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Volume 0946

LOST WORDS OF ERB
LETTERS VIII
ERB at work in his Honolulu office

CONTENTS
OB: Old Burroughs
Fan letter from the '20s
Honolulu Star Bulletin News Column Items: April 25 & 29, 1940
News Clipping: Florence's Arrival in Honolulu April 25, 1940
News Clipping: Ed's Arrival in Honolulu April 30, 1940
April 28, 1940 notice for Honolulu KGU Radio's new Tarzan Show
Letter from Hawaii to Joan: March 27, 1941
Laugh It Off! Column by ERB
Letter from Hawaii to Joan: December 3, 1941
The following is probably a news release written by Burroughs. 
It was on a typed sheet found among his personal archives by grandson, Danton.
"OLD" BURROUGHS: CONCEIVED TARZAN IN BED
Many years ago, when it was not applicable, a man who did not like him always referred to him as "Old" Burroughs; and ever since he has always signed his letters to his boys, "O.B." 

What is "old"?  At fifty-eight Burroughs learned to fly, at fifty-nine he took up tennis, now he is going to school again, and he has a definite engagement of long standing to ride horseback with his elder son on his ninetieth birthday.


LETTER TO A FAN IN THE '20s

 
 
 
 











 

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.
Tarzana
Reseda California

                                        October 11, 1927
Mr. Edwin [Rothman]
4711 North Ninth Street
Philadelphia, Pa.

My dear Edwin:

                    I am just in receipt of a letter 
from you and your friend, and in accordance with 
your request I am sending my answer to both of you.

                    I am very glad that you have enjoyed 
my stories and am more than delighted to answer your 
questions insofar as I can.

                    I am enclosing a little circular 
which will give you a word or two of description 
about some of my stories that appeared in book form. 
I have no synopsis of those that have not appeared 
in book form and it would be a rather long and diffi-
cult proposition to furnish them inasmuch as I should 
have to read the stories over again myself. 

                    I do not know what you mean by your
inquiry relative to the names of my foreign 
publications. Many of my books have been translated 
into foreign languages, but I have written nothing 
especially for foreign publications. 

                    The "Warming"? is, I believe a new name 
given the picture version of THE OAKDALE AFFAIR.

                    THE WAR CHIEF appeared in book form 
last month.

                    Again thanking you for your very kind 
letter, I am with best wishes

                                Very sincerely yours,
                                    Edgar Rice Burroughs


 

From the Dale Broadhurst Collection
HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN, 
Monday, April 29, 1940
TARZAN AUTHOR ARRIVES TO WRITE, BREAK FISHING JINX

Unlike the late novelist Zane Grey, who visited Honolulu last year announcing he was going to return to show the local fishermen how to catch game fish, Edgar Rice Burroughs, famed creator of Tarzan, arrived today announcing he is "the world's worst fisherman." 

Mr. Grey, author of numerous western stories, died before he could return to Honolulu to prove his boast. 

Primarily, Mr. Burroughs came this morning from the coast on the Monterey to spend the summer in the islands writing a series of books. In his spare time he will try to break his fishing jinx. 

He has taken the R. Alexander Anderson home at Kalama for the summer. Mrs. Burroughs and their two children arrived last week. 

A prolific writer of imaginative stories about his ape man Tarzan and about life on Mars, Mr. Burroughs publishes two books a year and is trying to get several years ahead of schedule. He has turned

out 52 or 53 books, he isn't sure which.

Translated into 57 languages and dialects, his works have sold 25,000,000 copies. His home is at Tarzana, Cal., named for the fiction, movie and comic character that made him famous. 

The "comic strip," Tarzan, equally popular is carried by hundreds of newspaper. The Star-Bulletin publishes the Tarzan daily strip and Saturday color page exclusively in Hawaii.

Regarding his fishing he said this morning he had only cuaght one game fish in his life. It turned out to be a shark.



from: April 25, 1940 Honolulu Star-Bulletin
TARZAN'S CREATOR
IS DUE ON MONTEREY

Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of the fiction, comic strip and movie character of Tarzan, probably will arrive Monday on the Monterey from the coast, Mrs. Burroughs said Wednesday, when she arrived on the Matsonia.

She was accompanied by their son, Lee, and daughter, Caryl Lee, and will take a house at Kailua.


LaSelle Gilman's
"Port and Off Port" 
Honolulu Advertiser 
April 25, 1940
(Matsonia arrived on April 24)

LaSelle Gilman's
"Port and Off Port" 
Honolulu Advertiser 
April 30, 1940
(Monterey Arrived on April 29)


From the Dale Broadhurst Collection

LaSell Gilman's
"Port and Off Port" 
Honolulu Advertiser
April 25, 1940
(Matsonia arrived on April 24)

MRS. TARZAN

Mrs. Edgar Rice Burroughs, wife of the prolific creator of Tarzan, is here again, with son Lee and daughter Caryl Lee, and said that Mr. Burroughs is planning to follow them soon, probably on the Monterey next week. They're staying for the summer, taking a house at Kailua, and Mr. Burroughs will knock off another thriller while basking in the Hawaiian sun. The Burroughs live in Tarzana, Cal., which should be proof of the author's fame when he has a post office in his name. Such is success, after a hectic career as cavalry man, salesman, goldminer, storekeeper, cowpuncher, policeman, infantry major, and finally book-writer.
 
