By Frank Lipo

Oak Park is best known as the birthplace of Ernest Hemingway, the showplace of the architectural artistry of Frank Lloyd Wright, and in recent years as a racially diverse "urban suburb'' on Chicago's west border.

But did you know that Tarzan grew up in Oak Park, too?

The Edgar Rice Burroughs exhibit in Oak Park features a photo gallery of all the Tarzans and Janes of the silver screen.

Actually, author Edgar Rice Burroughs created Tarzan while still living in his native Chicago. But a few years later he moved to Oak Park with his young family and wrote a number of what would eventually be 24 tales of Tarzan. He also was a prolific pioneer in science fiction, creating John Carter of Mars and penning 11 tales of Mars, four about Venus, and six stories of Pellucidar, requiring a journey to the center of our earth. He wrote another two-dozen novels on a wide range of topics. No less an authority than science fiction giant Ray Bradbury cites Burroughs as a tremendous influence. Unfortunately, his creative fantasy stories are unknown to many, who think "Me Tarzan, You Jane" sums up the "Tarzan Story."

The Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest created and features an exhibit Tarzan, Mars, and the Fertile Mind of Edgar Rice Burroughs to tell the life story of Burroughs and shed light on this too often forgotten Illinois author who started his career in the pulp fiction magazines and ended up creating a multimedia empire after incorporating as Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. While focusing on the serious side of this author, the exhibit also has fun with the subject with endless use of bamboo and fake vines and a photo gallery of all the Tarzan and Janes of the silver screen. The exhibit was recently featured on Wild Chicago's llinois Road Trip, produced by Chicago's PBS television station.

Born on Chicago's West Side in 1875, Burroughs had a flamboyant young life that included time in the U.S. cavalry, as a cowboy on a ranch in the west, and as a gold prospector. But when at age 25 he settled down in marriage to sweetheart Emma, he also settled into a series of dead-end sales jobs in Chicago including selling pencil sharpeners and patent medicine. Ten years later he declared himself "a flop" and despaired at his future, particularly with three young children to support. While searching through a pulp magazine for an ad placement, he stopped to read the stories and declared them dreadful. His epiphany came quickly: I can write better than that. But he hedged his bets and used the pen name "Normal

16 Illinois Heritage

Bean" when he submitted "Under the Moons of Mars" to All-Story magazine. The readers loved it when it appeared in February 1912 and the same magazine published "Tarzan of the Apes" in October 1912 under his own name. Soon after, Burroughs moved his young family to Oak Park and lived in three different and progressively larger homes; he eventually rented an office where he also did some of his writing.

Burroughs was involved in the community and served as captain in the Illinois Reserve Militia in World War I. His career was watched closely by the local press. The first Tarzan "silent movie" was tremendously successfully and it was clear others would follow. The Burroughs family left Oak Park in 1919 to be closer to Hollywood and to enjoy the newly purchased "Tarzana Ranch" outside Los Angeles. A portion of the ranch was later subdivided and incorporated under the name "Tarzana, California." ERB, Inc. still exists today and jealously guards the intellectual property of ERB 56 years after his death; Tarzan, of course, never dies but reappears in the next installment. Burroughs may have failed selling pencil sharpeners, but he was wise enough to make certain he did not sign away the rights to his characters, instead licensing them out for a never-ending series of movies, action figures, radio shows, skateboards, candy, Happy Meals, etc.

These and many other fascinating facts about Tarzan can be enjoyed at the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest, located in the National Historic Landmark mansion "Pleasant Home" in Oak Park. Normal tour hours are 12:30-3:30 Thursdays-Sundays with tours also available by appointment. Call 708-848-6755 with questions.

Frank Lipo is the executive director of the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest.