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Fanfare, v. 2, issue 2, whole no.8, February 1942
Page 14
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Thud & Blunder By ritter conway This column will be mainly devoted to calling forth derision and calumny upon the heads of such fans and professionals in science-fiction as appear to deserve it. There will be no lack of material for some time. To all those whose feelings may be hurt, I apologize in advance, with reservations, and I invite rebuttals. And so to work: First on the agenda is one F. Orlin Tremaine - late editor of COMET magazine. F. Orlin, ou will remember, is the chap who publicly and in print offered $25 in cash and a silver medal to the fan who should overcome the greatest hardships in getting to the Devention last July, and who failed (a) to show up at Denver with our without prizes, (b) to appoint an alternate judge in his place, and (c) even so much as to send a letter or telegram to the Denvention committee advising that he would not be there as scheduled. Extenuating circumstances in the case are these: Up until nearly the time of the convention, Tremaine was hoping for a loan of some thousands of dollars wit which to buy ownership of his magazine, COMET, failing wich the publishers would (and did) drop it. If the loan had come through, he was planning to take a plane to Denver so as to be present on time. The loan didn't. Evidence which in my opinion outweighs this, is as follows: First, COMET was a badly-edited, badly printed, hastily thrown together book. It was not selling well, Tremaine, in his shaky position, had no right to make such an offer as the Denvention award, entailing as it did responsibilities which he might not be able to fulfill. Second, the award was not the sincere piece of philanthropy it may have appeared to some. It was a publicity gag, pure and simple. Instead of giving money to those who needed it most - the fans who wanted desperately to come to the Devention but were financially unable - Tremaine's offer encouraged numerous fans to make the trip on a shoestring, undergoing very real hardships in the hope that they would receive the prize. It stirred up hard feeling among the contestants for the award, and gave material aid - in going back, forsooth! - to only one fan. That $25, plus perhaps $5 which would have been spent on the medal, plus whatever amount was used in advertising the affair, split up among five or six attested worthy claimants, might have made all the difference between those fans' attendance and non-attendance.
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Thud & Blunder By ritter conway This column will be mainly devoted to calling forth derision and calumny upon the heads of such fans and professionals in science-fiction as appear to deserve it. There will be no lack of material for some time. To all those whose feelings may be hurt, I apologize in advance, with reservations, and I invite rebuttals. And so to work: First on the agenda is one F. Orlin Tremaine - late editor of COMET magazine. F. Orlin, ou will remember, is the chap who publicly and in print offered $25 in cash and a silver medal to the fan who should overcome the greatest hardships in getting to the Devention last July, and who failed (a) to show up at Denver with our without prizes, (b) to appoint an alternate judge in his place, and (c) even so much as to send a letter or telegram to the Denvention committee advising that he would not be there as scheduled. Extenuating circumstances in the case are these: Up until nearly the time of the convention, Tremaine was hoping for a loan of some thousands of dollars wit which to buy ownership of his magazine, COMET, failing wich the publishers would (and did) drop it. If the loan had come through, he was planning to take a plane to Denver so as to be present on time. The loan didn't. Evidence which in my opinion outweighs this, is as follows: First, COMET was a badly-edited, badly printed, hastily thrown together book. It was not selling well, Tremaine, in his shaky position, had no right to make such an offer as the Denvention award, entailing as it did responsibilities which he might not be able to fulfill. Second, the award was not the sincere piece of philanthropy it may have appeared to some. It was a publicity gag, pure and simple. Instead of giving money to those who needed it most - the fans who wanted desperately to come to the Devention but were financially unable - Tremaine's offer encouraged numerous fans to make the trip on a shoestring, undergoing very real hardships in the hope that they would receive the prize. It stirred up hard feeling among the contestants for the award, and gave material aid - in going back, forsooth! - to only one fan. That $25, plus perhaps $5 which would have been spent on the medal, plus whatever amount was used in advertising the affair, split up among five or six attested worthy claimants, might have made all the difference between those fans' attendance and non-attendance.
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