 
Everyone by now has heard that renown fan artist Bill Rotsler died in October. We
had heard about his cancer treatments, of course, but living a continent-width away
from the Los Angeles area where Bill lived prevented us from knowing what his
health really was. So it was a shock when the news of his passing came to us.
He'd seemed so strong and full of life a year ago at the L.A.Con; indeed, perhaps
our lasting image of him is the dinner expedition with other fan artists that
turned into a cartoonists free-for-all, much to the bewilderment of the waiter who
maybe thought we were speaking in pictographs instead of English. We're going to miss Bill Rotsler.
He was a ubiquitous presence in Mimosa, and always went out of his way to
make sure we had a plentiful supply of his lettercol illos (as he did with many
other fan publishers). He was a generous man. We'll begin this time with some
comments about "Rotsler Traces," the multi-part words-and-pictures celebration of
Rotsler by his fellow fan artists. Most of these were written and sent to us
before Rotsler died. The first letter is from Bill himself.- - - - - - - - - -
William Rotsler My God, what egoboo! What a
conspiracy! It is unique, fun and flattering!I was very touched by Alexis
Gilliland's bit {{"Beginnings" }}, for
he quite accurately outlined our personal history. I think Alexis is a Great Talent
and drawing with him is the most fun I ever have in fandom! It was developed that
I'm the straight man, and I try to push us into areas and attitudes that neither one
of us might go well by ourselves, as well as keeping our own individuality, and I
think I do that well.But I must make corrections in
Teddy Harvia's version of my story of house-hunting with Marilyn Monroe
{{in "My Dinner with Rotsler" }}. I had a
date to meet Andre de Dienes -- to help pick out photos from one of his books, I
think. Andre was the "photographer's photographer." He had taken photographs of a
young actress when she was still Norma Jean Mortensen, and remained close.Anyway, it was 1951, and I arrived
at his Hollywood Hills home to find him waiting in the blue Cadillac with a young
blonde I recognized immediately as the girl from the recently released Asphalt
Jungle (1950). "Get in the car," he said in his heavy Hungarian accent. "We
are going to help Marilyn find a house." (She had just signed her first big
contract.)I climbed in. Marilyn had the
remnants of last night's makeup, her hair was disheveled, she wore capris and a
man's white shirt tied in the middle. She turned to me and turned on the sex.
Never before or since have I had such an experience. It was like being blowtorched.
Oh, I've had women come on, sexy women, but there has been nothing like that.She soon realized that I was no one
important, i.e., could do her any real good (at least that's my take on it), so she
turned it off and was pleasant for the rest of the day. We looked at a house the
Marx brothers had built for their legendary mother and several others.To this day, every time I pass a
certain corner on Crescent Heights in Hollywood, I think if letting off Marilyn
there.Thank you for that article. I am
delighted.- - - - - - - - - -
David Bratman, San Jose, California I've seen collaborative Rotsler
cartoons before, mostly with Alexis Gilliland, but not so many as in
Mimosa 20. The ones in the letter column featuring the Rotsler
character holding the thunderbolt over his head are especially good. It's like
reading Partners in Wonder, only shorter and funnier.Sharon Farber's memoirs of ob-gyn
work {{"Tales of Adventure and Medical Life #14"
}} may not be funny, but they are very interesting to me, especially as my
father was in that line of medicine. His views on women's place in the home were
pretty Victorian, but his patients regarded him highly. For his part, my father
told me he was originally attracted to ob-gyn because it involved less surgery and
cutting people open and that sort of bloody mess than other well-paid specialties,
though I can't guess how many episiotomies, not to mention C-Sections, he performed
in his career. He also told me of his discovery of the same rule that Sharon learns
at the top of page 21. As he put it, "Never let a woman in labor go to the
bathroom: newborn babies are lousy swimmers." Does anyone remember the fanzine
phenomenon of 'fake Rotslers'? Around 1970 there were lots of imitation Rotsler
cartoons in fanzines, which deliberately deflated themselves by admitting they
weren't the real thing. I drew one once which showed a very grumpy pseudo-Rotsler
figure, whose thought balloon read, "Rotsler should sue."Your cover by Kurt Erichsen suggests
that in the year 3000 A.U.C. (i.e., A.D. 2247) the Romans will have a major
nostalgic return to old-fashioned modes of dress. Or maybe this is the Roman SCA
we see here. Very little of what we think of as Roman dress (or military gear)
survived as late as A.D. 400. The rigid 'muscle' breastplate was obsolete by
around the year 250. Army headgear looked like a Davy Crockett cap with no tail.
