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At Gilliland's, Jane Wagner presiding, Joe Mayhew acting secretary. The meeting was called to order at 9:12 PM. The minutes were approved as read. The treasury stood at $7,284.17.
COMMITTEES:
MEMBERSHIP: New members Brian Drury and Gene Olmsted.
ENTERTAINMENT: 58 people came to the Solstice Dinner.
CAPICON: There was discussion over whether we should get a specific contract or just a letter of agreement with the hotel - the sense of the club was for a letter of agreement.
OLD BUSINESS: The question was raised of progress on incorporation.
NEW BUSINESS: It was moved and seconded that WSFA take members to A Midsummer Night's Dream at Arena. The motion was defeated.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
(1) See Martin Wooster if you're interested in attending TomFoolery.
(2) A new branch of the Mythopoeic Society is forming - first meeting at Mary Morman's on January 30.
(3) Fundamentalists have already denounced Dungeons and Dragons. Now the U.S. Labor Party is calling it a dangerous conspiracy launched by British intelligence agent J. R. R. Tolkien and Nazi psychologist Carl Jung.
(4) Dan Joy says hi.
(5) The suggestion was made that WSFA set up a telephone network. This was deferred to a later meeting (when more people could be present).
(6) Lee had Melbourne in 85 material.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:32 PM.
At Oliver's, Rosa Oliver presiding. The meeting was called to order at 9:11 PM. The minutes were approved as read. The treasury stood at $7,303.24.
COMMITTEES:
CAPICON: 2 maids will be on duty from 11 AM to 5 PM for our rooms (sleep in!). The Jacuzzi will be open 24 hours - late night skinnydipping is OK as long as the manager doesn't know about it. There are 2,250 gallons of water in the Jacuzzi. Possible hotel for 1983: the Columbia Hilton with $48 flat rate.
ENTERTAINMENT: A lot of snow and bad jokes about plane crashes.
OLD BUSINESS: none.
NEW BUSINESS: even less.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
(1) The Writers' Center has a science fiction workshop.
(2) There will be a V.D. party at Smof Central February 13.
(3) Lee had DUFF ballots.
(4) Bev was selling Disclave memberships.
(5) The 1927 film Napoleon will be at the Kennedy Center in February.
(6) Round-to-Robin #15 was in the typewriter. This time next year, they should be home.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:26 PM.
The WSFA Journal is the avoirdupois publication of the Washington Science Fiction Society. Editor-in-Chief: Jane Wagner, 1000 6th St. SW #312, Washington, DC 20024 (202-554-2730). Assistant Editor: Joe Mayhew.
(Round #2 in WSFA's inglorious past.)
The first Disclave was a one-day con at Washington's Wardman Park hotel featuring Willy Ley, Seabury Quinn, and 75 people (May 1, 1950). The second Disclave drew only 23 people to the Statler Hotel to meet guests Sam Moskowitz, Seabury Quinn, and Art Happ. This convention was such a success that they didn't feel another was needed far two years. Then the infamous "Proxyclave" (Disclave III, March 22, 1953) was the last con far another five years. (None of the guests actually attended Disclave III - papers submitted by them were read to the 22 attendees.)
Disclave IV was chaired by "Dictator" Bob Pavlat. There were no speeches, no banquet, no Guest of Honor, and no registration fee. Rooms were only $7 (my, how times change). The next Disclave was to be the springboard for WSFA's 1960 Worldcon bid, CAPICON 60 (which, as you know, is finally being held in February 1982).
WSFA did finally win a Worldcon (DISCON I, 1963), and all the grown-ups were busy working on it. Some of the younger members got together to run a 1963 Disclave anyway; this was stymied when it developed that no one on the committee was 21 and thus no one could sign a hotel contract.
Everybody was too beat after DISCON, and there was no 1964 Disclave (Warning to Constellation?!). The 1965 Disclave drew 82 people to the HoJo's in Wheaton. Joe Haldeman and Gay Potter announced their engagement. The 1966 Disclave saw the imposition (?) of a $1 registration fee! Jay Haldeman retains fuzzy memories of the parties at this con. Roger Zelazny was Guest of Honor.
