Mumblings from Munchkinland 26 on Rosemary Simmons and the Femme Fan Group
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DIGITISING FANZINES FOR FUN AND PROFIT It has been twenty years since the first issue of Mumblings, but I will refrain from reminiscing on previous issues. Those of you who haven’t seen them already will have your chance soon enough, as I am progressively scanning back issues for posting on Bill Burns’ efanzines.com. My goal is to have them all up before Aussiecon 4. More than half of them are up already, so feel free to have a peek. Comments and award nominations are always welcome. Digitising fanzines, particularly those from an earlier era, can be great fun. I scanned a set of Nick Solntseff’s Woomera for his website last year as well the first issue of Arthur Haddon’s Telepath for Bill’s site. Both titles provide insights into their era. Earlier fanzines are even rarer and the potential for rediscovering information during the conversion process is very real. A terrific instance was provided by Kim Huett last year. He has been retyping issues of the first Aussie newszine, Futurian Observer, and alerted me to a short but very significant paragraph from its fifth issue (opposite). The process does raise some interesting questions, though, like: Is this a good idea? Faneds generally write with a particular audience in mind and we have a reasonable idea of who will see our work when we produce zines in print. We can control distribution (at least initially) to like-minded individuals who understand fannish culture. The web ensures a greater audience, but a broader and anonymous one, too, that can seek information for different purposes. Some firms now routinely Google job applicants -- how might they interpret fannish writings? And what about phenomena of our glorious Internet Age such as identity theft and cyberbullying? Is it really prudent to post zines with personal information online? Or am I just showing my age? Many younger people seem to blog, twitter and text all manner of personal data without concern. Attitudes about privacy seem to be changing. I’ve decided to post past Mumblings but will also think twice about what I do include in future issues. Another question that arises is: Should one correct errors in the original print fanzines? This one is vexed, too. My initial answer would have been no, the online version should be a complete and accurate facsimile of the original, warts and all. But that can mean preserving errors of fact and even compounding them by disseminating them to a wider audience. I’m not thinking of simple typos here, but -- well, let me give you a concrete example. In Mumblings 24 I ran an obituary titled “Vale, Eric Frank Russell”. It is one of the enduring myths of Australian fanhistory that Eric Russell (the fan) shared the same full name as famed British author Eric Frank Russell. Confusion between the two overseas was common in the 1940s when Eric was publishing Ultra. I knew better. Graham Stone had informed me years ago that Eric’s middle name was Fred, not Frank. And yet, for whatever reason, I gave his middle name as Frank in that issue, twice -- perpetuating the myth even after Eric’s death. The temptation to correct this before posting the issue online was strong, but I didn’t want to hide my error either. Perhaps I should add an errata sheet to each online issue... Finally: Should one amend past issues to match original concepts? Limitations of fanzine production (i.e. lack of money) have prevented me from creating exactly what I had in mind on occasion. In a few cases, I have restored full colour to elements of covers which appeared originally in black and white only. Had I had the resources I would have used full colour at the time, so why not? I confess that in each case pride has been another motivating factor, for the colour “elements” have been baby photos. What father could resist? - 2 - THE INVISIBLE FUTURIAN In Mumblings 26 we took a look at how women featured in the history of Aussie fandom penned by Vol Molesworth. Or didn’t, in a few cases. The young lady at right is a perfect example. The omission of her name from Vol’s work is arguably the most revealing error in it. Say g’day to Roma Castellari. Her name has been mentioned here before; most of you will recall that she was one of Bert’s sisters. We knew she had attended a few meetings of the Futurian Society and had drawn one or two covers for Zeus, but no more. In fact, Roma has a unique place in Australian fandom. Futurian Observer was the early news- zine produced by Bert with Bill Veney and (later) Ron Levy from 1940 to 1942. The 5th issue of Obs reported on a 1940 meeting of the Futurian Society, noting that six members were present