The Days of Old -
By Dwain Kaiser
Part 5
What Sociable Fans We Be
Illustration reprinted From
GO WESTERCON YOUNG MANEditor: Dwain
Kaiser
Westercon 18 - July '65
(Franked) ValAPA #1
Reprinted From: Down In the Valley #2
ValAPA #2 (March 11, 1966)
Editor: Don Fitch
Friday, Feb. 25, 1966, was the evening of the first meeting of the Pomona Valley Science-Fiction Association; since the Pomona Valley is close to the San Gabriel Valley, I decided to drop over and be in on the founding of a New Local Fan Club -- and a new Amateur Publishing Association. (What, I really hoped to do was to make a few suggestions which might help make the club's voyage less stormy, and to somehow dissuade the members from incorporating an APA with it, since there are entirely too many of those already.) There is some need for such an organization, since a number of the Pomona area fans are unable to attend LASFS meetings with any frequency, and this particular sub-group of LA. Fandom has its own outlook, slightly more stfnally sercon, and somewhat less Consciously Sophisticated than that of the LASFS in general.
Getting caught up in a/n/ o/a/k/ t/r/e/e/ something else in Pasadena that afternoon, I didn't reach Dwain Kaiser's place in Upland until half an hour or so after the meeting had begun; things had been run with admirable (UnLASFSian) dispatch; the early-arrivals had produced a one-shot of sorts, the pages for ValAPA were arranged on long tables in one room, officers had been elected (Jim Schumacher as Chairman, Dwain Kaiser as Sec.-Tres.), a committee had been appointed to draw up a Constitution, Fred Whitledge had been created Program Chairman, and the auction was in progress. A number of comic books, pulps, Playboys, mats for comic strips (including a few of Pogo and B.C.), some paperbacks and hardcovers, a few fanzines, and some miscellaneous items -- most went for reasonable prices.
Afterwards, we sat around drinking Cokes or Pepsis (except for me, I felt quite uncomfortable drinking beer under the accusing eyes of some of the younger members, but the hostess had offered it, and 'twould have been unfannish to refuse), listening to Bob Dylan on a record Gil Lamont had brought (both Carl Sandberg and Pete Seeger, it seems to me, have done better renditions of "House of the Rising Sun"), collated our ValAPA Distributions (precisely enough copies for those present or contributing, plus one each for the Club and LASFS Libraries), talked about how Fine a Fannish Ploy it was to thus foil completist collectors (my suggestion to make one extra copy to give to some local completist -- it wouldn't matter which one of them -- was vetoed as being Too Utterly Foul), looked over Dwain's collections, and talked -- mostly about Science Fiction, strangely enough. On the whole, a most enjoyable evening, marred for me only by the usual lack of time which seems to accompany all fan gatherings -- I didn't get to talk with Terry Romine or Russ Brooker at all, hardly, and very little with Allen Smith or Steve Bailey. But Fridays will continue to come, and half of them will be marked by ValSFA meetings, for a while.
66/3/11
A Few Comments (2000):
It's interesting to note that ValAPA outlasted ValSFA by a few additional years. There were 129 ValSFA meetings and at least 142 ValSFA disties (later mailings). ValAPA died on the east coast without a single "member" of ValSFA still involved with it ('74/'75?). I wonder what "they" thought the "Valley" stood for?
The ValSFA never had a library and no one provided a copy of ValAPA to the LASFS library. There is not a complete set of ValAPA in existence. (That I know of.)
Illustration
reprinted From
Who Among Ye Knows The Life?
Cover by Lord Triffid III
Editor: LT3
ValAPA #104 (4th Annish)
ValFandom was fun. And very, very sociable. We collected, read, debated and argued science fiction. We lived "fandom". We were fans being fans. We took our disagreements seriously but we were not so serious as to irreparably destroy a friendship.
