Dateline Jasoom

Herbo Gooli of the Barsoomian Blade covers the jeddak debate in Thark

In 2006, Joan Bledig and I traveled from Chicago to Minneapolis to see “A Princess of Mars” performed on stage by Hardcover Theater. This is our discussion of the play on the drive home. My friend of more than 25 years died Jan. 18, 2024. RIP, Joan – J the V.

Stiiv Ryan created this musical mix for Dateline Jasoom. It was featured in Episode 3.

Bit: The ever-widening scope of the Red Mafia would become even more apparent over the next few years as federal agents began tracking the activities of a flamboyant Florida Red Fella known as “Tarzan.” Antiques Road Show features a piece of art by Frank Schoonover. Cartoon network, “My gym partner is a monkey.” Peter Cook and Dudley Moore routine: Actor has one leg too few for the role of Tarzan.

Opening clip: Your Flight Patrol membership card will get you a free bag of jumping beans. The Chicago Blackhawks are “Muckers and grinders,” according to a Chicago sports radio show. The Chicago Muckers chapter of the Burroughs Bibliophiles discusses favorite “minor” ERB characters.  Jim Hadac likes the dogs that appear in the tales. Greg Phillips mentions Phaidor, the “La” of Barsoom. He also likes Kar Komak, the phantom bowman.  Joan Bledig likes Ben, King of Beasts. Elmo likes Sven from “Beasts of Tarzan.” Ken Manson likes Paul d'Arnot. 2020 Elmo announces plans for a reboot of Dateline Jasoom.

Opening clip: From the Tarzan radio show, “Congo Christmas.” This is Dateline Jasoom's 2007  interview with Alex Simmons, who wrote the Sunday Tarzan comic strip in the early 2000s. Alex also talks about his original creation, Black Jack. The discussion includes Alex's perspective as an African American on Tarzan – or “White Skin” of the Apes. One storyline for the Tarzan strip was to have Tarzan meet Black Jack, a 1930s era soldier of fortune. “I really enjoyed working on the story,” Alex says.

Opening bit: An expedition into the Carrion Caves at the frozen North Pole of Barsoom is foiled by Rudolph's nose. Francisco M. Camas of the Spanish National Biotechnology Centre in Madrid creates Tarzan yells via pan flute, clarinet and oboe. Dateline Jasoom talks to Steve “Korak” Allsup, who audited Paul Yoder's class at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, which explored literary icons: Frankenstein, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes – and Tarzan of the Apes.

Elmo mixed Dr. Awkward from the old Podsafe Music Network with various Tarzan yodels.

Opening clip from the Tarzan radio program. Dateline Jasoom interviews Paul Yoder, an associate professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock about his graduate seminar exploring the literary icons Frankenstein, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes – and Tarzan of the Apes. This wide-ranging discussion includes an examination of the apeman's inner conflict between heredity versus environment. “He does have that moment where he asks himself, 'Are you a man or an ape?'” Yoder says. Is Tarzan a literary icon? “He's obviously a cultural icon,” Yoder says. “There's something about that story that appeals to us.” He compares the end of “Tarzan of the Apes” to “A Tale of Two Cities” and “Gulliver's Travels.”

Brazilian TV commercial clip: “The chimp who drank Coke became a very close friend of Tarzan. The chimp who drank Pepsi became a very close friend of ...” Dateline Jasoom researches the archives of the Chicago Daily Tribune and finds references that almost certainly helped inspire “The Mucker.” A soundbite from “His Girl Friday.” Comedian Sean Cullen sings, “The chimp and the woman.”

Opening clip: “Tarzan, Silver Screen King of the Jungle,” featuring ERB fan and scholar Tracy Griffin. Tracy joins Chicago Muckers Jim Hadac, Joan Bledig and Elmo for a tour of Oak Park and Chicago sites related to Edgar Rice Burroughs. Elmo interviews Frank Lipo, who heads the Oak Park historical society. Burroughs lived in four homes in Oak Park and rented an office there during his early prolific period. Tracy and some of the Muckers use the same bathroom ERB would have used in that office building. They also visit 414 Augusta Avenue in Oak Park, where Burroughs wrote Thuvia, Cave Girl, Mad King, Pellucidar, The Mucker and others; and 700 Linden, where he wrote The Oakdale Affair and The Land That Time Forgot. In Chicago, they visit Billy Byrne's neighborhood and 3 Tree Studios, a former artists colony where J. Allen St. John worked.

