Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. President!

Through a connection with the classic book club I run a division of I was able to talk to Jim Sullos at Edgar Rice Burroughs inc. Burroughs was a very smart business man who Inc.ed himself to protect his work back in the teens. The company today oversees all liscensing for all his novels, not just the Tarzan series. So if you wanted to write another book or make a film of any of his books you have to get permission from the company to do so. This probably prevents really bad films being made! Last night I spoke with the president Jim Sullos for quite a while about Tarzana and taking my book club up there to get a tour or see the memorabilia. They don't give tours anymore because it's a small private office, but I enjoyed talking to him very much. Perhaps one day he can be the guest of honor at my book club meeting I could hold at the the LA arboretum instead, which is mentioned on this page. Thanks Mr. Sullos for a fun chat!

http://www.edgarriceburroughs.ca/ check it out!

by the way if anyone lives in LA county or the Valley and wants to join my book club here's the link through Meetup.com. It's fun! It's free! We meet once a month to discuss a classic book. I run the Westwood group. http://bookclub.meetup.com/903/

If anyone would like the rest of the 2008 fall Occidental College article please email me!

San Jose, CA Tarzan on stage!

Ok I found out today, Dec 4th right as tickets went on sale, the show was CANCELLED! WTF how dare my nerd dreams are shattered! I was so looking forward to this!

San Jose theater company filing for Chapter 7

San Jose, CA one of the 4 regional theaters to host the show post-Broadway revamped.

I AM SOOOO GOING TO SEE THIS! I know the Braoadway reviews were really mixed, mostly regative, I still want to see it. YAY Phil Collins songs! http://www.amtsj.org/stage/tarzan.html

Arboretum in Arcadia, CA Filming Location

I visited the Arboretum in Arcadia, CA (about less then an hour from LA) a few months ago when my mom was visiting me from MA and we spend a good part of the day strolling the grounds. I recommend the tour by trolley because if you want to see it all, prepare to walk far! On the tour the guide mentioned that the ancient jungle area was used to film Juraasic Park 3 and the Johnny Weismuller Tarzan movies... So I give the guy props for swimming in the questionable water. It was so beautiful there. They even have an african desert area, so you can see how versatile this park is. I also discovered my mom loved the old 60's Tarzan tv show and watched it all the time. She even did a cliche Tarzan yodel when we were walking through the jungle. It is alsoa bit steamy there too so it was very cool. My aunt loved the book in high school so it must be genetic!

http://www.arboretum.org/

301 N. Baldwin Ave. Arcadia, CA 91007 (626) 821-3222

Filming Location in Culver City, CA

Ok this is a way Burroughs coincidence, but right across the street (sort of) from where I work is this apartment complex. They apparently filmed some of the 1930's Tarzan movies there when it used to be the old MGM backlot. It's a shame those movies, as whack as they are from the books, are in black and white. This place was loaded with beautiful flowers, a waterfall, duckies, and a cool plaque telling people who filmed there. The guard at the entrance told me the tree house used to be above the "lake" but it fell apart. The Top screen shot showing foliage is from : http://clydemovies.blogspot.com/2008/03/tarzan-dvd-collection-volume-i-1932.html

Tarzan and Jane live in Disneyland!

Yes boys and girls of all ages you too can meet the wildman in the flesh in Disneyland right in Anaheim, CA! He apparently chills all over Adventureland when not climbing all over the treehouse that resembles the one in the film his parents built. Alas, I have yet to get a pic with him and Jane but they really looked the parts from the online photos I've seen! He was so dirty which is funny to some because in the Disney film he's all clean, but come on! Dirt is not the easiest thing to animate... Some day I will meet my Disney hottie in the flesh! The little boys were very funny yodeling and running wild.

Tarzana, CA

Tarzana circa 1919! Ventura Blvd. is a dirt road behind his house! the photo is from Tarzana.CA Please don't sue!

Topiary Giraffe and street views.

This is lovely Tarzana CA, where Edgar Rice Burroughs bought a home he called Tarzana ranch in 1919. He owned the whole freakin' town! Do you know how much Valley property is worth now? He eventually subdived the land and made even more money. These links are great history. I will take you on a photo tour of my trip there.

http://www.tarzana.ca/

http://www.erbzine.com/mag13/1358.html

trashcan with monkey on it

Cheeta the chimp lives in Palm Springs, CA

Cheeta the oldest living non-human primate (74 as of 10-08) lives in a primate sanctuary in Palm Springs, CA. Cheeta stared in 12 Tarzan movies dating back to the 30's and 40's when he was just a a baby. FYI: Cheeta was never a character in the novels, he was added to the old-school black- and- white films with Johnny Weismuller. The sanctuary has an online gift shop- He also paints too! It's all for charity.

Check out these interesting website links:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20060619-9999-mz1c19cheeta.html

http://cheetathechimp.org/index.html

Tarzan books were banned nationally, but it started in Downey, CA

The Tarzan book series were banned starting in Downey, California where I currently live. Hmmm strange coincidence? A teacher in 1962 claimed the books were immoral because Tarzan and Jane weren’t married. (Obviously she never read the books and only saw the movies freely adapted from them). Source: Tarzan: The Broadway Adventure by Michael Lassell. The first book, Tarzan of the Apes is still on the national banned books list because the books were also considered obscene and pornographic. WHOO-HOO! Now doesn’t that want to make you read it more? For the record I did not know that when I went to the Downey Public library to try and rent that book, and all the copies were “lost”. Funny huh? I resorted to Ebay to find a real copy and scored a first edition. No, it’s not valuable at all, it’s falling apart at the binding but it was a cool copy.

swimming stadium poster- LA

This is a poster I strolled by one random day after visiting the Natural History museum in exposition park in Los Angeles. The olympics here back in 1932 and the building beside the poster is the swimming stadium. It mentions several actors who were olympic athletes, mostly swimmers who went on to play Tarzan. I seriously do not go looking for this random stuff, but it does find me.

Book Show

I went to the Santa Monica book, paper and print show and found loads of neat stuff last Saturday, September 6th. I invited my entire meetup classics club to come along. 4 did and we had a blast! I scored a 1st edition real dust jacket copy of Tarzan and the Foreign Legion for only 60 dollars! I was very excited to add to my collection. These photos are from the book show display of Woodie's Collectibles of Moranga, CA. Special thanks to the store owner for letting me take a picture of his fantastic booth! I had so much fun looking at all his Burroughs, he even had the rarer non-Tarzan titles. ::sigh:: someday I will have them all! I also found at the show some autographed Tarzan novels by the author and sometimes actors who have played Tarzan on films. The early Tarzan novels in good conditon with dust jackets can fetch thousands of dollars easily!