Science Fiction Fandom was in full ascension. Slow from 1960 to 1965, but still growing all the time, a very steady growth. Fandom was a closed "club" during the first years of the 60's. Basically fandom was small enough that you could feel that you "knew" everyone (or everyone worth knowing). This growth picked up strongly in 1965. By 1966 there were more apas, more new clubs, even more new "fandoms" based on ours than ever before in our history. Comic fandom was an example of a "new" fandom, Monster fandom, slightly later media fandoms started and expanded by copying "our" fandom. It looked like, soon, our beloved fandom wouldn't be "unique." It certainly wouldn't be a closed "club" (as if it truly ever was that, random chance brought all of in), there would be any number of strange faces at the conventions. There would be many new fans flooding the existing clubs and starting their own.
Many older fans were not happy about this. As young fans we took these changes way too seriously at times. The wave following was filled with, (gosh what a surprise) neofans. Noisy ones (which of course we weren't or ever had been ourselves).
Now, there were changes we (mainly teenage horny male fans) were happier with. (I'm sure the "older" fans found this an improvement they supported too.) Starting in the mid-60's there were many more female fans. This became even truer a year later with Star Trek fandoms' growth. (Completely "inside" sf fandom at the time, later as a related genre fandom.) They were "weird" but "they" were also heavily female. Enough said. Also some fem fandom growth was partly caused by the ever gaining popularity of fantasy. We were all Tolken fans, but after that there were huge differences in taste between the hard, space opera reader, and/or the fantasy reader. But then, to be fair they at least gave us something to talk about, argue over, debate, and someone new to socialize with.
You can't publish a fanzine with blank pages. You have to have something to discuss at your club meeting. The "growth" of fandom was certainly a major discussion point.To some fans all these newcomers were a "Barbarian Invasion" of the worst sort. That caused major schisms in a number of clubs over the next few years. One wave of neofans would look down on the wave following. It was all healthy growth and after a fairly shortwhile these "barbarians" would end up manning the gates themselves. Looking back it is hard to take these changes as seriously as we did then.
The LASFS had problems, for a short time, accepting any "wave" of fans (i.e., two or more new members who knew each other and probably lived in the same city or went to the same school). I remember the comment, "They all look alike" being used in a semi-serious tone of voice. Following in the tradition of LASFS, (which a large percentage of our members were) the ValSFA had problems over "invasion" also, sometimes causing a schism, like the upcoming Fanctuary, sometimes doing nothing more than to provide fodder for a meetings program or a series of articles in a genzine (like "The Barbarian Invasion" piece run in Nimrod, edited by Dwain Kaiser & Al Snider. I'll reprint it chronologically, BayCon '68). ValSFA and ValAPA suffered some serious growing pains the first year, then events "settled" down.
The "introduction" of pot and LSD into society (and then quickly into fandom) caused further schisms. At this very moment in time (early '66) the main usage of drugs in fandom was by potsmoking beatnik fans (and there were quite a few of them); ahead (if you'll forgive the expression) of the times. All this would change quickly, and this change would change fandom and society as a whole. After all this was the '60's!
I won't go into the politics of the time, but that too, influenced fans and fandom. Over a few years my politics went from middle of the road conservative to Peace and Freedom Left (settling down to Democratic Party activist, and staying there.) There were rightwing fanzines, and there were leftwing fanzines, each put out by fans of the same persuasions. The Civil Rights Movement was still an issue with Southern fans (mainly), though it faded into the issue that shaped the generation, Vietnam. Vietnam will heat this up a huge amount over the entire history of the ValSFA. That was true of the entire field of science fiction. I don't believe any other issue so divided the professional science fiction authors. More than a few friendships in fandom were strained, some broken, over the war in 'Nam.
While ValSFA "lost" a number of members to the military (Bob Davenport to the Navy, Lynn Pederson to the Air Force, Terry Romine to the Army) several military fans joined ValAPA (Riki AKA Mike Zaharakis, Kris Carey, and others) and even managed to show up to meetings when in the area. We even received a number of excellent "cartoon" issues from Vietnam from never-say-die ValSFA/ValAPA member Terry Romine. (Reprinted later.)
