October 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs Publishes Tarzan of the Apes, Invents the Franchise

This Week In Fandom History

*insert Tarzan yell here* This week, Emily and V explore a totally new-to-them fandom thanks to requester pandaimitator: Tarzan of the Apes. And frankly, it's crazy that we haven't heard about everything this old-timey fandom created that we still use and do today. Fan clubs! Conventions! Fan campaigns! Fanfiction! The Pizza Hut Book-It model of consumerism! The concept of the franchise itself! While the source material does not stand up to modern sensibilities — at all, and we're not defending it; it's super racist — the actions of the early fandom, and of Edgar Rice Burroughs' author-incorporation, are totally worth talking about in the scope of fandom history. We would be a different place without them.

Sources

Tarzan Forever by John Taliaferro

PulpFest | ERBfest

ERBzine.com

Signal Oil Fan Club

Tarzan: Jungle King of Popular Culture by David Lemmo

This Week In Fandom History is a fandom-centric podcast that tells you… what happened this week in fandom history!

• Follow This Week in Fandom History on Tumblr at @thisweekinfandomhistory
• You can support the show via our Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/thisweekinfandomhistory.
• If you have a fannish company, event, or service and would like to sponsor or partner with TWIFH, please contact us via the Tumblr link above.
• Please remember to rate the show 5 stars on your listening platform of choice!