Events for 1983

     For 1983, I got married. We (my fiancée and I) wanted to pay for most of the wedding ourselves, at the same time, we didn’t want to go into debt over it. Therefore, we had a smaller wedding—around 50 people. At first, we looked at the local Episcopal church that we attended, but the cost was $$$$$, and a service of blessing there or getting married in the nearby Baptist and Methodist churches cost $$$$. Thus, we were left with our $$$ budget and hiring either a municipal judge (NJ has no Justice of the Peace, the municipal judge served that purpose in the Garden State.) or a non-denominational minister. We did find the latter, and he was connected with an organization that later became World Christian Ship Ministries. (Yes, we did check with the local borough hall in the town where was wedding was held to make sure he filed the correct paperwork.) We also saved money by marrying inside a gunning club that my brother belonged to, especially because he got a discount for being a member. It worked out much better having the ceremony and reception in the same place. We stayed in a local motel before heading for a few nights to the Poconos in PA, at a resort there.

     Despite money being a bit tight that year, we still managed to spend a day or weekend in NYC, Philly, DC, and within NJ, and we visited different places in Pennsylvania, starting with our Pocono honeymoon and into the rest of the year visiting different places in Eastern PA to Central PA. Overall, we visited museums, restored or reconstructed villages, farms, as well as theme parks, resorts, historical places, gardens, state parks, etc.

     As for science fiction conventions (SF cons), we only attended one for a day: a two-day Creation Con in the summer in Philadelphia at a Center City hotel. I think it was a Holiday Inn. It offered similar events to last year’s Creation Con: two main rooms—a dealers’ room with many comic-book dealers, and a main ballroom where different guests talked about subjects dealing with media--SF via talks, slide shows, and videos. Here, I learned the latest news about Star Trek (ST) and other SF TV shows and films, and at some talks, I learned about the creative process in making certain SF TV shows and films. At a makeup demonstration, I remembered somebody taking a volunteer from the audience and making him up to look like an alien. Then there was the main guest, Mark Lenard. (He most famously played Sarek, Spock’s Vulcan father, from ST, and in addition, Mark Lenard played a Romulan commander in an early episode from the 1960s ST series as well as a Klingon commander in ST: The Motion Picture.) He mainly talked about his acting career and mentioned meeting Jane Wyatt (who played Spock’s Human mother, Amanda) while in his Vulcan makeup. At that time, the makeup artists made him up to look much older. This procedure included adding gray streaks in his hair and wrinkles on his face—in addition to the Vulcan ears, eyebrows, and complexion. (Mark Lenard was only six years older than Leonard Nimoy.) Anyway, later in the day while he was in the parking lot at the studio, and out of his makeup, he saw Jane Wyatt and said something to her such as “I’ll see you later.” Jane Wyatt didn’t recognize him and maybe thought that he was getting fresh with her. Anyhow, the con overall, was quite similar to the one the Creation committee had in Philly last year.

     Finally, I had every intention of going to Philcon 1983, but that November weekend, I was sick with the flu. It was the only time, so far, that I ever missed a Philcon!  

Events For 1982

     I became engaged in 1982, therefore, I was trying to save some money, and one of the ways was to cut down on the science fiction conventions (SF cons). In addition, I also planned to go to London that year, and we moved from Collingswood, NJ, to another apartment in Lindenwold, NJ. Again, like in 1981, I did do the usual day and weekend trips to NYC, Philly, DC, and within NJ.

