The Immortal Storm

Isaac Asimov joined the Futurians in 1938. But the first fanclub had started in 1935...and the history of first fandom from 1935 to 1938 is told in Sam Moskowitz's book The Immortal Storm.

Isaac Asimov writes about his joining the Futurians in his autobiography, In Memory Yet Green.

For nine years I had been reading science fiction...I knew there were other readers, because I read their letters in the magazines, but I knew no other readers personally.

What I did not know was that here and there, groups of science-fiction readers were forming clubs of one sort or another snd even publishing little periodically (usually on primitive mimeograph devices) called "fan magazines" or "fanzines" for short. ...

Then, on August 2, 1938, I received a postcard from Jack Rubinson, who had been at Boys High with me and who had been in my graduating class. He too was a science-fiction reader. He had read my letter in Astounding, and he wanted to begin a correspondence.

I was willing, and on September 6, 1938, he sent me a large envelope containing the first fanzines I ever saw. My judgement, according to my diary, was that they were "fairly interesting."

...

On September 12 came the next step. I received a card from Rubinson telling me of the club he belonged to - the Greater New York Science Fiction Club, which met periodically in Queens.

...

I got my invitation to attend a meeting. The invitation arrived on September 15, 1938, but in between something had happened at that club that I knew nothing of. Let me explain.

[We'll continue this on Sept 27, 2010 - it'll introduce William Sykora, Sam Moskowitz, et al.]

_______________
Subscribe to our other blogs on Kindle:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
Rush Limbaugh Report

Asimov and the Futurians pt 14

Damon Knight, in his book, The Futurians, next mentions Asimov on pg 37.

At the meeting of March 26, 1939, the minutes show that a visitor, Robert G. Thompson, was commissioned to make an offer of unity to the Queens Science Fiction League, with a joint meeting of the two clubs to be held at a time and place of the QSFL's choosing. At the same meeting, Pohl discussed his plans for an organization called the Futurian Federation of the World, and Asimov offered to pay dues of 25 cents every time he sold a story.

At the April 9 meeting, Kornbluth reported that he had attended the latest QSFL meeting and in Thompson's absence had made the unity offer, which had been rejected without discussion by the director, James V. Taurasi. The Futurians were indignant about this, and voted to censure the three leaders of the QSFL, [William] Sykora, [Sam Moskowitz] and Taurasi.

At this meeting a question was asked about the club's attitude toward the forthcoming World Science Fiction Convention in New York. Wollheim took the chair to reply, "outlining the underhanded and dishonest actions of William Sykora in this regard as well as the dishonorable acts of the editors of the professional magazines." He went on to say that the club had no official attitude toward the convention, and that Wollheim's original committee had withdrawn uin order to avoid damaging fandom by holding two conflicting conventions.

_______________
Subscribe to our other blogs on Kindle:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure HuntersRush Limbaugh Report

Asimov and the Futurians, pt 12

The Futurians met again on December 26, 1938. Apparently it was discovered at the last moment that the meeting room at 182 Bergen Street was not available. Asimov wrote in his diary:

The meeting there did not materialize, and we all trooped over to Michel's house. It's a nice one, and I had simply a devil of a time. I smoked two cigarettes. * Doc Lowndes came over. He's here for Christmas. There was the largest gathering of the year, I think, about fifteen to twenty, of which several I had never seen before, including two girls. They raided the icebox, and I cleaned out a nut dish.

This aparently marks the first appearance of women in the Futurian Society - probably Doris Baumgardt and her friend Rosalind Cohen. Pohl remembers that the Futurian Society was the first fan organization he knew of that had any women at all in it, but the proportion was never large. Wollheim says that years later, whenever he and his wife Elsie were in a restaurant and saw a large party with only one or two women in it, they'd tell each other, "There's a typical Futurian bunch."

*Reading this passage to me [Damon Knight] in 1975, Asimov said, "Good lord! I would have offered myself up to slow torture as a guarantee that I had never smoked a cigarette. Gee, that's a shocking thing. There's such a thiung as going too far in a diary."

Asimov and the Futurians pt 7

According to Damon Knight in The Futurians:

The Futurians were apparently not much impressed by Asimov at this time. Pohl remembers him as small, skinny and pimpled, and says that his conversation did not sparkle; he seemed to have absorned a lot of information without thinking much about it. Wollheim says that later on, when he came to visit the Futurians, he often had to be ejected because he was noisy.

"After about half an hour we couldn't take him. Diry [Harry Dockweiler] and myself, or Dick Wilson and Bob Lowndes would simply take him and heave him through the door. We couldn't stand him, you know. You can't really offend Ike, he always came back.*

Knight then said in a footnote:

Asimov does not remember this, and thinks it is not the sort of thing he would be likely to forget. He does remember a time when he brought his sister Minnie over and the Futurians, for a joke, pulled her inside and closed the door, leaving Asimov in the hall. "I got very panicky," he told me. "I had some vague notion that they might do something to her, and I'd never be able to explain it to my parents. And I remember banging at the door very hard, and finally they let me in."

