CONVENTION

from Fancyclopedia 2

Before late 1938, any largeish fan gathering; thereafter, a more or less successful policy of restricting the word to the annual national/international convention was followed in fandom . The World Science- Fiction Convention is usually held on Labor Day Weekend [in the United States the first Monday in September is a holiday, guaranteeing a long weekend], and allows a good year for recuperation between cons. Attendance is anywhere from 200 to 2000, tho the big-convention trend has been viewed with Alarm and Despondency by many fans.

The first Science-Fiction Convention was in Philadelphia in October 1936, when the NYB-ISA visited the Philadelphia Branch. It was marked with horseplay and camaraderie. This was the first of all stf conventions.

The Second Eastern States Science-Fiction Convention was held in New York the following year under ISA auspices; rumblings of a World Convention were heard. It was essentially a return visit by the Phillies to New York.

The Third Eastern States Science-Fiction Convention was back in Philly, Hallowe'en 1937. Most notable event was the speech launching Michelism. On the lighter side was the Shaggoth 6 thing.

The Newark Convention, officially the First National SF Convention, was held at Newark 29 May 1938, at the call of Will Sykora and Sam Moskowitz. The first con to pass the hundred mark in attendance, it was marred by feuding and sniping over Michelism, the ISA, the planned WSFC, and any other convenient theme. Since it had no representatives from west of the Appalachians the Wollheimists called it Fourth Eastern for a long time.

After this "convention" should be restricted to the chief annual gathering of fans, which is usually designated as somethingcity World Science Fiction Convention by the committee which produces it, and by the fans who refer to it as some word starting with part of the host city's name and ending with "con" or "-ention".

1939 NYCon I was held in New York 2-4 July under the auspices of New Fandom as the World Science Fiction Convention, "First" being added later. (Annual Worldcons were not at first contemplated; idea and site for the ChiCon were not formally approved by fans till the PhilCo later this year.) With a total attendance of 200, it was the largest before World War II ended major conventions. It set the pattern for subsequent conventions lasting more than one day, but was marred by the Exclusion Act. The name of NYCon (or "Fifth Eastern") was tagged on it by the Wollheimists to downgrade the claim implicit in "World", but after the ChiCon such portmanteau-names were always used.

1940 ChiCon I was in Chicago about Labor Day 1940 under the auspices of the Illinois Fantasy Fictioneers (a con-promoting organization specially organized by Reinsburg, Tucker, and others for the event; it later merged with the MWFFF). The ChiCon I was significant of the new harmony in fandom resulting from the suppression of feuding, and took place in the plushest surroundings yet. A suggestion by Speer and Rothman led to institution of the Costume Party at this con; Dave Kyle won it as Ming the Merciless.

1941 DenVention was presented 4-6 July in Denver Colorado, by the Colorado Fantasy Society. Guest of Honor Heinlein made an outstanding speech. Also worthy of remark was the travelling that fans did to get there; the Widneride, riding the rods, making the trip on a starvation shoestring, etc. The award offered for the fan overcoming the greatest difficulties to attend was deserved by many.

1942-45 saw no convention, at first because of the war threat to the Pacific Coast where the next con was scheduled, later because of wartime travel restrictions.

1946 Pacificon (no pun intended) happened under LASFS auspices; attendance was disappointing on account of bungled publicity. The announcement of the formation of the Fantasy Foundation was made, Rothman Liebscher and Perdue improved the occasion with pianistics, and Ackerman had a nervous breakdown from overwork. A wire to Dunkelberger informed him that the N3F had been dissolved when a quorum of the members met at the con (probably the only time a quorum of N3F members has ever met face to face since the first year of the group's existence; Dunk hollered foul, hired a lawyer, and got ready to fight the battle of the century before EEEvans exposed the hoax.

1947 PhilCon I produced by the Philadelphia SFS was loaded, chairman Rothman selfcriticizes, with too much heavy science on the program, but Speer and some friends managed to lighten things up a little with the Fireworks Furor.

1948 Torcon, marked by the first appearance of the helicopter beanie and zapgun, was put on by the Toronto (Canada) Derelicts over the July 4 weekend. (Patriotic Amerifans celebrated Independence Day and defied the tyranny of King George.) Tucker presented his Little Kinsey Report (which Bloch later parodied), Wollheim defended sex (on prozine covers, that is) and Doc Keller plugged for science-boosting stf. Oh yes -- and Rothman introduced a film on atomic physics, with results told under ZAP-GUN.

1949 CinVention under Cincinnati Fantasy Group sponsorship was prefaced by the Second Tucker Death Hoax. Guests of honor were selected from both pros (Lloyd Arthur Eshbach) and fans (Ted Carnell, who had been brought over by the Big Pond Fund). A group of attendees appeared on TV to plug the con, Kyle arranged for a model to come from New York to pose for cheesecake photos of "Miss Science Fiction", pro guests included the author of scientificomic "Alley Oop", and Dave MacInnes recorded all on wire.

1950 NorWesCon (at Portland, Oregon) followed an intensive campaign for a West Coast con in the name of fairness. It saw the introduction of a Dianetics session full of people testifying to the healing powers of the New Faith, and a lethal takeoff on such screwballism in Theobald Mackerel's presentation of Diacybersemnetimantics.