     Anyway, in August, I attended a Creation Con, in Philadelphia, at the Sheraton hotel on JFK Blvd. in Center City. The first thing I noticed was that this hotel started looking shabbier compared to when I was here for Philcon 1980 and ’81. The con was also a surprise to me. This was a professional con trying to make a profit—and I’m sure they did. Now there wasn’t anything wrong with that. Infact, a professional conference organizer ran the early Star Trek (ST) cons that I attended in the 1970s, and I had fun at them. At most professional cons they sell “tickets,” while fan-run cons sell “memberships.” With a ticket, it’s “let us entertain you,” but with a “membership,” the con committee encourages you to take an active part in the con activities—if you want. Most professional SF cons are usually media-SF cons. (However, there are some fan-run media-SF cons.) Philly Creation Con 1982 was a two-day professional media-SF con that had a few actors from ST as guests. I saw one of them the day I was there, Grace Lee Whitney (Yeoman Rand from ST’s first season and Lt. Rand, transporter operator in ST: The Motion Picture). She was her usual friendly and witty self as she talked about her acting career and her interests. Other guests who were not actors talked about TV and film production, ST trivia, and costuming. I don’t remember much else because the con mostly comprised two rooms: the main ballroom and the dealers’ room. Thus, I noticed that about three-quarters of the dealers sold reading materials, especially comic books. I mainly remember seeing some of my friends there and having lunch at a nearby restaurant with them. I mentioned that I’m looking forward to Philcon, and somebody nearby replied that he is with the Philcon Committee, and they lost the original con hotel. Because they only had a few months to find another hotel to fit Philcon’s budget and needs, they had to have the 1982 Philcon in January 1983, and they planned to call it Philcon 1982.1. As for my impression of Creation Con, it was an OK con for the average person to get an idea about SF cons, but “rough idea” would be a more accurate word. Afterward, that average person would do much better attending either a general-SF con like Philcon or a fan-run media-SF con like Shore Leave or both—then go on to the world science fiction convention (worldcon).

     My other big event happened in December when I spent a week in London. My fiancee traveled with me, and I re-visited some sights and saw some other sights for the first time. In addition to the major sights in the City section of London, Westminster, Bloomsbury, Kensington, Chelsea, Knightsbridge, Mayfair, and Windsor Castle outside of London, I also saw for the first time the Victoria & Albert Museum, Hampton Court Palace, Canterbury Cathedral and other places in Canterbury. I also went to a West End play, The Pirates of Penzance at the Drury Lane Theatre and some pubs. We both had such a good time that we told our friends, “The honeymoon went so well that we decided to get married.”

     Even though this event took place in January 1983, I’ll still count Philcon ’82.1 as a 1982 event. Like the last Philcon, the day I was there, this time at the Franklin Plaza hotel near the Ben Franklin Parkway, Center City, I visited the dealers’ room, art show, and con suite, as well as listening to some panels covering subjects from SF writing, art, and costuming to science. Again, I was starting to like general-SF cons over media-SF cons, especially more so than Creation Con!

Events for 1981

     In 1981, I felt more like an adult because I was no longer living with my parents. I had moved in with my boyfriend (who later became my husband), and we lived in an apartment in Collingswood, NJ.

     Other than local travels to New York City; Philadelphia; Washington, DC; and within NJ, we didn’t take any major trips, but I do remember three science fiction conventions (SF cons) that we attended that year:

     The first, Shore Leave, at Hunt Valley Inn, Hunt Valley, MD, in July, was the second three-day con that the Star Trek (ST) Association of Towson ran. Although, we only attended for two of the three days, I still enjoyed seeing a few ST episodes, buying a few items in the dealers’ room, looking at the art show, and hearing the guests of honor: Jesco Von Puttkamer, Bob Greenburger & Howie Weinstein. Then we saw the masquerade and socialized in the con suite. Overall, we had a good time. A local Baltimore TV reporter asked me a few questions about this con, and on the 11 p.m. news, I saw myself and other SF fans on TV.

     Then, I went to a SF con near Washington, DC: August Party, at the Key Bridge Hotel, in Virginia. This media-SF con was a ST con that the local ST club has run since 1975, but unlike the past NYC-ST cons, the con committee didn’t have actors for guests. Instead, they arranged for Gene Roddenberry to telephone collect to the con, and the con committee broadcasted it over the main auditorium. After Roddenberry gave the latest Trek news, the con committee interviewed him. This con, too, had the usual con rooms: dealers’ room, art show, and con suite, as well as a cinema showing ST episodes and SF films. They presented a masquerade, and had plenty on panels covering almost everything: news about ST, writing fanzines, costuming advice, some news about NASA, etc. I also appeared on the local TV here along with other SF fans. Similar to Baltimore, a reporter asked me a few questions about the con, and I saw myself on TV that night on the 11 p.m. news.

     For November, I went to my second Philcon, for a day. Like the year before, the con committee had it at the Sheraton Hotel on JFK Blvd., in Center City, Philadelphia. Unlike the other two cons, this general-SF con, as opposed to a media-SF con, catered to mainly literary SF fans. Therefore, the guests of honor were SF writers and SF artists instead of actors from SF TV shows and films. I visited the con suite, dealers’ room, art show, and listened to panels that covered subjects that ranged from writing, art, costuming, and so forth, to different sciences.

     After this, I started to realize that I was beginning to prefer general-SF cons to media-SF cons!