ERBzine 8225: Drabbles April 1-15, 2026

“She will be disappointed.”

AS YOU WISH

April 3: On this day in 1944, the Rex Maxon scripted and illustrated Tarzan daily newspaper comic story arc, THE DIOBOLICAL HYPNOTIST, began. The story was relatively short, only thirty-six installments. All of them are available to read for no cost at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag54/5444.html

Very few of the pages survived in their printed format. Paper drives during the second World War were a real thing. I can’t image how many newspaper, comic books, and pulp magazines were gathered up by the Boy Scouts and recycled. I remember doing paper drives in the late fifties.

The story focuses on Diane Weaver, a beautiful woman who was searching for a rare hibiscus. She and her father approached the base of a waterfall, a mysterious location from which no human had ever returned. She encountered a hypnotist, who is in full stage costume. The man hypnotized and took her. Her father asked Tarzan for help. While Tarzan searched, the hypnotist, Zondo, planned to force Diane to become part of his stage act. He had hypnotized lions and had made Diane into a tightrope walker.

Tarzan pretended to be hypnotized, fought men and animals who were controlled by Zondo, and freed Diane. The story arc has some of Maxon’s best work.

The drabble for today, “As You Wish,” was inspired by the story arc.

AS YOU WISH

Zondo, the hypnotist, who had captured Diane, a beautiful woman, stared into Tarzan’s eyes. “You are getting sleeping. You will obey my every command.”

Tarzan’s eyes glazed over. “Your wish is my command.”

“I need several elephants for my performance. Bring me a hundred elephants.”

Tarzan left, found a large herd, and led an elephant stampede to where Zondo waited. The elephants trampled the hypnotist.

Diane said, “He didn’t say that he wanted an elephant stampede.”

“He didn’t say that he didn’t. Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to a person is to get exactly what they wished for.”

SOMETIMES IT'S SO EASY

April 4: On this day in 1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs completed writing the story, THE LAD AND THE LION. The short novel had the working title, Men and Beasts, and was later made into the first authorized film based on the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs and published in All-Story Magazine. The All-Story issue featured the film on the cover, one of the first movie tie-ins. Burroughs revised the novel in 1937. He added 21,000 words to the story prior to its publication by Edgar Rice Burroughs Incorporated. The first edition cover was by John Coleman Burroughs.

Details about the publication history of the novel, several illustrations, a complete Ebook of the story, and links to information about the ‘lost’ film, are available at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0760.html

The drabble for today, “Sometimes It’s So Easy,” was inspired by the novel and by derivative novel, in my humble opinion, published 77 years later.

SOMETIMES IT'S SO EASY

The All-Story editor called Edgar Rice Burroughs. “I’m gonna a buy The Lad and the Lion.”

“That’s great. I’ve sold the story to a motion picture company. They’ve already started filming.”

“I’ll call them. If I promote the picture, it will save me hiring a cover artist. I’ll sell more magazines ad they’ll sell more tickets.”

Burroughs replied, “Wonderful, Does that me you’ll pay me more money?”

“It doesn’t. For the life of me, I can’t imagine why you’d think something as silly as that? It’s simply irrational.”

“The idea just came to me. It was as easy as pie.”

MY HOUSE, MY RULES

April 5: On this day in 1952, actor Mitch Pileggie, who portrayed Richard Claton, as billionaire Richard Clayton, the CEO & shareholder of Greystoke Industries and Tarzan's uncle, in nine episodes of the Travis Fimmel television Tarzan series, was born in Portland, Oregon. More about the series in ERBzine: https://www.erbzine.com/mag77/7730.html and https://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0014.html#Warner

Mitch has appeared in dozens of television episodes and films, including Walker, Texas Ranger, Grey’s Anatomy, and Sons of Anarchy.

The drabble for today, “My House, My Rules,” was inspired by Mitch’s character and a touch of reality.

MY HOUSE, MY RULES

Detective Jane Porter confronted Richard Clayton, Tarzan’s uncle. “John, who you know as Tarzan, is the legitimate heir to the Greystoke fortune.”

“That’s what I’ve been told,” sneered Richard Clayton.

“Excellent. That means that you’ll order Greystoke Industries to stop all activities that endanger the environment and then resign as Chairman of the company which Tarzan owns.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. It’s against the rules.”

“What rules?”

“The golden rule comes to mind.”

“You mean do unto others?”