Trailer for “Tarzan and the Great River.”  Will Pepe make friends with old Baron? Can Tarzan escape the crocodiles? Can the lady doctor save the village with her medicine? Clip from the Tarzan Filmation cartoon series from the 1970s. The 2007 Burroughs Bibiophiles Achievement Award was introduced by Laurence Dunn at the Dum-Dum in Louisville: John Tyner. “This is totally unexpected,” John says. Elmo chats with ERB fan Don Gray. A soundbite from Bobby Williams' “They call me Tarzan.”

Opening Bit: Carson Napier calls OnStar for directions to Mars. Elmo interviews ERB artist Richard Hescox, who says his favorite Carson cover that he illustrated was Escape on Venus. Later, Hescox is presented with a Golden Lion award and speaks during the 2007 Dum -Dum banquet in Louisville, Kentucky. “I probably would not have been an illustrator were it not for my love of Edgar Rice Burroughs,” he says. Hescox describes his lifelong love of Burroughs and how he came to do the Venus covers.

Opening Bit: Jane Goodall observes the 2007 Dum-Dum proceedings in Louisville, Kentucky. A talk by Sky “Apeman” Brower during that Dum-Dum. He discusses how fans rallied around Gordon Scott during the final months of his life. Sky reads a letter from Eve “Jane 1958” Brent addressed to fans at the convention. He also conveys comments about Gordon from Elaine Hollingsworth, who played Angie in “Tarzan's Greatest Adventure.”

Opening clip from the 2007 Flash Gordon TV series, which Elmo hated. Then a clip from the 1930s radio serial, which Elmo loved. From the 2007 Dum-Dum, a talk by Mike Chapman about the Herman Brix/Bruce Bennett Tarzan movie/serial, “Tarzan and the Green Goddess.” Mike wrote the Bennett biography, “Please don't call me Tarzan.” Lots of details about his conversations with Bennett. “Going down to Guatemala was a life changing experience,” Bruce told Mike, referring to his Tarzan movie.

George McWhorter and Mike Conran give Tarzan yells. Dedication of the Bob Hyde ERB collection at the University of Louisville during the 2007 Dum-Dum by Bob's son, John Clayton Hyde. “My father's life passion has made for some interesting times.”

Opening Bit: “Harvey Paul” tells the rest of the story about Billy Byrne, the mucker. (My impression of Paul Harvey is embarrassingly bad.) Celebrity Jeopardy with Sean Connery, star of “Tarzan's Greatest Adventure.” Futurama clip: Bender does a Tarzan yell. A breaking story from the Barsoomian Blade: Another naked Jasoomian wins the hand of a Martian princess and becomes royal. Canadian television program clip: Cheta wins lifetime achievement award. Information about 2007 Dum-Dum in Louisville, Kentucky. A reading from “The God of Tarzan,” courtesy of the Pometheus Podcast. Elmo gets sentimental about ERB.

Opening bit: “Take a cruise on the Lural Az.” (Ray Le Beau) A 2007 interview with Brooks Agnew, leader of the proposed “North Pole Inner Earth Expedition,” then scheduled to take place in 2008. “This is a very ancient idea,” he says. “It's kind of looked at as science fiction today.”

An “almost live report” from the 2007 ECOF convention in Binghamton, NY. Roving reporter Jim Thompson speaks to Elmo from the huckster room. Elmo also talks to fans D.J. Howell, James G Huckenpöhler, Dick Spargur, Doug Denby, Bill Morse, John Tyner, Elaine Casella (organizer of the convention), Mike Conran, Jonathan Hart, Laurence Dunn, and Fred Lucas. Discussions include the friendships of fans, organized fandom, collecting Burroughs, the best Burroughs artists, favorite ERB worlds, meeting Johnny Weissmuller, misunderstandings about the literary Tarzan – and much more. Fans at the convention do a collective shout-out to Henry Franke, who was stationed in Afghanistan at the time.