Or propeller.- - - - - - - - - -
Dave Rowe, Franklin, Indiana Nice tribute to Rotsler. About
twenty years back Punch did the same thing, using a cartoon by Larry of a
standing naked man seen from behind and giving it to all their cartoonists to
complete.Steve Stiles {{ in "The Last Time I Saw
Rotsler" }} must have a sadistic streak! He comes out with that line about
Rostler helping to "apprehend a dangerous criminal" and just leaves it dangling like
that! Now there is a tale worth the telling; any chance you can get Steve to
write it up for you?{{
Steve tells us that it happened in June 1957, when Rotsler was living near Ventura,
California. A prisoner had escaped from jail and Bill was deputized to take the
searchers through the canyon behind his house where the escapee was holed up.
Nothing very unusual happened, except for the prisoner accidentally wounding
himself with a gun as he was recaptured. }}Also, a good tribute to Lynn
Hickman from Roger Sims {{"Lynn As I Remember Him"
}}. It's just as well Midwestcon moved to the Blue Ash Hotel this year; can
you imagine if it was still at the Marriott? The fen would have been sitting out on
the patio and every so often you'd see a head look around trying to find if Lynn had
arrived. He's missed.Finally, Nicki's conclusionary
piece on the media coverage of SF and its lack of coverage of fanzines {{"No Apostrophes Please, We're Fannish" }} beings
to mind the TV coverage at Archon 20. The main draw was the guest of honor,
Ray Bradbury, who is just as well-known outside of our clique. So how did the Fox
network affiliate new program cover the convention? They totally ignored Bradbury
and used it as a promo for the new X-Files series! Given coverage little
that, do you really want the media to discover fanzines?- - - - - - - - - -
Linda Bushyager, Paoli, Pennsylvania I enjoyed Jack Chalker's history
column {{"A Short History of Baltimore Fandom (Part 1)"
}}. I remember when I first moved to Philadelphia in 1971, he and a couple
of other Baltimore fans were doing an east-coast meeting circuit. They would
apparently drive up and down the coast to whatever local club meetings were going
on, so he was a member of Philadelphia's Group, NYC, Baltimore, Washington, and
maybe even more. Such activity must have required tremendous energy.All the Rotsler stories and artwork
were made more poignant since I know Bill has been quite ill recently. I've only
had the pleasure of meeting him a couple of times, but he's been great influence on
my fannish life. When I did my first zine with Suzle Tompkins in 1968
(Granfalloon), we got most of our artwork by contacting the N3F. And of
course most of what they sent were Rotsler drawings. After that, Rotsler illos
were a constant in my zines. Bill also had the habit of generously producing con
name badges throughout the years -- often showing up at a Worldcon with a box of
pre-made badges for as many people as he could. I was the recipient of several; I
would treasure them and wear them at most cons I went to. When I did actually have
a chance to sit down and talk with Bill (really more me sitting with a group of
people who were talking to him with me just listening), I found him to be extremely
interesting to listen to in person. So all the stories in Mimosa about him
really had an impact on me.Actually, I enjoyed many of the
articles in Mimosa, but Sharon Farber's was really scary. I don't think I
ever want to see a doctor again (of course, now that I think about it, I don't
think I really wanted to see a doctor ever again before reading her story...
