Official
Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute and Weekly Webzine Site
Since
1996 ~ Over 15,000 Webpages in Archive
Volume
6355
ERB'S LIFE & LEGACY :: DAILY
EVENTS
GO
TO OUR FULL YEAR'S CONTENTS
www.ERBzine.com/events
A COLLATION OF THE DAILY
EVENTS IN ERB-WORLD
FROM THE PAGES OF THE HILLMANS'
ERBzine
Collated by John Martin and
Bill Hillman
With Web Design, Added Events,
Links,
Illustrations and Photo Collages
by Bill Hillman
DECEMBER CONTENTS: WEEK ONE
DEC 1 ~ DEC
2 ~ DEC 3 ~ DEC 4
~ DEC 5 ~ DEC 6 ~ DEC
7
VISIT DECEMBER WEEK 1 PHOTO ALBUM
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6355pics.html
BACK TO NOVEMBER WEEK 4
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6354.html
Click for full-size images
DECEMBER
1
Tarzan's Secret Treasure ~ Two-Gun Ed Flies
South ~ Tarzan of the Apes manuscript: Zantar,Tublat Zan,
aha: Tarzan! ~ Bloomstoke aha: Greystoke!
~ Tarzan the Magnificent: JCB and Boris Art ~ Adventures of Tarzan
http://www.ERBzine.com/cards/film4/adventuresoftarzanall.jpg
*** 1911: At 8 pm, Edgar Rice Burroughs started Tarzan
of the Apes in longhand. In this manuscript
he had written down a number of names that he had stroked out: Zantar
~ Tublat Zan ~
Bloomstoke. He
eventually decided upon "Tarzan" and "Greystoke" which turned out to be
wise choices.
The story's title page shows that
ERB submitted his work under the pseudonym "Normal Bean" suggesting that
the author was not crazy. But when the story was printed in "The All-Story
Magazine," October 1912, a transcription error transformed Burroughs'
pen name into "Norman Bean." Ed was not happy -- he had always disliked
his real first name. . . and liked "Norman" even less.
Tarzan of the Apes: History ~ Art ~ Reviews ~ Links
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0483.html
Tarzan of the Apes: e-Text Edition
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/t1ta.html
*** 1937: ERB wrote 'Two Gun'
Doak Flies South as John Tyler McCulloch. He submitted the
story to major magazines, but it was rejected.
Throughout his writing career. . . and perhaps long before
. . . he was always thinking up new creative ideas. In 1938 he wrote an
outline for a story in which a group of German officers secretly assassinate
Adolph Hitler and replace him with a "perfect double" -- sort of a contemporary
version of The Mad King. Realizing that editors cared only
for his more fantastic stories he never completed the actual story. Fearing
that some of his stories and ideas were being rejected because of his name
-- known for fantasy fiction -- he tried a number of nom de plumes
over the years.
In December 1937 he submitted a more
serious story called "'Two Gun Doak' Flies South" -- a tale
of mixed-up identities -- under the name John Tyler McCulloch. Having
resisted a marriage arranged by their fathers, the hero and heroine fall
in love anonymously while escaping from gangsters who have hijacked their
transcontinental flight. During the flight ERB lampooned other passengers:
Mrs. J. Witherington Snite, "the lady hippopotamus" married to a a wealthy
restaurant owner -- Gladys Klump, the young wife of an aging candy manufacturer
(her "sugar daddy") -- and E. Allan Smith, stuffy, hypocritical book reviewer
for the New York Times, whose own fiction had been spurned by every editor
in the country.
"McCulloch" submitted the story to
Liberty,
Cosmopolitan, and Blue Book. It was rejected by all of them
and remains unpublished -- one of the rarest ERB stories.
The version found in the ERB, Inc.
office safe had been adapted into play format. . . perhaps with plans to
submit if for a radio show broadcast.
ERB had used this nom de plume
for a few other stories including "Beware" and "Pirate Blood"
"Two Gun" Doak Flies South: Review and Full
Summary
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag67/6757.html
*** 1941: Tarzan's secret was out as
of Dec. 1, 1941. On that date, just six days before
the world's attention would be focused on Pearl Harbor, the movie, "Tarzan's
Secret Treasure," opened at theatres. The secret was that there was
gold on the escarpment which was the domain of the movie Tarzan. A summary
of the film at Wikipedia reports: "An expedition
team arrives on Tarzan's escarpment. By chance, the two villainous members
Medford and Vandermeer find out that there is plenty of gold on the escarpment.
They kidnap Jane and Boy in order to make Tarzan show them the location
of the gold. After Tarzan complies, Medford shoots him and mistakenly presumes
he is dead. Soon the group is captured by natives, whereupon Tarzan, comes
to their rescue."
Filming ran for two months, beginning in June 1941 and came
in at just under a million dollars. MGM boasted that the film had been
in production for two years. It was released in December 1941.
Filming Locations: Mostly filmed on the MGM lots and Silver
Springs, Ocala, and Wakulla Springs, Florida.
Due to many budget cutbacks following the death of Irving
Thalberg many stock shots from former movies were used. The crocodile fight
from Tarzan amd His Mate was used for the third time.
ERB forced MGM to take out a scene where Tarzan threw back
his head and laughed loud and long at the treasure hunters. Such behaviour
was not in keeping with Tarzan's character as created by Burroughs.
Tarzan's Secret Treasure: Credits ~ Posters ~ Info
Plus 2 Gallery Displays
http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0621.html
Weissmuller behind the scenes - filming in Florida
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0501.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0501a.html
*** 1981: Russell (Russ) George
Manning (1929.01.05-1981.12.01) died on this date. Russ was an American
comic book artist who illustrated such newspaper comic strips and comic
books as Tarzan and Star Wars. He created the series Magnus, Robot Fighter.
Russ was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006.
Manning studied at the Los Angeles
County Art Institute, and later, during his US Army service in Japan, drew
cartoons for his military base newspaper.
In 1953 he went to work for Western
Publishing and illustrated stories for the wide variety of comics published
by Western for Dell Comics, and later for Western's own Gold Key Comics
line. His first notable work was on Brothers of the Spear, a backup feature,
created by Gaylord Du Bois, in the Tarzan comic book. He also drew a few
Tarzan stories. He created Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter and The Aliens
(which ran in the back of the former) in 1963 and drew the first 21 issues,
through 1968.
From 1965 to
1969, Manning drew Gold Key's Tarzan series. During this time, he adapted
ten of the first eleven Tarzan novels written by Edgar Rice Burroughs,
from scripts written by Gaylord Du Bois. (The adaptation of the sixth,
Jungle Tales of Tarzan, also scripted by Du Bois, was drawn by Alberto
Giolitti rather than Manning). In 1999 the first seven of these were reprinted
in three graphic novels by Dark Horse Comics as Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan
of the Apes (Tarzan of the Apes, Return, Beasts, and Son of Tarzan), Edgar
Rice Burroughs' Tarzan — The Jewels of Opar, and Edgar Rice Burroughs'
Tarzan The Untamed (Tarzan the Untamed and Tarzan the Terrible). Manning's
remaining adaptations, not reprinted by Dark Horse, were "Tarzan and the
Golden Lion" Tarzan and the Ant Men and Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle. He
did not do the finished art on the latter, but provided lay-outs for parts
of the story. Manning also drew the Korak stories in the first 11 issues
of Gold Key's Korak comic (also written by Du Bois).
