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Memoirs of a Superfluous Fan, 1944

Page 20

The the club ceased to be a club at all; it was instead a priceless proving ground, a never-ending demonstration of half a dozen common psychological types in action at one time. 

Though in the later half of my regime, such priceless characters as Shroyer, Kuttner, Mooney, Hodgkins, Lewis, Gurnett, Henderson, etc. had all but totally disappeared from the scene, new ones took their place.. Helen Finn, Jack Dowdle, Henry Hesse, Arthur L. Joquel II, Walt Daughterty, Ed Chamberlain and Dave Elder, George Hahn, and Bill Crawford. The antics of this mad, insane, diverting procession was closely observed by myself sitting in the chair next to Director Hodgkins, later Director Daugherty, and then Director Finn, Wilmorth, and lastly Paul Freehafer. Therefore, when I claim to be able at any given time to discern more about what the club is doing then the body of the membership, I imagine I know what I am talking about. I feel that I put in a good turn of work for the chapter during those three years though the extent of this service is mainly unknown to fans outside Los Angeles. 

IN JUNE 1936 Charles D. Hornig arrived in Los Angeles for one of his more lengthy stays, the first of a series of shuttles between Elizabeth, N.J., and California, which lasted until March 1942, at which time he was sent to a camp for conscientious objectors. Hornig will probably not be remembered by newer fans as the founder of the Science Fiction League, and as such, the gentlemen who signed the charter in 1934 which brought the LASFL into existence. Between 1938 and the present time it has been my pleasure to enjoy a very staunch friendship with Charlie, though the reciprocal interest did not crystallise immediately in the first year. While Hornig and I attended much of the foolery of the American Legion Convention together, it was not until his following stay in the city two years later, when I was much more mature, that we were able to meet on equal intellectual grounds. 

Those who have known Hornig will recall him as a man of uncommon conversational proclivity, able to talk delightfully on virtually any subject under the sun. His witty observations and parodies endeared him to the members of the LASFL, and his interest in Esperanto and World Peace, both lost causes, put him on firm grounds with Ackerman and Morojo, a mistake for which he is most fully forgiven. 

His arrival in town at the time put some life into the club at a moment when it was ever so slightly dull. He guest edited the July 1938 issue of IMAGINATION! and engaged in some interesting excursions in the direction of Pogo. However, the Hornig influence over the club in general and Bradbury and myself in particular, did not become an influence of any import on the trends of the chapter until his second visit in 1940.

While the summer of 1938 saw the chapter organ IMAGINATION! ascend ever higher on the list of top fan magazines, the first of what has since been periodic slumps in the activity of the club occured. The activity of the club simply dropped to a very low ebb, meetings attracting only perhaps six or eight persons . The minutes of the time record despair at this trend, which became a familiar cry as occasional slumps of activity occured every year following. As I have mentioned before, the social activity of the club revolved more of less around scientifiction and its ramifications, the summer of 1938 inaugurated the first of many following all-club social adventures. The classical beach party which occured on August 13 (and the morning of the 14th) was recorded with unusual and spontaneous enthusiasm by myself as Secretary. As I am at the moment without the convenience of the Minute Book, I remember only.

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The the club ceased to be a club at all; it was instead a priceless proving ground, a never-ending demonstration of half a dozen common psychological types in action at one time. Though in the later half of my regime, such priceless characters as Shroyer, Kuttner, Mooney, Hodgkins, Lewis, Gurnett, Henderson, etc. had all but totally disappeared from the scene, new ones took their place.. Helen Finn, Jack Dowdle, Henry Hesse, Arthur L. Joquel II, Walt Daughterty, Ed Chamberlain and Dave Elder, George Hahn, and Bill Crawford. The antics of this mad, insane, diverting procession was closely observed by myself sitting in the chair next to Director Hodgkins, later Director Daugherty, and then Director Finn, Wilmorth, and lastly Paul Freehafer. Therefore, when I claim to be able at any given time to discern more about what the club is doing then the body of the membership, I imagine I know what I am talking about. I feel that I put in a good turn of work for the chapter during those three years though the extent of this service is mainly unknown to fans outside Los Angeles. IN JUNE 1936 Charles D. Hornig arrived in Los Angeles for one of his more lengthy stays, the first of a series of shuttles between Elizabeth, N.J., and California, which lasted until March 1942, at which time he was sent to a camp for conscientious objectors. Hornig will probably not be remembered by newer fans as the founder of the Science Fiction League, and as such, the gentlemen who signed the charter in 1934 which brought the LASFL into existence. Between 1938 and the present time it has been my pleasure to enjoy a very staunch friendship with Charlie, though the reciprocal interest did not crystallise immediately in the first year. While Hornig and I attended much of the foolery of the American Legion Convention together, it was not until his following stay in the city two years later, when I was much more mature, that we were able to meet on equal intellectual grounds. Those who have known Hornig will recall him as a man of uncommon conversational proclivity, able to talk delightfully on virtually any subject under the sun. His witty observations and parodies endeared him to the members of the LASFL, and his interest in Esperanto and World Peace, both lost causes, put him on firm grounds with Ackerman and Morojo, a mistake for which he is most fully forgiven. His arrival in town at the time put some life into the club at a moment when it was ever so slightly dull. He guest edited the July 1938 issue of IMAGINATION! and engaged in some interesting excursions in the direction of Pogo. However, the Hornig influence over the club in general and Bradbury and myself in particular, did not become an influence of any import on the trends of the chapter until his second visit in 1940. While the summer of 1938 saw the chapter organ IMAGINATION! ascend ever higher on the list of top fan magazines, the first of what has since been periodic slumps in the activity of the club occured. The activity of the club simply dropped to a very low ebb, meetings attracting only perhaps six or eight persons . The minutes of the time record despair at this trend, which became a familiar cry as occasional slumps of activity occured every year following. As I have mentioned before, the social activity of the club revolved more of less around scientifiction and its ramifications, the summer of 1938 inaugurated the first of many following all-club social adventures. The classical beach party which occured on August 13 (and the morning of the 14th) was recorded with unusual and spontaneous enthusiasm by myself as Secretary. As I am at the moment without the convenience of the Minute Book, I remember only.