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Horizons, v. 7, issue 4, whole 27, June 1946

Page 13

When We Were Very Young

The FAPA mailing for June, 1941, was bulky, compared with the ones that had preceded it, but still a far cry from the present-day standards of quality and fatness. Most of the weight was the result of a myriad of one- and two-sheeters, a good many of which emanated from the camp of the Futurians. In those years, the Futurian activity always manifested itself when an election was coming up. Ballots were enclosed with this mailing and showed the candidates to be: for president, Lowndes and my inconsequential self; for vice-president, Wollheim and Rothman; secretary-treasurer, Elmer Perdue; and official editor, Chauvenet. Two amendments were also up for vote -- one of them to raise dues from fifty to seventy-five cents per annum, the other to institute the six-month waiting period before a member dropped for non-activity might renew. 

Futurians were in evidence everywhere. The Fantasy Amateur, for instance, talked about points Wollheim had brought up regarding precisely what constitutes a "majority" vote, probably the first time this knotty question had been raised in fandom. 

The Futurian publications were largely devoted to mock campaign efforts and the slogan of "Turn the rascals out!" Wollheim distributed what was probably the first mock fan publication, "Fantasy-Views" which was a rather deadly imitation of the then famous Fantasy News, but Lowndes kept right in step with "Fantasy Fiction Field", a less convincing satire on Unger's weekly. Then there was an issue -- the issue, in fact -- of Wollheim's Bolide, Lowndes' "The Time Scanner", which used Studley as a front, a Vagabondia, two Phantagraphs, a FAPA Fan, a Vombiteur, and maybe some more. 

R. Cornelius Jones set an unapproached record for insignificance with a microscopic and illegible slip of paper informing of a new address. I'm tempted to hunt up the Shaw index to discover whether he spotted this while doing the compilation. The Columbia Camp, Evans, Ackerman, and Morojo also had insignificant single sheeters.

This is a good opportunity to tell HOK I've been meaning to write him for the last five years, and let him know that it was Hamlet, not Hurley, who said "Look here upon this picture, and on this"; nevertheless, the Reader and Collector in this mailing contained an excellent article on a book that doesn't get much attention any more, Butler's "Erewhon".

Perhaps the best thing in the mailing was an issue of Polaris. The four stories it contained were uniformly excellent.

Chauvenet had just undergone another spiritual crisis before issuing a new and highly colorful Sardonyx. The feature was one of Sam Youd's best columns: I wonder, does he still feel the same way about America's sharing in the war? 

The first issue of Censored gave little promise of the excellence to come. But a review of Sherriff's "Hopkins Manuscript" reminds me of something I saw mention in a newspaper recently that this book was to be published soon! Possibly it never saw an American edition; I wouldn't know. Hope was held out for a movie version.

Tucker announced that there was no truth to the rumor that Jack Speer was FDR's penname, then proceeded to profile Speer. Speer himself, in Sustaining Program, related an eye-witness account of FooFooism: "To put it briefly, FooFoo is Foo; there is no Foo but FooFoo, and Bill Holman is His Prophet. We are at present only grasping at the hem of the skirt of knowledge, but most of What we know about FooFoo comes directly or indirectly from the writings of the aforesaid Bill Holman and those who have followed in His Footsteps...As to just who or what ghughu is, our Chief Scientist of FooFoo, Louis Kuslan, has definitely established the following facts: ghughu, the real ghughu, is a loathsome monster with the body of a beetle, who lives on the dark size (sic) of the planet Vulcan, whence he telepathically manipulates a New York zombie."

What ever happened to the Slan Shackers' plans to make people coats of arms? Widner presented his magnificent, full-page, full-color, unexpurgated heraldry effort in the first issue of Yhos, and on another page ran a letter from L. Sprague de Camp who, the old meanie, reported that it broke every rule of heraldry that he had ever heard of and probably some more besides. "To be so completely, utterly wrong as I am, is magnificent. The monstrosity shall live.", replied Art. So, presumably, the Widners shall retain the three foo-cats passant proper vair and all the rest.

