I have not been this excited to see a movie in a LONG time. Did you know 2011 is the 100th Anniversary of the debut of Edgar Rice Burrough's creation? And yes that is Led Zeppelin rescored for the movie. I always had Led Zep playing in the background when I read these books. Looks like I wasn't the only one!!!!
Let me digress for a moment. Sure, I specialize in comics and it seems odd that I’d be raving about a movie, but actually I’m back in my element because these stories have been immortalized in comics for a very long time. I’m talking about the upcoming movie John Carter, a thrilling Disney Studios adaptation of A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan and countless other stories.
I’ve talked about this movie with friends, and the younger ones just sort of nod and stare. I’ve had responses like, “Who is John Carter?” and “I’ve heard of the books, but I’ve never read them.” For the rest of us who did read them, they were a huge part of our teen years, these gripping classic Pulp fiction tales of romance and adventure on another world. So who is John Carter of Mars? Stick with me, kids, and I’ll tell you all you need to know by the time the film debuts on March 9, 2012!
Burroughs began work on A Princess of Mars in the summer of 1911 when he was 35. He wrote most of the first half of the novel while working for his brother in a stationery company, penning the words on scratch pads produced by the business. He had been struggling for some time to establish himself as a businessman, so far with little success, and with a wife and two children to support, turned to writing in desperate need of income. Despite failure in his business affairs he had accumulated a wealth of unusual experiences from working a variety of jobs which had brought him into contact with miners, soldiers, cowboys, and American Indians.
By August 11 of 1911 he had completed a large section of the novel. Here was Burroughs' dilemma: this fanciful work of fiction was so out of place in the serious business environment he was struggling in day after day. He was apprehensive about revealing what he was working on, and told only his wife about the stories. He still hoped to be a writer one day and was afraid that business associates and contacts might think him nuts if they found out what he was doing. At this point he had already decided to adopt the pen name of "Normal Bean", an attempt to suggest that despite the incredible nature of his story, he was still a sane, reliable character. He struggled to find an appropriate title for the novel: My First Adventure of Mars, The Green Martians, and Dejah Thoris, Martian Princess were all early attempts to solve this problem.
Yes, it's true. Edgar Rice Burroughs feared his story would never even get off the ground.
Before completing the novel, he considered options for publishing, and realized he knew almost nothing about the publishing world. Because he liked and was familiar with All-Story Magazine, he submitted 43,000 words to the editor under the title "Dejah Thoris, Martian Princess." His cover letter explained that he thought he could produce another two parts of similar length. The Managing Editor of the magazine, Thomas Newell Metcalf, wrote back on August 24, 1911, to offer some criticisms of the pacing and focus of the tale, and suggested omitting the chapter "Sola Tells Me Her Story" (it was restored in the novel); he suggested that if Burroughs could finish the novel at under 70,000 words, he (Metcalf) would consider publishing it. After further work on the novel, and further correspondence with Metcalf, which included suggestions for plot devices and structural changes, Burroughs submitted the finished novel. On November 4, 1911, Burroughs received the acceptance letter from Metcalf, offering $400 for the serialization rights (a staggering sum for those days), with the request to change the title and further edit the opening section of the novel.
When Burroughs received his acceptance letter from Thomas Metcalf of All-Story Magazine, Metcalf said that the serial would be published under the title In the Moons of Mars. However, when the first part of the serialization appeared in the February 1912 edition of All-Story, it bore the title Under the Moons of Mars. For serial publication, Burroughs used the pen name "Normal Bean," chosen as a type of pun to stress that he was in his right mind, as he feared ridicule for writing such a fantastic story. The effect was spoiled when a typesetter interpreted "Normal" as a typographical error and changed it to "Norman."
By 1914, Burroughs had become very popular with the reading public, and A.C. McClurg & Company decided to print a number of his formerly serialized tales as novels. McClurg began with three Tarzan novels, and then published A Princess of Mars on October 10, 1917. Although Metcalf thought that the chapter "Sola Tells Me Her Story" slowed the story's pace, and thus omitted it from the magazine serialization, this chapter was restored for the novel version. The novel was illustrated by Frank E. Schoonover, who carefully read the descriptive passages on the costumes and weapons of Barsoom and developed an overall concept for the artwork, even ensuring that John's Carter's pistol and belt in his cover illustration reflected their origins in Green Martian craftsmanship.
A Princess of Mars was one of the few works for which Burroughs, in his inexperience as a new writer, relinquished all serialization rights. Others included the sequel The Gods of Mars and Tarzan of the Apes.
Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Princess_of_Mars
Coming up next: Who is John Carter? Part Two
Article with supplemental photos available at http://houseofthemuses.com/adeviantmind/2011/12/02/who-is-john-carter/
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