Opening song clip: “Tarzan, my Tarzan” from a Bollywood movie. Longtime ERB fan Jim Thompson is a guest on Dateline Jasoom. He talks about his father's love of Burroughs and how that was passed down to him. We talk about Gordon Scott, who had just died at the time of this 2007 interview. “Gordon Scott has always been my favorite movie Tarzan,” Jim says. And this: “Burroughs was not just a diversion, Burroughs was a moral compass.”

Opening Bit: Nu doesn't like Geico's “So easy a caveman can do it” commercials. As part of the 1999 Dum-Dum in Tarzana, the Disney screenwriters of “Tarzan,” Bob Tzudiker and Noni White, discuss the movie. “The passion for this project – I've never seen the like of it at this or any other studio” said Bob, who is married to Noni. The talk took place at Disney Studios, where fans were shown the film before it opened. There are also comments from background artist Phil Phillipson – a longtime Burroughs Bibliophile. “It's a handmade movie – every frame is slaved over,” he said.

Opening Bit: The Sari Sabertooths baseball team opens its season against the Caspak Bo-lus at Pellucidar Park. Chicago Muckers Jim Hadac, Greg Phillips, Ken Manson and Joan Bledig play “ERB Jeopardy.” Elmo Trebek hosts. (They “buzz in” with Tarzan yells.) One answer: “Who had brain transfers performed by Ras Thavas?”

Opening Bit: The BBC interviews Hazel Strong. (Laurence Dunn and Joan Bledig.) Jim Hadac and Elmo try to see “The 300” at Navy Pier, but it's sold out. Clip: Johnny Weissmuller appears with Groucho Marx on “You Bet Your Life.” Johnny says the crocodiles he wrestled were real, but Groucho isn't buying it: “How is it when the crocodile turned over, it said Goodrich on the bottom?”

Opens with the “George of the Jungle” cartoon song from the 1960s. Discussion of plans in 2007 for a new George of the Jungle cartoon. Clip from Filmation's “Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle” series from the 1970s. Bit: Phone calls from Dateline Jasoom listeners. Wayne James and Ted McKosky sent in a clip from the Stan Freeburg radio show. One panelist earned her degree in “Tarzan.” Others had degrees in Lil Orphan Annie and Dick Tracy.

Opening bit: The BBC reports that the orphaned son of Lord and Lady Greystoke has been found. (Laurence Dunn and Jerry Spannraft.) Della's favorite author is Otis Adelbert Kline, which causes Elmo to blow a circuit. A clip from the 1994 Dum-Dum features Sam Moskowitz  speaking about the alleged “feud” between ERB and Kline. Guillermo del Toro appears on Jimmy Kimmel to talk about a Tarzan movie project (which never happened.) A clip from Stiiv Ryan's Trek Tune, “Agonizer”

In February 2007, Dateline Jasoom celebrated its first anniversary. The opening featured a few clips. New material: Pete Ogden submitted a clip from the radio show “Monitor” that has audio of ERB dictating lines from a Tarzan novel and an interview with ERB's daughter, Joan Pierce. A clip of Joan and her husband, James, from their Tarzan radio show. Johnny Carson and Betty White parody Tarzan and Jane. Plug for Ted McKosky's “Say Tarzan” DVD. Ends with Jim Hadac, Mike Conran and Laurence Dunn reading the lines from “Tarzan and the Madman” that ERB dictated.

Opening bit: Edward Murrow reports from Poloda. Elmo's assistant, a computer named Della, introduces herself. A late-night panel discussion from Windy Con about “Damsels in Distress.”

Opens with a clip from the Disney cartoon series, “The Legend of Tarzan.” Editor: “You know what you need, Ed? Inspiration!” The Comic News Insider podcast allowed Datline Jasoom to play portions of an interview it did with Olivia d'Abo, who played Jane in the series. “She's sort of a wild and crazy girl,” Olivia says. Ted McKosky submitted an interview he found with Forest J. Ackerman, who talks about meeting Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Part Two of Hardcover Theater's 2006 stage production of “A Princess of Mars.” Written and directed by Steve Schroer. Jami Rassmussen as John Carter. Amber Swenson as Dejah Thoris. Jesse Ray as Tars Tarkas. Terri Elofson Bly as Sola.

Carl Sagan describes Barsoom in the Cosmos episode, “Blues for a Red Planet.” Part One of Hardcover Theater's 2006 stage production of “A Princess of Mars.”  Written and directed by Steve Schroer. Jami Rassmussen as John Carter. Amber Swenson as Dejah Thoris.  Jesse Ray as Tars Tarkas. Terri Elofson Bly as Sola.