and “two guests, Miss Roma Castellari and Ken Jefferys were in attendance”. Nothing striking yet, but the report continued: “Eventually it [a round robin story] was dropped and the main item of the meeting was brought to notice. This was the election of Miss Roma Castellari and Ken Jefferys to membership. The former was elected unanimously despite the fact that at first there were several slight objections raised. Jefferys was elected without any trouble.” So a decade before the controversy over Rosemary Simmons’ applications to join the Society the first female member had been admitted, with only “slight objections”. Vol was present at this meeting and must have voted to admit Roma since her election was unanimous. Minutes of the FSS meetings now held by Graham Stone confirm these events and Molesworth often cites the minutes in his history, so it is hard not to see Roma’s omission as a deliberate act. Futurian Observer 7 reported that at the following meeting of the FSS Roma and Ralph Smith “held a serious discussion on various aspects on illustrating”. Roma had talent as an artist but never any real opportunity to develop it. In issue 14, she is noted among voters in a poll of the best sf stories of 1939. Her artwork for Zeus followed, but after this she appears to have drifted away from fan circles, just as Bert did soon after. Short though her involvement was, Roma Castellari deserves recognition as the first female to have joined organised fandom in Australia and contributed to fan activities. - 3 - ONE HUNDRED SMALL WONDERS: An annotated index to Australian and New Zealand fan content in the Wonder magazines The letter columns of the professional sf magazines are the primary source of information about who read sf in the early days and what they thought of it. Contacts made in this way played an important role in the development of organised fandom. Surprisingly, relatively few of the pulp magazines’ letter columns have been indexed (see p.15). The Wonder titles are of particular interest since they were among the earliest sf magazines and because Wonder Stories hosted the Science Fiction League, which promoted the creation of sf clubs. In addition to letters, the magazines also ran lists of SFL chapters and members, fanzine reviews and occasional odd references to the Australasian region (like Bob Tucker’s joke in 1934). All of these have been included here. The index covers all issues of the Wonder titles from 1929 to 1955, including: Air Wonder, Science Wonder and Wonder Stories and their quarterlies, Thrilling Wonder Stories and its sf companions: Startling Stories, Captain Future, Space Stories, Fantastic Stories Quarterly and Wonder Stories Annual. Not all of these included material from Antipodean readers so the title abbreviations below should be easy to interpret. By coincidence, the total number of items from these sources was 100. Year Issue Mag Page Type: Author. Notes on content with quotes of interest. Location 1930 Jul WS 182 Loc: Starling, Sidney J. Suggests "hunches" of future events could [Vic] be evidence of time travel. (See full letter on page 10.) Sep 373 Loc: Roberts, Cecil. Comments on stories over past year. [Vic] WS 1932 May WS 1386 Loc: Elwood, Desmond. "a great reader of your famous [NZ] magazine...14 years old". Nov WS 542 Loc: Hayman, Gilbert. "Is this depression planet-wide? If so the [NSW] discovery of ways to reach other planets would materially help..." 1934 Mar WS 927 Loc: Waterhouse, Les. "New Zealand Speaks". "I have been a [NZ] regular reader of Wonder Stories for over two years now..." Jun WS 120 Loc: Millington, Robert W. Approves of smaller size and stories. [NSW] Names favourite story and comments on artists. (The response included: "This letter from distant Australia is more proof that our magazine is appreciated in all parts of the world.") Sep WS 503 Loc: Mallett, Thomas. "About nine months ago I came across one [Qld] of your magazines in a book-shop in Brisbane... Nov WS 754 Joke: Tucker, Wilson. "Report of the 196th Convention" as by [US] Hoy Ping Pong includes: "First up was Delegate Foozle from Australia. The Australian gentleman complained that he had talked 345 people into joining his chapter, but each of the 345 wanted to be Director... To pacify the whole mob, the President formed 346 different chapters, allowed each [member] to join one chapter and be the Director of it." Dec 877 List: T. Alan Ross, Melbourne, listed as new SFL member #497. [Vic] WS 1935 Jan WS 1001 Loc: Tokeno, Mr. Announces intention to form a NZ Science [NZ] Fiction Association and requests readers in NZ and Australia to contact him. (Hornig proposes he be Director of a SFL Chapter instead; see full letter on page 10.) - 4 - Mar 1262 List: T.