From 1967 to
1972 he drew the Tarzan daily newspaper comic strip and stayed on the Sunday
page until 1979. He also created four original Tarzan graphic novels for
European publication. Two of them were reprinted by Dark Horse Comics in
a single trade paperback collection (Tarzan in The Land That Time Forgot
and The Pool of Time) (ISBN 1-56971-151-8). During that same period he
used assistants, among them William Stout, Rick Hoberg, Mike Royer,
and Dave Stevens.
The Russ Manning Most Promising
Newcomer Award, which is presented annually at Comic-Con International
during the Eisner Awards, is named after him.
Russ Manning died of cancer on
December 1, 1981 while still living in California where he was born. He
was 52.
Read the ERBzine Tribute to Russ with full bio, sample
art and links to the reprints of all his daily and Sunday strips in ERBzine.
Russ Manning Tribute and Guide to his Tarzan strips
http://www.ERBzine.com/manning
Russ Manning Biography
http://www.erbzine.com/mag8/0830.html
*** 1921: "The Adventures of Tarzan," a 15-chapter
serial starring Elmo Lincoln, opened the first day of December in
1921.
ERBzine reports the film "was based on two Burroughs works,
"The Return of Tarzan" and "Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar."
A new Jane, 16-year-old Louise Lorraine, was hired. She would eventually
go on to become the 'Queen of the Serials.' The seductress priestess La
of the Atlantean city of Opar was played by Lillian Worth."
The jungle was recreated entirely
on a studio set with desert scenes shot on location in Arizona. Lincoln
was expected to perform most of his own stunts but, to his displeasure,
the film's bonding company refused to allow the star to place himself at
risk. Stunt double Frank Merrill also played the role of an Arab
guard, experiences that would would serve him well in a few years when
he would take over in the starring role of Tarzan the Mighty and
Tarzan
the Tiger.
Critics and audiences alike were thrilled
to see Lincoln return to the role and the film became the fourth biggest
money-earner in 1921 -- outearning even Valentino's The Sheik and D.W.
Griffith's Dream Street. Even the animal stars Tantor the elephant and
Numa the lion became household names. Lincoln's success in the role of
Tarzan was a mixed blessing, however, since it typecast him as a wild jungle
man and action hero.
Long before Bo made an appearance
in a 1981 Tarzan film, a monkey named Bo-Bo (no relation) showed
up at a theatre in Washington D.C. to shake the hands of newspaper
carrier boys who had been treated to the thrilling Tarzan movie by their
publisher, who was grateful for their hard work delivering The Washington
Post. Read a tiny bit more about Bo-Bo plus read lots more about many at
ERBzine 0590.
Adventures of Tarzan: Credits ~ Photos ~ Info
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0590.html
Off-Site Reference
Adventures
at IMDB
*** 1936: ERB Started Tarzan and
the Elephant Men (sequel to Tarzan and the Magic Men).
It would be rejected by Argosy. It is eventually published in January
1938 in Blue Book. Eventually the two stories were released in hardcover
on September 25, 1939 under the title, Tarzan the Magnificent.
Tarzan the Magnificent: History ~ Art ~ Review
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0728.html
Tarzan the Magnificent: eText Edition
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/tarzmagn.html
Elephant Men is featured in 114 daily Maxon strips
http://www.erbzine.com/mag40/4085.html
Tarzan the Magnificent: 96 strips by William Juhre
and Don Garden
http://www.erbzine.com/mag40/4047.html
*** Off-Site References
The public was urged to "Take
a Kid to Barsoom" on Dec. 1, 2012. The occasion was a special screening
of "John Carter," the movie based to some degree on ERB's first novel,
"A Princess of Mars."
The event was to benefit Childhelp.org, with 25-50 Foster
Care Teens in attendance via The Children’s Bureau. The event was also
"to stimulate reading interest and get new fans for Edgar Rice Burroughs."
A binder full of information covering the
period of Dec. 1, 1945, to Jan. 29, 1946, tells of Edgar Rice Burroughs's
worsening health, and the effects on him from World War II. This binder,
along with 30 other binders covering his life from 1893 (about age 18)
to 1950, is in the OAC (Online Archive of California), accessible
through UCLA's office of Special Collections. The binders are full of correspondence
and other papers by or pertaining to ERB. The binders are in several boxes
among a total of 16 boxes which contain much other material about him,
such as photographs of Edgar Rice Burroughs and his family, promotional
materials (photographs, lobby cards, etc.) for the Tarzan films, video
recordings of the Burroughs family in America and Hawaii 1939-1940, and
audio recordings of the Tarzan radio program, 1951-1952. To learn more
about what is contained in these archives, visit the OAC
Website. Obviously, these items are a resource for anyone desiring
to research and/or write about Edgar Rice Burroughs.
*** In a letter home to Joan, Ed reported
that he had quit smoking and drinking and is down to 183 pounds. He is
preparing three Christmas packages for the kids. He's forwarding another
letter from Sgt Shonfeld for ERB, Inc. files . . . sick of receiving them.
ERB's Letter to Joan
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1022.html
*** 1926: "An Interview With
Edgar Rice Burroughs in Which He Frankly Discusses His Methods and Gives
Sound Advice" by Glenn B. Gravatt ~ The Writers' Monthly December,
1926: "If you've written a good story, " said Edgar Rice Burroughs, "don't
lose faith in it if it does not sell -- but first be positive that it really
is a good story. 'Tarzan of the Apes' was turned down by nearly every reputable
publisher in the United States as a book manuscript, and refused by thirteen
publishers in England, although I had no trouble selling it to a magazine.
Now the Tarzan books have sold over a million copies." . . . . As I took
leave of him, his parting words were characteristically encouraging: "All
great writers were once where you are now. Perhaps some day you'll be where
they now are."
Writer's Monthly Interview with ERB
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0059.html
DECEMBER
2
James Cawthorn - Artist/Writer: His Princess of
Mars Art, Land That Time Forgot Script
Rubimor Strips ~ Tarzan's Desert Mystery ~
Chabon and Lupoff ~ Stellan Windrow ~ Wizard of Venus
*** James Cawthorn passed away Dec.2 in 2008.
Burne Hogarth admired the work of Cawthorn. He
said he had a quality "most compelling and fascinating. He has an authentic
talent."
Cawthorn did many illustrations for the British fanzine
Burroughsiana
and the U.S. fanzine ERBania and also the British Tarzan Adventures.
He was also active in other areas of science fiction
and fantasy, including co-authoring, with Michael Moorcock, the
screenplay for "The Land That Time Forgot," which was released in
the mid-'70s.
"This Amicus film starred Doug McClure,
making his first appearance in a British film under the auspices of American
International Pictures, Inc.," according to The Gridley Wave. "Cawthorn
is reported to have been dissatisfied with the changes made to their screenplay
which was written and signed on October, 1973, and which was filmed a year
later. Besides changing names, characters and situations, they blew up
Caprona which did not sit well with most American fans."
Cawthorn was certainly a great contributor
to ERB fandom. The Gridley Wave that announced his death is featured
in ERBzine:
Gridley Wave #317: February 2009
http://www.erbzine.com/gw/0902.html
http://www.erbzine.com/gw/GridleyWave317.pdf
Cawthorn Bio and Art in ERBzine and ERBANIA
http://www.erbzine.com/mag64/6479.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag1/0119.html
The Land That Time Forgot: Credits ~ Posters ~ Info
http://www.erbzine.com/mag21/2117.html
*** The 2018 released book, "James
Cawthorn: The Man and His Art" was originally intended to be a modest
memorial by Maureen Cawthorn Bell for her artist brother following
his death in 2008, but the book grew into a heavyweight volume of 448 pages
containing over 800 individual pieces of art: book covers, illustrations
for magazines and fanzines, private pieces for friends and relatives, and
many sketches or preliminary works, most of which have never seen print
before."
