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Captain Flashback CAPTAIN FLASHBACK A fanzine composed for the 420th distribution of the Turbo-Charged Party-Animal Amateur Press Award Lore of Yore: Association, from the joint membership of Andy George C. Willick and the Misty Origins th Hooper and Carrie Root, residing at 11032 30 Of the Faan Awards Ave. NE Seattle, WA 98125. E-mail Andy at [email protected], and you may reach Carrie at The Fan Activity Achievement Awards are 27 [email protected]. This is a Drag Bunt Press years old this year. Or 46 years old. Or possibly Production, completed on 6/9/2021. 60 years old; it all depends on what you consider to be the actual birth date of the CAPTAIN FLASHBACK is devoted to old fanzines, honor. The current series was initiated by Arnie garage bands, monster movie hosts, and other fascinating phenomena of the 20th Century. All and Joyce Katz at the first Las Vegas Corflu in material by Andy Hooper unless indicated. 1995 and awards have been issued at every subsequent Corflu. But Arnie acknowledged Contents of Issue #31: that he was trying to resume the series of Page 1: Award Lore of Yore: awards that were created by Moshe Feder, The Fan Achievement Awards of 1962 Linda Bushyager and other fanzine fans in Page 2: A Key to Interlineations in Issue #30 Page 9: Comments on Turbo-Apa #419 1975. These were presented at different Page 16: Horror Host of the Month: conventions for six years, 1975 to 1980, John Zacherle, the Cool Ghoul before a variety of issues delayed and Page 19: Fanmail from some Flounder Dept. ultimately cancelled the 1981 awards. 15 Letters to CAPTAIN FLASHBACK years would pass before someone would again Page 22: I Remember Entropy Department: volunteer all the work involved in collecting Editorial by George C. Willick, nominations, mailing a final ballot, then tallying First published in PARSECTION #5, April 1961 and publicizing the results. Although the 2021 Corflu, the con sponsoring 2021 Fan Activity Achievement Awards: the awards, is delayed until November, the Best Genzine: PORTABLE STORAGE awards for 2021 were announced in March at edited by Bill Breiding a well-attended ceremony held online. Jerry Best Perzine: THIS HERE, Kaufman was a fine Master of Ceremonies. Nic edited by Nic Farey Farey administered the awards with ferocious enthusiasm and gathered ballots from 47 Best Fan Artist: Ulrika O’Brien interested parties – an encouraging total given Best Fan Writer: Claire Brialey that the convention now only rarely has more fans than that in attendance. The winners of Harry Warner Jr. Award: Mark Plummer this year’s awards are listed in a handy box to Best Special Publication: OUTWORLDS 71, the left, under this issue’s Table of Contents. Bill Bowers, Jeanne Bowman, Pat Virzi, et al And recently Australian fanzine researcher Kim Best Fanzine Cover: Huett has confirmed that at least one fan tried BEAM #15 by Sara Felix to create an award with a remarkably similar Best Website: Fanac. Org, title, focused on fans and fanzines, in the Joe Siclari, Edie Stern, Mark Olson, Andy Porter spring of 1961! This effort did not result in any such awards being given in 1961 or 1962; but [Continued on Page 2] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Issue #31, June 2021 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Key to Interlineations published in May in CAPTAIN FLASHBACK #30: Page 3: “What kind of a dish was she? The sixty-cent special - cheap, flashy, strictly poison under the gravy.” Det. Sgt. Walter Brown (Charles McGraw) describes Marie Windsor in The Narrow Margin (1952). Page 4: “I told you to go away, Martins.” & Page 5: “This isn’t Santa Fe, I’m not a Sherriff and you’re not a cowboy.” Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) plays hard-to-get with Western novelist Holly Martins, The Third Man (1949) Page 6: “The 50 cents was a better bid than the first we had at the auction.” & Page 7: “It was for 14 cents, a live frog and two marbles.” Horror host Dr. Bela Zarbo describes bids received for an evening in his company at a 1971 charity auction. Page 8: “The Fanzine of the Between Meal Snack.” Interlineation published by John Purcell in ENNUI #1, July 1982. Page 9: “Are you sure this discussion of TAFF isn’t taking place in Swedish?” Janice Eisen queries Richard Bergeron in her August 1988 FAPA fanzine ELECTRIC CITY EXPRESS. Page 10: “The Fanzine for All Ages and Sizes.” Interlineation, John Purcell, ENNUI #2, August 1982. Page 11: “We are a fully operational Death Star.” Attributed to New York Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman, 