Today, April 7th, was the open house for Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. for its 100 year anniversary! Edgar Rice Burroughs' first story, “Under the Moons of Mars” (1912), was printed in The All-Story magazine. It was made into a novel, A Princess of Mars (1917). Mars was also called Barsoom. His next creation was a sensation, “Tarzan of the Apes”, also published by The All-Story. Then, it was a novel in 1914. The first screen Tarzan was played by Elmo Lincoln in Tarzan of the Apes (1918). It was noted in the pamphlet that it was “one of the first films in history to gross over one million dollars.” The character was a media sensation in radio, the 1932 program featured Joan Burroughs, the daughter of ERB. Johnny Weismuller was well known for the role starting with Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). He was also paired with Maureen O’Sullivan as Jane. Also, television played by Ron Ely in the series that started in 1966. An animated Filmation show, Tarzan, Lord of Jungle, started in 1976.
Outside of the Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. offices, photo by the author.
Other notable Tarzans include Christopher Lambert in Greystoke, The Legend of Tarzan (1984), Wolf Larson in the 1991-1995 Tarzan series, and The Legend of Tarzan (2016) starring Alexander Skarsgård. There was also the Disney animated film, Tarzan (1999), voiced by Tony Goldwyn and the Broadway production based on the movie, Tarzan, in 2006. Josh Strickland originally starred as Tarzan in the Broadway cast. The other worlds of Burroughs include Pellucidar expored in the novel, At the Earth’s Core (1914). It became a film in 1976 starring Doug McClure as David Innes. Dian the Beautiful was played by Caroline Munro. McClure also explored another Burroughs lost world with The Land That Time Forgot (1974). It was based on the 1924 novel. The film adaptations are almost full circle with Burroughs’ first novel turned into John Carter (2012) that had Taylor Kitsch played the lead role. Lynn Collins portrayed Dejah Thoris. Daryl Sabara played John Carter’s nephew, a fictional version of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Burroughs in 1919 bought an estate that was renamed Tarzana Ranch. The Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. offices are still at the bungalow on the property. Los Angeles had houses around the ranch in 1923 and ERB sold some of his land for houses. Also, that year, Edgar Rice Burroughs “became the first author to incorporate himself.” The citizens in 1930 voted on a name for their community and it became the city of Tarzana. The company approves adaptations from novels including new, authorized titles in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe. One of the latest is Victory Harben: Fires of Halos (2022) by Christopher Paul Carey. There are also comic books including the adaptation of Tarzan of the Apes with DC Comics’ Tarzan starting with #207 (1972) by Joe Kubert. There was also a Marvel Comic, Tarzan: Lord of the Jungle started with #1 (1977) by Roy Thomas and John Buscema. The latest is from Dynamite Comics that begun with Lord of the Jungle #1 (2022) by Dan Jurgens and Benito Gallego. There have been comics on the adventures of Jane including this year’s Jane Porter and the City of Fire graphic novel. It was written by Mike Wolfer with art by Miriana Puglia.
Jane Porter protecting the garden of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., author’s photo.
At the offices, there was also an appearance of Jane Porter in the form of cosplayer, Charlotte Kay, who was also at WonderCon. There was a presentation that I unfortunately missed and also a number of special guests. One of them was Wolf Larson from the 90’s tv series, he autographed photos of himself as as Tarzan for guests and also had many stories of filming the show. His Tarzan show streams on peacock and Roku. There was also Mark Rahner who wrote the limited series; Dejah Thoris and the White Apes of Mars (2012) and Dejah Thoris and the Green Men of Mars (2013) from Dynamite. Current plans for the ERB company is an option agreement for a live action Tarzan film with Columbia Pictures. This year, is a Dejah Thoris novel by Ann Tonsor Zedies, and entitled Princess of Mars: Shadow of Assassins! Also this year, Tarzan’s son, Korak finds himself in Pellucidar in Korak: At The Earth’s Core by Win Scott Eckert. It is the first part of the Dead Moon super-arc! All of the personnel at Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. and the guests were very helpful to me currently using a knee stroller to move. I will add an extra thanks to Christopher Paul Carey who helped and showed me around the offics. The 100th anniversary event was an incredible experience to see the offices where Edgar Rice Burroughs created so many worlds and characters.
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