John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood

by Sellers, Michael D.

  EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS INC

  TARZANA, CALIFORNIA

  The text of the presentation pitch, which was hand-drawn on a large spiral portfolio with graphics and illustrations much in the manner of a Powerpoint Presentation today, read:

  The name EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS needs no introduction to theater goers.........because during the past 25 years the public has bought more than 20 MILLION COPIES of his adventure novels.

  And because MILLIONS OF PEOPLE have seen the 18 motion pictures based on his stories.

  So! EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS means BOX OFFICE SUCCESS anywhere!

  25 Years ago, EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS created GREAT characters: JOHN CARTER OF MARS ... whose amazing adventures are told in nine popular novels which have sold millions of copies.

  WHY has the public THRILLED to the Mars books for 25 years?

  Why?/Because ACTION and ROMANCE are the keynotes of the BURROUGHS name.

  Because the MARS stories are CHOCK-FULL of ACTION and ROMANCE

  Why have the MARS STORIES been translated into MANY DIFFERENT LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS?

  Because every GENERATION in EVERY RACE thrills to a HERO who fights 4 armed GREEN men 10 feet High astride 8 legged mounts!

  Because PEOPLE GASP AT THE MAN who crosses swords with humans whose heads scamper away from dead bodies.

  A HERO who matches wits with PHANTOM BOWMEN, the mental warriors of MASTERMIND OF MARS.

  The MARS STORIES have held MILLIONS spellbound because their hero FIGHTS for and LOVES an incomparably EXOTIC MARTIAN PRINCESS.

  Do YOU know the FINAL REASON why the MARS STORIES have years of sound publicity behind them?

  Here is why: Because the HERO of the MARS books is the HANDSOME, THRILLING, JOHN CARTER OF MARS.

  In terms of technique, the test footage created by Clampett and John Coleman Burroughs was different than anything previously seen at the time, and even today looks unusually realistic in its use of color and movement.35 Clampett used oil painting to achieve the side shadowing so as to create a different look from the harsh outlining that defined the look of the typical animated film to date. The test footage included scenes of John Carter running, engaging in a sword-fight, and riding an eight legged thoat.

  "We would oil paint the side shadowing frame-by-frame in an attempt to get away from the typical outlining that took place in normal animated films. In the running sequence, for example, there is a subtle blending of figure and line which eliminated the harsh outline. It is more like a human being in tone. We were working in untested territory at that time. There was no animated film to look at to see how it was done," Clampett said.36

  By all accounts, the presentation to MGM went well. Burroughs’ support to the project, and MGM’s success with the Tarzan property, both created a strong predisposition by MGM executives to green-light the project -- and in the presentation meeting, a green light is what Clampett and the younger Burroughs thought they got.

  Clampett quit his job animating for Warner Brothers and readied himself for his new adventure on an animated Barsoom. He was convinced he had a deal with MGM that would lead to John Carter, Warlord of Mars, becoming the first animated feature, years ahead of Snow White which was then being developed at Disney.

  Then it all fell apart.

  "I had already given notice to Warners and was preparing to start on the John Carter series when MGM's change in decision came down,” Clampett said. “The studio said, 'No, we do not want the John Carter thing; we want Tarzan'. Aesthetically, Jack Burroughs and I were very inspired by the Mars project. And the idea, as much as I like Tarzan, to do the alternate series was simply not the same."

  The exact reasons for MGM backing out of the deal are not fully known, although the reason given to Clampett and Burroughs is that throughout the midwest and south, MGM booking agents responsible for booking theaters for the studio expressed concern that the audiences were not yet ready for adventures on Mars by John Carter or anyone else.

  Clampett would end up staying with Warner Brothers, where he would go on to become a legendary animator and animation director, helming dozens of classic Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, and other Merry Melodies cartoons.

  John Coleman Burroughs evolved into an excellent illustrator, taking on the job of illustrating some of the later Edgar Rice Burroughs Martian novels -- illustrations which benefited from the extensive work done in support of the Clampett animation project.

  After the Clampett episode, efforts to get John Carter of Mars on the screen in Hollywood went quiet for a time.

