Type Fifteen Fan
| From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959 |
| In a graphology article Joe Gilbert analyzed the chirographies of a number of well-known fans, and left it to the reader to guess which was which. Number 15 on the list was supposed to be a dangerous maniac that you shouldn't allow behind your back especially in a dark alley. Immediately each fan on the list of analyzees, and some others, leaped forward and identified #15 -- as himself. Finally Gilbert said that he'd known very little about graphanalysis at the time, and his sketch of #15 was all wet; there was merely a little mental quirk in that fan. But fandom wouldn't have it so. Speer finally found out from Tucker that #15 was Fortier. |
| From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944 |
| In a grafology article Joe Gilbert analyzed the chirografies of a number of well-known fans, and left it to the readers to guess which was which. Number 15 on the list was supposed to be a dangerous maniac that you shouldn't allow behind your back especially in a dark alley. Immediately each fan on the list of analyzees, and some others, leaped and claimed that #15 was he. Finally Gilbert said that he'd known very little about grafanalysis at the time, and his sketch of #15 was all wet; there was merely a little mental quirk in that fan. But fandom wouldn't have it so.
Courtesy Bob Tucker, Cy reveals for the first time that the actual Number 15 was Joe Fortier. |
The article in question has not been identified. Gilbert's "department" in The Southern Star, "The Handwriting on the Wall," analyzed named BNFs, two per issue. The introduction in #1, February 1941, says "even in fandom such articles as 'What Foos These Stfans Be' in the last issue of Fantasy Digest have served to create the wrong impression of handwriting analysis". Presumably this means the Summer 1940 issue, which is not available.
Mercury August 1941 (Vol. 2 Number 2) contains an article "There Is a Type 15 Fan!" (about how "Dale R. Francis, well-known Oakland fan" was mistaken for a store robbery perpetrator), followed by interlineation-like squib. "There is no truth to the rumor that Fortier is the type 15 fan -- ohyeah!!!" Similarly, Voice of the Imagi-Nation #17 from the same month in a Denvention con report describes (in simplifyd spelng):
it was suggested the assembled fans visit Joe Fortier in his rm, so to the 5th flr we elevatord (majority the fans were staked out on the 5th flr) & congregated around 40yr’s door. Knock! knock! & crys of "Get the rope ready, boys! Come out, Fortier; we know you’re in there! Get the Type 15 fan! Careful with that tar & feathers, fellows..." And Fan #8 opens up to meet his fate, meeting (most for the firstime) in one lump sum Kornbluth, Wollheim, Michel, Lowndes, Ackerman, Bronson & others.
In Who's Who in Fandom 1940, Gilbert noted "Has written for Ad Astra, etc. Other material scheduled for Fantasy Digest."
| Fanhistory | 1941— |
| This is a fanhistory page. Please add more detail. |
