Christmas Card

Fancyclopedia 2 and Joe Siclari

The most fannish of those circulated in our microcosm is Walt Willis' annual Xmas Card, which takes the form of a short pun-filled 4x5 fanzine, sort of an Official Organ for WAW's More Reading On Christmas Cards Movement.

We should also mention John Roles' edible Xmas Card, YUM. The crew at INCINERATIONS published a slightly blasphemous one, with reproductions of the Mona Lisa, Last Supper, and Madonna and Child indelicately retouched, which got the Post Office after them.

The most significant historically was the one received by Will Sykora, in 1939, when he was at feud with the Futurians. It was a card with a slit in it thru which was thrust one of the fingers of a rubber glove, with the legend: "To help you make merry Christmas Eve, here's something else to screw your friends with". He assumed this to be a Futurian joke, and sicced the Postal Authorities on them for transmission of such stuff thru the mails. Despite the offer of a reward for information, neither Sykora nor the Post Office was able to find any evidence against the FSNY.

In later years, fans have published their own cards more and more frequently, as the economics of doing so became less of a problem. Photo-cards (of cats, fans, Masquerade Costumes, flowers, or what-have-you), cartoons (in mimeo, ditto, offset, xerography, or even letterpress) and Annual Newsletters have proliferated. Wm. Rotsler, whose Naked Lady cards have been widely sought after, has commented that cards with NO originality by the sender (i.e., those bought off the rack) are not worth receiving, since it is so easy to be original now.

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

In 1939 Will Sykora received a card carrying an insulting looking object and saying "To help you make merry Christmas Eve", and other things. It appeared to be a Futurian joke, and for transmission of such materials thru the mails, Sykora put the postal authorities on the trail and offered a reward for information, but was never able to prove anything.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

The most fannish of those circulated in our microcosm is Walt Willis' annual Xmas Card, which takes the form of a short pun-filled 4x5 fanzine, sort of an Official Organ for WAW's More Reading On Christmas Cards Movement. We should also mention John Roles' __edible__ Xmas Card, YUM. The crew at INCINERATIONS published a slightly blasphemous one, with reproductions of the Mona Lisa, Last Supper, and Madonna and Child indelicately retouched, which got the Post Office after them. But the most significant historically was the one received by Will Sykora, in 1939, when he was at feud with the Futurians. It was a card with a slit in it thru which was thrust one of the fingers of a rubber glove, with the legend: "To help you make merry Christmas Eve, here's something else to screw your friends with". He assumed this to be a Futurian joke, and sicced the Postal Authorities on them for transmission of such stuff thru the mails. Despite the offer of a reward for information, neither Sykora nor the Post Office was able to find any evidence against the FSNY.