  The Superman-John Carter Connection

  Even before Burroughs was engaged in the negotiations for a John Carter strip that would eventually break down and yield Flash Gordon instead, two young men in Cleveland -- writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, were at work creating the character who would eventually be sold the DC Comics and appear nationally in syndication as Superman in 1938. As recently as 2011, Superman placed Number 1 on IGN’s list of top comic Superheroes -- and Superman, like Flash Gordon, owed much to John Carter and Burroughs.

  In their early conceptions, Superman’s powers were more limited than they would be when the series came to ultimate fruition in 1938. Siegel cited John Carter: “Carter was able to leap great distances because the planet Mars was smaller than the planet Earth; and he had great strength. I visualized the planet Krypton as a huge planet, much larger than Earth.”37

  But unlike the Flash Gordon appropriation of the John Carter character, Siegel found a way to make it unique, and different, while building on the same premise that Burroughs had initially put forward. Superman, unlike John Carter, is not a warrior -- he doesn’t kill as a routine part of his existence. His history is that he is the son of a scientist, then is raised by a couple of kindly farmers, and finally finds himself on a planet filled with warring tribes, but rather than becoming part of it first, then rising above it, Superman protects without becoming part of the societies he is protecting. His “otherness” is maintained throughout.38

  Burroughs’ Final Act

  Burroughs continued to write, pursue his business interests, and dabble in Hollywood. He started a production company and produced his own Tarzan movie, in Guatemala, with decidedly mixed creative, financial, and personal results. He lost money; the movie was disappointing; and the episode played a key role in a divorce from his wife Emma Hulbert Burroughs.

  By the time World War II broke out, Burroughs was living in Hawaii, where he witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor while playing tennis. He was 66 years old at the time, and had accomplished more than the 35-year-old failed businessman in Chicago who took up pen to paper in 1911 could have ever dreamed.

  After Pearl Harbor, Burroughs signed up to become the oldest War Correspondent in U.S. history, deploying with the troops to the Pacific theater from which he sent dispatches throughout the war.

  An article by Lloyd Shearer in Liberty Magazine in 1945 summed up Burroughs profile and global posture in a narrative that has the ring of a Fox Movietone Newsreel in its writing and cadences:39

  Today the more than 30,000,000 copies of his novels in 58 languages and dialects make him the most widely read author on earth. Tidy sales of other items include some 21 Tarzan motion pictures, 364 radio programs, more than 60,000,000 ice-cream cups, 100,000,000 loaves of Tarzan bread, countless numbers of Tarzan school bags, pencils, paint books, penknives, jungle costume, toys, and sweaters. In addition there are the famous Tarzan comic strips, carried by 212 newspapers with a circulation of more than 15,000,000.......In short, in one form or another, Tarzan is known to more people on earth than any other fictional character.

  Over the years Burroughs, while gaining wealth and attention, had never achieved “literary” acceptance and while he made a great show of not minding this at all, indications abound that he experienced frustration over the lack of respect afforded him for his efforts. Once, miffed that he had not been included in a “Top Ten” list of authors even though that year he was the
third top-selling author in the country, he wrote a letter complaining about it. His frequent complaints about the screen depiction of Tarzan, beginning with the 1918 Elmo Lincoln version but including many of the other productions, ran counter to his protestations that he was in it for the business of it all. And finally, the fact that he suffered throughout his career from a variety of stress induced maladies, none completely debilitating due to his strict work ethic, but troubling nonetheless, provide ample evidence that all was not completely rosy for Burroughs as he continued to grind out his novels, manage his real estate and business interests, and finally pursue one last adventure in the Pacific.

  After the Clampett near miss of 1936, the John Carter series continued to sell books, but Hollywood took a back seat: Tarzan yes, John Carter no. Animation had been an option; live action was beyond Hollywood’s capability and would remain so for many years.

