Difference between revisions of "Supermancon"

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'''The SuperMancon''' was the 1954 [[Eastercon]], held June 5–6, 1954 (Whitsun weekend), at the Grosvenor Hotel in [[Manchester, UK]]. The [[GoH|guest of honour]] was [[John Russell Fearn]]. It was sponsored by the [[Nor'west Science Fantasy Club]].
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'''The SuperMancon''' was the 1954 [[Eastercon]], held June 5–6, 1954 (Whitsun weekend), at the Grosvenor Hotel in [[Manchester, UK]]. It was sponsored by the [[Nor'west Science Fantasy Club]].
  
 
The souvenir book uses the form 'SuperMancon' so that should probably be canonical but subsequently people have tended to use the form 'Supermancon'. It was the fifth convention in the [[Eastercon]] sequence, the first outside of [[London]] and the last to be held at Whitsun. It was also the second in the (loose) [[Mancon]] sequence. It had nothing to do with [[Superman]].
 
The souvenir book uses the form 'SuperMancon' so that should probably be canonical but subsequently people have tended to use the form 'Supermancon'. It was the fifth convention in the [[Eastercon]] sequence, the first outside of [[London]] and the last to be held at Whitsun. It was also the second in the (loose) [[Mancon]] sequence. It had nothing to do with [[Superman]].
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== Preparations ==  
 
== Preparations ==  
  
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It's unclear how exactly Manchester was selected as the venue for the 1954 convention. At the [[Eastercon-1952|1952 convention]], [[Dave Cohen]] had made a bid for 1953 using the name Supermancon. The Manchester fans were already planning an event for autumn 1952 to be called [[Mancon 1|Mancon]] and the Supermancon name was supposedly chosen to preempt the inevitable [[Walt Willis]] pun. However, that bid was easily defeated by what became the [[Coroncon]] although after the 1952 convention, [[Vince Clarke]], writing in the ''[[Science Fantasy News]]'' convention supplement, said 'There was a general feeling that Manchester, who were second in the voting, should have some sort of official backing next year [i.e. 1954] in any case'. The [[NWSFC]]'s ''[[Space Times]]'' #11 (dated May 1953 but published after Coroncon) certainly assumed that the next convention would be the Supermancon, but Walt Willis, writing in ''[[Peri]]'' #3 (April 1954) quotes a letter from [[Fred Brown]] suggesting London fans were prepared to run the 1954 convention but 'if another town decides on a Convention site in Whitsun, 1954, we shall probably drop the idea of a Loncon'.
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It's unclear how exactly Manchester was selected as the venue for the 1954 convention. At the [[Eastercon-1952|1952 convention]], [[Dave Cohen]] had made a bid for 1953 using the name Supermancon. The Manchester fans were already planning an event for autumn 1952 to be called [[Mancon 1|Mancon]] and the Supermancon name was supposedly chosen to preempt the inevitable [[Walt Willis]] pun. However, that bid was easily defeated by what became the [[Coroncon]]. [[Vince Clarke]] said subsequently, writing in the ''[[Science Fantasy News]]'' convention supplement, that in the aftermath of the vote 'There was a general feeling that Manchester, who were second in the voting, should have some sort of official backing next year [i.e. 1954] in any case'. The [[NWSFC]] were certainly promoting the Supermancon as early as ''[[Space Times]]'' #11 (dated May 1953 but published after Coroncon), but [[Walt Willis]], writing in ''[[Peri]]'' #3 (April 1954), quotes a letter from [[Fred Brown]] suggesting London fans were prepared to run the 1954 convention but 'if another town decides on a Convention site in Whitsun, 1954, we shall probably drop the idea of a Loncon'.
  
 
For whatever reason, the Supermancon became the 1954 convention. Memberships were 2/6. If any [[progress reports]] were issued they've not been traced. The convention was advertised in prozines and fanzines, notably ''Space Times''.
 
For whatever reason, the Supermancon became the 1954 convention. Memberships were 2/6. If any [[progress reports]] were issued they've not been traced. The convention was advertised in prozines and fanzines, notably ''Space Times''.
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== Venue ==
 
== Venue ==
  
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The Grosvenor Hotel occupied the corner of Deansgate and Victoria Bridge Street. The site now seems to be empty.
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The Grosvenor Hotel occupied the corner of Deansgate and Victoria Bridge Street in Manchester. The site now seems to be empty.
  
 
== Attendees ==
 
== Attendees ==

Revision as of 01:39, 29 October 2024

The SuperMancon was the 1954 Eastercon, held June 5–6, 1954 (Whitsun weekend), at the Grosvenor Hotel in Manchester, UK. It was sponsored by the Nor'west Science Fantasy Club.

The souvenir book uses the form 'SuperMancon' so that should probably be canonical but subsequently people have tended to use the form 'Supermancon'. It was the fifth convention in the Eastercon sequence, the first outside of London and the last to be held at Whitsun. It was also the second in the (loose) Mancon sequence. It had nothing to do with Superman.