Asimov on the Futurians, pt 6

According to Damon Knight, in his book The Futurians (1977):

The club's account book lists the following as charter members:

John B. Michel
Donald A Wollheim
Rudolph Castown
Robert W Lowndes
Frederik Pohl
Jack Rubinson
Walter Kubilis
Jack Gillespie
Isaac Asimov
Cyril Kornbluth
Herbert Levantman

All but the last two paid their application fee, 25 cents, "in full."

Dues were 25 cents a month for employed members, 10 cents for unemployed. In 1938 and early 1939, only Michel, Kubilis and Wilson were employed. [Surely, Asimov was employed also, at his parent's candy store!]

At the beginning of October, the club treasury showed a balance of $1.50.

On October 2, after recording that "Papa has a tooth ache," Asimov wrote:

I went off to the second meeting of the Futurians. I think there was only one person missing from last week. I had even more fun than last time, and we discussed, argued and objected for about two hours, with the features being the discussion of the three science fiction magazines. Then we all started playing ping pong. Lowndes and I teamed up and played doubles matches, and more than held our own with the rest, winning about four and losing three. After initial awkwardness I performed amazingly, considering that I had not held a racquet in almost two years.

Asimov and the Futurians pt 5

On September 18, 1938, Asimov wrote in his diary:

I attended the first meeting of the Futurians, and boy, did I have a good time. Attending likewise were such famous fans as Don A. Wollman (sic), John Michel, Frederik Pohl, Doc Lowndes. Dick Wilson was also there, but did not join the club as he is not a socially minded fan. Jack Rubinson was also there, aaltogether there were twelve, including Wildon and myself. We enjoyed a three-hour session of strict parliamentary discipline,- you know, motions and amendments, and votes and objections etc. Next time we will proceed to business of speeches, debate, etc. Dues are 10 cents a month, with a 25 cent initiation fee, which I paid, of course. I also spent a nickel on a chance, but I lost.

They held the meeting in a sort of hall which is also a Communist Party headquarters at other times. We have an organ which is called the Science Fiction Advance, and comes out once every two months. It was put out by another club previously [the CPASF], which has now broken up, and I have the first two copies. I intend to write for [the magazine], but hesitate to put my name to violently radical and probably atheistical articles, so I am wondering if they will allow me to write under a pseudonym.

After the meeting we all went down to an ice cream parlor where they bought $1.90 worth of sodas, banana splits and sandwiches. I didn't get anything thugh. There I had an uproarious time with Wollheim [sic, and the correct spelling], who has taken a liking to me.

Asimov on The Futurians Pt 4

On September 15, 1938, Asimov wrote in his diary:

I received a postcar this morning from a Frederik Pohl, who informs me that Jack Rubsinson asked him to invite me to a meeting of the Futurians at 730 Nostrand, next Sunday at 2 pm. .. I have decided to consent and accept the invitation, after having consulted with Mama and received her OK, and immediately sent off a postcard to that effect. If the meeting turns out to be very interesting I'll join up.

Asimov on The Futurians, pt 3

Pg 26 of The Futurians, by Damon Kinight.

On September 6, 1938, a Tuesday, described as clear and cool, Asimov wrote:

When the mailman arrived this morning he bore with him a thick envelope which I felt sure was Thrilling Wonder semding me my story back; however it turned out only a letter from Jack Rubinson; it was so heavy he had to spend four cents mailing it.

Rubinson (later Robins) was a science fiction fan who had belonged to the ISA [International Scientific Association] and who remained in the Futirians orbit for a few years. He was heavy and slow, and frequently opened conversations by asking, "Is it true that...?"

...He had enclosed three copies of a page-long fan magazine. They were fairly interesting. He also gave me a few other fanmags I might obtain; also an offer to start a correspondence with an English fellow. I sent back a 4-and-a-half page answer.

To be continued

Asimov in The Futurians, pt 1

Science fiction author ("To Serve Man") and critic Damon Knight wrote a book about The Futurians, a science fiction fanclub in the early 1940s, part of First Fandom, of which Isaac Asimov was a part.

I'll share here some of the things Knight has to share about Asimov.

pg 25

Isaac Asimov was born in 1920 in Petrovichi, Russia. He was brought to this country by his parents three years later and became a naturalized citizen in 1928. The Asimovs owned a candy store in Brooklyn where the whole family labored. From early childhood Asimov learned to eat quickly so that he could get back to the store and somebody else could come home. To this day he has not been able to break the habit, and in any dinner gathering he is always the first to finish.

This is the beginning of Chapter 2 of the book The Futurians, in which Knight describes its formation, with the help of Asimov's recollections as he was present at the first meeting.

Members of the Futurians included:
Donald Wollheim
John B. Michel
Frederik Pohl
Robert Lowndes
Cyril Kornbluth
Richard Wilson
Doris Baumgardt
Rosalind Cohen
Harry Dockweiler (Dirk Wylie)
James Blish