Illustration
reprinted From
Hypnotized On Muscle Stereo
Artist & Editor: Bruce Duncan
ValAPA #78
3rd Annish - Feb. 21, 1969
Reprinted From: By Strange Unseen Gods #5
APA L #73 (March 9, 1966)
Editor: Dwain Kaiser
Slightly Corrected from the Original Publication
I attended Lady Jayn's last poker party (last Sat.) through more dumb luck than anything else. As a matter of fact my luck carried over in everything except card playing. Fred Whitledge was going into Pomona so I got a ride in with him…but he didn't decide to go until Friday, after I planned on going. I ended up arriving a little early (like around 11 or so in the morning), slightly before the party was to start at 8 in the evening. But it gave me a chance to read part of Bill S/M/I/T/H Ellen's ANALOG story, it was good.
We also went out and had breakfast at a Pasadena coffee shop. Lady Jayn also showed me the bookstore where I could pick up all the *one* handed *readers* I might want. Which turned out to be none, which may or may not prove that I'm sicker than I look. We then visited around the town for a few hours. Pasadena is a fairly lively town, or at least it is compared to Upland, which is really as dead as any place could be.
Before we had left for downtown we discovered that Dian had given birth to a little girl, just in time for the N'APA deadline, tho 47 short of the required number. For awhile I was thinking of coming out with a quick newszine to scoop Bruce's zine, but decided I was being Bitchy again, and besides, it was too much work. Too much work even for the look on Bruce's face when I would give him a copy that evening at the card game. *Sigh* It was a good idea tho. Around seven or so, or even before, people started arriving in groups. I was either asleep (hi, Fred Patten) or playing cards at the time, so I have no idea who all showed up, but a fairly good number did. Gee, even a *frowning* Len Bailes was there, which cheered me up no end, it did, you bet'em (?) it did.
I ended up staying over, as did Mike Klassen, and the next day we sat around in the early morning just cheerfully chitter-chattering (or at least I was cheerful, the others looked ready to stuff a box of cereal down my throat).
As a matter of fact they even gave me a ride out to Pomona, to the bus station there. From there I bought a bus ticket to Upland, decided to call up Jim Schumacher, and spent forty-five minutes trying to find his name in the phone book. He doesn't spell his last name the way I try to spell it. I finally found it, missed my bus while talking to him, and decided since I was that close to his house it would be a ghreat shame if he didn't have the chance to see me. So his mother picked me up, I had an enjoyable supper at his place, we talked for a few hours, and I left again. The bus placed me in Ontario, where I tried to call up my parents, and tried to call my parents, and tried… But my luck remained good, and a school friend of mine was seeing off a friend of his at the bus station and offered to give me a ride home. It was after I got home that I discovered the reason I couldn't get a hold of my parents was because I was phoning the wrong number. Which seems like something I would do, even if it is easy to phone 987 instead of 985.
I did arrive home though, broker only to the tune of about three dollars, less than I had thought I would have to spend on just bus fare.
It was fun.
APA45
is Founded
Postcard from Richie Benyo
Sept. 11, 1964 - The APA boom was in full "Flower" by '65 and '66
The ValSFA will be meeting tomorrow, Friday March 10, 1966. As usual all members of LASFS are invited to attend. As usual, like the last meeting, perhaps one or two of you might really show up. Still, I'm not unhappy in the slightest with 10 attendees. That's a nice size for a small local area club.
ValAPA requires 20 copies of your zine, and also as usual we'll only stick together enough completes for those people making the mailing. That was either 13 or 14 the last time (which one I forget). I doubt if it'll average out any higher this mailing. ValAPA is a lot of fun, sort of like talking to yourself(squared). Then of course it is always something to add to your collection. One more apa which Bruce Pelz hopes to get into one day.
There will of course be an auction. I'll have some things for sale, or rather to auction off, and I expect the other members will too. I doubt if we'll top our twenty-two dollars worth of junk auctioned off last time, but we can always try.