*** The Cawthorn Family and the publisher of the
book sent a pre-release copy to me in Canada. I then shared previews across
my FB pages and ERBzine group, as well as three features for it in ERBzine
Weekly. Two of the features include the Princess of Marsgraphic
adaptation that James hadn't finished before his passing. (BH)
James Cawthorn: The Man and His Art in ERBzine
http://www.erbzine.com/mag64/6479.html
A Princess of Mars I: Illustrated by Cawthorn
http://www.erbzine.com/mag64/6480.html
A Princess of Mars II: Illustrated by Cawthorn
http://www.erbzine.com/mag64/6481.html
A Princess of Mars: Cawthorn Splash Bars
http://www.erbzine.com/cards/art2/cawthorn1princess.jpg
http://www.erbzine.com/cards/art2/cawthorn2princess.jpg
Off-Site Reference:
budsartbooks
*** 1941: ERB's
Unfinished Venus Story: "Burroughs had begun a new Carson
of Venus story on December 2, 1941, but the bombing of Pearl Harbor
five days later, and the United States' entry into the war, caused him
to abandon fiction writing for two years. The Venus story, which was meant
to be a sequel to Wizard of Venus, was only an opening of a little
more than two pages completed. It described Carson and Ero Shan, in their
anotar, flying "into the unknown," their destination the city of Sanara,
where Carson has left his beloved Duare. The brief section is mainly expository,
referring to their adventures with the "mad Wizard of Venus," his death
and the dissolving of his "malign hypnotic powers," with the final freeing
of all his subjects.
The two men
pass over the vast, uncharted regions of Venus. Among the series of adventures
and mishaps, there is a hint of danger in the sight of "Gargantuan beasts."
The story breaks off with the men excitedly discovering a ship moving on
an unknown ocean beneath them: ". . . the first work of man that we had
seen since taking off from Gavo."
Wizard of Venus was published
by Canaveral Press in April 27, 1964 in Tales of Three Planets.
It appeared along with "Beyond the Farthest Star," "Resurrection of Jimber
Jaw," amd "Tangor Returns"
Wizard of Venus: Credits ~ Art
~ Info
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0752.html
Wizard Illustrated by Royer and Broadhurst
http://www.erbzine.com/mag45/4565.html
*** One of the mysteries associated
with "Tarzan's Desert Mystery" is when the film was released. It
was apparently released on different dates on various parts of the globe.
Scott Tracy Griffin's "Tarzan on Film" says it was Dec. 2, 1943.
ERBzine.com
says it was Dec. 8. IMDB.com says it was Dec. 26.
Tarzan's Desert Mystery: Credits ~ Posters ~ Info
http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0624.html
*** 1945 Rubimor took over
the Sunday Tarzan strip.
Tarzan in Color Reprints
http://www.erbzine.com/mag45/4564.html
*** 1979: Gil
Kane's "The Maneater" Sunday Page Series concluded
The Man Eater conclusion
by Gil Kane
http://www.erbzine.com/mag34/165071.gif
http://www.erbzine.com/mag34/3494a.html
*** 2009: Michael Chabon
discussed the John Carter Film Project in a Newsarama Interview
Chabon News Release
http://www.erbzine.com/mag28/2898.html
Chabon Interview Conducted by Richard Lupoff for ERBzine
in 2010
http://www.erbzine.com/mag30/3047.html
*** 1924: Jack Davis (1924.12.02-2016.07.27)
was born on this date. Jack was an American cartoonist and illustrator,
known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album
art and numerous comic book stories. He was one of the founding cartoonists
for Mad in 1952. His cartoon characters are characterized by extremely
distorted anatomy, including big heads, skinny legs and large feet. I've
been a longtime fan of his work as I've indicated in my Jack Davis Tribute
Page
Jack Davis Tribute Site
http://www.erbzine.com/mag58/5817.html
*** 2020: Richard Corben
died on this date following heart surgery. Richard was born on a farm in
Missouri on October 1, 1940, and grew up in Sunflower, Kansas. He
went on to get a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Kansas City Art
Institute, in 1965. Richard's wife is named Madonna "Dona" (née
Marchant); he met her working as the special-effects/animation technician
on her prize-winning film entry Siegfried Saves Metropolis in a
contest sponsored by Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine in 1964. They've
been married since 1965.
Richard has been drawing comics all
of his life -- his Website is www.corbencomicart.com
An early effort was a series of comics about the adventures of TRAIL, the
family dog. Later he moved to imitations of Tarzan and Brothers of the
Spear. Corben also showed a keen interest in animation by turning many
pads of paper into animated flip books. In art college he concentrated
on basic drawing and painting. After school he wanted to go to New
York to launch a career in comics or animation. After nearly ten
years at the film company, Corben felt frustrated that he really hadn't
given his art career a chance. He started drawing so called "underground"
comix and fanzines. About this time Warren Publishing Company began publishing
a series of black and white horror comics, CREEPY, EERIE, and VAMPIRELLA.
This was a perfect match for Corben's interests and he drew several stories
for Warren. The underground comix surge spread to Europe and requests to
reprint Corben underground features and his art in HEAVY METAL began to
appear. The Corbens started FANTAGOR and he also began drawing for American
comics, D.C., MARVEL, DARK HORSE, and others.
Richard is the winner of the 2009 Spectrum Grand Master
Award. In 2012 he was elected to the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame.
Richard has created many pieces of ERB-related art through
his long career -- much of which is featured in our ERBzine pages. This
includes the Doubleday Book of the Month Cover and interiors for their
Llana of Gathol and John Carter of Mars edition.
Richard Corben ERB Art and Bios
https://www.erbzine.com/mag62/6297.html
Corben Art Collages in ERBzine:
https://www.erbzine.com/mag62/corb19.jpg
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/art/corbentarzan.jpg
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/art2/corbentharks.jpg
https://www.erbzine.com/cards/art5/corbenbioall.jpg
*** More ERB Log Notes:
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio
1896: Ed wrote Colonel J. Sumner
Rogers at MMA - possibly obtain help in getting a discharge or transfer,
or to set up a return to the Academy, or perhaps just to offer
an apology for his past behaviour.
1917: On December 2, dissatisfied
with the motion picture industry and the progress made on adapting his
writings, Edgar Rice Burroughs dumped his shares of capital stock in National
Film. January 16, 1919, the Company invited Burroughs to the January
27 premiere of Tarzan of the Apes, but ERB declined. Stellan
Windrow, however, attended the Broadway opening, sitting in William
Parsons' box.
The eight-reel movie became one
of the first movies to gross over one million dollars.
1941: ERB forwarded more letters
for Ralph to file from Sgt. Shonfeld. With Hully's encouragement
Ed stopped drinking and smoking and his weight was down to 183 -- he expressed
irritability since he'd smoked for 50 years. Christmas presents were
sent home to the Pierce grandchildren but Ed couldn't get into the Christmas
spirit. Honolulu was a poor place to shop.
War Years Log Notes
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1029.html
DECEMBER
3
Son of Tarzan and eventual
dedication to Hulbert ~ War Chief of the Apaches: Country Gentleman
rejection
ERB's Hospital Poem ~ Tarzan
Strips: Tree of Life by Gray Morrow ~ Pirates by Bob Lubbers
1926: War Chief of the Apaches
was
rejected by Country Gentleman magazine. It was eventually published
the following year by All-Story and A.C. McClurg with cover
for both by Paul Stahr. ERB thought his well-researched Apache novel
would be a good choice for their magazine since they had featured many
wild west stories and art -- the current December issue even featured a
large western scene by Frank E. Schoonover who had done art for
his Tarzan of the Apes and A Princess of Mars.
