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SCIENTIFICTION New Series #64 SCIENTIFICTION Robert A. Madle’s 100th Birthday A MAJOR MILESTONE CONZEALAND: A ‘VIRTUAL CONVENTION’ Congratulations to First Fandom Co-Founder Due to the current worldwide pandemic, the and President Emeritus Bob Madle, life-long 78th Worldcon has announced that they will be Science Fiction fan who celebrated his 100th hosting a ‘virtual convention’ (Jul 29 – Aug 2). birthday this June 2nd with family and friends Innovative planning is being done to make this and several hundred cards from well-wishers. a special event featuring Author Readings, Discussions, Masquerade, Art Show, Films, Fan Tables, Exhibits, Hugo Awards and more. For information, visit: https://conzealand.nz. FIRST FANDOM AWARDS, 2020 The names of the recipients of the FF Awards and the Big Heart Award will be announced during Opening Ceremonies on Wed, July 29. A brief video narrated by David Ritter will profile the FF Award recipients, with additional Robert A. Madle, Centenarian photos of those recipients also being shown. (Photograph by Janet Madle. Provided by John Knott) On behalf of our organization, a nice plaque FIRST FANDOM DISPLAY, CONZEALAND was made for Bob with the following wording: The traditional FF Display will be included in “Recognizing ten decades in Science Fiction CoNZealand’s digital exhibition hall. Themes and on the advent of his 100th birthday, First include: origins of First Fandom, photos and Fandom proudly acknowledges Mr. Robert A. profiles of early prominent fans, and the Madle as a ‘Living Legend’ -- June 2, 2020.” history of the FF Awards and Big Heart Award. ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE P. 2: President’s Message; Announcements Donn Albright, Es Cole, Steve Davidson, Mike P. 3: Obituary Notices; Remembrances Glyer, John Hertz, Mark Hickman, John Knott, P. 6: Nebula Conference; Captain Future Stephen D. Korshak, Guy H. Lillian III, Janet P. 7: A New Book: “The Earliest Bradbury” Madle, Jack Mitch, Scott V. Norris, Andrew P. 7: Donations to the First Fandom Archive Porter, Daniel Ritter, David Ritter, Joe Siclari, P. 8: Welcome, New Associate Members Keith W. Stokes, Jon D. Swartz, John Carter P. 9: Birthdays; FF Activities Calendar Tibbetts, David B. Williams, and Joel Zakem. P. 9: FF Annuals; First Fandom and FANAC (We are seeking columnists, and members P. 10: The Sam Moskowitz Centenary who wish to publish any SF-related news, P. 11: A Half Dozen Letters to the Editor announcements, convention reports, reviews, P. 12: Photo Gallery; FF Officers; STF Staff photographs, obituaries and letters to the Ed.) SCIENTIFICTION New Series #64, page 2 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE I vividly remember the time that I got to meet George T. McWhorter. It was in late-July Joanne Brooks shared some photographs 1994 during the First Fandom Reunion at and anecdotes from several times that she Rivercon XIX in Louisville, Kentucky. I was spent hosting and also visiting the de Camps. invited to accompany James C. Tibbetts, his son John Carter Tibbetts and Forrest J Esther D. Cole celebrated her 96th birthday Ackerman on a private guided tour of the April 29! (For more, see her letter on p. 10). Burroughs Collection, led by the curator and ERB bibliophile George T. McWhorter, Ph.D. John Hertz is now sharing writing duties with It was truly spectacular. Multiple copies of all Cat Eldridge, preparing brief biographical of the rarest first edition hardcovers in sketches for the fascinating people mentioned beautiful dust jackets. Pulp magazines, a wall in the daily column “Today’s Birthdays” which of pristine paperbacks, books from all over the appears in www.file770.com (Mike Glyer, ed.) world, toys, posters, personal effects of the author including his writing desk, typewriter, Mark Hickman provided photos of one of the driver’s license, etc. Everywhere you looked, First Fandom Award recipients, to be shown there were famous original cover paintings. during CoNZealand’s Opening Ceremonies. Just as impressive was the curator, who (I quietly learned from Forry) spoke at least four John-Henri Holmberg celebrated another languages, sang opera, had earned a number year younger June 22 with family and friends. of degrees, had traveled the world and was interested in everything. George told Forry WELCOME, NEW ASSOCIATE MEMBERS that before he accepted the offer to be the We are glad to announce our two latest asso- new Curator he had sat down and read ciate members: Guy H. Lillian III and Scott everything Burroughs had ever published. V. Norris. (See p. 8 for more information). I corresponded with George occasionally over These are two long-time readers and SF fans. the years after that weekend and though he I remember attending a Julius Schwartz talk at