Jack Gaughan was Guest of Honor in 1967, and Silverbob (aka Robert Silverberg) GOHed in 1968. Lester Del Rey made it to the 1969 Disclave as Guest of Honor, and Will Jenkins (aka Murray Leinster) was featured at the 1970 con. '71 welcomed Terry Carr.
Disclave had been wearing out its welcome at quite a few local hotels up to this time, but the 1972 Disclave found a home at the Sheraton Park Hotel, and Disclave stubbornly stayed until they tore the hotel down around our bheer-soaked heads in 1979. 1980 found a displaced Disclave under assault by the SWAT team at the Hostility House, but Spider and Jeanne Robinson helped most fen ignore the hotel. 1981 was the 25th Disclave, held at the Sheraton National (where we'll be in 1982). Now, how do we top all this?
(Above extracted from an article by Joe Mayhew in the 1980 Disclave Program Book.)
SHOO-FLY PIE IN THE FACE by Joe Mayhew
The pleasure of throwing a pie into the face of Kevin Duane, fandom's unsinkable ass, was auctioned off at Hexacon this year. The pie was as close to an actual lynching as the Pennsylvania Dutch laws would allow, and the fen were out for as much blood as they could get.
The execution was set for the Program Room, a sort of "scene of the crime," since programming was one of the too-many things Kevin had messed with at the con. The scene was reminiscent of the hysterical Jacobin days of the French Revolution. A mob of volunteer auctioneers were delivering their harangues to the irate citizens of Hexacon, more or less at the same time. They were trying to raise money to make up for one of Kevin's colossal gaffes.
Kevin had organized a "Kelly Freas Roast" at a local family-style Pennsylvania Dutch restaurant. However, when he figured up the cost, he did not include tips for the waitresses. The con thus needed to raise about $100 real fast. The idea of the pie came from the banquet, when a vengeful soul tried to push one into Kevin's face. Kevin pretended he would cooperate, but at the last moment he dodged, and the pie spattered onto Phil Foglio's dude suit (silk ribbon trousers, dinner jacket, ruffled shirt), leaving Phil looking like a sugar frosted flake.
Kevin was supposed to have consented to the pie auction, but was nowhere to be found. Many thought he had fled, but at the last possible moment he made his appearance. He allowed a fem-fan to draw a target onto his shirt, had his hands bound behind his back, put a cigarette into his mouth, and gradually managed to turn the situation completely around: Kevin became the star, not the victim. The hotel was most cooperative in supplying tablecloths, etc. to build the firing squad's wall, since it had had frequent contact with Kevin before the con - to its distress.
Kevin was in his glory. He had meddled in everything at the con to the point of agony, had bungled all of the too-many jobs he had taken upon himself, and had united the con in one solemn bond of disgust, but here he was, gaining the fans' undivided attention and directing his own execution. Gary Gilmore turned over in his grave in envy. When Kevin had finally milked the event of all it was worth, he made himself ready. When the pie was finally pushed into his beaming face, it was only a pathetic anticlimax: Kevin had already won.
HORRIDCON by Jane Wagner
Although 1982 has just begun, it will be hard to top Hexacon for Worst Con of the Year. I went hoping for a nice small semi-relaxacon; I got a nursery school. No matter where I went, I found myself on the edge of (and sometimes in the middle of) a loud fight between members of the alleged con committee. (I was surprised to find them appearing in public.) Anything that got done had a good deal of volunteer help, because anything run by the people theoretically in charge was royally screwed up. Dealers got shafted, programming was a nightmare, and the hotel was a disaster (I really don't think much of having to go outside to reach your room on a very cold weekend). The only good things about the weekend were the film program, some stuff in the art show, and some parties. While all these are necessary for a good con, the other, equally vital ingredients were abysmally absent.
TO GET TO CAPICON 60: First, get a time machine. Aim it toward the Baltimore Beltway (I-695). Take the beltway to US Rt. 40 (on the west side). HoJo's is one-quarter of a mile EAST (toward Baltimore) on Rt. 40.
CAPICON 60, the 1960 Worldcon, features Seabury Quinn as Guest of Honor, Ron Ellik as Fan GOH, Procter Silex as Toastmaster (electrifying!), and Walt Kelly as Artist GOH. Who says WSFA dwells in the past?
[Map coming soon]