but the discomfort level certainly has been increased now!)Thanks for all your hard work. The
issue was really great, and the Rotsler stuff really made it special to me. Really funny Erichsen covers. Yes,
I fear "Denarius Magnus" rules in Roma of AUC MMM or America in
AUC MMDCCL. The various details add spice and wit to the overall impression,
but a couple of minor nitpicking points... On the front cover, the leftmost
standard should say 'Legio XXXI', and more to the point, it is a hand, which is the
standard of a maniple (pun on manus, 'hand'), not a legion, and so should have a
further assignment, e.g. 'Legio XXXI, Cohors II, Hastatus'. Also, on the back page,
should they not be calling those exotic roots from the Mundus Novus 'Tubers'?Jack Chalker's article provides a
type example of 'missing the point': "When you included Mayhew, Studebaker, Haughey,
we were more of a kind of gang of nerds than a real club." Ah... I thought that
"gang of nerds" was the basic description of a SF club.And finally, Nicki's justified
complaints about the way we are being perceived: "Apparently, the SciFi Channel's
idea of SF fandom seems to be limited to male teens whose sole interests are comic
books and video games." Here we run into demographics. "Male teens whose sole
interests are comic and video games" have a lot of disposable income, more so then
middle-aged married couples whose interests include but are not limited to books
and fanzines. To gain advertisers the channel produces shows that (supposedly)
appeal to "male teens, etc. etc." on the grounds that if people watch a show they
will see and be influenced by the ads on it. The problem seems to be, therefore,
that the executives now believe their own network.{{
We've watched a number of shows on the Sci-Fi Channel, but we really don't think
the commercials are more geared toward male teens. For instance, for weeks it
seemed like Pepto Bismol was the prime sponsor of every show, with an antacid
commercial at every break. Lately there has been a spate of 'Call-a-Psychic'
commercials. Not really things you'd think would interest teens, unless things
have really changed in the past few years. }}- - - - - - - - - -
Gay Haldeman, Gainesville, Florida I really enjoyed Jack Chalker's "A
Short History of Baltimore Fandom (Part 1)", especially since it covers some of our
own history, too. But I wanted to correct some minor factual errors. Joe and I
didn't meet at a Washington Science Fiction Association meeting -- we were already
dating at the time of Discon in 1963 and discovered fandom together. (We're both
in Jay Kay Klein's masquerade photos in the Discon Memory Book, though he has my
name wrong.) We discovered WFSA later, when Alice Krieg fell over the copy of
Analog Joe had next to him on the floor in a class. She invited us to WSFA
and changed our lives forever. Joe's brother Jay (not nicknamed Jay because Jack
was already taken at WSFA, but because his father was named Jack) came with us and
met Alice. Alice (Krieg) Haldeman, by the way, is the head librarian at the
Edgewater, Florida, library if anyone would like to contract her.Anyway, thanks, Jack, for writing
about that period. It was great to see so many familiar names and remember some
good times.- - - - - - - - - -
Ted White, Falls Church, Virginia I read Jack Chalker's "Short
History of Baltimore Fandom" and was fascinated by this look at early-sixties Balto
fandom. But I was a bit surprised by what was left out, and by some errors
concerning Balto fandom in the fifties.What was left out: that fandom
thrived in Baltimore well before Jack discovered it. He totally omits all mention
of Baltimore's leading fanzine editor/publisher of those days, Ted Pauls. I'm
astonished at that. Starting in 1959, a teenaged Ted Pauls (using a typer he
borrowed from me for a couple of years) began a whirlwind of publishing activity,
using several titles and publishing most of his zines quite frequently -- monthly
or more often. His best-known fmz was Kipple, which started as a fannish
monthly (had Marion Zimmer Bradley as a columnist/fmz reviewer), and evolved into
a political-discussion zine (one of the first). It was published regularly
throughout the entire decade of the sixties. I'm startled by Ted's omission; maybe
Jack intends to deal with him in Part Two.{{
We agree that Ted Pauls certainly was a prominent Baltimore fan. We were saddened
to learn news of his death, which reached us while this Mimosa was being put
together. }}John Magnus and John Hitchcock were
friends of mine throughout the fifties, and, living just outside D.C., I drove to
Balto to visit them for weekends, usually staying at Hitchcock's house. During
that time I met Raleigh Multog and also George Wetzel. I would say those four --
Hitchcock, Magnus, Multog, and Wetzel -- pretty much were Baltimore fandom in the
second half of the fifties. (And I joined them in 1958.)In 1958 we discovered that a fan
named Marian Cox, who had contributed to Vega in the early fifties, had
married, was now Marian Oaks, and was living in Baltimore. We formed a club
(including the neofan Ted Pauls) and met at the Oaks' trailer regularly for several
months -- but I cannot recall what we called our group. (Throughout this period
most of us also attended WSFA meetings regularly.)In all the time I knew Hitchcock
and Magnus, I never heard of the Baltimore SF Forum, and I strongly doubt it was
"dominated by John Hitchcock, John Magnus, and Raleigh Multog," if it was a Johns
Hopkins-associated club. Magnus went to Oberlin. Multog was mentally impaired and
never went to any college. Only Hitchcock, a child prodigy, went to Hopkins,
graduating at 18. If there was a club at Hopkins, it was too insular to have any
association with general fandom. Magnus, Hitchcock and I were fanzine editors,
involved in apas (like FAPA), and went to conventions (what few there were then).