Danton Burroughs
found the following note with the manuscript for The War Chief:
Edgar Rice Burroughs Comments
On The War Chief
"I have gone
over the 'copy' carefully and have indicated a number of phrases, sentences
and paragraphs deleted by them, which I wish to have retained.
The preparation
of the manuscript required considerable research work and as it is necessary
for the reader to be able to understand the viewpoint of the Indian, if
he is to be in sympathy with the principal character, it is essential that
much of the matter deleted should remain even though it draws comparisons
that may be odious to some people of our own race and sometimes shocking
to people whose religious convictions are particularly strong.
I should also
call your attention to an Indian name and an Indian word concerning which
the magazine editor and I seem not to agree.
The name is
that of a famous Apache Chief, Mangas Colorado, variously spelled Mangus
and Magnus. From a very old book I obtained the suggestion of the derivation
of this name, which in Spanish means colored sleeves. The author supposed
that the name may have been given to him by the Mexicans, either because
of the garment he wore with colored sleeves or from the fact that his sleeves
or arms were stained with the blood of his victims.
The other word
to which I refer is Izzo-Kolth, which the magazine editor insisted on changing
to Izze-Colth. My authority for this spelling is an article by John G.
Bourke, THE MEDICINE MAN OF THE APACHES, which appeared in the annual report
of the Bureau of Ethnology for 1887 and 1888.
The magazine
editor deleted what evidently appeared to him tiresome descriptions of
Indian customs, such as burial ceremonies and the decoration of the bodies
of medicine men, but as there is not a great of this and I believe that
it is all based on good authority, it should be permitted to remain."
War Chief: History ~ Art ~ Apache
References
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0773.html
War Chief: Read the e-Text Edition
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/warchief.html
Frank E. Schoonover Gallery
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0422.html
ERBzine links for Wild West References that we have
created over the last 20 years.
http://www.erbzine.com/mag11/1153.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag11/1154.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag34/3483.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag34/3482.html
http://www.ERBzine.com/wildwest
Our many pages devoted to ERB's mentor: Charles King
. . . including texts of many of his books about the
West
http://www.ERBzine.com/king
Plus the huge collection of books in ERB's personal
library
http://www.ERBzine.com/dan
Find whatever you seek by using ERBzine's internal
Google search
Insert keywords in the box at the bottom of the main
ERBzine page
and top of all the Archives pages (link in every ERBzine
logo)
http://www.ERBzine.com
***On Dec. 3, 1935, John B. Downs
lay in a hospital bed in Room 823 of Good Samaritan Hospital, composing
verses. John was being treated for a chronic bladder infection but was
still able to smile at his own troubles. While the hospital records showed
him as "Mr. Downs," in real life he was the famous Edgar Rice Burroughs
and the alias kept nosey newspaper reporters from discovering he was there
and pestering him with interview requests.
It was a busy year for ERB. His marriage
to Florence Gilbert was in its first year and her children "had
already become very attached to Ed ('Ebby'). Ed, suddenly a father again
to two lively youngsters, pleased the children by telling them the same
cliffhanger stories he once had told to Joan, Hulbert and Jack."
When he got out of the hospital in
late December, he may also have quoted them his poem, named after his hospital
room number: "Dear Old Eight-Two-Three." Find the story about halfway down
this link on Florence Gilbert Burroughs' life (and, at the same time, find
out who was giving swimming lessons to Florence's kids):
*** In the poem's five quatrains Burroughs also describes
himself gazing wistfully out the windows where the mountains are "smiling
and beckoning" to him. The first two stanzas were shared by Porges and
collected in ERBzine's
Poetry of ERB -- one of the first ERBzine pages I created back
in 1996.
The Poetry of Edgar Rice Burroughs
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0003.html
"Dear Old Eight-Two-Three" Poem
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0003.html#20
Florence Tribute and ERB's Hospital Poem
http://www.erbzine.com/mag8/0890.html
*** 1916:
Ed directed McClurg publishers to dedicate the forthcoming
The Son
of Tarzan first edition to his seven-year-old son Hulbert.
He was peeved when the McClurgs forgot to include the dedication in the
first edition, first state. The error was corrected in all the following
releases.
The Son of Tarzan:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0487.html
The Son of Tarzan: e-Text
Edition
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/t4st.html
Son of Tarzan: 96 Daily Strips
by Rex Maxon
http://www.erbzine.com/mag20/2041.html
*** Johnny Depp has played
just about every other character, but could he play Tarzan? Well, that
idea may not have been in the heads of these movie men, but Depp's Pirate
epics were definitely being considered as a type of movie that might be
a good vehicle for the apeman, according to a story from Entertainment
Weekly, published Dec. 3, 2008:
Tarzan preps big-screen return,
'Pirates of the Caribbean' style
"Tarzan is getting another makeover.
The action-adventure icon will trash his loincloth and throw on a pair
of khakis for the next big screen take on Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic
character, who first appeared way back in the Stone Age -- er, 1912. Director
Stephen Sommers (The Mummy) and screenwriter Stuart Beattie (Australia)
are ditching the boy-raised-by-apes origin story for a 1930's-set romp
with a hefty helping of romance: Think Pirates of the Caribbean with buffed-and-tanned
actors flying through the jungle and sprinting up trees, parkour-style.
In recent years, the lord of the jungle has been reincarnated as a Broadway
headliner, an animated Disney hero, and even a prime-time TV star -- in
2003 the WB produced a modern-day take starring Calvin Klein model (and
first-time actor) Travis Fimmel that flopped. This version seems like a
safer bet, especially considering Beattie penned one of the earliest drafts
of Pirates, which became a worldwide blockbuster."
Tarzan preps "Pirates": Entertainment Weekly
http://www.erbzine.com/news/news26.html
*** What-might-have-been Pirate Quiz:
Would Tarzan's dialogue have included, "Avast ye limb
lubbers"? ~ Would Tarzan have disposed of his enemies by making them "Walk
the branch?" ~ Would Tarzan have eschewed a simian companion in favor of
a parrot?. . . Looks as if the only thing that survived from this
never-realized concept was the khaki shorts which Alexander Skarsgard wore
in "The Legend of Tarzan."
Tarzan, meanwhile, has fought Pirates time and again...in
the comics. One example is Tarzan and the Pirates: 58 daily strips
by Bob Lubbers/Dick Van Buren from 1951.
Tarzan and the Pirates: 58 strips by Bob Lubbers
http://www.erbzine.com/mag48/4888.html
Off-Site Reference:
Comics
OTR Blog Summary
*** Tarzan may not have gone to Mars,
but Mars went to Tarzan. The Tree of Life origin story from Barsoom
came to life in the Sunday newspapers when Gray Morrow and Allan
Gross meshed their talents with an adventure that began Dec. 3, 2000,
and ran through mid-March, and featured Barsoomian creatures challenging
the ape man in his own jungle.
