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ERBAPA Mailing #170, the Summer Symposium, will be a Tribute to our founder, the late John Guidry, seen here accepting the Burroughs Bibliophile Achievement Award at the 2018 Dum Dum in Morgan City, Louisiana.

If you are a former member and would like to include a few words about John on the correspondence page, please contact me before July 31. If you'd like to reserve a copy of this historic issue ($20 + $5 postage), please let me know.

The Edgar Rice Burroughs Amateur Press Association began in spring, 1984, as a club for ERB fans to share their passion via the written word. It has maintained a quarterly schedule for the ensuing 42 years.

We have a limited supply of back issues available for purchase. Bill Hillman's ERBzine has numerous pages devoted to the mailing and our history--links in the comments.

Remembering actress Acquanetta, who played Lea the Leopard Queen opposite Johnny Weissmuller in RKO’s “Tarzan and the Leopard Woman” (1946), on the anniversary of her birth.

The actress stated that she was born in Cheyenne Wyoming to an Arapaho woman on July 17, 1921, and grew up with her father’s family in Pennsylvania, named Acquanetta (“Burning Fire, Deep Water”) by her birth mother. She modeled for Harry Conover and John Robert Powers in New York, before crafting her “Venezuelan Volcano” identity and traveling to Hollywood, where she won a contract with Universal Studios. After small roles in “Arabian Nights” (1942) and “Rhythm of the Islands” (1943), Universal cast her as the lead in a female monster franchise, the films “Captive Wild Woman” (1943) and the sequel, “Jungle Woman” (1944), in which she transforms into a gorilla; unfortunately, the pictures didn’t capture the public’s fancy like previous Universal monster releases. “Tarzan and the Leopard Woman” was the high point of her dramatic career, which included the films “Dead Man’s Eyes” (1944), “The Sword of Monte Cristo” (1951), “Lost Continent” (1951) and “Callaway Went Thataway” (1951).

Despite an invitation from Johnny Weissmuller to act in his “Jungle Jim” series, she left Hollywood after she conceived a son, Sergio, with Luciano Bashuk, a Mexican millionaire. Sergio died of cancer at age five, and Acquanetta was unable to produce any evidence of a marriage when she sued Bashuk for support. Press coverage of the trial further revealed that she was actually Mildred Davenport of Norristown Pennsylvania, an alumna of West Virginia State College for Negroes, born in Newberry, South Carolina.

Happy Birthday to Travis Fimmel!

Fimmel starred with Sarah Wayne Callies in the WB’s “Tarzan” series, which lasted for eight episodes on the fall 2003 schedule.

Born July 15, 1979, in Echuca, Victoria, Australia, Fimmel grew up on a sprawling cattle station, the youngest of three brothers. He briefly attended RMIT University in Melbourne, when he was discovered at a local gym and signed by a modelling agent.

Two years in London followed, as he toured Europe and worked as a bartender to supplement his income. On the way home to Australia, he stopped in Los Angeles, where he signed with another modelling agent, appearing in campaigns for L’Oreal, Motorola, and Skechers, before inking a six-figure deal with Calvin Klein.

Happy Birthday to Casper Crump! Crump portrayed the villainous Major Kerckhover, Leon Rom’s (Christoph Waltz) enforcer, in Warner Bros. “The Legend of Tarzan” (2016), starring Alexander Skarsgård and Margot Robbie.

Happy birthday to Kim Crosby! The actress and singer, best known for her Broadway role as Cinderella in Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods,” played Jane Porter on the 1989 CBS-TV telefilm “Tarzan in Manhattan,” starring Joe Lara as the ape man, and Tony Curtis as her father, Archimedes Porter.

Born July 11, 1960, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, she relocated with her family to Springfield, Missouri, where she made her stage debut at age 5 in a production of “The King and I” at the Springfield Little Theatre. She attended Kickapoo High School and Southern Methodist University, where she studied opera and musical theater and won the title of America’s Junior Miss 1978.

Relocating to New York to attend the Manhattan School of Music, she won small parts in the soap operas “Guiding Light” and “All My Children,” and pitched products like Preparation H and Arrid Extra Dry deodorant in numerous television commercials. Crosby made her Broadway debut in “Jerry’s Girls” (1985-86), and auditioned by videotape for the Tarzan role while she was appearing in “Into the Woods—as “Tarzan in Manhattan” was largely shot at Burbank Studios in California! She returned to the Great White Way in a 1990s revival of “Guys and Dolls” and toured for several years in “Peter Pan.”