We never met any other fans from Baltimore beyond those mentioned above.- - - - - - - - - -
Janice Gelb, Palo Alto, California As usual, Sharon Farber's med
school piece managed to be informative, entertaining, and scary all at the same
time. Her unromantic comment about delivering babies ("a long screamfest followed
by the arrival of a slimy conehead") reminded me of a comment from Eva Whitley when
she was largely pregnant and someone was going on and on about the joys of
motherhood: "I feel like I swallowed a gigantic live fish."As for Guy Lillian's piece
{{"It Pays to Advertise?" }}, you have no
idea how weird it was to casually thumb through an issue of Sports Illustrated
one week (I have a subscription) only to find a squib on the ad Guy and Dennis put
in The Florida Flambeau. If I had to bet on fans whose names might appear
in SI one day, theirs would probably be last on the list! Guy Lillian's Tale of Legal Life is
a fit companion piece for Sharon Farber's articles, and makes me hope that we can
expect further inroads into the professions now that you have done medicine and law.
Begin the search, I say, for the Sharon Farber of the clergy.Maybe Nicki should think some more
about the implications of her metaphors. In her closing comments, she analogizes
SF fandom to a tribe, and wonders if it will be "acknowledged by the world at
large." For most tribes, acknowledgment by the "world at large" has been an
unmitigated disaster. Cultivate obscurity.- - - - - - - - - -
Gene Stewart, APO AE "Rotsler Traces" is the kind of
idea that works but keeps things insular all at once, as it excludes neos and
perpetuates legends. But while the remarks are welcome and interesting as
retrospective, the toons stand on their own. And its amazing how well WR's keyhole
people merge with so many other styles. Harvia's point that he's a performing
artist reveals worlds; fandom has been sitting back digging the performance for
decades now. But isn't Ian Gunn's "Along the Limpopo With Canoe and Felt-Tip"
fanfiction? Gasp! It's my favorite among what you pubbed.{{
Yikes! We've been found out! Seriously, though, much of fan history can be
probably considered 'insular'. Popularizing it seems a good way to pass along this
type of 'insider' stuff. }}Guy H. Lillian -- or GHLIII, the
fifth fannish ghod, apparently -- keeps his tone perfectly pitched to his
content. As a long-time GHLIII-ful fan, I've urged him to finish that book,
and this latest sample of his writing only strengthens that feeling. This is my
favorite piece in Mimosa XX.{{
Guy as a fannish ghod?? We're not sure the world is ready for that yet! If there's
got to be a fifth fannish ghod, Chaz the Armadillo has our vote. }}Roger Sims's reminiscence of Lynn
Hickman is sterling and leaves me feeling that a good man's life has been honored
by a good friend's attention. May we all be even half so lucky. Celebrate while
we can, eh?Finally, I agree with Nicki, but
isn't Fandom defined by what it's not as much as by what it is? If so,
mundania can never co-opt it. By definition, Fandom is invisible to mundania.
