Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-11
BURROUGHS WRITES
COLOR page NOVEL
New Picture Story, "Tarzan,"
Will Start in The Star
Next Sunday.

Edgar Rice Burroughs Is writing q
color page novel. Heretofore his stories
have always been written originally for
serial or book publication and later
translated into the media of screen or
newspaper strip. Now he is creating
directly for an original picture story.
The new picture story will be the Tarxan
color page, which viii appear each week
in The Sunday Star, beginning next
Sunday
The new Tarzan color page intro
duces two modern white children who
are lost In the jungle and rescued by
the giant ape-man. Although the story
Is continuous, each color page will relate
a complete episode.
AS Tarzan is the most colorful and
picturesque of modern romanceS, Its
appeal when told in picture form has
already been heightened by the brilliant
daily strip serials in which his ad-
ventures are pictured. This appeal Is
enormously increased when the colorful
weekly page. Never has Tarzan seemed
more exciting and more attractive.
Success Literary Phenomenon.
The color page brings a new impetus
to the invention of Edgar Rice Bur-
roughS, whose amazing imagination has
quickened the pulses Of readers since
"Tarzan Of the Apes" first astonished
and attracted the world. The success
of Mr.. Burroughs has been one of the
phenomena Of modern literature. His
book sales in the American and British
editions alone have already exceeded
the 10000, 900 mark. In addition, his
stories have been translated into Is
languages and into Braille for the blind.
The success Of the stories, which have
usually been first published as serials,
has been increased by their successful
appearance in book, motion picture and
strip forms. Each has con-
trtbuted to the success of the other and
now they are all intensifying the inter-
est Of millions Of readers in the TarZan
color page.
The extraordinary success of Edgar
Rice Burroughs has back of 1t q tale of
and struggle. Mr.. Burroughs
was born into the United States Army,
his father being q Cavalry major
Trained for West Point, he fiunked his
entrance exams and in disgust at his
lack of preparation enlisted in the
in the Cavalry at Fort Grant in Ari-
IONA, where he saw some Indian fight
ing. When he quit the Army he be-
came q ranch cowboy and drlfted into
various jobs, at all of which he had a
uniform and steady lack of success. He
was a gold miner, a bill collector, a
teacher, a salesman, storekeeper, rail-
road policeman and eventually an agent
IN Chicago for lead pencil-sharpening
device. AS an agent his principal oc-
cupation was sitting in an office waiting
for orders that didn't come In. With
plenty of time on his hands he started
to write his first novel, and when he
had half Of it finished he submitted 1t
to a magazine telling the editor that
if the editor didn't like it that was all
he was going to do. Fortunately for
Mr.. Burroughs, the editor did like 1t
and asked him to finish it. The story
was published in All Story Magazine
under the title of Under the Noon
Of Mars" 1t sold for $500. Thus en-
Mr.. Burroughs tried again
and this time turned out "Tarzan of
the Apes" The serial rights for this
went for $700. Fortunately, Burroughs
did not include other rights in the sale.
These other rights have since run in
value somewhere close TO q million.
Begins Writing ut IS.
Burroughs was IS years old when he
started to write. At that time he was
living in a condition of poverty that
bordered upon desperation. The i'm
pulse to write came through the sheer
necessity Of supplying his wife and two
children with food. Even with the sale
of the first few novels that he wrote
the rate wasn't sufncient to keep the
family far ahead of the sheriff. All
the book publishers had refused ''Tarzan
Of the Apes" and it wasn't until the
novel had received widespread attention
as a newspaper serial that the publica-
ton opportunity came along. With the
publication Of his first Tarzan book
Burroughs became established as one
OF the important popular writer's in the
world. At one time 1t was said in Eng
land that his sales exceeded that Of all
Of the most notable English writer's put
together In all countries and among
all peoples Tarzan has repeated its in
itial success It Is a success probably
based upon the civilized mans yearning
for escape TO primitive living with wild
and lack of restraint. 1t Is
this call of adventure and of coloTful
beauty that make the new Tarzan color
page so attractive for all who long for
fsr-on romance and the glamour Of ele-
mental life.