was busy, he was always available to answer a convention years ago, when unexpectedly my toughest Burroughs-related questions. he announced that Guy H. Lillian III would --------------------------- stand and lead the audience in a recitation of the Green Lantern Oath (written by Alfred I was supposed to meet Marshall B. Tymn in Bester). And as expected, Guy did a great job. 1989 at the Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts. Sadly, that turned out to be the same It has been more than thirty years since I met year he was involved in a terrible car accident. Scott V. Norris at the World Fantasy Con in Since he was unable to attend the Conference London (coincidentally, the 100th anniversary in person, he generously donated five large of Jack the Ripper). We’ve been to a lot more boxes of beautiful unread books from his conventions around the world ever since then. personal SF library to be sold as a fund-raiser for the Conference. The first morning of the IN PASSING actual Conference I arrived early and had the We are sad to report the recent deaths of once-in-a-lifetime chance in the dealer’s room several members of our community: Mervyn to buy all of the books in those same five R. Binns, Allen Daviau, Robert C. Lesser, boxes, which had been priced at only a dollar George T. McWhorter and Marshall B. Tymn. each. Then, over the years I gave many of (Please see their obituary notices on pp. 3-5.) these copies back to the authors for their files. SCIENTIFICTION New Series #64, page 3 OBITUARY NOTICES Allen Daviau (b. 1942) Mervyn R. Binns (b. 1934) Allen Daviau, born in New Orleans and raised in Los Angeles, was a cinematographer Australian science fiction (SF) fan and who was likely best known for his bookstore owner, Merv Binns, died at the collaborations with director Steven Spielberg Kingston Centre, Monash Health, Melbourne, on E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), The Australia, at the age of 85. He was the Color Purple (1985), and Empire of the proprietor of Australia’s first specialist SF Sun (1987). During a long career, he received bookstore, Space Age Books, that opened in five Academy Award nominations and 1971 and didn’t close until 1985. two British Academy Film Award nominations. Binns was known as Melbourne’s “Mr. Daviau shot thousands of commercials, Science Fiction” from the time he was a documentaries and educational films. In his teenager and worked at McGill’s Newsagency early career he filmed music videos for The in the early 1950s. At the time, McGill’s was Animals and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, one of the few places in Melbourne that sold and created psychedelic special-effects SF magazines. lighting for Roger Corman's The Trip (1967). Binns was a founding member of the He received lifetime achievement awards Melbourne Science Fiction Group, the from the Art Directors Guild (1997) and the Melbourne Science Fiction Club (and the American Cinematographers’ Society (2007). Club’s first librarian), founder of the Melbourne Fantasy Film Group, and GoH at Robert C. Lesser (b. 1924) the Ninth Australian National Convention in 1970. From the New York Times – March 5, 2020: His SF fanzines included Australian SF News, “Robert Coleman Lesser lived the life of a Out of the Bin, and The Rubbish Bin(n)s. generalist -- he was a WWII veteran; he was a University of Chicago grad; he was a one- During his lifetime, he won several genre time model, he was a physicist; he was a awards, including the Ditmar Award (1985), salesman; he was a writer, and most notably, the A. Bertram Chandler Award (1993), the he was a major champion and collector of Big Heart Award (2010), the Infinity Award Pulp Art. (2012), and the Peter McNamara Achieve- ment Award (2015). Taken by the pulps as a youngster growing up in Brooklyn, NY, Lesser found the sex and His later years were spent writing/publishing shock of these 10 cent magazines-the Pulp his fanzines and working on his fannish Art covers especially-to be pulse quickening memoirs. to the point that he wrote the book on the For decades, Binns had health issues, subject: Pulp Art: Original Cover Paintings for including heart problems, and was the Great American Pulp Magazines. hospitalized about a month ago. He then nd Lesser amassed perhaps the most compre- suffered a seizure on April 2 . hensive collection of Pulp Art covers in the Binns was born on July 8, 1934, and died on world. Armed with an eye for the greatest April 7, 2020. works, Lesser sought out pieces by the greats of the era: Norman Saunders, H.L. Parkhurst, He is survived by his wife, Helena Roberts and Rafael de Soto to name a few, at a time Binns, whom he married in 1998. when the works were considered worthless, (Prepared by Jon D. Swartz, Special Features Ed.) even by the artists themselves.