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Memoirs of a Superfluous Fan, 1944
Page 13
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of anything fainly resemblant of conformity. Aside from such resident talent, we had a fortuous string of visitors that year. They included Arthur J. Burks, Dr. Keller, and Jos. Skidmore. But above all, there was an almost naive interest in science fiction and the world to come; the world, I sadly sadly say, of those glorious years between 1940 and 1950. Ackerman would give accounts of the latest movies to be released with a scienifictional slant. He was always prepared to present some sort of scientifiction of scienifictionally slanted newsitems. He was in touch with virtually every fan of the time. When the meeting adjourned, cliques of us would break apart and drift down into the cafe part of Clifton's, again ordering giant malts, or sponging off of Mr. Clinton's sherbert mine. A lot of the members at the time were just out of high school, or else simply and flatly unemployed. Perhaps that is why we took such flagrant advantage of Mr. Clinton and his generous cafe. There was no rent and all manner of free nourishment in his endlless Limeade waterfal and the automatic sherbert mine, both nationally advertised items. During this idyllic period, just before our publishing venture would make a profound change on the future course of the club, a change still in progress, the characters which were to hold forth on this new stage began to filter into the chapter. As editor of IMAGINATION!, I got in touch with a fan who had been cornered at Shep's shop by one Robert L. Cumnock, an avid but short-lived meteor on the local scene for two or three months in 1937. As editor of the club organ, I wrote to Mr. Ray Bradbury, telling him of our club, urging him to come and visit us, and explaining by what manner I had come in touch with him in the first place. At the next meeting, a wild-haired, enthusiastic individual burst into the Little Brown Room, demanding: "Is Mr. Yerke here?" This fantastic creature became endeared to all of us henceforth, and though often the victim of assaults with trays and hammers by infuriated victims of his endless pranks and disturbances, remained a primary figure in the club all through 1938, 1939, 1940, and 1941. Another fan who was destined to stay in the LASFL and LASFS for quite some time made his appearance at the meeting of November 18, 1937. This was a Beverly Hills fan who in some horrible manner obtained Henry Kuttner's old Canon Drive address. Presenting himself at the Kuttner maison on a Thursday night, Henry, at a loss to do anything else, brought Franklyn Brady to the Chapter. He stayed until 1942. I CAN NOW SEE that IMAGINATION! couldn't have done anything but change the entire nature of the club. With the lack of social perception which seems to be typical of most persons, neither Ackerman nor myself for a moment imagined that IMAGINATION! would do more than require a bit of work from four or five of the members. Things seem to have a natural way of making their own evolutionary pattern regardless of how much or how little planning is done by the promulgators of various projects. From a languid, old-style book and magazine collectors' clearing house, the main energy of the club began to be turned more and more to that of amateur publishing. After the first hektographed issue of the magazine, the second and I believe the third, were run off on Saturday afternoon's on a mimeograph at the office where Morojo was employed. In as much as I was still nursing my fancied wounds over my change of status with the magazine, I was not around to witness these procedings. It soon became appearant, however, that IMAGINATION! was going
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of anything fainly resemblant of conformity. Aside from such resident talent, we had a fortuous string of visitors that year. They included Arthur J. Burks, Dr. Keller, and Jos. Skidmore. But above all, there was an almost naive interest in science fiction and the world to come; the world, I sadly sadly say, of those glorious years between 1940 and 1950. Ackerman would give accounts of the latest movies to be released with a scienifictional slant. He was always prepared to present some sort of scientifiction of scienifictionally slanted newsitems. He was in touch with virtually every fan of the time. When the meeting adjourned, cliques of us would break apart and drift down into the cafe part of Clifton's, again ordering giant malts, or sponging off of Mr. Clinton's sherbert mine. A lot of the members at the time were just out of high school, or else simply and flatly unemployed. Perhaps that is why we took such flagrant advantage of Mr. Clinton and his generous cafe. There was no rent and all manner of free nourishment in his endlless Limeade waterfal and the automatic sherbert mine, both nationally advertised items. During this idyllic period, just before our publishing venture would make a profound change on the future course of the club, a change still in progress, the characters which were to hold forth on this new stage began to filter into the chapter. As editor of IMAGINATION!, I got in touch with a fan who had been cornered at Shep's shop by one Robert L. Cumnock, an avid but short-lived meteor on the local scene for two or three months in 1937. As editor of the club organ, I wrote to Mr. Ray Bradbury, telling him of our club, urging him to come and visit us, and explaining by what manner I had come in touch with him in the first place. At the next meeting, a wild-haired, enthusiastic individual burst into the Little Brown Room, demanding: "Is Mr. Yerke here?" This fantastic creature became endeared to all of us henceforth, and though often the victim of assaults with trays and hammers by infuriated victims of his endless pranks and disturbances, remained a primary figure in the club all through 1938, 1939, 1940, and 1941. Another fan who was destined to stay in the LASFL and LASFS for quite some time made his appearance at the meeting of November 18, 1937. This was a Beverly Hills fan who in some horrible manner obtained Henry Kuttner's old Canon Drive address. Presenting himself at the Kuttner maison on a Thursday night, Henry, at a loss to do anything else, brought Franklyn Brady to the Chapter. He stayed until 1942. I CAN NOW SEE that IMAGINATION! couldn't have done anything but change the entire nature of the club. With the lack of social perception which seems to be typical of most persons, neither Ackerman nor myself for a moment imagined that IMAGINATION! would do more than require a bit of work from four or five of the members. Things seem to have a natural way of making their own evolutionary pattern regardless of how much or how little planning is done by the promulgators of various projects. From a languid, old-style book and magazine collectors' clearing house, the main energy of the club began to be turned more and more to that of amateur publishing. After the first hektographed issue of the magazine, the second and I believe the third, were run off on Saturday afternoon's on a mimeograph at the office where Morojo was employed. In as much as I was still nursing my fancied wounds over my change of status with the magazine, I was not around to witness these procedings. It soon became appearant, however, that IMAGINATION! was going
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