That's why the Sci-Fi Channel uses an insulting term to identify itself. That's
why TV idiots & other post-literates can't grasp the concept of a literary con.
Et cetera. Fandom will always require a POV simply not that of the majority.
Otherwise, it ain't fandom.So get out there and write locs,
draw fillos, and pub that ish -- it matters to Fandom, and holding your breath
waiting for the mainstream to 'discover' us will only turn one blue.Of course, blue is a nice
fannish color...- - - - - - - - - -
Roy Tackett, Albuquerque, New Mexico You are wrong in saying that
science fiction has become acceptable in the United States. What the country has
accepted is 'sci-fi' which is a horse of a different color. And it is a long way
from being science fiction.{{
At the recent Philcon, Dan Simmons had the same point in his Guest of Honor speech.
While it's identifiable, what we can do about it is not so clear. }}I'll use the SciFi Channel to prove
my point. Their coverage of last year's worldcon is a case in point. Your
description of what they imagine a typical fan to be is 100% correct.I don't know what a GenXer is but I
do know that fanzines began to fade when the Trekkies made the scene with their
four to five dollar zines which they hoped to sell at a profit. Our type of zine
is still around but you have to look in the apas for them. Art Rapp still
publishes Spacewarp for the apa SAPS and is up to issue number 200. But
you'll only find it in SAPS. It is the same with any other zine you can think
of.{{
We're not here to defend Star Trek fandom, but it obviously has an entirely
different view of fanzines -- as outlets for fiction from aspiring writers.
(Actually, it wasn't so long ago that most people in 'our' fandom aspired to be
professional writers.) As you noted, these Trek zines are usually expensive,
probably in part due to high production costs. It may be the increasingly high
costs of producing fanzines that's resulting in fewer of the kind that interest
you. }}On the recognition of fandom by the
media in general -- it will never happen. There are not enough fans to make a
difference. I doubt that you will find a thousand trufen in the entire United
States; we're not about to get any larger. Remember it is a proud and lonely thing
to be a fan. Ron Bennett's article
{{"I Spy With My Little Eye" }} reminds me
of the many 'security briefings' I had during my ten years in the U.S. Navy. We
were always being shown films that showed how Soviet agents would try to subvert us,
usually with money, sometimes with sex and drugs. Well, why not? As a Data Systems
Technician First Class, I had access to oodles of top-secret-and-above documents and
information, such as [censored], [deleted] and even [do you have a
need to know?].To the best of my knowledge, I was
totally ignored by the Soviet agents. During my two years in London (1970-2) I was
warned that they might pretend do be British agents and play on the fact of my
being born in the U.K. In spite of these warnings I had an active sex life anyhow,
which might have left me open to blackmail. But no, nothing happened, except that
I used many a bottle of bourbon whiskey for seductions. None of the women seemed
to be interested in the fact that I could supply critical information on things
like **** and #### and even @@@@! I got more comments on my foreskin than on my
Top Secret/ESI/NFE/ Crypto/Cosmic clearances. Truth is, nobody was really
interested about where B-52s were flying, nuke subs lurking, or anything else
really interesting. London was supposed to be a hotbed of Soviet agents but they
all seemed to ignore me. I guess they were too busy on their various projects,
such as cleaning out MI5 and MI6, which they did quite thoroughly.I also enjoyed Guy H. Lillian III's
article, although I shouldn't. I really ought to have an attitude problem toward
lawyers, based on my always being pre-emptorally challenged on jury duty (mostly
because my IQ is above 80 and I refuse to dumb down my act and pretend to be a
gullible sheep just to sit on a jury). But Guy is such an excellent story teller
that I can forgive him. And if I ever do return to New Orleans and need a lawyer
for any reason, at least I know who to turn to. I liked all the different takes on
the cartoon in "Rostler Traces." It's always interesting to see how different
people will caption a cartoon, and occasionally add additional material to make the
gag even funnier (I remember one in which there were over nine different versions
of a cartoon of a man sitting at an exploded computer). And Ian Gunn's commentary,
done as a diary of an expedition, was truly hilarious -- once I realized that it
was a joke (I first saw it while glancing through the zine and didn't realize the
