The following are excerpts from Tangor's replies to email and ERBList inquiries. Various subjects.
Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998
At The Earth's Core and the Land That Time Forgot series were mangled, er, translated to screen back in the 1970s. As with the Tarzan films, ERB's characters were not treated with respect, but still managed to produce somewhat entertaining films.
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Q: Weismiller (Sp-?) was not my favorite in the role as Tarzan... Golly gee, McGee--Weismuller IS the "movie Tarzan" -- at least the most famous of them all. Sure the old JW versions were corn-ball and departed horrendously from the ERB canon, but you have to admit they were great box office and just what was needed to make a gadzillion dollars in the post depression era.
For my money, though, I think my fave movie Tarzans are Bruce Bennett (Hermann Brix), Gordon Scott and Mike Henry, though Hadon would probably disagree with the last. Mahoney was baloney, Miller was filler, Barker was a larker...
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Q: ...the tradion begun in 1959, with the Gordon Scott... A: I didn't know you were a Scott fan! TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE is my all time favorite apeman film.
Q: I did not include the three films with Mike Henry... A: Sorry to see that. Henry was, in my opinion, a good Tarzan, one close to the heart and feel of the ERB characterization. Of course Henry as an actor leaves a bit to be desired, but the stories fit the Tarzan canon and that is what counts for me. Please remember the era--the late 60s with Bond, Flint, Helm, the last great John Wayne's--Marvel comics and "hippie" hair cuts meant a short-haired, cultured, no wise-cracking apeman who didn't swing on trapezes camoflaged as vines was pretty much the "establishment." :)
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Q: Why did you first start reading ERB's books? A: I was 11 years old. I read them for the adventure! I didn't realize there were naked women, rapes, murder, pillage et al in his books until much later. A follow up question would be: "If you read ERB in your youth, have you re-read Burroughs as an adult? Has time and personal experience changed your perception or enjoyment of the author's works?"
You'll find people will have two memories of ERB. Revisiting ERB produces an entirely different response in the reader. I still have the sense of magic, awe, and thrill of high adventure lurking through the (my) ages and yet I've recently re-read the opening trilogy to Barsoom for the fifth time (36 years after I first read them). I am more impressed with the "stringing of prose" than with the sappy love story (egads!) or the episodic hack and slash (yikes!) and contrived plot lines (boo! hiss!). ERB could tell a tale. He was professional in his approach, even for his first works. That he was an educated and literate man is well revealed in the MANNER by which he tells a simple adventure story heavy with Gaustarkian/Gothic Romance while dipping deeply into the well of Greek tragedies. What makes his stories ENDURE is his direct, nail-on-the-head approach to human emotions. He wrote about what makes us tick, why we fall in love, how it is sometimes done (though I doubt most males are rarely as dense as an ERB hero), and the benefits thereof. Even in this world of political correctness, ERB gave women equality in romance, adventure and heroics...fortunately he didn't give them six-pack abs and precision pecs.
Q: How many of ERB's books have you read? A: All except the newest release "TARZAN: THE LOST ADVENTURE"; including the rare shorts, novellas and serial publications The Girl From Farris's, The Efficiency Expert, The Revolt of the Scientists and The Ressurection of Jimber-Jaw.
Q: If any which of ERB's mars series books have you read? A: All. Several times.
Q: Which of the Mars series books most appealed to you? Why? A: The opening trilogy, which I consider an extended single work, contains all aspects of the Barsoomian experience. These three novels are self-contained and define the background and characters and set the tone for the remainder of the series. The rest of the Barsoom saga is listed in satisfaction/inventiveness in the following order:
Chessmen
Mastermind
Thuvia
Fighting Man
Llana of Gathol
Swords of Mars
Synthetic Men
John Carter of Mars (Giant & Skeleton)
Q: Do you belive ERB when he said he only wrote for the money to feed his wife and kids or do you think he must have felt deeper to write the way he did? A: ERB was a mass market author. He wrote with some enjoyment of the craft and the resulting output but he never lost sight of the monetary end of the business. Burroughs was, in fact, one of the first authors ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD to seriously examine the question of copyrights, publishing rights, movie and radio rights (thereby paving way for protection of television, marketing, software, etc rights). He wrote for the money. He also believed in giving the reading public a fair hack for the fee charged.
