Morton D. Paley

FANS

in

PHILLY

A Sort Of A Chronicle Of The Philcon

New York fandom had turned out en masse for the '50 Philcon and I had expected that there would be a similar attendance at the '51 affair. How wrong I was! I had trouble finding someone to make the trip with me! Pesetsky, Chabot, and Markman were leaving on the seven o'clock bus so they could visit Sol Levin and go to the Philadelphia Art Museum. No one seemed to know whether Ken Beale and Joe Dean were going. Will Sykora, it was thought, was travelling by train. As for the others who had been there last year, George Raybin, Stan Serxner, and Walter Cole were in the army, and Marv Friedman seemed to have dropped out of fandom.

So on Saturday night, the eve of the con, I phoned Bob Silverberg who decided then and there to attend. Sunday, November 11, was the day of the Philcon. I met Bob at the place that had been designated, and we went to buy our tickets.

During the three-hour ride, we talked of various things: Bob's fanmag SPACESHIP; FAPA; sensitive fannish faces; Bob's collection; the other NY fans; FN (Bob had brought a few old specimens to try to unload at the con); etc., etc.

"You know," Bob remarked, "that guy sitting in front of us must think we're crazy."

The trip was uneventful, although the drive through the residential section of Philly was a nightmare. Row upon row of identical houses, same construction, same design, same paint job, then rows of a different type of identical houses. They looked miserable for the most part.

"If I were writing a report on this," said Bob, "I would say that Philadelphia is a city of housing projects."

We drove on for about twenty minutes, but the identical houses stayed with us.

"I would also say that Philadelphia is a city of outskirts," Bob added. But eventually we arrived in downtown Philly.

Bob had never been to Philadelphia before, and I only once, for the last Philcon, but by asking directions and consulting Oswald Train's travelling directions, we managed to strike the right path. Being hungry, (at least I was hungry; Bob, who eats four meals a day anyway, had eaten on the bus), we stopped at an automat, took a table and who should we see next to us but Sam Moskowitz! As neither of us had ever been to an ESFA meeting, we had only met Sam at various local conventions (Fan-Vets, Hydra, '50 Philcon) and we were sure he didn't know us. Yet, it was ridiculous to sit next to a group of fans (there were two people with him, an unidentified ESFA member and a lady who turned out to be Mary Gnaedinger) without speaking. Then I asked myself "What would Moskowitz do in a case like this?" and introduced myself, shook hands with Sam, introduced Bob, and asked directions to the K of C Hall where the con was being held. It turned out that Sam and the others were just leaving and we tagged along with them. Bringing up the rear were two more ESFA members, one of them I think was Alex Osheroff. We passed even more ESFA members on the way upstairs.

The convention hall had a stage, which wasn't used, and a bevy of "No Smoking" signs which were completely disregarded. We signed the register, put our coats down and went inside. It was then about 12:40 and a score or so of people were standing around and talking. Bob and I found Chabot, Markman, and Pesetsky, and we inspected the originals for the auction together. There was pretty much stuff, most of it crud. Fans were trickling in steadily and there was a good deal of conversation going on. Moskowitz, I remember was enthusiastically telling about the fan softball game at the First Convention.

At this point Bob discovered that the lady from the automat was Mary Gnaedinger and expressed relief that he hadn't tried to sell her his FNs. Shortly thereafter, the Philcon was officially opened by MC Irving Heyne, who also spoke briefly about how an onion thinks like an onion, a chicken thinks like a chicken, a man thinks like a man, and Korzybski thinks like Korzybski. This done, various people were introduced.

Lloyd Eshbach said a few words about the Fantasy Press project for limited editions of s-f "classics" and suggested that all interested write him ((PO Box 159, Reading, Pa.)). Sam Moskowitz introduced ESFA members present. Will Sykora hadn't shown up, and because of his absence, or perhaps despite it, the Queens SFL members were not introduced. There were only two there anyway: Silverberg and Markman.

Jerome Bixby cane in and said he was glad to be there. Mrs. Gnaedinger said she was glad to be there. Ted Sturgeon and Sprague de Camp said brief nothings. Martin Greenberg and Dave Kyle spoke of Gnome Press. Jim Williams spoke of Prime Press. Eric Korshak said a few words about Shasta. James V. Taurasi came in and was introduced. Evelyn Paig (Mrs. H. L. Gold) was discovered and given mention. Some of the PSFS people were asked to stand. Oswald Train was given a big round of applause. There were others of course, but I didn't take notes and I don't have an eidetic memory.

