The Barsoomian #10 – January 1966
I guess we could
call this the “Unofficial Dum-Dum” #2. I visited David O. Kohr Jr.
at his parents’ home in Philadelphia over the Christmas holidays in 1965.
We spent most of the visit typing up articles and pasting up layouts for
this issue. I was horrified to discover that Dave’s only typewriter
was all caps, with no lower case. I knew it would make the issue
difficult to read, but there was nothing we could do about it. Officially,
this represented the merger of Dave’s “Amtorian” with my “Barsoomian” but
that lasted only one issue. I don’t think Dave published any more
fanzines and he pretty much disappeared from fandom not long after.
As noted in the editorial, Ken Dixon stopped by to visit
and came up with the cover logo design for the illustration by Harry Habblitz.
Harry also illustrated the fold-out centerfold for the issue, in addition
to the editorial page cartoon and the Tarzan and James Bond illustrations
for John Harwood’s article. Ken Webber did a really nice back cover
illustration along with a bunch of sketches and doodles we used in Fred
Kwiecien’s article on the longevity theme in many of ERB’s novels.
Pat Mayo did the inside back cover.
I think the “hit” of the issue was Dale Broadhurst’s visit
to ERB Inc. and all the photos we were able to use. John Harwood’s
article on the James Bond influence in the newest Tarzan film was a very
timely piece for the release of “Tarzan and the Valley of Gold” the following
December. Both of these articles were originally submitted to Dave’s
“Amtorian” which makes this issue truly a joint effort.
But, to me, the highlight of the issue was the reproduction
of the “Tarzan of the Air” brochure created in 1934 to promote the Tarzan
radio show. I was very grateful to Hully Burroughs for the brochure
and permission to reprint it.
~ Paul Allen