Tree of Life: 16 Tarzan Sundays by Gray Morrow
http://www.erbzine.com/mag34/3488.html
Gray Morrow Sunday Pages: Contents
http://www.erbzine.com/mag35/3501.html
1965: Andrew Stanton was
born on this day in Boston, Massachusetts. He is an
Oscar-winning filmmaker educated at The California Institute of the Arts
(or "CalArts") in Los Angeles, where he studied character animation. Stanton
went on to help establish Pixar as one of the world's leading animation
studios. He is best known by Burroughs fans for his 250-million-dollar,
live-action John Carter 2012 film (director/writer)
John Carter of Mars
http://www.cartermovie.com
John Carter Photo Galleries: 100s of Photos
Screen Captures ~ Posters ~ Stills ~ Pre-Production
Art ~ Ads
http://www.cartermovie.com/photos/
*** December 3:
Ed attended the U.S.C.-Washington football game. Star Morley
Drury led USC to an easy victory.
ERB Bio Timeline and Journals
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio
DECEMBER
4
Son of Tarzan: Episode 1 of 5 in All-Story
Pulp ~ Hulbert Burroughs: US Military Photographer
Artist P. J. Monahan ~ News of ERB's filing
for divorce ~ Moon Men Episode of Moon Maid
*** 1915: In "Tarzan of the Apes," the son of noble
English parents was raised in the jungle by an ape but grew up to excel
in the world of civilized man.
In "The Son of Tarzan," the son of noble English
parents started life in a civilized setting and ran away to Africa with
an ape, where he learned to excel in the savagery of the law of the jungle.
ERB proved that either of these opposite scenarios could
be made believable, thanks to his skill as a writer.
On Dec. 4, 1915, the latter story began a six-week run
in All-Story Weekly, telling the tale of Tarzan's son, Jack,
who became Korak the Killer.
The story won the cover illustration for the first installment,
with a brown-dominant P.J. Monahan painting showing Korak, armed
with a spear, preparing to defend a cringing Meriem.
According to Robert B. Zeuschner, "There
were chapter titles in the serial which were not used in the hardback publication."
So, if you want to know the titles of the chapters, you'll just have to
look in the pulps! Publishing history of "The Son of Tarzan." appears in
ERBzine 0487. Be sure to click on the "next" links at the bottoms of the
pages to see more illustrations from the book:
The Son of Tarzan: History
~ Art ~ Info
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0487.html
Son of Tarzan: eText
Edition
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/t4st.html
Son of Tarzan: Pulp Biblio
Covers
http://www.erbzine.com/mag2/0223.html
P. J. Monahan: Artist
http://www.erbzine.com/mag16/1671.html
Off-Site Reference
Son
Summary
*** 1942: December 4: ERB began
the first in a series of war diaries in which he described the WWII happenings
in New Caledonia and Australia.
Ed, at the request of son Hully, typed out these diary
notes to share with the family. He entitled this document:
The Wartime Journals of Correspondent Edgar Rice Burroughs
:: December 1942-April 1943 ~ THE DIARY OF A CONFUSED OLD MAN or Buck Burroughs
Rides Again.
Grandson Danton shared this document with me before his
death. I summarized and illustrated the contents which I shared in ERBzine
at that time.
A few years later I expanded the project by typing out
its 50 pages. I then spent a great deal of time going through my collection
of ERB's wartime photos plus researching and finding photos which illustrated
the events in Mr. Burroughs' text. I created a Webpage featuring each of
ERB's 50 journal pages. I then shared these pages in a series of features
in ERBzine Weekly Webzine which are all well displayed in our archive.
The 1942/1943 Wartime Journals of Correspondent ERB
Introduction to the 50 typed pages with illustrations
added by Bill Hillman
http://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6800.html
ERB Leaving Hawaii for New Caledonia
http://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6801.html
ERB War Journals Summaries
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1020.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1021.html
*** On this day in 1918, ERB wrote
a letter to the Department of Justice, asking for background material so
he could write a fictional story warning people of the dangers of Bolshevikism.
He later got a letter back from a bureaucrat named Clabaugh, who said,
basically, "I'm from the government and I'm not here to help you."
Clabaugh didn't think much of ERB's idea. However, ERB
recalled that this was a free country and that Clabaugh's opinion didn't
rule, so he wrote the story anyway, eventually deciding to make the fictional
setting take the form of an invasion of moon men, who would display all
the proclivities of the Bolsheviks. That necessitated the writing of "The
Moon Maid," to set up "The Moon Men" invasion of Earth, and "The Red Hawk,"
to kick them off this planet again. So take that, Mr. Clabaugh of the Department
of Justice!
The Moon Maid: History ~ Art ~ Info
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0767.html
1. MOON MAID: e-Text Edition
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/moonmaid.html
2. MOON MEN: e-Text Edition
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/moonmen.html
3. RED HAWK: e-Text Edition
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/redhawk.html
ERB And The Revolt Against Civilization
http://www.erbzine.com/mag39/3958.html
***1934:
Ed filed for divorce at the end of his six-week residency. Emma had decided
not to offer objections. (Reported in the New York Times)
Emma Burroughs Tribute
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag67/6750.html
*** 1942: Journal
Entry: Hulbert is promoted to 1st Lieutenant. While
visiting Ed for the night they were invited to a party at the Niumalu.
One of the guests was "Major General Willis H. Hale (commander of the 7th
Air Force), Hully's Big Boss - a very swell person. He touched Hully's
gold bars, and said, 'You can take those off. I promoted you this morning.'
So we all drank high-balls to the event, and General Hale wrote in my autograph
book, 'On the day of Hully's promotion.'"
Hully took some
excellent wartime photos. Danton shared much of his video footage and photos
that his uncle had taken in his role as a military photographer. When we
met Hully during our first Tarzan visit he mentioned that he dabbled in
photography and one of his favourite subject at that time was cactus plants.
He made no mention of his WWII accomplishments. In my descriptions of that
meeting I described how I had dumped gravel all over ERB's famous office
desk while showing off my new Pentax :) See the link below:
Journal/Autograph Book
http://www.erbzine.com/mag27/2779.html
Hulbert Burroughs
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1985.html
Hillmans Meet Hulbert in Tarzana
http://www.erbzine.com/mag1/0192.html
Off-Site Reference
Willis
H. Hale
DECEMBER
5
Phillips Andover Academy and
two attendees: George H.W. Bush and ERB ~ ERB Website Logos
Created by China-Li ~ Hillman
Family and Their Original SOO'S Restaurant Logo ~ ERB: Tells All
2018: The Funeral and National Day
of Mourning for US President 41, George H. W. Bush brings to
mind the Bush/ERB connection. This is via Phillips Andover Academy
- the oldest incorporated academy in the United States. The Academy
was attended by Edgar Rice Burroughs who later transferred to Michigan
Military Academy in 1893. President Bush graduated from there
in 1942.
In his teen
years, Burroughs was having a gorgeous time on his brothers' ranch in Idaho
among cowpunchers, murderers, horse thieves, and bad men. His father, George,
decided it was time to introduce the lad into a more orthodox education
and shipped him east to Phillips Academy at Andover in the fall
of 1891. Sixteen-year-old Ed Burroughs enrolled as a junior middler (sophomore)
in the class of ‘94.
On January 20,
1892 the school paper announced the election of Ed Burroughs as class president.
Burroughs later wrote: "I was elected President
of my class, and because I owned a guitar I was elected to the glee club.
They must have been embarrassed when they discovered I could not play my
guitar. Anyhow, my engagement with the glee club was brief. 'Banty' was
running Andover at the time and I guess I did not make much of a hit with
him. He removed me at the beginning of the second semester. "When I got
home from Andover my father felt that a military school might be a good
place for me, and he took me to Orchard Lake, where the old Michigan Military
Academy was located, and where I spent the next five years."