Preparations[edit]

It's unclear how exactly Manchester was selected as the venue for the 1954 convention. At the 1952 convention, Dave Cohen had made a bid for 1953 using the name Supermancon. The Manchester fans were already planning an event for autumn 1952 to be called Mancon and the Supermancon name was supposedly chosen to preempt the inevitable Walt Willis pun. However, that bid was easily defeated by what became the Coroncon. Vin¢ Clarke said subsequently, writing in the Science Fantasy News convention supplement, that in the aftermath of the vote 'There was a general feeling that Manchester, who were second in the voting, should have some sort of official backing next year [i.e. 1954] in any case'. The NWSFC were certainly promoting the Supermancon as early as Space Times #11 (dated May 1953 but published after Coroncon), but Walt Willis, writing in Peri #3 (April 1954), quotes a letter from Fred Brown suggesting London fans were prepared to run the 1954 convention but 'if another town decides on a Convention site in Whitsun, 1954, we shall probably drop the idea of a Loncon'.

For whatever reason, the Supermancon became the 1954 convention. Memberships were 2/6. If any progress reports were issued they've not been traced. The convention was advertised in prozines and fanzines, notably Space Times.

One aspect of preparation, though, came from the London fans in the form of Operation Armageddon, 'A Plan To Brighten Up The Supermancon Without The Co-operation Of The Manchester Group'. Two bulletins were issued with ideas for disruptive acts, while a third, titled Operation Splash, was concerned with how the London contingent would complete the epic journey.

Venue[edit]

The Grosvenor Hotel occupied the corner of Deansgate and Victoria Bridge Street in Manchester. The site now seems to be empty.

Attendees[edit]

There are 133[1] members of the 'Supermancon Society' listed in the combozine. Some of these didn't attend and in a few cases never had any intention of doing so.

In the table below names marked (A) are known attendees, names marked (AN) are known attendees who are not on the membership list, and names marked (N) are members who are known to have not been present. The remainder may have attended. In many cases that's the limit of our knowledge about them and where this is the case there won't be a page for them until and unless we find out some more. Names to which this applies are in italics. Additionally names marked * are family members of attendees who likely weren't fans per se.

This list is a work in progress. Names below are being checked to see if they're here under variants.

  1. B. Almond
  2. Jim McArthur
  3. Norm Ashfield
  4. Mal Ashworth (A)
  5. Brian V. Avis
  6. Joe Ayres
  7. Peter Baillie (A)
  8. Alan Barclay (AN)
  9. Ron Bennett (A)
  10. Eric Bentcliffe (AN)
  11. Phil Best
  12. Sid Birchby
  13. Irene Boothroyd
  14. Syd Bounds (A)
  15. Robert Brandon
  16. John Brunner (A)
  17. Daphne Buckmaster (AN)
  18. Ron Buckmaster (AN)
  19. A. E. Bullock
  20. Ken Bulmer (A)
  21. Pam Bulmer (AN)
  22. Brian Burgess (AN)
  23. Phil J. Cakebread
  24. James Cameron
  25. Peter Campbell (A)
  26. John Carnell (A)
  27. Joan Carr (N)[2]
  28. George Charters (A)
  29. Vin¢ Clarke (A)
  30. Dave Cohen (AN)
  31. Dave Cohen (Australia)[3]
  32. L. J. Conway
  33. A. Cook
  34. Basil P. Coukis
  35. Denny Cowen
  36. E. Cox
  37. S. R. Dalton (A)
  38. Jack Darlington (A)
  39. Ron Deacon (A)
  40. Pat Doolan (AN)
  41. Charles Duncombe
  42. Mrs Duncombe *
  43. Dennis Egan
  44. Paul Enever (AN)
  45. Cyril Evans
  46. Frances Evans (A)
  47. Rory Faulkner
  48. John Russell Fearn (A)
  49. Reg Fieldhouse
  50. Margaret Finch (A)
  51. Cyril Fleisher (AN)
  52. Pete Fox
  53. A. Francis
  54. Dave Gardner (A)
  55. George Gibson
  56. Walter Gillings (A)
  57. Frances Glynn (AN)
  58. Joy Goodwin (A)
  59. Irene Gore (A)
  60. John Gregor
  61. John Gunn (A)
  62. John B. Hall
  63. Peter Hamilton (A)
  64. Paul Hammett (AN)
  65. Harry Hanlon (AN)
  66. Ernest Harmer
  67. C. A. Harper
  68. Chuck Harris (A)
  69. Bill Harrison (AN)
  70. Jerry Heydemann
  71. Lynn Hickman
  72. Arthur F. Hillman
  73. Mrs G. M. Hills
  74. Alf Hind (A)
  75. E. R. James (A)
  76. Jan Jansen
  77. Terry Jeeves (A)
  78. Leslie J. Johnson (AN)
  79. K. Johnstone
  80. Herbert Jones
  81. M. Kelly
  82. Colin Lane
  83. Al Lee
  84. Gene Lees (AN)
  85. Brian Lewis (A)
  86. Geoff Lewis (A)
  87. Ethel Lindsay (A)
  88. Nigel Lindsay
  89. Thomas L. MacDonald
  90. Connie Mackenzie (AN)
  91. Stuart Mackenzie (A)
  92. Shirley Marriott (A)
  93. Donald McCormick
  94. Ken McIntyre (A)
  95. Archie Mercer[4]
  96. Frank Milnes (A)
  97. Jim Mooney
  98. Eric Needham (A)
  99. Dave Newman (A)
  100. Stan Nuttall (AN)
  101. Bill Panter
  102. Colin Parsons
  103. Alistair Paterson (A)
  104. J. N. Phillips
  105. Derek Pickles
  106. Marjorie Pickles
  107. Ken Potter (A)
  108. Robert Presslie
  109. Bill Price
  110. Fred Price
  111. Jim Ratigan (AN)
  112. Peter Reaney (AN)
  113. George Richards
  114. Fred Robinson (A)
  115. John Roles (A)
  116. J. Michael Rosenblum (A)
  117. D. A. Rozier
  118. Sandy Sanderson (A)
  119. Bob Shaw (A)
  120. Sadie Shaw
  121. G. A. Shiel
  122. Ina Shorrock (A)
  123. Norman Shorrock (A)
  124. Dag Siggerud
  125. Frank Simpson (A)
  126. Ken Slater (N)
  127. Jack Smillie (A)
  128. Fred Smith (A)
  129. K. E. Smith
  130. Les Swinburne
  131. G. B. Tait
  132. Arthur H. Tavinder
  133. Pete Taylor (A)
  134. Stan Thomas[5] (A)
  135. Tony Thorne (A)
  136. A. Tomlinson
  137. Ted Tubb (AN)
  138. Harry Turner (A)
  139. Brian Varley (AN)
  140. M. Wallace[6]
  141. Norman Wansborough (A)
  142. Norman Weedall (AN)
  143. Betty White (AN)
  144. E. White[7]
  145. James White (A)
  146. Tom White (A)
  147. S. B. Whitehead
  148. A. Williams
  149. Taffy Williams
  150. Madeleine Willis (A)
  151. Walter A. Willis (A)
  152. Jack Wilson
  153. R. C. Wingfield
  154. Geoff Wingrove
  155. John A. Wiseman
  156. R. Yates
  157. Cathie Youden[8] (A)