2018. Page 12: “The Fanzine with a Song in its Heart.” Interlineation, John Purcell, ENNUI #3, November 1982. Page 13: “Who Needs Need Needs Nothing” Interlineation published by Dick Eney, PHENOTYPE, November 1982. Page 14: “I made a speech denouncing dumb formula fantasy trilogies and read from a recent terrible example…” & Page 15: “…whereupon everybody ran out to the huckster room and bought copies.” Bob Silverberg in his FAPA fanzine SNICKERSNEE, August 1988 Page 16: “And crawling on the planet’s face, some insects called the human race.” Lines from closing narration by Criminologist Charles Gray, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Award Lore of Yore: official history of the Worldcon or the Hugo [Continued from page one]: Awards. Huett had to look in contemporary sources to find references to Willick and his I think editor George C. Willick eventually plans. This meant reading the fanzines of the accomplished his larger goal, which was to moment, frequent news fanzines like Larry see more recognition of fans and their work at and Noreen Shaw’s AXE and Walter Breen’s the annual World SF Convention, and FANAC, club-sponsored genzines like CRY OF specifically as part of the Hugo Awards. When THE NAMELESS and SHANGRI L’AFFAIRES and the Best Fan Artist and Best Fan Writer Willick’s own title, PARSECTION. categories were added in 1967, half of Willick’s proposed awards became part of the This provides a particularly fannish official program. This was probably more perspective on events before and between the desirable than a wider slate of separate but 1961 and 1962 World Conventions in Seattle equal awards presented before or abaft of the and Chicago. Huett amply documents Hugo Award for Best Fanzine, which was fandom’s reaction to Willick’s ideas, which essentially what Willick’s Fan Achievement seemed to range from guarded ambivalence Awards were intended to be. to bemused skepticism. (There were exceptions; John Trimble claimed that there In Sometime Before the Beginning, Kim Huett were not enough words in English or summarizes his search for details on George Esperanto to express his enthusiasm for the Willick’s 1961-1962 campaign, a search awards.) inspired by his discovery of a copy of Willick’s Fan Achievement Award nominating ballot, Degler Country sent to as many as 1,000 fans in 1961. Fans Willick seemed to be torn by conflicting in 2021 seemed to have no knowledge of the impulses. He wanted to gather ideas (and 1961 ballot. The awards were never votes) from as many fans as possible, but presented, and they are not mentioned in any prone to unilateral announcements and was 2 suspected of manufacturing support for his the award? With no further details given, it plan. Because he appeared to operate in sounds like an answer offered by someone relative isolation in Southern Indiana and already responsible for casting the Hugo depended on correspondence for regular Awards and possessing no desire to add more contact with fandom, his demand to be heard work to his to-do list. in the debate over fan/pro egoboo struck While the award’s design was a clear no, some as eccentric. F. M. Busby even referred many people were intrigued by the idea of to him as “bucking for a starring role in the more awards for work by fans. So, Willick Second Coming of Degler,” a reference to the cheerfully abandoned the proposed design for notorious liar and small-time grifter Claude the award, and announced the recipients Degler, whose fanciful “Cosmic Circle” did so would receive a testimonial plaque instead. much to vex and amuse fans of the 1940s. He also announced that the Fan Achievement Willick reinforced this impression by Awards would also be known as the “Forrys,” announcing a Committee to supervise the in homage to the legendary Forrest J awards including Ben Jason, Len Moffatt and Ackerman. Predictably, Ackerman was willing Roy Tackett, who all quickly denied they had to give his blessing to this idea. Willick offered Willick anything beyond informal announced a slate of five awards to be advice. received at the 1962 Worldcon in a January, Willick intended for the physical award to be a 1962 press release, and a nominating ballot cast sculpture based on a Dave Prosser was distributed with issue #20 of AXE. drawing adapted from an Ed Emshwiller cover People continued to discuss the value of the for Infinity Science Fiction. The image of a proposed awards and Willick’s conduct in nude woman with outstretched arms and a promoting them as the weeks ticked by and dagger clutched in
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