An 1894 Article by ERB
http://www.erbzine.com/mag56/5654.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0055.html
George H. W. Bush Museum ~ College
Station, TX
150 Photos Across 6 Giant Webpages
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6769.html
Off-Site Reference
Andover
Phillips Academy
*** 1985: Today is the birthdate of
the creator the ERBzine.com, Tarzan.com, and Tarzan.org logos. .
. our daughter China-Li. Her first name is obviously a nod
to her mother and heritage, while one of her middle names - Ma-Ri -
refers to the crater seas of Luna and Mars. She's a writer, muscian, dancer,
artist and longtime fan of SF/Adventure.
As a 13-year-old
she travelled with us to the Tarzana 1999 Dum-Dum where we were
invited to a pre-release showing of the Tarzan animated film on
the Disney lot and she was enthralled by Forry Ackerman's tall tales
during our visit to Ackermansion. She even joined us on our trip to Hawaii
where we visited all of ERB's wartime haunts.
She, her two
brothers and her mom, all share unique knowledge of computer technologies
and have been invaluable in my creation of ERBzine and other computer
projects. When I needed logos for my various ERB sites, she drew upon a
previous design I had made for our SOO'S restaurant and created them all,
complete with embedded hot links. Based upon the ERB doo-dad, the four
vertical bamboo poles represent Sue-On and myself and our two boys. The
large "C" dot to side represents China.
After attending
a medieval jousting event she was determined to become a knight and started
to hone her skills in archery, fencing, bagpipes, harp, and knife-making.
We persuaded her to become a "night-knight" instead and to pursue her education
in medicine. She went on to complete 13 years of medical training
and is now a Doctor of Radiology serving three city hospitals. Happy
birthday kid.
Dr. China-Li Jade Ma-Ri Hillman
http://www.hillmanweb.com/grad10/grad1.html
China-Li: Doctor Music
http://www.hillmanweb.com/book/gigs/07.html#doctor
China-Li Photo Collage
http://www.hillmanweb.com/cards/family/china4all.jpg
*** Edgar Rice Burroughs enjoyed
putting his tongue in cheek at the same time that he put himself into some
of his stories, and so -- like Alfred Hitchcock and Stan Lee and some other
movie-makers doing cameo appearances in their own films -- ERB made literary
cameos in some of his books as one who got the "true" story directly from
his heroes' lips, or from their electronic transmissions, or from their
ghostly images, as the case might be. He also wrote "Edgar Rice Burroughs
Tells All," which is one of dozens of short articles in the volume
of the same name published by Jerry Schneider's ERBville press.
This article, along with two other far-fetched ERB autobiographies are
featured in ERBzine
6706. In that "autobiography" ERB reveals his own life to be as
exciting as that of many of his characters, as he escaped from Pedro, the
king of the gypsies; survived the Battle of Little Big Horn, and was not
eaten by cannibals because his "long, golden hair and my flowing mustache
and beard of the same hue filled them with such awe...." ERB further noted
that he had been able to provide financial assistance to Stanley in his
expedition to find Dr. Livingstone. This biography also contains the amazing
story of how ERB learned the language of the Great Apes.
*** ERB wasn't the only one to
write of the fictional Edgar Rice Burroughs. It was also done by Max
Allan Collins, who wrote a more modern mystery book titled "The
Pearl Harbor Murders." ERB became an investigator in that story. In
The Gridley Wave #225 and ERBzine 0559, George T. McWhorter reviewed
the book and wrote: "On December 5, 1941,
most Americans living on the islands knew that war with Japan was imminent,
but they felt that Hawaii was safe from external attack. Collins has done
an excellent job of researching ERB's life and affairs...."
One error that
Collins made (and acknowledged at his appearance in Oak Park, Illinois,
in 2005) was that he described the visiting Hulbert Burroughs, who
witnessed the Pearl Harbor attacks with his father on Dec. 7, 1941, and
is a secondary character in the book, as ERB's younger son. John Coleman
Burroughs was actually the younger of ERB's two sons. And it was to
come to pass that, exactly one year later, on Dec. 5, 1942, the real ERB
departed in the morning as a war correspondent, and was flown to Canton
Island and then New Caledonia to write about American combat activities
in the Pacific Theater.
"The Pearl Harbor Murders" Review
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0559.html
"Edgar Rice Burroughs Tells
All"
3 Fictional "Autobiographies"
collated in ERBzine
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6706.html
1921: The list of coming
attractions at the Tarzana Ballroom Theatre: Moonlight
Follies ~ On Account
~ Wood Simps ~ Man
Trackers ~ Pals
~ Action with Hoot
Gibson ~ Smart Alec
ERB Bio Timeline Journal
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio
*** 1941: In his letterhome
to Joan, Ed wrote: Cold weather. He was interested in Jim's proposed
Aviation business: "I may take it up again myself - if I get rich."
. . . "Hulbert joins me in love to you all, and a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!"
ERB's Letter to Joan
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1022.html
*** 1912:
Ed submitted a more detailed outline of the Tarzan sequel: The Return
of Tarzan
1915: H.
R. H. the Rider was completed
1929:4: Ed shared his criticisms
over the Tarzan strips with nephew Studley
Burroughs. Studley later forwards detailed criticisms to the Metropolitan
Syndicate
1942: Ed was flown to Canton Island
and on to New Caledonia where he met naval lieutenant Hal Thompson -
Rochelle Hudson's husband.
ERB's 1942 Flight to New Caledonia - Crossing the
Equator
http://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6802.html
ERB Bio Timeline
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio
DECEMBER
6
ERB's Tarzan at the Earth's
Core: 7 parts by Blue Book with Frank Hoban Art, 1st Edition with
St. John Art ~ Wives Emma Burroughs
and Florence Burroughs ~ WWI Article by ERB: To The Mother
1928: ERB started to write "Tarzan
and Pellucidar" (79,446 words). Some or all of the book was dictated
to Ediphone cylinders. It was actually written as a sequel to the last
Pellucidar volume ERB had just completed: Tanar of Pellucidar.
It was first published in seven parts by Blue Book with art for
all the covers and 53 interiors by Frank Hoban (1870-1943). Interestingly
the number on the airship that transported Tarzn to the earth's core was
O-220 -- taken from ERB's home phone number Owensmouth 220. When published,
the working title was changed to Tarzan at the Earth's Core. The
first hard cover edition came from Metropolitan Books on
November 28, 1930 with wrap-around cover art by J. Allen St. John.
Tarzan at the Earth's Core:
Biblio: History ~ Art ~ Info
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0721.html
Tarzan/Earth's Core Blue
Book Cover Collage
http://www.erbzine.com/cards/pulps/tzcoreall.jpg
Tarzan at the Earth's Core:
96 Maxon Strips
http://www.erbzine.com/mag30/3084.html
*** When you have the opportunity
to pick up an old newspaper, you never can tell what you might run across
while idly thumbing through it.
ERB fan and former fanzine publisher Dale Broadhurst
was
looking through the Dec. 6, 1917, edition of the New Oxford Item of New
Oxford, N.J., when he made a discovery. There, before his eyes, was a brief
little article titled "To The Mother" and it was written by Edgar
Rice Burroughs. This article should not be confused with an ERB short
story, "For the Fool's Mother," which has been published in the
ERBzine
5359.
It is known that, during the closing years of The Great
War, 1917 and 1918, ERB had written various little articles and mailed
them to newspapers around the U.S. The 400-word article that greeted Broadhurst's
eyes was a suggestion by ERB, made primarily to those with a mother's heart,
that they consider opening the hospitality of their homes to lonely soldiers.