context, and got rather alarmed until I thought to read the rest and see that it
was a joke).The latest installment of "Through
Time and Space with Forry Ackerman" was another excellent window into a period of
fandom before my time. I especially liked the co-incidence of Bob Greenberg finding
the roll of film that Walt Willis had lost at Disneyland half a year ago. It's
truly a wonder that it was found by someone who'd recognize the people on the
pictures and be able to route them to their proper owner.And Dave Kyle's "Farewell, Teens,
Farewell!" was a wonderful piece of fan history, including an account of the very
first sf conventions. Somehow it's not surprising that there are no comprehensive
accounts of those events -- we generally don't realize that things like these are
significant while they're happening. They're just something to do. Only afterward
do we realize in retrospect that this was an important event and try to remember
just exactly what did happen and write down what memories remain, blurred as they
are from the intervening events.Nicki's closing comments were yet
another proof that mundanes really don't understand our community, even when they
are trying to act like it (i.e., the SciFi Channel's media-oriented coverage of
L.A.Con III). I've spent the last several years trying to educate my
terminally mundane parents on just what cons are like (they still have the idea
that a sf con is something like a professional conference for writers), and finally
gave up when I realized that they Just Didn't Get It.- - - - - - - - - -
Lloyd Penney, Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada As do many fans, I enjoy reading
fan histories of individual cities, and Jack Chalker's fond remembrances make me
faunch for my own neo-ish days, when fannish follies were true adventures into the
unknown. However, Canadian fanhistories usually read as relatively neutral or
negative; I don't know if this is an indictment of Canfandom, or of those who wrote
the fanhistories.Dave Kyle's stories of his
beginnings in fandom are always a delight to read, to see who fanned before us.
And now, we have a few more details of the Great Exclusion Act of 1939. Dave
mentions that he'd like to publish a book of fannish reminiscences such as this
article...well, those two books I'd be looking forward to, Dave Kyle's and yours,
Rich. How about a progress report on your book in the next issue? Ghod, I'm a
pest.{{
Richard's 1960s project is moving along, but a bit slowly lately due to some other
things taking up available time. Probably another man-year of research is needed,
mostly sifting through source material like amateur press association mailings,
fanzines, and the like. After that, the real work will begin. }}- - - - - - - - - -
Martin Morse Wooster, Silver Spring, Maryland What is striking about both Jack
Chalker's and David Kyle's pieces is that people don't realize the mighty fans of
yore who founded clubs and worldcons were teenagers. We tend to forget that
Moskowitz was 19 when he organized the Worldcon and Frederik Pohl was 20 when he
was expelled from it. Donald Wollheim was 25 in 1939 -- and he was regarded as an
old man.I liked Nicki Lynch's editorial.
The notion in the press that sf fans are nothing but a bunch of weirdos is of
course, not new. But what I believe separates true fen, both fannish and sercon,
from mediaoids and mundane zine producers is that we care about our past. The
mundane zines I've seen may obsess about the trendy and hip, but they are nothing
about previous generations. But history lasts; evanescent popular culture does not.
Fifty years from now, I bet very few people will care about nose rings and today's
pop stars. But I bet there will be some fen still interested in the 1939 Worldcon,
who sawed Courtney's boat, or why Dave Kyle won't let you sit down.- - - - - - - - - -
Ahrvid Engholm, Stockholm, Sweden Dave Kyle's "Farewell, Teens,
Farewell!" covers one of the most talked about period in early fandom. I've already
read much about the Moskowitz-Wollheim controversy, or whatever you want to call it,
but I don't think I can read enough. The first Philadelphia convention, or whatever
it was, is also a matter of controversy. The British, of course, claim their first
con (in Leeds, I think, in early 1937) to be the first true sf convention. I think
I agree with them, and mostly for one simple reason: a true sf convention must be
pre-planned and pre-announced. You must somehow announce your intention to have a
get together (to call it a convention might not be important), so that other
people that are interested might come. A convention should also, in principle, be
open for 'outsiders'. But here there is room for endless debates!Nice obituary for Lynn Hickman.