Opens with the “Yodel Song” created by Elmo from various Tarzan yells, mixed with “A Tribe of One” by Doctor Awkward from the Podsafe Music Network. During the 2006 Windy Con, Robert Weinberg and science fiction author Jack McDevitt discuss early science fiction in pulp magazines. From 1970 to 1981, Weinberg edited and published Pulp, a fanzine devoted to pulp magazines. He died Sept. 25, 2016.

The full 2006 interview with science fiction author Mike Resnick. He talks about his many trips to Africa. “Almost no place that Burroughs describes exists,” he says. “My first four Hugo winners were all African stories. I've never been able to create any civilization as alien as some of the ones in Africa.” He discusses his many inspirations and his own success. Why science fiction pays the bills while you can starve writing “mainstream.” And much more in this wide-ranging interview. Mike tells a story about Isaac Asimov at a convention. Mike died on Jan. 9, 2020 at age 77.

Opening bit: Superfans discuss Da Bears versus da horde of Warhoon. A clip from the “X-Minus One radio show” that's relevant to your host, Elmo. Huck Huckenpohler speculates on Professor Archimedes Q. Porter's back story. Was he a historian? Archaeologist? Anthropologist? What was Tarzan's birth year? Did John Carter and Professor Porter cross paths? Carl Sagan quote.

Opening bit: Traffic Copter 0-220 reports on a four-elephant pile-up on the trail into Opar. Jim Thompson talks about collecting all the different kinds of material related to Edgar Rice Burroughs. “You always remember the ones that got away,” he says.

Opening bit: Professor Maxon calls Dr. Frankenstein to compare notes. Jim Hadac discusses the portrayal of Jane in fan fiction and pastiches. Jim and the other panelists – Joan Bledig, Cole Richardson and Huck Huckenpöhler – take questions for a wide-ranging discussion of Jane in all of her incarnations.

Opening bit: A seemingly eternal season of baseball comes to an end with a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Sari Sabertooths in Pellucidar Park. A conversation with Bill Hillman about “Brother Men,” the book by Matt Cohen about Edgar Rice Burroughs' correspondence with his best friend, Herbert T. Weston. And Matt himself discusses the project during the 2006 ECOF.

Dateline Jasoom interviews science fiction author Mike Resnick about his days as an associate editor of the Edgar Rice Burroughs fanzine ERB-Dom. The full interview with Mike, who died on Thursday, January 9, 2020, will be included in Episode 21 of Dateline Jasoom.

The Oct. 1, 1939 Texaco Star Theater radio show featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs – shared with Dateline Jasoom by longtime ERB fan Ted McKosky. ERB on Tarzan Finds a Son: “We thought it was pretty good. Of course there's always room for improvement. We're pretty happy with Johnny. Good Tarzans are always hard to find.” ERB on dreaming up strange worlds: “Purely imagination. Before I wrote a word I used to sit around and dream of weird people and weird places just for my own entertainment.” During the 2006 ECOF, Joan Bledig provides a comprehensive and insightful look at Jane of the novels and Huck Huckenpohler talks about Jane as portrayed in the movies. Cole Richardson talks about Jane in the comics. This episode is a must for any fan of Jane Clayton, Lady Greystoke.

From the 2006 ECOF convention in Rockville, Maryland. Interviews with fans Steve Wadding and Robert Jones. Shirley LeBeau says hi. George McWhorter opens banquet with a Tarzan yell. Speakers: Laurence Dunn, Dorothy D.J. “Usha” Howell, Mike Conran, Jim Thompson, and Alan Hanson, winner of the 2006 Golden Lion award, and John Tyner. Elmo announces the formation of the Chicago Muckers.

Ray LeBeau introduces Dateline Jasoom. Steve “Ghak the Hairy One” Wadding reads his fan fiction, “Computer Engineer of Mars.” Bit: Kantos Kan's new and used fliers. Elmo talks about how his grandfather grew up in the same neighborhood as Billy Byrne, the mucker, on Chicago's Great West Side, and addresses the notion that ERB was racist.

