.. Manuel Padilla, Jr. Dead At 51 .
Those of you who grew up with the Tarzan movies of Mike Henry and Ron Ely in the 1960s will remember Manuel Padilla, Jr. with a smile. He had begun his film career playing Mexican and Indian boys in TV westerns such as Rawhide, Bonanza and Gunsmoke, but joined Ron Ely in the 1966-1968 Tarzan TV series as an orphan boy named "Jai" who was adopted by Tarzan and shared in his adventures. Artist Thomas Yeates was probably the last Tarzan buff to meet Padilla, and he writes: “He was the envy of any boy who watched the show. Who would not want to play with animals and swing from one tree to another in his underwear all day?” He died of unknown causes on January 29, 2008, after spending a weekend in Pomona, California as a featured celebrity guest at the Grand National Roadster Show.

He starred in two Tarzan films with Mike Henry: Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966) and Tarzan and the Great River (1967). After Tarzan, he became a regular on the Sally Field TV show, The Flying Nun (1967-1970), playing the role of "Marcello," a little boy who befriends "Sister Bertrille" in the series. As an adult, Padilla was best known for the role of "Carlos" in the George Lucas film American Graffiti (1973), and he reprised this role in its sequel, More American Graffiti (1979). He appeared in over 30 films and TV shows in the years that followed. Some notable credits include The Great White Hope, A Man Called Horse, Joseph Wambaugh's Police Story and Happy Days. His last film was Brian de Palma's Scarface (1983) where he was listed as "Kid No. 2." The photo seen above shows him perched on the shoulders of Tarzan actor Ron Ely in 1967. It was signed by him for the Burroughs Memorial Collection shortly before his unfortunate death 40 years later. 

... "Ye Editor"

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DUM-DUM 2008, Waterloo, Iowa This year's annual Dum-Dum will be held at the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center in Waterloo, Iowa, on Friday, July 25, and Saturday, July 26. The show will be held in conjunction with the Iowa Comic Book Collectors Show, in the same facility.

"This is an opportunity to combine forces with the state's largest active comic book group and hopefully greatly increase the amount of traffic at the Dum-Dum,” said Kelly Kimmich, a spokesperson with the Waterloo Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is handling the event. "We have received lots of support and enthusiasm from the comic book group, and we plan to market the weekend very aggressively."

Waterloo is part of the Cedar Valley, which includes the city of Cedar Falls, the University of Northern Iowa campus, and Evansdale. The combined metropolitan area is about 130,000.

The Five Sullivans Brothers Center is named for the five brothers from Waterloo who all went down on the same ship during a sea battle during World War II. They became a national rallying point for the war effort and a popular movie of their lives, "The Fighting Sullivans," was made in 1945. Because of the Sullivans, a law was passed that brothers could not serve on the same ship in wartime. 

The main guests for the event are Denny Miller, Tarzan from 1959; Jack Bender, a native of Waterloo who does the nationally-syndicated Alley Oop newspaper strip; Dave Fury, author of the new book on Maureen O’Sullivan, entitled No Average Jane, and Mike Chapman, author of two books on movie Tarzans, Herman Brix/Bruce Bennett and Glenn Morris. There may be another major guest announced, as well.

Chapman has hosted two previous Dum Dum (Newton, Iowa, in 1997, and Fort Collins, Colorado, in 2004) and is an advisor for the Waterloo Convention and Visitors Bureau. He is also working hard on landing another special guest.

"Denny is everyone's favorite Tarzan, but we thought it would be fun to try and get a Tarzan that has never yet appeared at a Dum Dum," said Chapman. “I was in touch with Casper Van Dien, and thought we just might get him, but he had a scheduling conflict that wouldn't allow him to attend. Now, I am working on Miles O’Keeffe through a very good source, but he has always been a hard one to pin down due to scheduling conflicts."

The special artwork for the tote bags and tee shirts shows Denny Miller as Tarzan, and as he appears today. The artwork was done especially for the Dum-Dum by Jack Bender.

The schedule of weekend activities includes a discussion led by Bender on Tarzan comic book art. Bender and his wife, Carole, have drawn the Alley Oop strip since 1991, and Jack is very well known in Iowa and athletic circles for his sports artwork. The Alley Oop strip is carried by over 600 newspapers around the world. Jack has an extensive collection of original art and has been a Tarzan collector and enthusiast for decades.

Fury spent an incredible amount of time and effort in producing his book on O’Sullivan, entitled No Average Jane, and the completed effort has drawn rave reviews. It is a beautiful, hardbound book and will be available for sale at a reduced price for Dum-Dum attendees. Dave will be the keynote speaker the Saturday night banquet, offering behind-the-scenes stories on his favorite Jane.

Chapman has been the featured speaker on several occasions and will act as the emcee for the dinner.

Other events planned are:
(1) A Mucker Jeopardy game in the Huckster room at 11:00 a.m. on Friday;
(2) Free tour of the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum, just one block from the convention center, with several pieces of Tarzan artwork, at 7:30 p.m. Friday;
(3) A panel discussion led by Jack Bender on Tarzan comic book art, at 11 a.m. on Saturday;
(4) The always popular auction at 3:00 p.m. Saturday.
(5) Banquet at Five Sullivan Brothers Center, starting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
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