DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Orb, v. 2, issue 1, 1950

Transcribe
Translate

Orb, v. 2, issue 1, 1950

Page 18

18

that would mean that we were all pro-communist. No wonder Don practically had conniptions. So did most of us! Any contention that assured at the convention, incidentally, was caused by these juvenile characters. I feel that measures should have been taken to bar them from the convention. There is a difference between a young fan, and a juvenile fan. Juvenile refers to mental age alone. A brief intermission was soon held. (Note: the newsmen were very understanding and gave the briefest and least sensational write-up of this part of the con.)
After this, the Editors and Publishers spoke their piece about what was going to appear from them in the way of stf & fantasy. This was short and sweet. Outside of Howard Browne's statement that AMAZING was toning down its covers and printing "One good story" per issue, nothing of outstanding import was said, except perhaps, Mahaffey's mention of the fact that OW will be mostly s-f from now on, while I will be mostly fantasy.
At this point, Don introduced the guest of honor, and from then on, the pace quickened considerably. I was sitting with Bradley at the time, and since notes were compared, this portion of our reports may be considerably similar. Mr. Boucher made a few brief opening statements, chatted trivia, and then, somehow or other, after a very interesting talk, a hot debate was started concerning Lippert productions and that it should be murdered for putting over a hoax like "Rocketship X-M", that Mr. Boucher did not approve of the basic plot of DM, (I agree with him there) and that some of the amateurish publishing going on in stf circles today is hurting fandom and stf in general, and a few other nicely planted bits of verbiage. Naturally, fandom being fandom, arguments rose fast and furiously. I was utterly fascinated by the whole thing, and was more or less content to keep my mouth shut most of the time and listen to the repartee going on between various sections of the meeting hall and Mr. Boucher. Mr. Boucher was very concise, thoughtful, and witty, and so were the others participating in this game of mental chess. I was fascinated by the checks, stalemates, concessions, and checkmates that went on in this verbal battle. I certainly do wish it could have been recorded! By this time it was quite late, and a dinner recess was held.
After dinner, I went back with V L McCain and Chas Heisner to hear recordings of "Dimension X" (Bradubry's MARS IS HEAVEN, and part of Heinlein's GREEN HILLS OF EARTH ---- last half was misplaced.) McCain did not enjoy this sort of thing much, and neither did Cholly, so after a while Heisner left- and McCain just seemed to sort of evaporate. --Trying to write this down about a month later, I'm not too clear on the details. Anyhoo, after this, the NORWESCON auction was held. Charley, roller-skating fiend that he is, went down to a roller rink, and went skating. I spent my money at the auction. Got myself a lovely little Phillips abstraction for $.75 and a Finlay pie[[?]] from "The Woman Who Couldn't Die" for $5. My first Finlay.....whooppee!
Ray Nelson got the auction started by buying the one and only Cartier (asf July 50- "Skin Deep") for much more money that I would pay for it... after that, the bidding was fast and furious. One of the most unfortunate things was the relatively low bidding for Arnold Kohn's FA liar' 49 cover for the "Mermaid of Maracet[[?]] Deep" story. It

Saving...

18 that would mean that we were all pro-communist. No wonder Don practically had conniptions. So did most of us! Any contention that assured at the convention, incidentally, was caused by these juvenile characters. I feel that measures should have been taken to bar them from the convention. There is a difference between a young fan, and a juvenile fan. Juvenile refers to mental age alone. A brief intermission was soon held. (Note: the newsmen were very understanding and gave the briefest and least sensational write-up of this part of the con.) After this, the Editors and Publishers spoke their piece about what was going to appear from them in the way of stf & fantasy. This was short and sweet. Outside of Howard Browne's statement that AMAZING was toning down its covers and printing "One good story" per issue, nothing of outstanding import was said, except perhaps, Mahaffey's mention of the fact that OW will be mostly s-f from now on, while I will be mostly fantasy. At this point, Don introduced the guest of honor, and from then on, the pace quickened considerably. I was sitting with Bradley at the time, and since notes were compared, this portion of our reports may be considerably similar. Mr. Boucher made a few brief opening statements, chatted trivia, and then, somehow or other, after a very interesting talk, a hot debate was started concerning Lippert productions and that it should be murdered for putting over a hoax like "Rocketship X-M", that Mr. Boucher did not approve of the basic plot of DM, (I agree with him there) and that some of the amateurish publishing going on in stf circles today is hurting fandom and stf in general, and a few other nicely planted bits of verbiage. Naturally, fandom being fandom, arguments rose fast and furiously. I was utterly fascinated by the whole thing, and was more or less content to keep my mouth shut most of the time and listen to the repartee going on between various sections of the meeting hall and Mr. Boucher. Mr. Boucher was very concise, thoughtful, and witty, and so were the others participating in this game of mental chess. I was fascinated by the checks, stalemates, concessions, and checkmates that went on in this verbal battle. I certainly do wish it could have been recorded! By this time it was quite late, and a dinner recess was held. After dinner, I went back with V L McCain and Chas Heisner to hear recordings of "Dimension X" (Bradubry's MARS IS HEAVEN, and part of Heinlein's GREEN HILLS OF EARTH ---- last half was misplaced.) McCain did not enjoy this sort of thing much, and neither did Cholly, so after a while Heisner left- and McCain just seemed to sort of evaporate. --Trying to write this down about a month later, I'm not too clear on the details. Anyhoo, after this, the NORWESCON auction was held. Charley, roller-skating fiend that he is, went down to a roller rink, and went skating. I spent my money at the auction. Got myself a lovely little Phillips abstraction for $.75 and a Finlay pie[[?]] from "The Woman Who Couldn't Die" for $5. My first Finlay.....whooppee! Ray Nelson got the auction started by buying the one and only Cartier (asf July 50- "Skin Deep") for much more money that I would pay for it... after that, the bidding was fast and furious. One of the most unfortunate things was the relatively low bidding for Arnold Kohn's FA liar' 49 cover for the "Mermaid of Maracet[[?]] Deep" story. It