  Burroughs died on March 19, 1950. The New York Times wrote of Burroughs in his obituary:40

  E.R. Burroughs, 74, Created Tarzan

  35,000,000 Books Sold

  March 19 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, the novelist, who created the apeman "Tarzan," famed in books and films, died this morning at his Encino home of a heart ailment. His age was 74. The author, who had been ill for three months, had eaten an early breakfast, and was lying in bed reading when death came. His daughter, Joan, and his two sons, John and Hulbert, were at the bedside. Mr. Burroughs had been a shut-in for several years. Confined to a wheelchair by a series of heart attacks, he still derived great pleasure from creating the action necessary for the Tarzan books....

  140,000,000 Saw Each Film

  Creator of the most widely known jungle character of this century, Mr. Burroughs never considered himself in a class with Kipling. That each Tarzan movie was seen by 140,000,000 persons or that his books had sold 35,000,000 copies did not alter his conviction that his success was due to an uncanny faculty for avoiding intellectual precincts. In fifty-six languages vast multitudes read of the tribulations of the Englishman reared by apes in Africa. Two hundred newspapers, forty of them foreign, told, with pictures, how Tarzan fought alongside his animal friends against cruelty and avarice. On the radio and in children's games the loud but limited vocabulary of the jungle monarch was in constant rehearsal.

  According to Burroughs’ grandson John Ralston Burroughs, who was with him often near the end, Burroughs, who had evolved into an opponent of organized religion, said in his final weeks:41

  “If there is a hereafter, I want to travel through space to visit the other planets.”

  His ashes were buried without a marker at the base of a large tree in the front yard of the Spanish cottage housing the offices then, and now, of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.

  Harryhausen to Lucas 1950-1980

  In the decade after Burroughs’ death in 1950 the ERB “brand” went into one of the few declines it has experienced over the full 100 years since Princess of Mars was first published in 1912. The attention to the business of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., lapsed, and copyright renewals were not attended to, allowing many of the books to prematurely fall into the public domain. This encouraged more “strip-mining” of the content without attribution or royalties, and Burroughs’ influence is clearly seen in many of the great science fiction writers of the day. The books were gradually going out of print, although most libraries had a reasonable supply. Editions that were available at the time of Burroughs’ death included the original A.C. McClurg first edition from 1917, a variety of Grosset and Dunlap reprints issued from 1918 through 1940, and an ERB, Inc. edition, issued in March 1948, two years before the author’s death.

  During that decade, Hollywood legend Ray Harryhausen became interested in the Barsoom Series. In the late 1950s Harryhausen, coming off Jason and the Argonauts and other successful films, began a campaign to bring John Carter of Mars to cinema screens, but even with all his success, the prospect of the visual effects that would be required proved daunting for studios and Harryhausen moved on to other pastures.

  In the 1970s an effort to develop the film was mounted in the UK by Raymond Leicestshire. Extensive character and set design studies were completed before the project “went sideways” and was mothballed.

  But it was what would become known as the great “Burroughs Revival” of the 1960s that brought the book and all of Burroughs work to a new generation.

  The Burroughs Revival

  Soon after Burroughs’ death in 1950, Editor in Chief of Ace Books, Donald A. Wollheim, began pursuit of paperback rights but was unsuccessful. Cyril Rothrund, administrator of Burroughs’ estate, simply didn’t have interest in pursuing the literary rights, preferring instead to concentrate on the more lucrative film and comic book licenses, as well as the exploitation of Burroughs’ real estate investments. Eventually Ace, Ballantine Books, and hardcover publisher Canaveral Press were all interested in securing the rights to publish Burroughs. Recounting the situation in The Great American Paperback, Richard A. Lupoff, who edited the Canaveral Burroughs edition and emerged as one of the key figures in the revival, writes:42

  In the early 1960s a flaw in the Burroughs copyrights was discovered, and several companies leaped to publish new editions of old Burroughs titles. Wollheim, at Ace, was quick to do so. He obtained a series of glorious cover paintings, many of them by artists who had cut their teeth in the comic-book industry. These included, most notably, Roy G. Krenkel and Frank Frazetta. These Ace singles are among the most beautiful and highly-sought after 1960s paperbacks.