“Not that golden rule. The new golden rule says that since I have all the gold, I make all the rules.”

WE GOTTA GET OUT

April 6: On this day in 1947 the Ruben Moreira illustrated and Don Garden scripted Sunday Tarzan newspaper story arc, “Tarzan and the Scourge” concluded after a run of 44 Sundays. This was Moreira’s longest story arc and it was reprinted in NBM, Tarzan in Color Vol. 15B, one of the most difficult and expensive of the nineteen books in the collection. Volumes 15A, 15B, 16, 17, and 18 only had print runs of five hundred copies.

Moreira stepped into to illustrate the Tarzan Sunday pages when Burne Hogarth left the Tarzan Sunday newspaper strip from roughly 1945 to 1947 to focus on founding and establishing the Cartoonists and Illustrators School in New York City, which later became the School of Visual Arts (SVA).

The Hogarth Tarzan pages are available at the website https://www.erbzine.com/hogarth, but for the Moreira pages, you’ll have to track down one of those 500 copies of “Tarzan in Color 15B. I spotted a dozen or so copies for sale today from various booksellers ranging in price from $53.00 without a dust jacket to $299.00 for an excellent copy in dust jacket. Still going to pass on those.

The drabble for today is, “We Gotta Get Out, inspired by the Sunday comic, a story in which Tarzan and his companions must escape from an evil leader, “The Scourge.” The drabble format is a Filk song and a little credit to Eric Burton and The Animals.

WE GOTTA GET OUT

In this dirty filthy part of the dungeon

Where the sun is afraid to shine

Older prisoners say there ain’t no use in trying.

Woman, you’re young and pretty

And the Scourge has evil plans for you

Death comes for us, we both know it’s true.

We won’t die here in this dungeon

I won’t stay here ‘till my hair turns gray

I’ve got a plan, we’re going to escape, to get away

I’ll choke the guard and we’ll climb over the wall

Once we’re outside, we can run and hide

Where the jungle animals will fight at my side.

TAKE THE WIN

April 7: On this day in 1916, actor Anthony Caruso, who appeared as Sergo in Tarzan and the Slave Girl, as Mongo in Tarzan and the Leopard Woman, and Grundy in the episode, The Figurehead, of the Ron Ely Tarzan television series, born in Frankfort, Indiana. A character actor, he more than one hundred American films. He was known for his villains and gangsters. He played a bad guy in all three of his appearances with Tarzan. His career battling the Lord of the Jungle began in 1946 when he fought Johnny Weissmuller, continued in 1950 against Lex Barker, and finished with Ron Ely in 1965.

Tarzan and the Leopard Woman https://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0626.html

Tarzan and the Slave Girl https://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1950.html

The Figurehead https://www.erbzine.com/mag74/7423.html#10

The 100-word fictional drabble for today, “Take the Win,” was inspired by Anthony Caruso, perpetually cast as a bad guy, and his three conflicts with Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle. Anthony’s comments about never giving up aren’t fictional.

TAKE THE WIN

Ron Ely said to Anthony Caruso. “Weren’t you a bad guy in Zorro?”

“I’m almost always cast as a bad guy.

“Are you the bad guy in this episode?”

“I am. This isn’t my first dance in the jungle. You’re the third Tarzan I’ve fought.”

“You came back for more?”

“I’ll always come back. I never give up. A man should think of his past mistakes as training for the person he’s become.”

“You think you’ll win this time?”

“No, I’ve read the script, but this time I hang around until the final scene. I’m taking that as a win.”

COMPLETE CARICATURE

April 8: On this day in 2020, MAD MAGAZINE artist, MORT DRUCKER, who illustrated two Tarzan parodies for the magazine, died in Woodbury, New York. He was remarkably prolific and I can’t mention everything here, but some highlights are, Mad Magazine illustrator for 55 years, his JFK Coloring Book sold 2.5 million copies, and he illustrated the film poster for AMERICAN GRAFITTI.

The drabble today, Complete Caricature,” is taken from a 2012 interview with Mort Drucker about his work. It’s been slightly edited to fit the 100-word drabble format.

COMPLETE CARICATURE

I've always considered caricature to be the complete person, not just a likeness. Hands have always been a prime focus for me as they can be as expressive of character as the exaggerations and distortions a caricaturist searches for. I try to capture the essence of the person. I've discovered through years of working at capturing a humorous likeness that it's not about the features themselves as much as the space between the features. We have two eyes, a nose, a mouth, hair, and jaw lines, but we all look different. What makes that so is the space between them.