Q: Has ERB influenced your life in any way? A: Made me a romantic. :)
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Q: Wasn't Klein one of ERB's contemporaries? A: Otis Adelbert Klein, Ralph Milne Farley, Edwin A. Arnold, William Chester, Merritt, Brackett and Hamilton as well! Ah, those were the days when entertainment and romance was high on the agenda and gruesome, ghastly and gory were not yet the purview of the film industry. I was 11 or so when I started reading ERB in very early 1960s and the world has changed tremendously since. Somehow the characters, emotions, honor and purpose of the protagonists in ERB's works remain timeless--whether you speak of Barney Custer (The Mad King) or the villianous Muda Saffir (The Monster Men) people like Thandar (Waldo Emerson Smith-Jones, The Cave Girl), Bowen, Billings and Bradley (Caspak) along with the immortal Tarzan and John Carter still serve as character ideals we all might aspire to emulate.
Sadly, however, the policially correct crowd doesn't seem to think gentlemen should open doors for ladies (among other things!) ... :)
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Commentary regarding ERB works...
I too enjoy the Caspak Trilogy(even the 2 movies). A: I get a chuckle out of the McClurg movies, including the version of At The Earth's Core which followed the plot (loosely!) of books one and two of Pellucidar.
The Land of Hidden Men ( Jungle Girl) A: Been a while since I read Doctor Gordon King's adventure. Still on the shelf, with the rest of my Burroughs, as it has been since 1964. Perhaps it's time to revisit the jungles of Siam. :)
The Monster Men A: One of my favorites, and it was the story which provided the plot device for Mastermind of Mars. Of course, the retelling of the Frankenstein story had been done by others before ERB, but he managed to put romance and high adventure into the discussion of the limitations of man's reach. I so admired this one that in the mid 80's, when I owned and operated a recording studio, I wrote and produced an audio (radio play) version. We had a cast of 9, great studio musicians (like myself) and expended a lot of creative energy just having fun. It runs 49 minutes and is quite good. Now that the author's copyright has expired I might drag it off the shelf and see if there's a market for it.
Beyond the Farthest Star A: Another short which I admire. I have spoken to several of my dad's friends who read ERB when they were youngsters (during WWII) and they all expressed their disappointment that they never found out what happened to Tangor. By the time Beyond the Farthest Star was mated with the heretofore never published Tangor Returns most of these fellows no longer had time to read for recreation.
The Cave Girl A: Yo, Thandar! How is Nadia? :)
The Mucker/Return A: Ah, the study of life's extremes, the ability of one to change destiny if only given sufficient purpose, "real life" adventure--true love. I like it. You like it. Unfortunately there's a million others out there like it, thus The Mucker has only appealed to die hard ERB fans. Sorely underrated by literary critics.
The Lost Continent(Beyond Thirty) A: When I first read this Nam was a minor news item...it was something I gave no thought to, though less than five years later it would mean a great deal to me. I learned to hate war from this book and Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein. Though it is among the shortest and most episodic of Burroughs' works, I consider it one of his best.
My favorites series are Amptor & Pellucidar. A: Enjoyed both, but I confess to a partiality for Barsoom and Caspak. Well, okay, so I like Venus and the Moon and the Core and Africa and the Wild West and the slums of Chicago and Hollywood and Commanche County and Europe during the Great War and...oh well, you get the picture! :)
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Q: Have you read or care to comment on some ERB pastiches such as: Bunduki? A: Own it. So so.
Mahars of Pellucidar A: Own it. Tad better than so so, but not truly canon.
Red Axe (was it ever published ?) A: Not to my knowledge.
Perhaps you know of others? A: Try Philip Jose Farmer's Hadron of Ancient Opar (DAW 1974) and Flight To Opar (DAW 1976). Great stuff. Farmer also wrote the extremely interesting TARZAN ALIVE!
A: You might want to read andrew j ouffatt's Ardor on Ardos, wherein poor "Dejah Thoris" is raped repeatedly the first night she is captured by the "green martians" and "John Carter" hides in the bushes until they are done. The woman gets back her own throughout the rest of the story. Best "spoof" of Barsoom I've ever read, excepting my own Dead Cities Of Mars.
A: Also look for Edward P Bradbury's martian trilogy, which is a 60's version of ERB 1912-1916 opening trilogy.
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Q: What I do remember is really enjoying the backup features (David Innes Carson Napier, and John Carter ) if my memory serves me correctly. A: You are referring to Weird Worlds circa 1972 which later spun off John Carter, Warlord of Mars 1977. Weird Worlds starred John Carter and David Innes (Pellucidar). Carter's last appearance was issue #7. Joe Kubert was the main illustrator (Barsoom). I'll have to drag out a copy to refresh my memory on the Innes illustrator. I want to say Frank Brunner, but I believe that is incorrect.
My 23rd edition of Overstreet lists some 20 plus Tarzan titles...pretty amazing character to have such diversity for such a great span of time. One of the earliest illustrated collections was TARZAN OF THE APES (1934), 68pgs 4x12" published by Metropolitan Newpaper Service. Contains strip reprints. This I have not seen, though I have read most of the early syndications at one time or another.