 
 

 

LaSell Gilman's
"Port and Off Port" 
Honolulu Advertiser
April 30, 1940
(Monterey arrived on April 29)
TARZAN'S CREATOR
Last week Mrs. Edgar Rice Burroughs and two children arrived in Honolulu for the summer, and Mr. Burroughs arrived yesterday, stating that while here he'll continue writing. "Another book?" he was asked, 

"Another!" he retorted, "I'll write a series of books in Hawaii -- though not about Hawaii." The creator of Tarzan comes from Tarzana, Cal., his extensive estate, and the family has taken a house at Kalama.  Mr. Burroughs will make a special broadcast over KGU tonight at 6:30 o'clock introducing a new series of transcribed Tarzan dramatizations, the first of which will be heard over KGU tomorrow evening.
"Tarzan is on the radio now," he said. Asked if his Mars stories had been dramatized for radio, he said they would be soon, adding that they would be guaranteed not to scare the listening public into believing Mars was attacking the Earth as Orson Welles once unintentionally convinced thousands of listeners. 

Mr. Burroughs was last here two years ago  He said yesterday his 52 books (not counting scenarios, comic strips, short stories, etc.) have sold 25,000,000 copies and have been translated into 57 languages in the last 20 years. 


An April 28, 1940 notice for KGU Radio in Honolulu, from the Sunday Honolulu Advertiser.

ERB arived in town the day before he was scheduled to make a radio address promoting the Tarzan radio serial. Unfortunately no recording of this address seems to have been made.

Since ERB mentioned his intention to make this address, the day before, when he landed at the dock, it appears he had made plans for it in advance -- perhaps by cable from the ship, while on his way over to Hawaii.

TARZAN COMING

A new series of thrilling adventures of Tarzan is in store for Hawaii radio listeners beginning this week when Honolulu Dairymen's Association sponsor a new program concerning the famous hero of the jungle. The new Tarzan program will be broadcast on KGU each Wednesday and Friday evenings from 7:15 to 7:30 beginning May 1.

KGU ~ NBC: The Voice of Hawaii

Sunday ~ April 8, 1940
6:30 -- Japanese Community Program
7:30 -- Filipino Community Serenaders
8:00 -- Plantation Airs, (H.S.P.A.)
8:30 -- Sunday Song Services
9:00 -- THE SUNDAY PLAYERS, "GLORY OF SOLOMON."
9:30 -- Seventh Day Adventist Program
10:00 -- Sunday Symphony Hour
11:00 -- VOICE OF HAWAII TO NBC, Remote to NBC Networks, New York. (Hawaii Tourist Bureau).
11:30 -- CATHOLIC HOUR, Remote from NBC Networks New York.
12:00 Chinese Community Program.
From the Dale Broadhurst Collection
LETTERS FROM HAWAII TO DAUGHTER JOAN IN THE US
Edgar Rice Burroughs
    Tarzana, California
1298 Kapiolani Boulevard
Honolulu  T H
     March 27  1941
Joan darling:

The house sounds swell: I envy you.  There is nothing like
plenty of closet space in which utterly useless junk can acc-
umulate over a period of years. I know from experience. I
think that once a year one should shut one's eyes and go into
all closets and burn everything up and start over again.

The other day I saw a movie called The Lone Star Raiders with
The 3 Mesquiteers. Rex Leese was in the cast, but I could not
identify him.  Maybe he was one of the horses; there were a
couple hundred of them, and all running like hell all the
time.  They wasted enough gun powder in that picture to save
the world for democracy.

Some day a tall, dark stranger will call you on the phone; and
you will say: "Who the hell are you?" and he will say: "Don't
you remember your ol' Pappy, chile?"  But I don't know when it
will be: maybeso come next Michaelmas.

Were you in Deanna Durbin's SPRING PARADE? It is here this week,
but I didn't see it because it is in an 80 cent house: I shall wait
until it comes to my 39 cent hangout, where I, the gobs, and the Or-
rientals merge our various odors in a sweet attar of B.O.

Pictures get over here after everyone on the mainland has for-
gotten them.  The other day I saw W.C. Fields and Mae West in My
Little Chikadee, a very high class and elevating production fill-
ed with gents' room subtleties: right up my alley, I am afraid.
The goat sequence was not all that I had been led to expect: ev-
idently the Hayes Office deodorized it.  I wish I could see a good
comedy every day.

Well, dear, having nothing to write, I have done my best; so I
might as well say 30 or 76 1/2, or whatever it is the newspaper
people use as a tag.

Lots of love,
Papa

Oh, how about Jim's appointment?

AND! The pictures! They were fine. The children are very cute:
and that goes for mama, too.  Were the pictures taken at 3714?
It looks like a very cute place (I seem to have cuteitis). I am
taking the pictures to the hotel to bore my friends.  You know
how exciting it is looking at snaps of people you never saw nor
ever will and being expected to rave over them.  However, I am
very proud of such nice looking relatives, and my friends will
have to take it and like it.


