Tapera

A scientificombination of tape opera, introduced by LaSFaS.

See also: MaD Productions, Sonodiscs.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

Sort of a radio-type play, done on tape. In ancient days something of the sort was done on sonodiscs, but the Anglofen have been the most notable modern practitioners of the art. Milt Rothman took wire-recorded soap-opera parodies "Life Can Be Horrible" and "Who Goes Where?" to the Loncon in 1951, where the Englishers were much amused by them. At the Coroncon in '53 the London O produced "Whiskers" by Walt Willis (Walt hates public speaking and did this as his contribution to the con). The Liverpool SFS was struck by the idea and got him to do one for them, "Alien Arrives", which they presented at the 1954 Supermancon. They followed it by the "March of Slime" at Kettering in 1955, and the most famous and painstaking of all, "Last and First Fen", at the 1956 Cytricon.

Rob Hansen, after his researches on British fanhistory, believes that Fancyclopedia 2’s entry has significant errors. To start with, Hansen claims Rothman did not attend Festivention, the 1951 Loncon, nor were the parodies recorded in the US. Rothman wrote the plays, which were then adapted by Ted Carnell ("who had translated the more esoteric references into modern English S.F.ism") and performed by the London Circle who also wire-recorded them. It's noteworthy that the earliest plays staged at a UK con appear to have been Rothman's.

See Hansen’s Festivention report in Then and Then's summary of fannish plays and dramas at UK conventions for more.

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