Published 7 May 1962 in the interests of the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund by Ron Ellik, 127 Bennett Avenue, Long Beach 3, Calif. Note, 1825 Greenfield Avenue, Los Angeles 25, Calif., is also a good address, but the Long Beach address is a permanent family home, and should be used for TAFF business.
This is being published immediately on my return to America from England and three hectic, unforgettable weeks of hyperfanac. I've been voted a member of the Liverpool Group, a Knight of St. Fantony, and the most airsick fan ever; the report on all these adventures will appear in Shangri-L'Affaires (5/$1 from Fred Patten, 222 S. Gramercy Pl, Los Angeles 4) and separately later this year (early orders at $1 each will be accepted by either TAFF administrator).
The purpose of this flyer is to alarm you to the TAFF deadline -- no ballots will be counted after Midnight, 31 May 1962. All Americans reading this have time to get their votes to me before this deadline to elect Eddie Jones or Ethel Lindsay to come to the 20th World SF Convention in Chicago this Labor Day; foreign fans are receiving this only for their information, as I'm sure they all voted before deadline.
To date, only eighty ballots have been received in America, and thirty in England. This small total, one hundred ten, represents less than one fifth of the estimated six hundred fans qualified to vote; the onlyway you can held your candidate get to Chicago is to send the enclosed TAFF form back to me just as soon as you receive this notice. Send it airmail -- it takes only three days from anywhere in America.
Eric Bentcliffe, the British administrator of TAFF, hosted me in Stockport before the Harrogate convention and one evening we talked out the future of TAFF with certain ideas in mind: (1) Building up fandom-wide interest in TAFF to a higher level; (2) urging more candidates to run, to avoid two-way splits in voting; and (3) to ensure that we don't over-schedule TAFF, which would have fans plagued eternally with requests for money and votes.
As you know, TAFF is trying to average one trans-Atlantic trip a year by having two trips one year, none in the following year. This has, until now, yielded eighteen months of campaigning for American candidates, and six months for British candidates. By re-scheduling the start and end of campaigns, we have built up a future calendar which will cut down vastly on the ill-feeling and tension due to overlong campaigns..
Immediately upon us is the close of the current British campaign, the end of this month; the winner of this campaign will travel to the Chicon III. He or she and I will give a brief talk at the opening of the convention, and as part of this talk we will open nominations for the next American candidate -- to travel to England in 64.
That's right -- no American TAFFman at the 63 British con, and no British TAFFman at the 63 American con; so far, everything is just as it was in the previous four campaigns. But, while we still have two candidates in one year, we are having only one campaign in each year, as you can see from this detailed calendar:
- 1 Sep 62, open nominations for American to British 1964 convention.
- 28 Feb 63, close nominations [ditto]
- 1 Mar 63, open voting [ditto]
- 30 Sep 63, close voting -- winner notified immediately that he is to travel to UK the following spring, giving him approximately six months to get passport, smallpox shots, etc. This is seven months voting time.
- 1 Sep 63, open nominations for British trip to American 196h convention.
- 30 Nov 63, close nominations [ditto]
- 1 Dec 63, open voting [ditto]
- 31 May 64; close voting -- winner notified immediately. This is six months voting time, and you should note (1) the voting in each case climaxes with the convent ion in the candidates' home country (2) there is effectively one campaign in 1963 and another in 1964, while both trips will be made in 1964.
This calendar will have a British representative at the 1964 World SF Convention to make the expected bid for a World Convention in London in l965, and in the event of this bid being successful, TAFF will be more than happy to schedule an American TAFF man to travel to London, as Bob Madle did in 1957.
As you can see from the following past-and-future calendar TAFF will then have come to ten trips in eleven years (excluding Willis and Hoffman).
- Sept 52: Walt Willis to Chicago (special non-TAFF fund from which TAFF evolved).
- Sept 55: Ken Bulmer to Cleveland (first TAFF trip).
- Apr 56: Lee Hoffman won TAFF, but travelled privately, declining the Fund.
- Sept 57: Bob Madle to London (first West-East trip).
- Sept 58: Ron Bennett to Los Angeles.
- Apr 60: Don Ford to England.
- Sept 60: Eric Bentcliffe to Pittsburgh.
- Apr 62: Ron Ellik to England.
- Sept 62: Jones or Lindsay to Chicago.
- Apr 64: American to England.
- Sept 64: British fan to America (possibly to nominate London).
- Sept 65: American to London World SF Convention.
With the co-operation of fandom in these campaigns, TAFF can become a continuous, dependable exchange of fans without being an eternal charity and an unending campaign for votes. Long, drawn-out campaigns are out of date, and we hope that candidates will step forward eagerly. TAFF should provide a straightforward selection of a popular candidate to cross the Atlantic -- it is wrongthink to consider each campaign a battle where one fan wins and everyone else loses ignominiously. TAFF is how fandom picks a hemisphere's representative, and this position should be sought after by everyone.
As always, both administrators are eager to hear suggestions for the improvement of the Fund, and welcome your questions and comments. And money.
The following TAFF reports are available through either administrator; once publications costs are met, all proceeds go to TAFF: FAKE FAN IN LONDON (Madle's report, $1.); COLONIAL EXCURSION (Bennett, $1.); TAFF BAEDEKER (Ford, $1.25); EPITAFF (Eric Bentcliffe, $1.). One check for $4.25 (or 30/6d sterling) will purchase them all.
from Ron Ellik
127 Bennett Avenue
Long Beach 3, CaliforniaPRINTED MATTER ONLY
RETURN NOT REQUESTED