ERB: MULTI-MEDIA MOGUL 

The development of the Tarzan radio program in 1932 is a good example of the assimilation of most of the popular media of the first half of the Twentieth Century: radio, ET records, pulp magazines, novels, comic strips, Big Little Books, and comic books -- and to a lesser extent even movies and television.

 
ERB’s business background, unsuccessful as it might have been during the first half of his life, served him well after he had his first success in the writing field. He was in the vanguard of popular culture --.expanding his creations into all media.  He pushed to have his name and book characters exploited in as many ways as possible to maximize profits and to safeguard copyrights. His first efforts saw his creations spring from pulp magazines into the areas of newspaper serials, book publications, art work, lucrative royalty deals, exclusive rights agreements, imaginative promotional schemes, tie-in product merchandizing, phonograph records, advertising schemes, real estate development, special books & clubs for young people, music, foreign licensing, film features and movie serials.

In 1929, TARZAN became one of the first syndicated daily adventure strips, followed in 1931 by a colour Sunday strip. In 1932 ERB took over publishing his own books through ERB, Inc. He then went on to create his own film company and to expand tie-in merchandizing of food, toys and other products. Then came Big Little Book editions of his titles which culled their content from the newspaper strips.

---

 "AND NOW IN THE VERY WORDS OF MR. BURROUGHS" ERB was also intrigued at this time by the new medium of radio which he recognized as yet another avenue for creative expression, as well as an opportunity for great money-making ventures. Noticing the strong interest of the radio-listening public in the top shows of the day, he suggested,

"I have evolved a wild and possibly ludicrous plan of publicity for (my books)...there might be possibilities in the reading of one of my books by myself over the radio for fifteen minutes nightly in conjunction with some program having a national hook-up."

He felt he could overcome professed nervousness if he could read from "familiar copy" and not be required to speak extemporaneously. Apparently the timing and circumstances were not right for this proposal, but this early interest led to other radio projects.

---

TARZAN OF THE APES RADIO SERIAL In 1931 Burroughs entered negotiations with Frederick C. Dahlquist of American Radio Features Syndicate to adapt Tarzan of the Apes to a fifteen-minute, chapter-a-day, five-days-a-week radio serial transcribed to 16" discs which could be syndicated worldwide. Burroughs, who had always been on the cutting edge of technology and marketing, had been fascinated with radio for years, having appeared himself on air as early as 1926 in Chicago. In a letter dated January 5, 1932, Burroghs wrote the following to Dalquist:

"We have had opportunities during the past few years to enter into arrangements to put our Tarzan stories on radio. While we have always believed that if Tarzan were properly presented over radio he would win an enthusiastic audience, we have never had presented to us a plan or presentation which met with our approval until you became interested and developed your ideas in the adaptation of the Tarzan stories. To me Tarzan is a real character, as he is, I believe, to several million men, women, and children not only in America but in the many foreign countries where the Tarzan books have had wide sales for a decade and a half. All of us to whom Tarzan has been an old friend and a source of pleasure would experience a sense of distinct loss were the idealism of many years destroyed; and so there are no rewards that could be offered that would tempt me to enter into any arrangement that I felt might relfect other than credit upon the Lord of the Jungle cause regret to his oldest friend or disappointment to the smallest boy. I am happy that you share my opinions on the matter, and it is extremely gratifying to me to know that your staff has so ably constructed the radio presentation of Tarzan that I am confident his broadcasts will cause even greater thrills to his old friends and be the source of winning many new ones. Your method of presentation will, I am sure appeal to everyone whith its swift action and suspense . I think the sound effects are ingenious, and truly believe you will have every boy in America attempting the wild cry of Tarzan in victory and every adult dreaming that he, too, is a giant in strength and character and courage." 

Not everything went as Burroughs had planned, however.  The contract with American stipulated that Burroughs would have the right to cancel if certain terms were not met and he followed through on this option as indicated in a letter sent by ERB, Inc. Secretary, Ralph Rothmund on July 29, 1932 in which he terminated the agreement:

"We are convinced that the program cannot be released on teh air by September 1st and done right. YOu have noting on hand with which to start production, as Mr. Burroughs has not approved any of the scripts recently sent to him. In the space of seven months you have completed but two episodes and have made two records, which is an indication to us that you are not capapble ofd oing the work satisfactorily."

"Inasmuchas twenty weeks have elapsed since execution of the contract and no royalties have been received by us, we are exercising our option of terminating the agreement. . .  "

This seemed to put a fire under Dahlquist, who informed Burroughs that Signal Oil and Gas Company had signed on as exclusive sponsor for the West Coast states, and he eventually persuaded Burroughs to give him a little more time to work on scripts, find a cast, and record opening shows. World Broadcasting System later signed a contract to sell the show in states east of the Rockies. Amazingly the American Radio Syndicate regained Burroughs' confidence, the author gave his approval for the go ahead,  and the show debuted a few days past the originally planned September 1, 1932 launch. He  is quoted as saying:

“Perhaps in my radio contract I shall insist upon the reservation to me of the interplanetary rights. Why not? Radio rights and sound and dialog rights would have seemed as preposterous twenty years ago... long before my copyrights expire television rights will be worth a fortune...”

The radio scripts, which used a combination of narration, dialogue, sound effects and original music, were closely supervised by ERB who had a special interest in the serial since it starred daughter Joan and her husband James Pierce. He was fascinated with the quality of the sound effects but did not hesitate to criticize the scripts whenever they appeared to be sloppily prepared, or whenever they presented the apeman as showing fear, laughing or exhibiting any other out-of-character behaviour.  The first serial ran 286 15-minute episodes. Tarzan of the Apes was adapted in the first 130 episodes, followed by a partial adaptation of  The Return of Tarzan.