Kamuela Searle and Manilla Martan portrayed Korak (Jack) and Meriem as adults in the 1920 silent serial, "The Son of Tarzan" adapted from the fourth Tarzan novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. For more information, see "Tarzan on Film."

Opera singer P. Dempsey Tabler played Tarzan to Karla Schramm's Jane in the 1920 serial "The Son of Tarzan" adapted from the book by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Kamuela Searle and Manilla Martan played son Korak and his mate Meriem as adults, while Gordon Griffith and Mae Giraci played the couple as children. Eugene Burr portrayed the villainous Paulvitch, being throttled by Tarzan here. For more information, see "Tarzan on Film".

Denny Miller and Joanna Barnes played the ape man and his mate Jane in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 1959 remake of "Tarzan the Ape Man". For more information see "Tarzan on Film".

ERBAPA #162, Summer 2024 issue, still has a few issues in stock. Message me about ordering a copy.

ERBAPA #163, Autumn 2024 issue, still has a few issues in stock. Message me about ordering a copy.

ERBAPA #164, Winter 2024-25 issue, still has a few copies in stock. Message me about ordering a copy.

Happy 96th Birthday to Tommy Cook!

Cook appeared in two projects based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ characters: as “Kimbu” the jungle boy opposite Frances Gifford and Tom Neal in the Republic serial “Jungle Girl” (1941), and as “Kimba,” an aspiring leopard boy, opposite Johnny Weissmuller, Brenda Joyce, Johnny Sheffield, and Acquanetta for Sol Lesser in RKO’s “Tarzan and the Leopard Woman” (1946).

Born July 5, 1930, the Duluth, Minnesota native moved to Los Angeles with his family at age five. Cook’s mother took him to the famed Pasadena Playhouse, where he won starring and feature roles in seven plays; he was soon discovered by innovative radio producer Arch Oboler, who cast the young thespian in his NBC programs. Cook eventually played in nearly 3,000 radio shows, in roles that included Little Beaver in “Red Ryder”, Alexander in “Blondie”, and Junior in “The Life of Riley”.

Onscreen, Cook starred as “Little Beaver,” opposite Don “Red” Barry in the Republic serial “The Adventures of Red Ryder” (1940), and went on to appear in “The Tuttles of Tahiti” (1942), “Wanderer of the Wasteland” (1945), “The Gay Senorita” (1945), “Girl of the Limberlost” (1946), “Song of Arizona” (1946), “The Kid from Cleveland” (1949), “The Vicious Years” (1950, Photoplay Award for leading performance), “American Guerilla in the Philippines” (1950), “The Battle at Apache Pass” (1953), “Battle Cry” (1955), “Teen-Age Crime Wave” (1955), “Mohawk” (1956), “Night Passage” (1957), “The Gatling Gun” (1971), and “The Thing with Two Heads” (1972).

Also active in television, Cook guest-starred on series like “Have Gun – Will Travel”, “The Untouchables”, “The Rifleman”, “The Rat Patrol”, “Marcus Welby, M.D.”, “The Streets of San Francisco”, “CHiPs”, and “Hart to Hart”. Cook has voiced characters in the animated children’s series “Aquaman”, “The Funky Phantom”, “Jabberjaw”, “Undercover Elephant”, and “CB Bears”.

Cook attended Los Angeles High School and UCLA, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps. A standout tennis player, he coached within the Hollywood circuit, organized charity fundraisers, and directed celebrity tennis, golf and skiing events, including the CBS Specials “The Challenge of the Sexes” and “Celebrity Challenge of the Sexes”. Other ventures included conceiving and producing the films “Rollercoaster” (1977)—a thriller starring George Segal and Timothy Bottoms—and “Players” (1979), a tennis drama with Ali MacGraw and Dean Paul Martin.

Model Angela Harry portrayed La, Queen and High Priestess of the lost city of Opar, in "Tarzan: The Epic Adventures" starring Joe Lara as the ape man. For more information, see "Tarzan on Film".