Saving...

When We Were Very Young The FAPA mailing for June, 1941, was bulky, compared with the ones that had preceded it, but still a far cry from the present-day standards of quality and fatness. Most of the weight was the result of a myriad of one- and two-sheeters, a good many of which emanated from the camp of the Futurians. In those years, the Futurian activity always manifested itself when an election was coming up. Ballots were enclosed with this mailing and showed the candidates to be: for president, Lowndes and my inconsequential self; for vice-president, Wollheim and Rothman; secretary-treasurer, Elmer Perdue; and official editor, Chauvenet. Two amendments were also up for vote -- one of them to raise dues from fifty to seventy-five cents per annum, the other to institute the six-month waiting period before a member dropped for non-activity might renew. Futurians were in evidence everywhere. The Fantasy Amateur, for instance, talked about points Wollheim had brought up regarding precisely what constitutes a "majority" vote, probably the first time this knotty question had been raised in fandom. The Futurian publications were largely devoted to mock campaign efforts and the slogan of "Turn the rascals out!" Wollheim distributed what was probably the first mock fan publication, "Fantasy-Views" which was a rather deadly imitation of the then famous Fantasy News, but Lowndes kept right in step with "Fantasy Fiction Field", a less convincing satire on Unger's weekly. Then there was an issue -- the issue, in fact -- of Wollheim's Bolide, Lowndes' "The Time Scanner", which used Studley as a front, a Vagabondia, two Phantagraphs, a FAPA Fan, a Vombiteur, and maybe some more. R. Cornelius Jones set an unapproached record for insignificance with a microscopic and illegible slip of paper informing of a new address. I'm tempted to hunt up the Shaw index to discover whether he spotted this while doing the compilation. The Columbia Camp, Evans, Ackerman, and Morojo also had insignificant single sheeters. This is a good opportunity to tell HOK I've been meaning to write him for the last five years, and let him know that it was Hamlet, not Hurley, who said "Look here upon this picture, and on this"; nevertheless, the Reader and Collector in this mailing contained an excellent article on a book that doesn't get much attention any more, Butler's "Erewhon". Perhaps the best thing in the mailing was an issue of Polaris. The four stories it contained were uniformly excellent. Chauvenet had just undergone another spiritual crisis before issuing a new and highly colorful Sardonyx. The feature was one of Sam Youd's best columns: I wonder, does he still feel the same way about America's sharing in the war? The first issue of Censored gave little promise of the excellence to come. But a review of Sherriff's "Hopkins Manuscript" reminds me of something I saw mention in a newspaper recently that this book was to be published soon! Possibly it never saw an American edition; I wouldn't know. Hope was held out for a movie version. Tucker announced that there was no truth to the rumor that Jack Speer was FDR's penname, then proceeded to profile Speer. Speer himself, in Sustaining Program, related an eye-witness account of FooFooism: "To put it briefly, FooFoo is Foo; there is no Foo but FooFoo, and Bill Holman is His Prophet. We are at present only grasping at the hem of the skirt of knowledge, but most of What we know about FooFoo comes directly or indirectly from the writings of the aforesaid Bill Holman and those who have followed in His Footsteps...As to just who or what ghughu is, our Chief Scientist of FooFoo, Louis Kuslan, has definitely established the following facts: ghughu, the real ghughu, is a loathsome monster with the body of a beetle, who lives on the dark size (sic) of the planet Vulcan, whence he telepathically manipulates a New York zombie." What ever happened to the Slan Shackers' plans to make people coats of arms? Widner presented his magnificent, full-page, full-color, unexpurgated heraldry effort in the first issue of Yhos, and on another page ran a letter from L. Sprague de Camp who, the old meanie, reported that it broke every rule of heraldry that he had ever heard of and probably some more besides. "To be so completely, utterly wrong as I am, is magnificent. The monstrosity shall live.", replied Art. So, presumably, the Widners shall retain the three foo-cats passant proper vair and all the rest.