Gold Key adhered to the general ERB plot lines better than Marvel, but then again, at the time Gold Key was working these titles ERB, Inc had just been reminded that a valuable intellectual property had/was dangerously close to falling into the public domain. They were probably a bit more protective of the characters between 1964 to 1970 than they were afterwards--new stories were required or the character(s) would have faltered.
Remember the early Dell issues which featured the movie Tarzans on the covers? Lex Barker, Gordon Scott. Later Gold Keys featured Ron Ely.
Marvel did a tremendous on John Carter back in the 70's... A: Well now, pardner, you and me might have a disagreement in the offing. The latter Marvel presentations introduced too much fantasy/horror ala Conan the Barbarian or Kull the Destroyer to be ERB canon. When I saw the direction they were taking my favorite Burroughs character I quit buying them. Apparently others felt the same way as it was only a few issues later that Marvel canned the project and returned to its tried and true super heroes who have personal problems, cheat on their wives, or have feet of clay. :)
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Q: I understand your feeling of burn-out after working on a project for a long time. A: I'm not speaking of "burn-out". I am speaking exclusively to over-exposure and full-knowledge. People love the sun, and get sun-burned if they overdo. If we study WHY we burn, we uncover all the reasons for using sun screens in triple digit strength and then, perhaps, seek counseling for nagging fears of UV-activated carcenomas. People love Bach, Beethovan and the BeaTles. But if we study WHY we like these music forms, the mystery of genius becomes paint-by-numbers. The act of study, as opposed to simply experiencing a phenomenon, changes how we perceive the phenomenae.
I taught music for 17 years and performed professionally for 23...I echo your students' refrain EXACTLY. I have deliberately NOT performed certain pieces in my life because I wish to continue enjoying them--otherwise my brain sees notes on paper, or tablature, or hand/finger/tongue-lip positions. Does this mean I loath what I have learned? Not in the least, but that music becomes a performance rather than a piece, and it is the performance that I take pleasure in, not the music, for I am competent and highly skilled, both technically and emotionally. (Hey, I believe in tooting one's own horn--provided you can back it up.)
ERB surely began to feel similar unhappiness with Tarzan's longevity (as a series) and was equally proud of his storytelling skills. He was acomplished at cranking out quality performances (called a good hack writer in the literary world). There comes a time when the creative well has been mined and all that's left is imitation and when one begins to imitate their own work, the "hack" syndrome sets in. It takes a great deal of professionalism to be a good hack, and ERB was a professional writer, if nothing else.
I believe you will agree that the appreciation gained is self-congratulation for improving one's knowledge and understanding rather than any ADDITIONAL joy in the work--for the work has not changed, only our PERCEPTION of the work.
Q: Can the works of Burroughs bear years and years of close analysis? A: ERB's works reside near the apex of the genre and thus are the benchmark against which all others will be measured. My fondness, nay, my enthusiasim, for ERB has not diminished in 38 years--yet ERB is but a tiny fraction of the world of literature. There are 8,000 SF books in my collection, 90 are ERB. I return to these adventures again and again, but close analysis I'll not do on another ERB series after I complete A CASPAK GLOSSARY. I have no desire to become too familiar with another favorite and lose the opportunity for new surprises on future reads.
My comments relate to me. The majority of my comments are personal opinion and, like noses, everybody's got one--and some of 'em smell. :)
Is it too much time with ERB's works, or in varying degrees of impassioned discourse with other fans? That is where I spend my time, and most profitably, too! We have some thinkers and stinkers on the ERB listservers. We can't tango without partners and there's been plenty!
I find time to tend my roses and truck garden. Gives my butt a rest from the desk chair.
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Q: Ah yes contemporary... where shall we begin?
I like to ponder the mindset of the original readers/publishers when the stories were introduced. UNDER THE MOONS OF MARS by Norman Bean must have appeared utterly fantastic in 1911! ERB, in fact, chose not to put his own name on the document, preferring Normal Bean (sic). The editor assumed a typo and changed it to "Norman."
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Q: ...the latest astronomical information on Phobos and Deimos...
Cluros and Thuria...
I can't recall where I read it, but there was a short article commenting on ERBs "fixes" to keep the Barsoom myth alive even though observatories and space research were beginning to put the kibosh on habitations on Mars. One item regarded the lighting of Martian cities, particularly those of the equatorial areas of Mars where refraction would be less and the light of large 1,000,000 plus population cities should be visible. Ed's answer: Hooded radium lights only shine downward with a light too soft to be seen off planet but of sufficient strength for practical use. The radium bulbs, after all, lasted eons.