Saturday, September 10th, the first Radio Premiere on record presented to radio fans all over the State the first episode in the thrilling adventures of "Tarzan of the Apes," sponsored by the Signal Oil and Gas Company.

Critics and thousands of motorists who jammed the World Premiere Radio Show at Fox Pantages Theatre in Hollywood proclaimed it the most fascinating and colorful radio program they had ever heard.

Among those who participated in the stage show were Jim Pierce, all-American football player and well-known actor, who takes the part of Tarzan in Signal's sensational radio serial; Miss Joan Burroughs, talented actress and daughter of Edgar Rice Burroughs; Mr. Burroughs himself, internationally known author of all "Tarzan" stories together with the entire Tarzan radio cast, including Lord and Lady Graystoke, Captain Tracy, Cecil Clayton, Yont, Professor Porter, Philander, (Joan Burroughs as Jane Porter and  James Pierce as Tarzan)....

Representing the motion picture fraternity were Johnny Weissmuller, the 'Tarzan' of the recent Metro-Golden-Mayer picture, "Tarzan the Ape Man" who, much to the delight of the 3,000 Signal guests present, gave the famous Tarzan yell. Tom Brown from Universal, Barbara Weeks and Lillian Miles from Columbia, as well as scores of famous stars and Hollywood celebrities, including motion picture directors, editors and writers for motion picture magazines....

Representatives from local radio stations, inlcuding KFI, KHJ, KFWB and the entire staff of KNX were in attendance, while a number of popular radio stars, such as Clarence Muse, composer of  Sleepy Time Down South"; Cliff Arquette, in his characterization, "Aunt Hat"; Mary Rossetti, versatile singer, and the KNX Rangers appeared in the stage show.

Eddie Lambert, star comedian and producer of the "Nine o'Clock Reverie," acted as Master of Ceremonies for the show while Freeman Lang, inimitable Master of Ceremonies, presided over the "mike" to introduce the screen stars as well as the leading lights of radio land.

Included among the guests of the Company were several hundred Signal dealers and their families, Company employees and their families, and representatives from other oil companies, the California Oil and Gas Association and representatives from all the press.

Thousands of radio fans who were unable to attend in person enjoyed the premiere through the courtesy of KNX, who broadcast the entire three hour show.

Signal Oil launched a successful advertising campaign to promote the Tarzan radio show. Through their service stations they offered a blitz of Tarzan merchandise tie-ins - the first being a Tarzan jigsaw puzzle contest. As the popularity of the show grew across America, they created the Signal Tarzan Club and sent out membership cards, buttons, photos and prizes to members. All over the country, kids were begging dad to fill up at Signal, as one of the membership requirements was to bring a new customer to a Signal filling station. Signal gas sations sponsored baseball teams formed by Tarzan Club members. Club members gained points for persuading customers to buy Signal gasoline products and they could redeem these points for prizes such as radios, rifles, cameras, movie projectors, bicycles, watches and sets of Tarzan books. The Club was wildly successful and within a year it boasted over 100,000 members and soon it grew almost too large to manage. 

The Tarzan of the Apes radio show went on to play on scores of radio stations worldwide. In 1934 Signal Oil didn't renew the Tarzan contract, claiming that the project had been too successful. Membership in the Signal Tarzan Club had ballooned to an astounding 415,000 and was still growing. They just couldn't keep up. ERB, Inc. purchased all rights to the serial and continued to sell it, as well as producing and promoting their own Tarzan radio serials. Burroughs became so excited over the potential of this new cross marketing phenomenon that he started to think of ways he himself could adapt it to the marketing of his books

Celluloid 1" Button A few years before Signal's Tarzan Club tie-in, ERB had tried a similar Tarzan Club to promote his Tarzan books. Fired up by the success of Signal's version new club, he immediately started planning to revive his orignal idea and eventually he formed the nation-wide, TARZAN CLANS OF AMERICA.

Even though the radio series was immensely popular, Burroughs, most likely anxious to gain more control of the radio shows for ERB Inc., started to voice great dissatisfaction with the scripts and considered taking on the actual writing of the scripts himself.

ERB SPEAKS ~1935:
“There is one factor that may have more effect on reducing book sales than any number of depressions, and that is radio, to which we are looking for far greater returns than our book royalties ever brought us. Already, with two programs, we are netting more than we do from the sale of all our books, which, taken in connection with the fact that there are hundreds of similar programs on the air, suggests that people are taking their fiction this way instead of through books.”

When the contract with American Radio Features came up for renewal in March 1934, they had not quite finished serializing Return; and Tarzan and Jane were not yet married. ERB did not renew the contract and took over production of the series himself. He had started a Tarzan script with a strong part for Jane which he wrote with daughter Joan in mind but before production could begin, Joan Pierce dropped out (she may have been pregnant) and Jim Pierce announced that he would prefer not to appear without his wife. ERB contacted all the show's clients and promised that the show would go on -- better than ever. He proceded to write another script without Jane. The now-shelved  "Jane" script was subsequently turned into the novel, Tarzan's Quest.

Stage and radio actor Carton KaDell was signed for the Tarzan role and a large group of experienced actors was signed for the supporting cast.. Each story was planned to be a 39-episode serial spread over 13 weeks. Burroughs provided the plot outline for the first series: Tarzan and the Diamond of Asher. ERB's story continued on from the point in The Return of Tarzan where the previous series had been interrupted. For continuity he kept the characters Lord Tennington and Hazel Strong but he wrote Jane out of the script.