HOME IS WHERE YOU MAKE IT

April 9: On this day in 1972, the Russ Manning written and illustrated Tarzan Sunday story arc, “Korak and the City of Xuja,” began. Read the beautifully written and illustrated story at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1790.html

The story begins with a local tribe ordering a group of what appear to be flower children to leave their land. Being peaceful, the interlopers agree, but have no idea where to go. Korak agreed to help them find a home. Their journey takes them to the City of Xuja, where the citizens train lions and worship an idol, T’chak Mool, to whom they plan to sacrifice a woman and a child. Korak stops that from happening.

The 100-word drabble for today is, “Home is Where You Make It.” Inspired by the story arc. I think the lesson of the story is that you have to find happiness where you are because a geographic relocation is not a solution to your problems. You take those with you. Most of the dialogue in the drabble is from the comic story.

HOME IS WHERE YOU MAKE IT

The cult leader said, “We seek a place to raise our children in peace, an unspoiled paradise.”

Korak replied, “I’ll help you search, but thing about a paradise is that someone else has made it so.”

“Please Korak, take us to a primitive place where people live in harmony with each other and with nature.”

“Does such a place truly exist? If it does, it exists only because you haven’t arrived there.”

“We don’t want to fight about anything.”

Korak shook his head, “I’d rather choose what is worth fighting for than live somewhere that has nothing worth fighting for.”

WHERE LIONS ONCE SLEPT

April 10: On this day in 1934, Edgar Rice Burroughs and his son, John Coleman Burroughs, visited Gay’s Lion Farm in El Monte, California.

The drabble for today, “Where Lion’s Once Slept,” is excerpted and edited for length from an article written by Michael Weller and available in its entirety at: https://www.pbssocal.org/.../el-montes-wild-past-a... . The lion statue that once stood at the entrance, now stands in front of the high school, where the sports’ teams are the El Monte Lions. There’s also a nice article about the farm at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag62/6229.html

WHERE LIONS ONCE SLEPT
Gay's Lion Farm, once a defining symbol of El Monte, has few traces in today's city. A perfectly unexotic McDonald's now stands on Valley Boulevard, where the entrance to the Farm once saw fancy cars and tour buses disgorging their passengers to visit the tourist attraction. A memorial, a statue of a lion, is easy to miss for drivers hurrying through the intersection; it's also unlikely to be visited by pedestrians since the space is next to a busy intersection and below a freeway with no convenient parking nearby. The lion stands behind the fence, neglected by contemporary El Monte.

CHOOSE SIDES

April 11: On this day in 1941, the Rex Maxon illustrated and Don Garden scripted Tarzan daily story arc, “The Jungle Idol,” began. The story ran for nine-five episodes. The story features Zeela, the Wild Girl, a young boy named Tommy, and a lost shipload of conquistadors, who are surviving as pirates. I read the story arc twice this morning and I can’t find a single mention or image of a jungle idol. The story arc has been misnamed in my opinion, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. Zeela the Wild Girl is always entertainingly bloodthirsty.

You can read every one of the thousands of Rex Maxon daily Tarzan comic strips at https://www.erbzine.com/maxon This one starts at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag47/4760.html

The drabble for today, “Choose Sides,” was inspired by the story arc and common sense.

CHOOSE SIDES

Zeela, the Wild Girl said, “Tarzan, the first mate plans to mutiny. We need to decide whether to support him or to support the captain.”

Tarzan shrugged. “I don’t care for either of them.”

“People who don’t choose a side, often have the choice made for them.”

“Zeela, what are they arguing about?”

“The captain hopes to marry an African queen and rule the continent. The first mate wants to return to Spain, overthrow the government, and become the Spanish monarch.”

“I think I’ll sit this one out. You don’t have to pick a side if both sides are stupid.”

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

April 12: On this day in 1994, episode # 9, season 3, Tarzan and the Stoneman, Wolf Larson television Tarzan series, was broadcast. The episode, which like all the episodes featured Lydie Denier, is reviewed at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag75/7549.html#57.

A cave man, Atu, portrayed by John Ashley Hamilton under the mane Ashley Alexander, finds Tarzan and his entourage, who try to teach him new things and to help him return home. The caveman and the Tarzan group find agreement about how technology has destroyed the jungle.