He told the story of one mother who did so, literally plucking a wandering
soldier off the street. Her family welcomed him and he enjoyed their hospitality
before shipping out. Over the years, he made several return visits. By
opening her home, the mother may have kept the soldier from becoming involved
in other pursuits that may have resulted in physical or moral harm. ERB
had written: "He could not enter a saloon and to drink if he had so desired,
for he was in uniform; but there were other, more alluring deadlier forms
of vice that were not denied him."
The short little letter is one of great many wartime
articles published by ERBzine. See No. 1169
To The Mother by Edgar Rice Burroughs
http://www.erbzine.com/mag11/1169.html
*** Another old newspaper, The Chicago
Tribune of Dec. 6, 1939, had an advertising spread on Florence, Mrs.
Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the type of wine she preferred to serve.
If you want to check your copy of the Tribune for that date, it's on page
20 but you'll probably find it easier to find in ERBzine
0890 This was exactly five years after ERB's divorce from
his first wife, Emma, became final on Dec. 6,1934.
Florence Burroughs Wine Ad
http://www.erbzine.com/mag8/0890.html
Larger Image of the Wine Ad
http://www.erbzine.com/mag8/fload.jpg
*** 1934: Ed was granted a "quickie"
divorce on the grounds of his wife's "extreme cruelty" and "incompatibility
of temperament." Emma received a generous settlement. Ed was quick to point
out that Florence's marriage came to an end as a result of Ashton's
interest in Ula Holt. Both in distress, Ed and Florence were
drawn together as sufferers in common. Ed felt deep guilt over the burden
and upset that the breakup had put on his sons. The marriage breakup shattered
the Burroughs family. The children and many of Ed's closest friends shared
Emma's heartbreak and were greatly troubled by the turn of events. As part
of the divorce settlement, Emma stayed on the ERB, Inc. payroll as a proofreader
but she was totally shattered and grief stricken at the loss of the lifelong
partner with whom she had shared so many highs and lows during a long marriage.
Although Ed maintained a close relationship with Joan, Hully and Jack,
he effectively broke off all contact with Emma.
ERB's Divorce From Emma
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag67/6750.html
The Burroughs Story
http://www.erbzine.com/mag13/1372.html
DECEMBER
7
ERB Witnessing the Pearl Harbor Attack: USS Shaw Explosion,
Landon's B-17 Flight Arrival
Landon in Tarzan and "The Foreign Legion" ~
Fielder in Escape On Venus ~ JCB's Sunday Strips
*** 1941: December 7 - 7:55 a.m.: Eye Witness Account
of.the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. The old military man was
finally in the right place at the right time. Ed and Hulbert watched
the attack from their hotel tennis court, at first thinking it a military
practice exercise. When they saw the red sun symbol on the low-flying aircraft
they realized it was the real thing.
Two famous incidents from that attack
were the flight of incoming bombers that came under attack and the spectacular
explosion of the USS Shaw. Twelve B-17 "Flying Fortress" bombers
under the command of U.S. Army Major Truman H. Landon came under
attack as they approached Hickam Field on Oahu Island. The commander
of that bomber flight, Truman Landon, later became a good friend of ERB
and Burroughs flew with him on missions against the Japs over the Pacific.
The USS Shaw destroyer was repaired and put back into action. ERB
in his role as the oldest journalist in WWII sailed on the ship from New
Caledonia back to Pearl Harbor. (See
ERB's 1943 Wartime Journals: 6800)
Following the attack, Ed, Hulbert,
and friend Anton Rost, volunteered for sentry duty with Patrol 2,
Company A, 1st Battalion, stationed on the wharf warehouse at Honolulu
Tuna Packers Ltd. Later Ed was assigned to guard and then to escort "enemy
aliens" (Japanese) to the Immigration Station. The march almost killed
him. At the recommendation of friend Col. Kendall J. Fielder was
hired to write a series of wartime "Laugh It Off" columns and became
quite involved in the forming of and instructing the BMTC a businessman's
home guard. All of these activities led to his becoming an accredited
journalist -- the oldest war correspondent in the Pacific Theatre -- a
role that took him on far-off missions over, around, and on Pacific islands.
All of these events are expanded upon, complete with illustrations, in
my ERBzine links featured below.
*** Advancing age didn't stop Edgar Rice
Burroughs from continuing to add to each of his major series in his twilight
years.
In 1944 he had published "Land of Terror" in the
Pellucidar series; in 1946 came "Escape on Venus," followed in 1947
by "Tarzan and 'The Foreign Legion.'" Then it was the tenth book
of the Mars series, "Llana of Gathol," in 1948. And he had left
a pile of manuscripts -- some complete but some only partial -- that were
not published in hardbound book form until several years after his death.
One of those incomplete manuscripts is so brief that
it is referred to as a fragment -- the "Venus fragment." Carson Napier
and Ero Shan had just wound up their adventure in the novelette, 'The
Wizard of Venus,' and were in the Anotar II heading for who-knows-what
when ERB stopped writing the manuscript -- due to something he deemed far
more important -- helping his country in World War II.
When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor
70 years ago today -- Dec. 7, 1941 -- ERB was too old to join and fight
in the service, but nonetheless volunteered to help in whatever way he
could.. The Army thought it would be a good idea for a newspaper column
to help boost civilian morale, and Col. Kendall J. Fielder, a friend
of ERB, suggested to him that he write such a column, so the first "Laugh
it Off" article appeared in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin a few days later.
ERB also joined the BMTC -- the Business Men's Training Corps --
a Hawaii civilian force that might be needed to help repel a Japanese landing
on Hawaii, which was a great, and logical, fear at the time. Eventually,
he would "go to war" in the only way that a man of his age could -- as
a war correspondent.
The name of Fielder is familiar to ERB fans as
the author dedicated "Escape on Venus" to him. Two other ERB military
friends were also so-honored, with Brigadier Gen. Truman H. Landon
the dedicatee in "Tarzan and 'The Foreign Legion'" and a Ft. Shafter
public relations officer, John Philip Bird, so honored in "Llana
of Gathol."
All three men are represented in that Tarzan volume.
In addition to the dedication to Landon, the book contains an acknowledgements
notice at the front thanking Bird for his assistance in research, and,
through one of his characters, ERB pulls Fielder's leg on page 258-9 (chapter
25). During a discussion of magic, the character Jerry Lucas says, "I
had a friend in Honolulu when I was stationed at Hickam, who was as good
as any professional I have ever seen. Paint Colonel Kendall J. Fielder
black, dress him up in a breechclout and a feather headdress, give him
some odds and ends of bones and pieces of wood and a zebra's tail, and
turn him loose in Africa; and he'd have all the other witch doctors green
with envy."
ERB continues with his good-natured jesting at Fielder's
expense with a paragraph about Fielder's card-playing skills.
PEARL HARBOR COVERAGE FROM ERB: THE WAR YEARS
ERB's Eye Witness Account of the Pearl Harbor Attack
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1023.html
ERB / USS Shaw Connection
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0508.html
Reports from the USS Cahaba
http://www.erbzine.com/mag33/3369.html
ERB / Landon WWII Connection
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0718.html
ERB / General Fielder Connection
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag64/6458.html
ERB's "Laugh It Off" Columns: 1941
http://www.erbzine.com/mag11/1129.html
ERB's "Laugh It Off" Columns: 1942
http://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1754.html
ERB / Pearl Harbor Collage
http://www.erbzine.com/cards/erb/erbpearlall.jpg
ERB and Pearl Harbor by Bob Hyde
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0703.html
The Pearl Harbor Murders by Max Allan Collins
http://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0559.html
Hillman B-17 Adventure
http://www.hillmanweb.com/war/2015/1505.html
http://www.hillmanweb.com/war/2015/1506.html
*** 1941: John
Carter of Mars, adapted/written
and illustrated by John Coleman Burroughs, appeared as a Sunday
feature for United Feature Syndicate. Wartime paper shortage forced its
demise after 73 weeks in the spring of 1943.
