John Carter Books

[Leonides Suttle]

Hewas a splendid specimen of manhood, standing a good two inches over six feet, broad of shoulder and narrow of hip, with the carriage of the trained fighting man. His features were regular and clear cut, his hair black and closely cropped, while his eyes were of a steel gray, reflecting a strong and loyal character, filled with fire and initiative. His manners were perfect, and his courtliness was that of a typical southern gentleman of the highest type.

All property among the green Martians is owned in common by the community, except the personal weapons, ornaments and sleeping silks and furs of the individuals. These alone can one claim undisputed right to, nor may he accumulate more of these than are required for his actual needs. The surplus he holds merely as custodian, and it is passed on to the younger members of the community as necessity demands.

In theory it may sound well, as is often the case with theories, but the results of ages of this unnatural practice, coupled with the community interest in the offspring being held paramount to that of the mother, is shown in the cold, cruel creatures, and their gloomy, loveless, mirthless existence.

I need not describe the plot of the second Barsoom book, The Gods of Mars and much more of the first as it fits this generic description frightfully well, even in combining a polar paradise with an underground world in which a corrupt priesthood deceives the masses of Barsoom.

it is a rare treat to see john carter taken out of the used bookstore dollar racks (and now surely best buy 50% off dvd bins) and deconstructed with such careful precision. sadly, this sort of pulp science fiction only seems to live in the minds of young men (like those in gentlemen broncos), where it sits, unanalyzed, probably confusing just as much it delights. in particular, the dissection of the pro-colonial race theory permeating the john carter mythology seemed utterly on point and exhaustively researched, and was a pleasure to read.

Clampett was surprised to find Burroughs so receptive to the idea of animation. Burroughs wanted to see his characters receive further exposure, perhaps because his other creations were currently being overshadowed by the enormous success of Tarzan. Burroughs also realized that the medium of animation would allow for special effects and an outer space setting that might be cost prohibitive or poorly done if translated to existing live action film techniques.

Clampett immediately got to work to put together a test reel of footage. He had to have a major conflict that got resolved, introduce the main characters, and establish the strange world of Mars. The basic plotline that Clampett settled on concerned an exotic race of Martians who lived in the mouth of a volcano.

Edgar Rice Burroughs himself had already contacted MGM about buying the animated series. MGM was anxious to keep Burroughs happy since they were enjoying success with their Johnny Weissmuller film version of Tarzan and they were generally dissatisfied with their animated short subjects at the time. So, Clampett was under pressure not only to make test footage that would satisfy Burroughs but also the more pragmatic accountants at MGM.

Because Clampett and the others were still working full-time at Warners, the John Carter work had to be squeezed in at night, on weekends and whenever a spare moment managed to pop up. Even John Coleman Burroughs and his fiance Jane would sometimes help out by painting some of the cels for the cartoon themselves.

It was planned that these scenes would be incorporated into the first film if the series sold. Burroughs loved the final work and more importantly, so did MGM. Clampett gave notice to Warners that he was leaving and he started production work on the first episode.

The MGM cartoon concept would be funny animals doing silly things and then at the end of the cartoon, Tarzan would briefly appear and save these foolish animals from being caught in quicksand or facing a vicious predator.

Clampett stored away the storyboard, notes, sketches, actual cels and completed footage of the John Carter project and for the most part, forgot about the aborted series until he started lecturing at events and colleges.

Forty years later, Clampett told audiences, while working on John Carter, he developed the idea of a city protected by a gigantic glass bubble. There was huge helicopter blade on top of this glass dome so that in times of trouble when the city was threatened by invaders, the city could just lift up into the air, fly to a place of safety and descend.

The Beany and Cecil: Special Edition DVD features as a supplement most of the existing animated material with some of this footage actually narrated by Clampett himself in commentary that was obviously borrowed from one of his university screenings of the material.

A few years back, a cell from this project was sold on Heritage Auctions. The auction description indicated they were unaware of the historical importance of the cell, and the final price was relatively low, alas, higher than my budget at the time. It can still be seen on their archives:

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