  Caught sleeping at the switch, members of the Burroughs family finally took action. Hulbert Burroughs, a surviving son, came to New York to meet with various publishers. The result was an arrangement with Canaveral Press to produce hardcover editions of Burroughs’ books. Paperback rights would be divided between Ace and Ballantine Books, with Ballantine getting the more desirable Tarzan and Martian series. Ace had to settle for Burroughs’ “hollow earth” and Venusian series. Other one-off’s were divided between the two.

  The combined output of the three publishing houses resulted in the vast majority of Burroughs’ novels becoming available with high visibility and at an affordable price point for a decade beginning in 1963. Suddenly available in every drug store and newsstand, the Ace and Ballantine paperbacks would thrill an entire wave of leading edge Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1955 -- among them, George Lucas and James Cameron, who would later draw heavily on Burroughs, Lucas in his Star Wars series, and Cameron in Avatar.

  During the 1970s, as George Lucas was emerging as a “name” director in Hollywood, he signed a two-picture deal with Universal Studios to make American Graffiti, followed by Star Wars. As successful as American Graffiti was, it was not enough to convince Universal to stay the course with Lucas’ planned Space Opera, and it was dumped. In coming up with the idea for Star Wars, Lucas was later quoted a saying that he had in mind Flash Gordon as a prototype and explored getting the rights to the Gordon franchise, but when that proved elusive he turned to the source material for Flash Gordon - the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs in particular -- for inspiration.

  In its final onscreen iteration, Star Wars’ six films contain many, many elements that Lucas borrowed from Burroughs, although the overall vision clearly contains a variety of influences. Barsoomian words like Jed, banth, and others were liberally incorporated into the Lucas’ universe. Return of the Jedi, of all the Star Wars episodes, was the most derivative of Burroughs, with its emphasis on swordfights (albeit laser); Jedi knights; and Princess Leia in a Dejah Thoris-styled wardrobe ensemble. The coliseum scene from Attack of the Clones was lifted almost wholesale from A Princess of Mars, and would become iconic in its own right -- so much so that when Disney’s John Carter trailers began appearing in late 2011 featuring the original coliseum scene -- it was the “original” that seemed derivative of the copy, not vice versa.

  James Hoare, writing in Sci-Fi Now identifies six points of strong similarity:43

  That Gold Bi
kini

  This can’t be anything other than a deliberate tip of the hat, Leia’s gold bikini from 1981′s Return Of The Jedi is clearly inspired by the skimpy outfits of Dejah Thoris, the Princess Of Mars herself, depicted in the Seventies Marvel comics (as above, obliging chained up for added similarity on the cover of Warlord Of Mars issue 11, April 1978) or lurid Frank Frazetta book covers. Oh, and they’re both princesses, obviously.

  Banthas

  Great beasts of burden, Bantha are found on Tatooine in the Star Wars universe – in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom stories, Banths are lion-like carnivores that hunt the low hills of Mars

  The Sith

  An ancient and mysterious order of Dark Side Force Users of whom Darth Vader and Darth Maul are members, over in Barsoom the Sith are large predatory insects that have been hunted to the brink of extinction.

  Jabba’s Sail Barge

  Jabba The Hutt’s armada of luxury flying platforms, skimming low across the surface of Tatooine wouldn’t look out of place in Edgar Rice Burroughs books – the Martians use gravity-defying ‘flying boats’ to zip across the Mars’ otherworldly deserts as depicted above on the 1973 Ballantine Books edition of second book The Gods Of Mars

  The Coliseum Battle

  Attack Of The Clones’ Jedi versus monsters in the great red rock arena of Geonosis has clearly been cribbed directly from the battle with the white ape in A Princess Of Mars, even the pics from Disney’s John Carter (above) look eerily similar. Although, both scenarios were stolen from Ancient Rome so perhaps Edgar Rice Burroughs’ supporters should just let that one go.

  The Jedi

  Another noise George clearly liked to hear rattling around in his eardrum, the monarchs of Mars are called Jed (king), Jeddak (emperor) and Jeddara (empress) – it’s worth noting that in Barsoom a padwar is a low-ranking officer.