The drabble for today, “No Place Like Home,” was inspired by the episode and uses dialogue from the episode.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Atu, the caveman said, “I don’t like your world. New things have destroyed the jungle I love. I want to go home.”

Tarzan understands. Tarzan wants to help. We’ll try to help you.

After leading Atu home, Tarzan returned and Roger questioned whether helping the caveman was the right thing to do.”

Tarzan replied, ‘He wanted to go home. It’s not for me to question his choice. Good or bad, it’s for him to decide for himself. He wanted his family. I took him to them.”

“Where did you take him”

“Some things in the jungle are best kept secret.”

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND

April 13: On this day in 1947, the Ruben Moreira illustrated and Don Garden scripted Tarzan Sunday story arc, Tarzan and the Isle of Ka-Gor, began. After seventeen episodes, Burne Hogarth took over the artwork for the next five, and then took over the art and the writing for the final thirteen episodes. The story ran for a total of thirty-five episodes.

The illustration accompanying this article is by Burne Hogarth from November 30, 1947. To view the Ruben Moreira pages, your best bet is the elusive Book # 15 of the TARZAN IN COLOR books published by Flying Buttress. Only 500 copies were printed. Most of the Tarzan Sunday comic pages are available at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag22/2292.html and https://www.erbzine.com/comics/ The Hogarth Sunday Tarzans are at https://www.erbzine.com/hogarth

The fictional drabble for today, “The Mysterious Island,” was inspired by the story arc. It features my old friends from New Orleans, John and Pat. I miss them both.

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND

John said, “I’m not very happy with Tarzan Sunday funnies. The storyline doesn’t make sense.”

Pat carefully stored the new Tarzan page and said, “I’m really enjoying it. What’s your issue?”

“It’s cliched. The island is obviously dangerous and no sane explorer would go there, but they do anyway. It’s like in a movie where the entire audience screams at the actress, “Don’t open the door.” Everyone knows that if the explorers go to the island, something very bad is going to happen.”

“John, the story is like life. What makes it interesting is that it’s filled with blatant stupidity.”

TIME AND TIDE

April 14: On this day in 2012, John Guidry, creator of Edgar Rice Burroughs Amateur Press Association, is awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at The Tarzan Festival in Morgan City, Louisiana. Sadly, John passed away in 2026, but that legacy lives on. The Edgar Rice Burroughs Amater Press Association is still active and releasing a new editions four times a year – more than forty-years after the first issue. John would be proud.

The organization has a couple of openings. Details are available at. https://www.erbzine.com/apa/

Two past covers are included as examples. Enjoy.

The drabble for today, “Time and Tide,” is based on my poor recollection of a conversation with John about the ERBAPA, when it first began.

TIME AND TIDE

I parked in front of the house at Number One Finch Street, got out of my car and knocked on the door.

“John, here’s my contribution for the first issue.”

“That’s nice, but you’re a day late. Contributions were due yesterday.”

“Sorry about that. Have you already mailed out the first issue?”

“Due yesterday, mailed yesterday. The thirty-first means the thirty-first. The good news is that your contribution is in plenty of time for the next issue.”

“That’s good, I think. How long will this amateur press association last.”

“Just like everything, it will last as long as it lasts.”

BATTLEFIELD PROMOTION

April 15: On this day in 1945, the world’s oldest war correspondent, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ article, “What Price Intolerance?” was published in Hawaii Magazine. The complete article may be read at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1757.html#whatpriceintolerance

The drabble for today, “Battlefield Promotion,” is an excerpt from that article written by Edgar Rice Burroughs It has been slightly edited to be exactly 100 words in length. Ed was reacting to a resolution presented at the national convention of the American Legion demanding that all alien Japanese in the United States be deported at the conclusion of the war. Over thirty-thousand Japanese Americans enlisted in the United States Military during WW2, several of them from Hawaii.

BATTLEFIELD PROMOTION

I see red that any American should suggest that the parents of men who volunteered to fight in our armed forces, of men who have fought, men who are now fighting, men who have been wounded, or men who have been killed in action should be deported. The idea is monstrous. We should demand national legislation that confers citizenship on the parents of any man who served honorably in the armed forces, provided they qualify in other respects.

That’s little for them, especially those who have given their sons that our country might continue to exist as a free nation.