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Memoirs of a Superfluous Fan, 1944

Page 19

the part of members of science fiction fandom to attach a sociological significance to the hobby.

Through the fortunate contact with Hodgkins and the others I have mentioned. I had managed to learn enough that I did not make an ass of myself in the short-lived excitement. My career as a science fiction fan might have taken a different turn then, if another event of local importance had not occured in May 1938, just after I was on the way to precipitating myself into the arena of political discussion. The Squire-Lewis Secretaryship at last petered out. Squires resigned as an active member and officer, and Lewis, his unofficial aide-de-camp, concurred. 

When this vacancy occured, Hodgkins, acting under the authority of the constitution of the chapter, appointed me Secretary. This occured on May 8, and I was so elated at the prospects that whether the appointment was one of well-considered fore-thought over several prospects, or simply due to a dirth of material at the moment, I cannot yet decide. Both Brady and Bradbury were regular enthusiastic attenders at the time and would have been logical substitutes. This new responsibility naturally turned my interest in fan activities from the growing national field to those of the local chapter. For that reason, my position as a national fan has been rather derelicted, for the next five and a half years my standing was augmented only by THE DAMN THING of 1940-41, the two Fywert Kinge poetical pamphlets produced by Joquel, and occasional items in other magazines, mainly Bronson's FANTASITE. For the next three years after my appointment to the Secretaryship, my fan activities were devoted to recording in all their humerous phases the activities and exploits of members of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Science Fiction League and its later form, the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society. 

SINCE MANY OTHERS have not constrained themselves in praise of the Yerke minutes, I do not feel obtuse in making a few remarks about them myself. As a Secretary, I had absolutely no training whatsoever in the business world, nor in the proper form and method of writing minutes. Like my idol of the time, Van Loom, I wrote history as I thought it should be written, with emphasis on the personalities involved rather than the dull business proceedings in all their montonous glory. As I was then the Assistant editor of the School paper, and the author of a very popular column titled MOOZIK NOOZ, which was devoted to the doings of the Music Dept., though more often pregnant with the scandals of various orchestra and band members, I simply adopted my columnar tactics to the writing of the minutes, growing bolder and bolder as my familiarity with the task increased. The "task" listed in an unbroken stretch from May 8, 1938 to March 31, 1941, when the press of work made it impossible for me to give them their usual attention. Due to a very genuine dirth of material for the job in 1942, I was again appointed Secretary, which position lasted irregularly through 1943. 

Being in the position of club historian for this lengthy time, I saw many familiar faces come and go, many business machinations become repetitious , but above all, this protracted position gave me an insight into the nature of the club and its membership that is possessed by none of the other members. Ackerman and Morojo, the only other members of comparable seniority, have no ability to view the situation from a perspective, being to throughly wrapped up in the club itself. I watched the club change in purpose, membership, concept , and nature. Further, all this time, my mind was growing up, following the normal evolutionary course as I grew out of my 'teens into my twenties, The longer I held the job the more intereating it became to me... especially as I went to college and took up the study of abnormal psychology and sociological behaviour.

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the part of members of science fiction fandom to attach a sociological significance to the hobby. Through the fortunate contact with Hodgkins and the others I have mentioned. I had managed to learn enough that I did not make an ass of myself in the short-lived excitement. My career as a science fiction fan might have taken a different turn then, if another event of local importance had not occured in May 1938, just after I was on the way to precipitating myself into the arena of political discussion. The Squire-Lewis Secretaryship at last petered out. Squires resigned as an active member and officer, and Lewis, his unofficial aide-de-camp, concurred. When this vacancy occured, Hodgkins, acting under the authority of the constitution of the chapter, appointed me Secretary. This occured on May 8, and I was so elated at the prospects that whether the appointment was one of well-considered fore-thought over several prospects, or simply due to a dirth of material at the moment, I cannot yet decide. Both Brady and Bradbury were regular enthusiastic attenders at the time and would have been logical substitutes. This new responsibility naturally turned my interest in fan activities from the growing national field to those of the local chapter. For that reason, my position as a national fan has been rather derelicted, for the next five and a half years my standing was augmented only by THE DAMN THING of 1940-41, the two Fywert Kinge poetical pamphlets produced by Joquel, and occasional items in other magazines, mainly Bronson's FANTASITE. For the next three years after my appointment to the Secretaryship, my fan activities were devoted to recording in all their humerous phases the activities and exploits of members of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Science Fiction League and its later form, the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society. SINCE MANY OTHERS have not constrained themselves in praise of the Yerke minutes, I do not feel obtuse in making a few remarks about them myself. As a Secretary, I had absolutely no training whatsoever in the business world, nor in the proper form and method of writing minutes. Like my idol of the time, Van Loom, I wrote history as I thought it should be written, with emphasis on the personalities involved rather than the dull business proceedings in all their montonous glory. As I was then the Assistant editor of the School paper, and the author of a very popular column titled MOOZIK NOOZ, which was devoted to the doings of the Music Dept., though more often pregnant with the scandals of various orchestra and band members, I simply adopted my columnar tactics to the writing of the minutes, growing bolder and bolder as my familiarity with the task increased. The "task" listed in an unbroken stretch from May 8, 1938 to March 31, 1941, when the press of work made it impossible for me to give them their usual attention. Due to a very genuine dirth of material for the job in 1942, I was again appointed Secretary, which position lasted irregularly through 1943. Being in the position of club historian for this lengthy time, I saw many familiar faces come and go, many business machinations become repetitious , but above all, this protracted position gave me an insight into the nature of the club and its membership that is possessed by none of the other members. Ackerman and Morojo, the only other members of comparable seniority, have no ability to view the situation from a perspective, being to throughly wrapped up in the club itself. I watched the club change in purpose, membership, concept , and nature. Further, all this time, my mind was growing up, following the normal evolutionary course as I grew out of my 'teens into my twenties, The longer I held the job the more intereating it became to me... especially as I went to college and took up the study of abnormal psychology and sociological behaviour.