesta,
the ninth season of the show is focusing on California and its incredible flora, fauna and people.

The book opens with a foreword by actor Caper Van Dien, who starred as the 20th Tarzan in Tarzan and the Lost City (1998) and credits himself as “the only Tarzan who can say he rode on an actual African elephant in a Tarzan film.” Griffin then provides a brief overview of how the character's “fortunes have ebbed and flowed over the past century” in his introductory essay “Whither the Ape Man?”

Tarzan first appeared on the pages of All-Story Magazine in October 1912, where the novel Tarzan of the Apes was serialized before being collected and published in a book in 1914. The next step on Tarzan's journey to becoming the King of All Media was the release of the 1918 silent film of the same name starring Elmo Lincoln, as the first adult Tarzan. Nearly 50 years later, the character made his way to the small screen with Tarzan, which ran for two seasons from 1966-68 and starred Ron Ely. Lou Scheimer of Filmation turned Tarzan (voiced by Robert Ridgely) into a Saturday morning star with the animated Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, which aired 1976-84. The book concludes with two titles from 2016, The Legend of Tarzan film and and the Netflix animated series Tarzan and Jane.

Griffin highlights each project with at least a page that presents a brief synopsis of the plot along with details about the movie, ranging from pre-production dealings to the public's response. Tarzan Escapes (1936) is examined further as a possible “cursed production” because “the mishaps...were so numerous,” such as Maureen O'Sullivan's troubles with lions and the death of co-star John Buckler.

The book is 10.3 x 13.1 inches, a good size to appreciate the films' posters, each of which gets its own page. The book also highlights the actors, both famous and obscure, who played Tarzan and Jane with biographies and photos. And even Cheeta gets a page.

Tarzan on Film is great resource, highly recommended for fans of Burroughs' character as well as those with an interest in Hollywood history.

Los Angeles Had an Alligator Farm?
KCET  and Los Angeles Public Library Photograph Collection Vintage postcards and black and white photographs reveal a forgotten era when alligators once slid down chutes and young kids rode the backs of large reptiles outfitted with a saddle. These rare images, recovered from the USC Libraries collection, were taken at the California Alligator Farm, once dubbed the world's largest alligator farm. Originally located next to an ostrich farm in Lincoln Heights, the California Alligator Farm opened in 1907 near Mission Road and Lincoln Park Avenue.

With an admission fee of 25 cents, the alligator sanctuary soon became a tourist and local attraction which housed thousands of snakes, lizards, alligators, and other reptiles. The farm also included a gift shop that carried a variety of trinkets and items made out of alligator skin. Owned by Francis Earnest and Joe Campbell, the farm relocated to Buena Park, Calif., in 1953, across the street from Knott's Berry Farm. It eventually closed down in 1984 after attendance plummeted.

Some of the farm's most popular alligators, most notably Billy the alligator, even managed to land a few seconds of stardom in Hollywood feature films. Were you lucky enough to witness the wonders of the California Alligator Farm? Anchor Val Zavala tells the story of a forgotten landmark in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles and interviews public historian and writer Nathan Masters.

Although reviews of the new Tarzan film, The Legend of Tarzan, have been mixed, most have united around a single theme: that it is racist (one deemed it more racist than the infamous Birth of A Nation from 1915, which was sympathetic to the lynchings visited on blacks by the post Civil War Klan). Not to be outdone, Castro sympathizer Harry Belafonte has declared Tarzan to be the “most racist” character “in history.” Many have even questioned why anyone would make a film in the age of Obama about a character created in the “white man’s burden” atmosphere of 1912.

The film-makers seem to have been concerned that Tarzan came from politically incorrect pro-imperialist source material, evidenced by the clunky insertion of Samuel L. Jackson as a Civil War veteran and doctor into the mix, and that of Christoph Walz as a sinister white imperialist bent on exploitation.

But this has in no way satisfied the politically correct reviewers. They seem to have been most offended by Tarzan daring to battle a homicidal African tribe seeking to capture and torture him.