1951 NOLaCon, the only convention yet held in the South (at New Orleans, Louisiana), was the smallest since the War, but contributed to fannish legendry the two-day party in Room 770 and exposed the quasi-hoax about Lee Hoffman's sex. Harry Moore, who managed the thing, got world premieres of "The Day The Earth Stood Still" and "When Worlds Collide" to show.

1952 ChiCon II went to the other extreme, being the largest since the war with over 1100 attendees. Walt Willis was brought over by Shelby Vick's WAW With the Crew in '52 campaign and the Little Men held a fabulous penthouse party (which, however, didn't get the con for Frisco in '53); John Pomeroy told everyone How To Be An Expert Without Actually Knowing Anything, and Gernsback introduced the peculiar idea that writers should claim a sort of patent or copyright on ideas they introduced in stfyarns.

1953 PhilCon II saw an incredibly lengthy auction session managed by L Sprague deCamp but was fannishly marked by the irruption of the 7th Fandom faction, organized earlier in the summer. Early mutterings of the advisability of incorporating were heard and the rotation plan, which regularized the idea of holding cons in Eastern, Central, and Western locations successively ("orderly progression westward") was adopted.

1954 SFCon out in San Francisco saw the 7th Fandom fuggheads in full cry, was embellished by Vorzimer's haircream caper and the activity of some nameless goons who threw full beercans out the hotel windows, and somehow found the management unsocially inclined; intrusions into private rooms by the house detective were reported on several occasions.

1955 CleVention occurred after the 7th Fandomites had been kneed in the groin by the mad dogs and hotel relations (with the Manger, in Cleveland Ohio) were wonderful. One unusual aftereffect of the con, not previously observed, was a justification of the last paragraph under "con"; meetings of Lee Hoffman and Larry Shaw, and Rog Phillips and Honey Wood, were followed at no long interval by marriages. The Terrans, who produced the con this year, were already an incorporated group, so that question didn't arise this time.

1956 NYCon II (or NewYorkon, as some called it) was monstrously large, estimates around 2000 being offered since a large number of visitors were not con-society members. It was disfigured by a marked degree of unsociability, a Little Exclusion Act (the committee restricted the audience of some speakers to those who'd paid $7 ($7 [!!] for a banquet), the incorporation of WSFS by maneuvers which provoked much resentment, and a debt of hundreds of dollars due chiefly to some thefts of display material and an overestimate of the number of fans who'd be sucker interested enough to pay $7 for a hotel banquet.

1957 LonCon, London, the first genuinely international con (there was one in Toronto, but Canada can hardly be counted as a separate country), represented an attempt to return trufannishness to the commercialized con, but was disturbed externally by a flap over a proposed plane trip which eventually wrecked the WSFS Inc; the business session was delayed by a gun battle in which the GDA retrieved the Official Gavel, BBC-TV filmed a choice collection of interviews with attendees, worthy fen were inducted into the Knights of St. Fantony, and TAFF winner Bob Madle got a better reception than the later furor might suggest.

1958 SoLACon was the culmination of the longest-range campaign in fan history; it squashed the WSFS Inc, introduced the Lens to fannish fashion, saw Ron Bennett come over for TAFF, and sparked off a revival of activity in the Los Angeles area, which had been practically dead since the Insurgent War. (Cf SOUTH GATE)

The annual conventions in Great Britain (beginning with the second con in fan history, at Leeds on 3 January 1937; it was called to discuss an organization to replace the moribund SFL, and gave rise to the SFA) which are covered under their individual names, are also properly called "conventions", since they are nationwide in scope. Reserving the expression "World Convention" for American gatherings has been regarded doubtfully since 90%+ of the attendees are Americans -- except at the Torcon and Loncon, of course -- but may be justified as a name on the ground that we want fans from other countries to feel that these are their conventions too, tho circumstances may make it difficult for them to attend; as for location, the practice might be compared to baseball or cricket world championship play, in which only American or Commonwealth teams (respectively) actually compete, since those sports are played more in those political areas than all the rest of the world combined.

Since the first convention a standard pattern for such an event has emerged. There is one every year; other fan gatherings are scheduled in such a way as to avoid competition. Expenses are raised and publicity arranged by selling memberships in a convention society which is started for the purpose of putting on the con; and, later, by selling ads in the program booklet and holding an auction at the con itself. (Membership in the convention society is open to all, but it is understood that stockholders' privileges are not conferred and management remains in the hands of the local boys.) Proz give the affair publicity, and sometimes the local newspapers write it up before -- or after. Slogans on the general model of "DC in '60!" are repeated in every fanzine and in many letters, while every trufan tries to figure out some way to attend. The program runs three days (tho there are get-togethers before and after the official con dates by those who arrive early and/or stay late). The first day may be planned for the general scientifictionist, the second day for the faaan, and the third for sports and business. On the first day, for instance, there will be speeches by celebrities, showing of a fantasy movie, and a costume party in the evening. Second day may include business matters connected with the convention organization and really should settle next year's consite, tho that's often put off to the third day for the sake of the suspense. In the evening there's a banquet in honor of a science-fiction celebrity. An auction is put on wherever it can be fitted. Other features include formal and informal talks by pros, ditto by fans, club meetings, home- talent plays and ballets, and whatever else the committee can throw at the audience. British conventions, especially since the SuperManCon, are distinguished by the greater muzzle velocity of the zapguns and the greater informality of the program. If you decide to attend, bring plenty of money, a zapgun, and a helicopter beanie.