Unfortunately, we are now in a period where we can expect many obituaries. Many of
the well-known fans and other sf people, those who shaped sf fandom, are now old.
Someone should write about Sam Moskowitz (I guess he died to late for you to fit it
into this issue). Our movement will probably change when all the people who created
it aren't with us any more. I fear it might change for the worse. Many of the
young fans today don't have the same fannish spirit as the old guard. But, of
course, I hope my fears are unfounded.Which moves me to the closing
comments on page 51. Nicki is absolutely correct. Fandom, as we know it, has
difficulties getting outside recognition. Mundane media simply don't understand
what our fandom is. They have no problems with trekdom or flying saucers or so
called New Age, but they can't comprehend that people a) may be interested in a
literary genre, and b) beside this have a lot of funny and interesting activities
without obvious connections to science fiction.All other literary fans seem to be
very serious. I think media has their problems with moving from a) to b). If all
sf fans were extremely serious they would understand. If all sf fans were extremely
silly, they would also understand. But a movement that is sometimes serious,
sometimes silly...that's incomprehensible.- - - - - - - - - -
Ben Yalow, Bronx, New York For me, the most interesting
article was in the issue Kyle's -- with the death of SaM, it seems more important
than ever to get all of the different perspectives on the early years into print,
and generally available via not only the printed version, but the web version.Of course, in its description of
Philly, it adds yet another voice into the Leeds/Philly question. But, in this
case, it's not a question of 'research' -- these are the memories of what took
place by someone who was there. And it supports the idea of Philly not being
called a convention to take the 'first convention' title from Leeds, but for other
reasons (specifically, in honor of the national conventions). And since he was the
one who proposed calling it that, he's probably in a better position than anyone to
know.- - - - - - - - - -
Harry Warner, Jr., Hagerstown, Maryland In this Mimosa I learned a
great deal about Baltimore fandom I never knew while these things were happening in
it around mid-century. I was on the mailing list for Ted Pauls' Kipple and
that was about it. Curiously, Don Sobwick whom Jack Chalker mentions several times
was working for the Hagerstown newspapers for a while before he moved to the
Baltimore area. I never guessed that he had much interest in science fiction
during his stay here and I doubt if he knew I was active in fandom.Dave Kyle supplies some nuggets of
knowledge about early fandom in the New York City area that I don't recall seeing
in print before. But I do feel unhappy about the habit of calling the first few
meetings between New York City and Philadelphia fans 'conventions'. Sam Moskowitz
did it in The Immortal Storm and Dave does it here, but it's confusing
because they were not conventions as the noun is usually understood, just visits of
a few fans to another city's fans. There were no efforts to persuade fans from
everywhere to share in the meetings. Elsewhere in fandom, small get-togethers of
this sort came to be known as 'conferences'. If the New York City and Philadelphia
events were given the same designation, it would help to eliminate the confusion
that young fans must suffer when they try to understand why the first 'world'
convention was not the first 'convention' in fandom. Much as I'd rather avoid taking
issue with Dave Kyle on matters of fanhistory, I really cannot let pass without
comment his attempt in "Farewell, Teens, Farewell!" to resurrect the fannish
folklore (on your side of the pond, at least) that a casual gathering between nine
fans constitutes a 'convention'. Was it pre-publicized? No. Was there a formal
programme? No. Was it even dubbed a 'convention' till it was already in progress?