At first glance, the assessment of the twenty-four novels churned out by author Edgar Rice Burroughs would seem to validate the reviewers’ opinions. In the first novel, Tarzan murders a black tribesman, a cannibal. And Jane’s “mamie”, Esmerelda, who, with her eye-rolling hysteria and Uncle Tom-like dialogue, is the last word in the black stereotype in the period. African tribesmen engage in “gesticulating and jabbering.” Add to this his teenage devilment of a tribal village, in which he taps into their superstition by kicking over pots in the middle of the night, putting skulls in their tents, etc, and one could argue that Tarzan was racist.

But this would be a cursory reading of the canon. Tarzan did murder a black tribesman, but only because the invading African murdered Tarzan’s ape mother. Esmeralda was to be sure a stereotype, but what is striking about the series is, given the racist culture of the times—a case in point, Bulldog Drummond, who fulminated frequently and vociferously about uppity wogs and greedy Jews— there are very few black villains. Those who are, such as a witch doctor who plots Tarzan’s demise, are presented as formidable, not racially inferior villains. That many were cannibals in no way makes them simple minded animals; modern anthropology then and now showed that the most intelligent tribes practiced cannibalism. Tarzan was indeed the undisputed chief of the Waziri, but he in no way exploited them. Indeed, he aided them in repelling Belgium imperialists who were invading their land. It is true that a black tribe kidnaps and tortures his best human friend, the French Soldier D’Arnot, but they also perform the deed on a black prisoner (by contrast, the latter is eaten). Both incidents anger him equally, but not from any racial animus. His anger stemmed from his background with his ape tribe, who did not torture their enemies but rather killed them outright. By this view, humankind is despised, not a particular race.

The majority of villains in the novel are white (the exceptions are the leopard tribe he battles in one novel, and the Japanese in a World War Two era one). Soldiers of the Kaiser in a World War One novel slaughter the tribesman residing on Tarzan’s plantation–plantation is actually a misnomer as there are no field slaves there–and kidnap Jane, but not before tricking Greystoke into believing they murdered her. White Russians attempt to murder Tarzan, and when this fails, kidnap his son. In Tarzan’s Quest, Africans are depicted as individuals, possessing both good and bad qualities. By contrast, whites in the novel are the main villains and are bent on plunder and exploitation of the natives.

The author of these adventures was not a racist, so much as a gentle misanthrope. He once had Tarzan say “Men are strange beasts.” Not blacks, or Jews, or Arabs, mark you, but all of humankind. More often than not, Tarzan’s tranquility and those residing in the jungle paradise are disturbed by the very type of white imperialists that reviewers today accuse the ape-man of being. They are the exploiters, be it for gold or simply to establish their own authentic plantation system that existed in the antebellum South of the United States or to extend the imperial ambitions of their rulers. Tarzan is activated often by this intrusion, fearing that the presence of whites will contaminate the jungle dwellers with greed and hatred. Tarzan hence battles these invaders in the name of keeping the jungle a paradise

Nowhere in the entire twenty-four novel run of the series does Tarzan emulate this behavior; he does not invade new territory or exploit any natives. Although the aforementioned head of the Waziri, it is they who elect him king and, unlike a straw boss, he arms and teaches them new forms of combat (of the guerilla variety) in order to protect themselves from imperialist whites. Burroughs, in contrast to the Esmeralda character, depicts the Waziri as much braver and much more loyal than the duplicitous white characters.

Hence, those who see the source material of the new Tarzan movie as poisonous and racist to the core have not consulted it. For them, the very act of Tarzan fighting a black is, in effect, racist (a similar charge would be lodged at Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry who had the temerity to shoot a black bank robber; to which, the fair minded and hardly racist Eastwood said “Don’t blacks rob banks as well as whites?”).