Elmo talks about the (then) upcoming 2006 ECOF/Dum-Dum convention in Rockville, Maryland. Steve “Ghak the Hairy One” Wadding plugs the ECOF. Bit: Elmo travels up the Wazoo River with Captain Lucas in search of Lady Greystoke.

The 2006 ERB / Ray Bradbury discussion in Oak Park, Illinois continues with Chicago Muckers Jerry Spannraft and Joan Bledig. Jerry describes meeting Bradbury, who told him Edgar Rice Burroughs was the greatest American writer ever. In the context of Bradbury's “Fahrenheit 451,” Joan talks about changes to the wording in the paperback editions of the Tarzan books. “The author's words are his alone and should not be subject to change by anyone,” she says.

“Does he think he is Tarzan, or what?” Tarzan references in the movie Deliverance and how the apeman has generally permeated pop culture. Via The Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project, “The Jingle of Jungle Joe,” released in 1911. Bud Light presents, Real Men of Genius: Mr. Painful Loincloth Wedgie Guy, by Steve “Ghak the Hairy One” Wadding. George McWhorter, then the curator of the ERB Collection at the University of Louisville and editor of the Burroughs Bulletin, speaks during a 2006 panel discussion at the Oak Park Historical Society about Burroughs and Ray Bradbury. “They both had imaginations that never stopped,” he says.

Clips from television reviews of Tarzan's 2006 venture onto Broadway. Elmo samples what newspaper critics have to say about the Disney production. Then he gets the real story from Bill Hillman, Jeddak of the North and curator of erbzine.com, who attended the show's premiere in New York. “Those Broadway critics are really something else,” says Bill. “It was really a lot of fun.” Steve “Ghak the Hairy One” Wadding plugs Dateline Jasoom.

Sound clips from “A Princess of Mars,” performed on the stage by Hardcover Theater in Minneapolis in 2006. Elmo reviews the play: “I've been to Barsoom. I was taken there in a little theater in Minneapolis.” Interviews with actors. “I thought it was very cool playing a superhero,” says Jami Rassmussen, who played John Carter. “I was never cast as a Martian before,” says Terri Elofson Bly, who played Sola. Several others of the cast are also interviewed. Jesse Ray on playing Tars Tarkas: “Tars Tarkas is very intrigued by this new creature.” “John Carter also sees a lot of himself in Tars Tarkas,” says Jami. Amber Swenson on playing Dejah Thoris: “This strong, heroic heroine. She's torn between two worlds. She has this need to be strong, but she also needs to be comforted.” Joan Bledig and Elmo discuss the play on the way home from the theater. “I think it was respectful and incredibly well done,” says Joan.

Elmo speaks with Barsoomian Blade reporter Herbo Gooli, who is at the foot of the landing stage where the great warship Paramount is about to land in Greater Helium to finalize details of the “John Carter of Mars” documentary. “The ship is riding majestically toward us, like some great feather ...” The Oak Park Historical Society hosts a panel discussion of ERB and Ray Bradbury. Chicago Mucker Greg Phillips speaks at that forum about how each writer handled Mars. “The red Martians are completely human – except they lay eggs and live for a thousand years,” he says of Barsoom. The Tarzan yell of George McWhorter, who also spoke at the forum (and will be featured on another podcast), makes its Dateline Jasoom debut.

Andy “Jason Gridley” Nunez: Why Elmo Lincoln didn't get the speaking role of Tarzan in “Tarzan the Ape Man.”  Steve “Ghak the Hairy One” Wadding promotes the 2006 ECOF convention in Rockville, Maryland. Bit: A preview of the dinner speaker for that convention. Real news about that convention in an interview with Bill Ross of the National Capital Panthans, a chapter of the Burroughs Bibliophiles. “It's a great place to meet and become friends with people who share your interest,” Bill says. A chat with Bill Hillman, curator of erbzine.com, about what conventions are like. He recalls the “fight to the death” he and Bob “Tarak” Woodley had with Johnny Weissmuller's knife at the 1999 Dum-Dum in Tarzana. More details on plans for the Tarzan on Broadway production.

The tail end of “Kodos, the Executioner” by the Karidian Players leads into Dateline Jasoom on the Gridley Wave Network. An interview with Steve Schroer, who wrote and directed a stage production of “A Princess of Mars” for Hardcover Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2006. Elmo notes the passing of great ERB fan and scholar Bob Hyde.