No. Sorry, Dave, but over here we call that a party. (And before I'm accused of
being partisan in my support of the 1937 Leeds convention for that honour, I would
remind readers of Mike Glyer's article in The Story So Far supporting the UK
stance.) Hey, you're a young country: you can't always be first.{{
Well said, but we're more inclined to give the 1936 First Eastern the benefit of
the doubt and call it a convention. There are lots of conventions, for instance,
that do not have a formal program, a good example being the Midwestcon. As for
being pre-publicized, obviously it was, or Dave Kyle up in Monticello, New York,
wouldn't have learned of it. And certainly there have been many conventions
recognized as such that have had fewer attendees, examples being the first two
DeepSouthCons, which each had only six. As for being exclusionary, well, it's
unlikely that it was; it's hard to believe that any fans from other locales would
have been turned away. But it's an irrelevant argument in any event, as there have
been other exclusionary conventions held, such as the LASFAPAcon of 1979 for
members of that amateur press association. Both the Philadelphia convention of
1936 and the Leeds convention of 1937 were breakthrough events, immensely important
in the history of fandom. Even if the Leeds convention can't claim to be the first,
the organizers of that convention can be credited for coming up with the idea first,
and that may be of greater significance. }} During the past seven years I have
really not been completely gafia, just out of touch with fanzine fandom -- mostly I
have been producing small zines for LASFAPA every now and then (although with
greater frequency since I acquired a computer) and some minimal contact with LASFS.
Looking at the fanhistorical material you are putting in Mimosa reminds me
of some of what I did in Holier Than Thou. Terry Carr's "Entropy Reprints"
column had its last incarnation in HTT and Harry Warner, Jr. regularly sent
me his "All My Yesterdays." I have sent Harry a letter requesting a renewal of
that column for No Award. I do hope he takes me up on my offer as I
consider the timebinding of such a column an important part of a modern genzine --
our portion of the cosmos should not forget its roots. But you know all the
arguments.Your article by Forry has an
interesting computer-type typo. "In 1957, fifty-five of us chartered a plant
to fly over to London..." A Venus flytrap, perhaps?{{
Either that or an airplane plant. [note: Typo has been corrected in the on-line
version of the issue.] }}Nicki, science fiction may
be more 'acceptable' now than it was when I started reading it, but I believe that
mostly people still do not understand SF, fanzines, cons, fandom, and other things
which constitute fandom -- and I still feel uncomfortable telling non-fans that I
am a fan, etc. Possibly this is because I grew up at a time when, in public, one
hid what one was reading in a large magazine or newspaper.- - - - - - - - - -
Alan Sullivan, Stratford, London, United Kingdom It's a bit sad, really this sudden
media interest in SF fandom. They had an out-dated distorted view, and largely
treat fans as just the latest group to be displayed as "eccentrics" at best and
pilloried as "sad weirdo nerds" at worst. However, that said, I suppose it is an
improvement on the days when the free-thinkers, independent questioners and
imaginative souls used to be burned at the stake for heresy...- - - - - - - - - -
We Also Heard From: Eve Ackerman, Ray Allard, Chaz Baden, Martha Beck, Ron Bennett, John Berry, Mark Blackman, William Breiding, Michael A. Burstein, Dennis Caswell, Russ Chauvenet, Vincent Clarke, Buck Coulson, Chester Cuthbert, Richard Dengrove, Moshe Feder, George Flynn, Mike Glicksohn, James Hall, Teddy Harvia, Debbie Hughes, Ben Indick, Terry Jeeves, Steve Jeffery, Cris and Neil Kaden, Dwain Kaiser, Jerry Kaufman, Robert Kennedy, Irv Koch, Ken Lake, Dave Langford, Roy Lavender, Hope Leibowitz, Rodney Leighton, Shinji Maki, Catherine Mintz, Yuri Mironets, Murray Moore, Julia Morgan-Scott, Anthony Shepherd, Fred Smith, Steve Sneyd, Dale Speirs, Will Straw, Mae Strelkov, David Thayer, Bjo Trimble, Laurraine Tutihasi, Lennart Uhlin, Roger Waddington, Taral Wayne, Henry Welch, Kevin Welch, Walt Willis, Kate n'Ha Ysabet, and Joe Zeff. Thanks to one and all! Title illustrations by Sheryl Birkhead Other illustrations by Steve Stiles & William Rotsler, Teddy Harvia & William Rotsler, Alexis Gilliland & William Rotsler, and Brad Foster & William Rotsler |
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