George Orwell once sought to ascertain why characters such as Sherlock Holmes, written by second-rate writers, have stood the test of time. He ascertained that it was because such characters had universal qualities that traveled well. The same can be said of Tarzan. It is not only his athleticism that is appealing, as well as his freedom from civilized rules and pressures (he never does worry about the passage of time), but that he is a noble savage in every sense of the word. Spending his first night with Jane in the bush, who shudders about the Victorian “fate worse than death,” he gives her his knife for protection. Accused of seducing another man’s wife, he allows the man the opportunity in the duel to shoot him. Given the chance to claim his title to nobility, Tarzan instead selflessly allows his cousin to become the Duke of Greystoke.

Tarzan thus emerges as what was best about Victorian values of chivalry and honor. But he is not saddled with the prejudices that cling to them.

THE McWHORTER MEMORIAL ERB COLLECTION
University of Louisville Library Special Collections

George McWhorter
www.ERBzine.com/mcwhorter
www.erbzine.com/mag30/3001.html

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Update from Jim Thompson 
on what is happening with the 
ERB Collections at the University of Louisville:

Kaor!  I've got an update on what's happening with the ERB collections at the University of Louisville.

First, regarding the Burroughs Bibliophiles Endowment Fund: the current balance is $5,792.50.  This principal is invested, and so grows at whatever rate the university investments grow.  But the librarians will not receive any of the income until one year after the fund reaches the $10K threshold.  Therefore, for those of us who care about maintaining curation and growth of the collection, getting the BB Endowment fund to $10K should be the first priority.  I should mention that George McWhorter has set up his own endowment fund for the ERB collections and that fund will also support the collection.  The goals and purposes of the two endowment funds are the same.  With regard to the BB Endowment, once an income stream is established (with $10K in principal the income probably would be less than $500 per year), we would use the funds to support the Burroughs Collections.  At this point the ERB Collections consist of huge contributions from George McWhorter- which included the Vern Coriell Collection, and huge contributions from Bob Hyde, and Roy and Della White.  Many other collectors have made smaller contributions, including me, and when I pass, the remainder of my collection will go to U of L.

Delinda Buie, Curator of Rare Books, tells me that among the activities that need immediate funding or are dreams for the future are:

Curatorial needs:  Archival supplies for preservation and equipment for storage (map cases for flat items and a vertical system for framed art); significant funding for expert, off-site, conservation treatments; additional space; framing of posters and art for exhibition. Student intern funding to digitize existing paper indexes and card files.

Exhibits: Regular rotation of permanent Burroughs exhibition, plus supplies for occasional larger exhibits for special events.

Acquisitions: Funding for new publications and for any lacunae identified as the collection is further assessed.

Scholarly support: Funding for visiting scholars

After George retired, his endowment included funding for a half time ERB curator, and soon after George retired, that position was filled for a couple of years.  When that individual took another position at another university, the half time ERB curator was not filled.  Like most universities, U of L suffers from the vagaries of the economy, state funding, and tuition from enrollment fluctuations.  The decision not to fill the half time curator position was a financial decision, not evidence of a loss of interest in the ERB Collections by the University Library system.  It will be filled again because the need for the position has never and will not go away.  No one knows as yet when the U of Ls budget situation will change to be more positive, but it will, and when that happens, I am confident the position will be filled again.  Obviously, many of the U of L Rare Books special collections continue to grow and growth in staff will be required to curate it.

Finally, Prof. Buie tells me that renovation of the small "public" display room adjacent to the ERB stacks is already under way, and there are plans to have an event in September, when those renovations are complete.  I will get you more information on that as I learn it as September approaches.

I also want to let you know that George McWhorter continues to live comfortably in Treyton Oaks in Louisville, just a couple of miles from the U of L campus.  He has difficulty walking and uses a walker and so he hasn't been to the U of L for a visit in quite a while.  But he is still mentally very sharp and still has his love of Edgar Rice Burroughs (among many other loves in arts & letters) and I enjoy talking with him about these things.  I call him three or four times a week to chat with him and make sure all is well with him.  I would urge you to call or write to him.  He very much appreciates hearing from his friends.   Write to him at Treyton Oak Towers,211 W Oak S., Apt. 612,Louisville, KY 40203, or call him at 502-458-0538.

Best wishes, Jim