All 73 JCB Sunday Pages, Summaries
and Novelization
http://www.erbzine.com/mag22/2288.html
MORE ERB TIMELINE NOTES
*** 1918: December 7: In
response to Ed's plans to get into farming, Ed's friend, Weston, said he
was toying with the idea of starting a farming enterprise in Canada but
feared that the Saskatchewan prairies are the "doggonedest place in the
western hemisphere to live.". He gave Ed the following advice on farming:
"I look upon a farm as a factory. If I go farming, I'll run the damnedthing
not with any idea of getting back to nature, but from the point of view
of making it produce so much stuff for a 5 year average.
*** 1918: December 7: Ed and Weston
were staunch Republicans. Weston wrote that a returning army major friend
of his said that not a single officer would ever vote the Democratic ticket
again. To Weston's knowledge no Democrat went into the army at all -- except
by the draft route. Weston and son
Collins
admitted to detesting
Jane Porter, "Tarzan was mightily stung when he married her."
*** 1920: Munsey Co. informed
Ed that Davis had left to form an agency for authors
ERB Bio Timeline and Journals
http://www.ERBzine.com/bio
*** 1921: The Amarillo Globe,
of Amarillo, Texas, reported on this date that it would be running the
Maxon/Palmer
strip version of ERB's Tarzan the Untamed.
As mentioned earlier, "Untamed" in the newspaper strip
was markedly different from ERB's original book version, which he began
writing in 1918 during World War I, primarily because the enemies in the
original story were Germans whereas the enemies in the comic strip were
"the Reds." Negative feedback toward ERB and Tarzan from Germany made some
radical changes necessary. The comic strip version also contained additional
back story about the spy, who was named Bertha Kircher in the book but
had the name Olga Boresch in the strip!
When the Texas newspaper announced its plans to run the
strip, it gave credit for the change in story line to Edgar Rice Burroughs
himself. However, the strip at that time was being written by R.W. Palmer
and drawn by Rex Maxon.
The main headline for the article was "Tarzan Fights
Reds in Africa" and the subhead was: "Sensational New Picture-Serial
to Start Here Monday."
The story, as it appeared in The Globe:
The new Tarzan picture-story, "Tarzan the Untamed," which
begins next Monday in The Globe, is the first Edgar Rice Burroughs story
of the ape-man here to deal with modern warfare. It is an imaginary war
this time between a Russian expeditionary force dispatched to British East
Africa and the British army stationed there.
The previous Tarzan picture-stories have been taken direct
from Mr. Burroughs' books. "Tarzan the Untamed" has been rewritten and
packed with new episodes and new thrills.
....Blood Lust Aroused
Tarzan, returning from the jungle in his vast estate,
finds the buildings of his farm in ruins, his brave Waziri killed, and,
in his wife's room there is a charred body, identified as Lady Jane by
the rings she wears. Thus Tarzan learns that war has come to Africa.
The ape-man's wild, primitive blood-lust is aroused as
he vows vengeance. In blind fury he goes forth to find the perpetrators
of the crime. So he becomes embroiled in action.
"Tarzan the Untamed" is one of the
most sensationally absorbing narratives in the whole Tarzan saga. In it,
Edgar Rice Burroughs, who was born and trained in the American army, and
who served in the American army, gives free expression in the romance of
the martial spirit.
That Mr. Burroughs is not today an Army officer instead
of the most widely read writer living is due to mathematics. His father
was a regular Army cavalry officer and as a boy Edgar Rice Burroughs grew
up intending to follow in his father's footsteps. He had the army in his
blood and he had also ingrained in him from childhood exciting stories
of his father's adventures in the Civil War and as an Indian fighter.
... Stopped by Math
Preparatory to entering West Point,
Edgar Rice Burroughs studied at Culver Military Academy, where a good part
of the training consists in cavalry drill. But when the time came for West
Point, the future officer was stopped by the mathematics examination. Failing
to qualify as a student officer, he enlisted as a private in the regular
army cavalry and he served his hitch primarily in Arizona.
When he wrote "Tarzan the Untamed" as a book, he built
the story around the campaigns of the Germans and British armies in Africa.
But now he has completely revised the story so that when it appears as
a picture story it will be virtually a new tale. Instead of the German
army, an imaginary Red army swings into action and there is a new and fascinating
heroine, the beautiful English girl who grew up to become a Russian spy.
Tarzan the Untamed: Daily strip by Rex Maxon
http://www.erbzine.com/mag32/3229.html
Read all the Maxon Tarzan Strips: Colour and B/W
http://www.ERBzine.com/maxon
*** 1915: Popular author, Leigh Brackett,
(1915.12.07-1978.03.18) was born on this day. Leigh was one of the more
talented and influential writers in the field of science fiction. In addition
to the genre, she wrote mystery novels, and was a notable screenwriter
-- among her scripts are The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo,
The Long Good-bye
and remarkably, The Empire Strikes Back. Her body of
SF work consisted of some sixty short stories and a dozen novels between
1940 and 1978, including collaborations with Ray Bradbury and with her
husband, Edmund Hamilton.
And Bracket wrote Mars.
Her first story published, in 1940, was Martian Quest.
She would follow that up with ten stories and four novels set principally
on her Mars, and another half dozen set on or around other planets of the
solar system which touched on Mars, as well as over a dozen more set on
Venus, Mercury, the Jovian moons or other regions, all of which constituted
a kind of interlocking solar system.
Though the influence of Edgar Rice
Burroughs is apparent in Brackett's Mars stories, her Mars is set firmly
in a world of interplanetary commerce and competition. A prominent theme
of her stories is the clash of planetary civilizations; the stories illustrate
and criticize the effects of colonialism on civilizations that are either
older or younger than those of the colonizers. Burroughs' heroes set out
to remake entire worlds according to their own codes; Brackett's heroes
(often antiheroes) are at the mercy of trends and movements far bigger
than they are.
Leigh Brackett, a loyal Burroughs
Bibliophile, was the Guest of Honour at the 1977 Dum-Dum held at the
Fontainebleau Hotel, Miami Beach, FL. At that Dum-Dum she was awarded
the Golden Lion Award.
In 1946, Brackett married fellow science
fiction author Edmond Hamilton (fellow SF writer Ray Bradbury
served as best man). She died of cancer in 1978 in Lancaster, California.
Leigh Brackett: ERBzine Articles by Den Valdron
http://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1783.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1783a.html
Leigh Brackett's Empire Strikes Back script
http://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1783c.html
*** 1999: George Wilson,
who painted many a Tarzan and Korak comic book cover, passed away
Dec. 7, 1999.
George Wilson Entry in ERB Artist Encyclopedia
http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1018.html
George Wilson Cover Art in the Dell and Gold Key Tarzan
and Korak Comics
http://www.erbzine.com/mag23/2395.html
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag25/2596.html
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag66/6651.html
Off-Site References
Wilson
in comicvine
Wilson:
Lambiek
VISIT DECEMBER WEEK 1 PHOTO ALBUM
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6355pics.html
BACK TO NOVEMBER WEEK 4
www.ERBzine.com/mag63/6354.html
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www.ERBzine.com/events
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