It is worth noting that Bert Campbell didn't attend. He tried to go but his motorbike broke down on the way and he never arrived. Some fans were given to believe that 'Pat Mahaffey', sister of Bea Mahaffey, was at the convention although this was a hoax for which see Connie Mackenzie above. In his report for Hyphen #9 (July 1954) Chuck Harris mentions a 'Cathy Ouverton', a name that appears nowhere else and so seems likely a mishearing of Cathie Youden.

Notable first-time convention attendees include Ron Bennett and Ethel Lindsay.

The convention[edit]

Publications[edit]

The SuperMancon Combozine was produced for the convention. It includes special issues of Space Times, Alpha, Medway Journal, BEM, Orbit, Zenith, Brennschluss and Space Diversions as well as trail for the forthcoming Femizine and what purported to be an extract from the twentieth issue of Nirvana, a fanzine where subscriptions were by invitation only.

Future conventions[edit]

On the Sunday at a business session, Ted Tubb called for nominations for the 1955 convention and hearing none unilaterally decided it would be held in London and appointed Shirley Marriott to take memberships. It was only at some point after the convention that Denny Cowen volunteered himself and the Kettering Astronautics Society (or whatever they were called that week) to host the convention in Kettering.

A small detail is that after Supermancon the next Eastercon in Manchester was Mancon 5 in 1976, 22 years later (the intervening Thirdmancon and Chessmancon, while part of the Mancon sequence, were actually in Buxton and Chester respectively). After Mancon 5, the next Manchester Eastercon was Intuition in 1998, again a 22-year interval. Sadly, the organisers of Mancunicon in 2016 either couldn't count or had no sense of history – although had they stuck to the 22-year rotation plan then they'd have been at Easter 2020 which would have introduced a whole new level of complexity.

Links

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  1. ↑ Actually 135 but two appear to be duplicates.
  2. ↑ ... because she didn't exist.
  3. ↑ Oddly, the Dave Cohen on the membership list is an Australian and not the Dave Cohen who chaired the convention and who is not himself on the membership list.
  4. ↑ The membership list also includes A. Mercer who is presumably a duplicate.
  5. ↑ Listed twice on the membership list as S. Thomas.
  6. ↑ The assumption is that the 'M. Wallace' on the list is 'Mike Wallace'.
  7. ↑ The assumption is that this isn't Betty White as while Betty may be a diminutive for Elizabeth this person lived in Birmingham while the Whites lived in Bradford.
  8. ↑ Her name is given as 'Yonden' in the souvenir book.
Coroncon Eastercon Cytricon
Mancon Mancon Thirdmancon
1954
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