The meeting is at Jim Schumacher's house: 418 Kenoak Drive, Pomona. The meeting starts at 7:30 or so, show up late if you want to miss the slight bit of business we might have (my *minutes* are *priceless* and certainly aren't worth missing, or whatever). Show up early and we'll rope you into helping us publish a ValAPA one-shot. *Sigh* Since we don't drink at the meetings, the one-shot we come out with isn't really a BNF's one-shot. It isn't really even a *swinging* one-shot. Kind of ranks like a (no pun meant back there) N3F one-shot. If you *know* what I *mean*.
Dwain Kaiser
1967 (Editor of Yearbook, Chaffey J.C.)
A Few Comments (2000):
Great Poker games at Lady Jayn's (Jane Ellern). Spent many a weekend, crashed out on her floor during the day, and playing poker all night. It was great having a party every weekend. And unlike the ValSFA at the time there were Femfans in attendance.
My poker winnings either got spent feeding myself or providing my collection with old fanzines (purchased from Bruce Pelz). I picked up a lot of fantastic old FAPA or SAPS mailings that way. Read years of The Cult. Learned a lot about fandom from those issues!
The ValSFA meeting at Jim Schumacher's house was our 2nd meeting.
Many ValSFAns suffered "parent trouble". I'll be reprinting examples of that later on. On the other hands some parents enjoyed fandom and did not object to their children being active in that rather strange genre. As a sterling example, Jim Schumacher's Mom was always willing to feed a hungry visiting fan. Always friendly to the stranger crashing on her couch. Next to mine (and I'm sure Jim and I could argue this one endlessly), the coolest Mother of any club member.
Reprint Of:
The *Many* Faces of (Schu)
Brooker, Keith & Bailey
ValAPA #11
July 29, 1966
Additional Comments (1999):
(Jim Schumacher: December 06, 1999 - Valhalla List Server): I'm more than willing to admit that those were "heady" times and that they continue to loom large in my memory. How could they not? We were all in the full glory of our flamin' youth! Moreover, we had our own "secret society" going to add dimension to what would have been days of memory no matter what we were doing.
And, of course, we had the great good foresight to be in Southern California in the late sixties -- the whole bloody state was continually slipping in and out of reality in those days…and, as a country we were "going to the moon" (Alice).
Then there were the zines -- a unique outlet for our creativity -- a venue few other teens of the time were privy too -- and they served as vital catalysts to incite further acts of insanity -- even now they are proving to be an intriguing archival log of the time. Dwain and I are starting a digital restoration project of the better artwork published in those days. It holds up surprisingly well. The first examples of these efforts on Dwain's part will appear on Valhalla shortly, along with photos of us appearing impossibly Young (wasn't that the title of a Dylan song?)
A Comment (Dwain, '00): Some of those photos and artwork will appear in "The Days of Old", the rest on our Website.
(Continuing): While I'm sure we all regret the ferocity of the "pissing matches" I suppose it was inevitable, given our age and hormonal state at the time. And anyway, it would not have been anywhere near as interesting without them, right?
If the truth were known, Hatter (Bruce Duncan) and I have actually written a fantasy novel which, somewhat obliquely, pays homage to those days. It's called (for now) 'The Marzipan Chronicles' and was actually completed some 15-odd years ago…all 100,000-plus words of it. We have conspired in the background to dust it off, give it a much-needed coat of polish, and try to shill - I mean sell - it to the paperback publishers of the prolific unicorn-and-dragon trade.
We will probably let some parts of it out of the cage for a preview to 'Valhallan's Only' once we have it housebroken. More on that later.
But don't let that stop anyone from starting a round robin on the subject -- it's fertile ground (particularly now that we've all started stirring the memory banks). Perhaps we could start with each of us recalling a particular memorable incident? I'm willing to bet, just like the eye witnesses to an accident, that each of us will "remember" a different version of what happened…
Sparrow (Jim Schumacher)