Dr. Mayne announced the first speaker: Milton Rothman who spoke on "Is There A Psychiatrist In The House?". The talk was based on the theory that science fiction magazines are instituted to the sole purpose of driving their readers mad. Mr. Rothman gave various examples of this. He mentioned the subject of D-------s (regarded as a dirty word at the PSFS). He also pointed out that the idea behind many science fiction stories is to make the reader feel that he is something special; that he is superior, but is being discriminated against by envious himanity. To illustrate this premise he went over a certain story about a mutant who can cure the sick and insane but is committed to an asylum himself. This, Rothman points out, is in strong encouragement of paranoia.

At this point a PSFS member whose first name was Larry (I never heard the second used) entered at the rear of the hall with a great deal of commotion. Another PSFSer trailed him, sitting down and then falling off the chair with a crash. All turned toward the newcomers and Larry called out: "It's only four flights down and four up, boys." I never found out what "it" alluded to, but this statement was hurled from the back of the room several times during the session. After a suitable interim, Mr. Rothman went on with his talk. He cited the many instances in s-f stories where people were killed, often sadistically. "What does that matter to us?" he asked. "Anyone can die."

Came from the rear of the hall: "Let's see you try it."

Mr. Rothman concluded by saying that stf doesn't actually drive people insane; they have to be crazy already.

Next Lloyd Eshbach spoke on "Trends in Science Fiction or Something." He touched on D-------s, aSF, Homo superior, and of course, "Educating the public to science fiction." Mr. Eshbach's main point was that he thought two kinds of stf were evolving: one type for the public, the other for the fans.

A discussion followed, but the only trend in evidence was that the popularity of a certain editor is definitely on the wane.

There was then a brief intermission and we all wandered about, talking to different people. Sam Moskowitz was telling the fans around him why he will not help publicize any more stf movies -- it seems that ESFA made an exhibit for a Newark theater and never got any credit for it.

It had been discovered that Jack Williamson was in the audience and this was announced. Then Ray Van Houten spoke about the Fan-Vets for a while. After this, Eric Korshak electrified those present by saying that one panel of speakers at the Tenth Annual Science Fiction Convention (the Chicon to you) would be Dr. Enrico Fermi, Dr. Harold C. Urey, and the top rocket scientist in America, named Von Muller, I believe, who also has the distinction of having invented the V-2 for Germany in WWII. Fermi and Urey, it seems, are stf readers and were the faculty sponsors of the Chicago University Science Fiction Society. The third speech would be about space travel being possible today.

Erle spoke of various other aspects of the Tenth Convention, as well. He said that while West Coast memberships were going very well, the East is hardly represented at all. This convention, according to Erle will show the mature aspect of science fiction to the public -- there will be no opportunity for the press to make allusions to Buck Rogers, zap guns, etc. The hall is an extremely large one; Korshak said it was the best convention hall he'd ever seen. There will be no slang term for the convention. The title Chicon has been dropped. The name is Tenth Annual Science Fiction Convention. Korshak assured all present that this would be a really respectable convention.

No one bothered to ask whether fandom wants a respectable convention.

Sam Moskowitz, filling in for a speaker who didn't show up, held forth on how much better old-time science fiction was than that written today. He said that he had been informed that FANTASTIC STORY MAGAZINE was doing at least as well as its new story bretheren at Standard. Since TWS and SS supposedly have the largest circulation in the field this means that if true, FSM sells more copies than any other stf mag. Sam went on to say that the reason for the superiority of the older stories is that, altho they lacked polish, they were sincere while many current s-f writers were cynical about it all. Next Theodore Sturgeon talked on s-f in tv. Then came the feature talk of the Philcon: "Lost Cities of Brazil" by Sprague de Camp. He told of the explorations in South America made by Spaniards and others and of tribes and cities, real and legendary. The Philcon was terminated by an hour-long auction.

On the way back, we discussed fanzines, SPACESHIP, Russ Watkins, NY fandom, FAPA, and various other subjects. The only noteworthy thing about the trip was a sign we passed in the highway which read: GOSTAK'S ICE CREAM.

And so on the way uptown we discussed the Philcon, all agreeing that it had been pretty fine.

For as anyone knows, Philadelphia is a city where one has a heck of a swell time at science fiction conferences!

-Morton D. Paley

Data entry by Judy Bemis

Updated June 17, 2001. If you have a comment about these web pages please send a note to the Fanac Webmaster. Thank you.