St. Louiscon Movie Screen Affair
During the masquerade at St. Louiscon someone managed to find a seam in the big movie screen that was being used as a backdrop and fall against it, ripping the seam. The klutz was likely Rick Norwood (though some remember Lester Boutillier). It was estimated that there was $1500 worth of damage to the screen (which was a very substantial chunk of the convention's budget. (Worldcons were a lot cheaper then!)
Harlan Ellison, the toastmaster, reprising the Midwestcon Door Incident, suggested that everyone each chip in a dollar — with 1,600 fans at the con, that would be enough. In fact, more money was contributed than needed (especially when it was discovered that the cost was far less than thought). That left the issue of disposing of the extra money.
At the Business Meeting (in those days the BM was a regular program item in the single track of program, and large numbers of members attended) Ellison suggested that the cash be donated to the very new Clarion Writers Workshop and was an eloquent advocate for this cause. Many people liked this, but many didn't. That was when Elliot Shorter, a huckster, a New Yorker, and a very, very tall, imposing man whose bulk rose more than a full foot over Harlan as he stood up, said, "Now, wait just one goll-darned minute, Harlan."
Shorter quite reasonably pointed out that fans had contributed their dollars to fix the screen, not to support Clarion, and it wouldn't be fair to simply take the excess for one pet project. After some debate, it was finally decided to use the extra money to establish a Worldcon Emergency Fund, with Honest Joe Hensley as custodian, for things like emergency screen repair and the like.
Peace was restored.
See Diamondvision for another big-screen Worldcon kerfuffle.
| Fanhistory | 1969 |
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