From the Dale Broadhurst Collection
Laugh It Off
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Famed author and creator of "Tarzan." 
Mr. Burroughs is now living in Honolulu.

Whatever else the civilian population of Oahu may lack, it is long on cooperation, guts, and a sense of humor.

Since the Japanese attack started the morning of December 7, I have seen more grins and heard more laughter and jokes than ever before in all the time that I have spent in the Paradise of the Pacific.

There has been no panic, and whatever fear has been has been beautifully camouflaged.

These people, regardless of race, color, or antecedents, are AMERICANS. They make me proud to be an American, too.
Sabotage. As far as I have been able to ascertain, there has been none.

At first there were the usual silly rumors, all of which were proved unfounded -- parachute troops landing on St. Louis Heights, snipers in every cane field, fifth columnists poisoning the city water supply. All bunk!


Many of these rumors stemmed from actual occurrences: On a hillside near Ft. Shafter, an accidentally caused brush fire burned in a perfect circle during a black out. It looked like a signal to vessels at sea, or a beacon.
*   *   *
Also during a blackout, the home of an official of radio station KGU was suddenly illuminated.  Irate neighbors called on him and ordered him to turn out his lights -- his windows were being lighted up by the search light of a naval vessel off shore.
*   *   *
A woman telephoned the police that there was a man on a pole near her house, signalling with red and blue lights -- it turned out to be an employee of the Hawaiian Electric Co. repariring a transformer. 
*   *   *
Also during a black out, a colonel and a captain fell into a trench dug in the lawn at department headquarters -- but maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it, as it may be giving aid and comfort to the enemy -- something they are going to need damn bad before this man's army and navy gets through with them.
*   *   *
"Did You Hear That --?"
For two hours during the bombing of Pearl Harbor and Hickam field, my son and I ate breakfast and went oui tin front of the hotel on Waikiki beach, where we are living, and played tennis. 

Most of the hotel guests congregated there to watch the show. It was the middle of the afternoon before we realized that it was the real McCoy and that we were watching a battle. 

AS the radio then broadcast an order for civilians to remain off the streets, we went on with our tennis, stopping occasionally to watch the anti-aircraft shells burst, the bombs dropping into the ocean.

*   *   *
I saw no indications of fright. One of our tennis partners is the wife of a naval officer who is commanding a submarine stationed at Manila. The husband of another woman with us was on a light cruiser at Pearl Harbor.

Neither of these women permitted what must have been their real feelings to show -- two more Americans to make us proud that we are Americans.

*    *   *
This column is intended to reflect the lighter side of what we are passing through.  Army and navy personnel and civilians are invited to mail in amusing items and anecdotes to Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1298-B Kapiolani Blvd. for use herein. 

1298 Kapiolani Boulevard
Honolulu  T H 
December 3  1941
Joan darling:

Yours of Nov 25th came today.

Hulbert and I just got to laughing about the Christmas presents 
I selected for Mike: A boat that he will have no place to sail 
and a shirt several sizes to small for him.  I hope Mike has a 
sense of humor.  If you had seen the time and thought that I put
into these selections you might have expected something better -
something really epochal.  When it comes to shopping, I am just 
not all there - did I mention shopping only?

We are both much interested in your aviation business and hope 
that it prospers.  I have a feeling that it may run into some-
thing very big after the wars are all over - so many thousands 
of men will have been trained to fly and many of them will want 
to keep it up. Then, an agency for a good ship should be valuable. 
I may take it up again myself - if I get rich. 

Glad you found the wedding pictures.  When we are all dead, that
picture and "Iffy" should be sent to the Smithsonian Institution 
or the American Museum of Natural History as a record of the 
evolution of pithacantropus erectus - just one of the early steps
in its evolution. 

Am glad to learn that Mr. Pierce is better and hope that he fol-
lows doctor's orders.  But its darned hard to quit eating. 
That's the habit that's hardest of all to break.  But then you 
wouldn't know, as you never eat anything. 

We have been having cool weather.  For two nights I slept under 
two blankets and a sweater under my pajamas - or did I tell 
you this in my last letter?  But that is typical of old do-dos -
they repeat and repeat. Today, the weather is lovely.

Hulbert and I are still playing paddle tennis every day, and now 
he is beating me every day.  I can't totter around the court fast 
enough on these old dogs.  I am really doddering.  Every day, I 
expect some one to say, "Lie down! You're dead!" But I'm grow-
ing old gracefully - like hell!

Thanks for the tips on books.  I'm too Scotch to buy them; and if
they are any good, you have to wait a year to get them at the li-
brary; so I'll wait until they get into the 25 cent edition. 

There still ain't no news.  Hulbert joins me in love to you all, 
and a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Papa

For hundreds of ERB letters and photos from WWII visit
ERB: The War Years
www.erbzine.com/mag10/1019.html
 
 

John Coleman Burroughs Tribute Site

JANE RALSTON BURROUGHS 
TRIBUTE SITE CONTENTS
JOHN COLEMAN BURROUGHS 
TRIBUTE SITE CONTENTS

Volume 0946

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