Category Archives: Poor Trufan’s Almanack

These stories will be fanhistorical in nature, bringing to the net information I’ve found that fills in gaps in the electronically-available research.

Claude Degler Found in 1940 Census

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Claude Degler wanted to be an epic figure in 1940s sf fandom. He only succeeded in making himself the center of an unforgettable, morbid parody of early fans’ ambitions to change the world — as this Fancyclopedia 2 article shows.

I think there is an acknowledged “there-but-for-the-grace-of-God” quality to his self-aggrandizement that has sustained fans’ curiosity about the things he did and why he did them, such as creating the Cosmic Circle, headquartered in his hometown of New Castle, IN. Perhaps the best thing ever written about this fascination is David B. Williams’ “Looking for Degler” in Mimosa #30, which reveals the tragic end of the rest of the Degler family, if not Claude himself.

New Castle is in Henry County, Indiana and I have located the Deglers’ listing in the 1940 census.

Claude, his mother Virgie, and his brother Robert lived at 267 S. 6th on the day the census taker came to the door. The “x” marked beside his name on the census form shows Robert provided the information. They rented the place for $15 a month. Virgie was divorced, and worked as an assembler in an auto factory.

Claude was 19. He was born in Missouri. He’d completed the 6th grade.

The three Deglers lived in New Castle at the time of the 1930 census as well.

This may be the old Degler manse. Or it’s the next one on the left. Certainly near that corner on that side of 6th Street. (I found a pet shop three blocks away and used its listing to help me decide which was the odd-numbered side of the street.)

[I've moved the map after the jump because it's making everybody crazy, automatically centering the page on itself.]

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Yabba Dabba Doo Time

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The Flintstones made its television debut on today’s date, September 30, 1960.

I remember watching that night. I was 7 and found it a completely satisfying intellectual experience.

The show was a hit, finishing the season at #18 in the Neilsen ratings, right behind Bonanza. Unlike Bonanza, which went on to be one of the very highest rated shows, the Flintstones never again finished in the top 20 and went off the air in April 1966. (The characters have been revived for many other productions since then.)

When originally aired, the episodes ended with a commercial showing Fred and Wilma smoking Winstons. Four decades later, Sierra liked Flintstone brand vitamins. Obviously the better product to be plugging to children.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]

Porter: Photos I Took 10 Years Ago

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By Andrew Porter: Brooklyn Heights, my wonderful neighborhood, is just across the river from lower Manhattan, and about 1.5 miles or so from the former and future World Trade Centers. I took these photographs on 9/11. They have not previously been scanned in.

The first one shows the view from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, with  many tugboats and other working vessels finding refuge under the Brooklyn Bridge. The second photo is from the Brooklyn side of Fulton Ferry.

Sound and Fury Signifying Trivia

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Today’s trivia question: Every winner of the Best Fan Writer Hugo has made at least one professional sale, but two winners have never sold a science fiction story. Can you name them?

The winners since the creation of the category in 1967 are: Terry Carr, Richard E. Geis, Mike Glyer, Dave Langford, Cheryl Morgan, Alexei Panshin, John Scalzi, Bob Shaw, Wilson Tucker, Harry Warner Jr., Ted White and Susan Wood.

Most of the names are easy to rule out because their record in the sf field is so well known.

Wilson Tucker won the 1970 Best Fan Writer Hugo, then had Year of the Quiet Sun nominated as Best Novel in 1971.

Scalzi’s novel Old Man’s War and its sequels have received Hugo nominations.

Dave Langford’s “Different Kinds of Darkness” won Best Short Story in 2001.

Bob Shaw’s classic short story “Light of Other Days” received a Hugo nomination in 1967. He didn’t get around to winning the Best Fan Writer Hugo until 1979 (and again in 1980.)

Ted White’s first novel was written in collaboration with another Best Fan Writer winner, Terry Carr. Invasion from 2500 (1964) was published under the pseudonym Norman Edwards. Ted went on to write lots of other novels under his own name.

Terry Carr, in the middle of a run of seven other nominations for his fan writing and fanzines (Fanac, Lighthouse) had a short story nominated for the Hugo in 1969, “The Dance of the Changer and the Three.” The year Terry finally won the Best Fan Writer Hugo, 1973, he was also nominated for Best Professional Editor (in the category’s debut), and it was as an editor he won his last two Hugos (1985, 1987).

Alexei Panshin won the first Best Fan Writer Hugo in 1967. He declined his nomination in 1968, hoping to set an example for future winners. He also had great success as a pro. His novel Rite of Passage received a Hugo nomination in 1969 and won the Nebula.

Harry Warner Jr. had 11 short stories published in the mid-1950s (and grumbled when that was discovered by his neighbors in Hagerstown — see the link below in comments).

Richard E. Geis has sold any number of erotic sf novels.

I trail this parade at a respectful distance, with one pro sale that appeared in Mike Resnick’s Alternate Worldcons.

That leaves two winning fanwriters to account for: Cheryl Morgan and Susan Wood. Cheryl has made nonfiction sales, but the Locus index lists no fiction. Susan Wood published scholarly work about the sf field, but no stories. So Morgan and Wood are the answer. (Subject to correction, as always…)

Update 10/12/2009: Of course Harry Warner sold short stories — text corrected. Thanks to Patrick Nielsen Hayden for the assist. Update 10/13/2009: And to Dave Langford for catching mistakes about Shaw’s story I have been helplessly repeating since, oh, 1967, although they ought to be avoidable  – I can always remember the exact year “Neutron Star” won its Hugo. 10/18/2009: Alexei Panshin’s comment gives the real reason he turned down his Best Fan Writer nomination in 1968.

Poor Trufan’s Almanack:
Anticipation Membership Figures

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The Anticipation membership breakdown was distributed to the staff. It shows 3,921 people present, 4,497 total memberships.

The FOLLE committee will be distilling these numbers into an official Worldcon attendance figure for the Long List. For example, the memberships for comps and stuffed animals will probably be dropped from the warm body total.

Anticipation had 159 fans take advantage of the Taster Membership policy, leaving within three hours of paying for a daily membership and getting a refund of all but $20.

See membership breakdown after the jump.

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Poor Trufan’s Almanack:
1978 FAAn Awards

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This post inaugurates a new category, “Poor Trufan’s Almanack.” These fanhistorical articles will bring to the net information I’ve found that fills in gaps in the electronically-available research.

Commonly, this will be data I happen upon in paper fanzines that simply never made it to the web. I will park the data here and extend an open invitation for fans to copy it to the appropriate long lists. Less commonly, I will examine a controversial bit of fanhistory and make my case for interpreting it a certain way.

The initial posts in this category are the noncontroversial kind.

I noticed some time ago that Corflu’s FAAn Awards history page lacks entries for the 1978 winners of the two artist categories. The complete data was published in various issues of the old newzine DNQ, edited by Victoria Vayne and Taral, which I recently reread.

The data appears following the jump.

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