Bennett Sims
(February 3, 1933 – March 3, 2002)
Bennett Byron Sims, a Detroit fan active in the 1940s and ’50s, was a member, and president, of the Misfits.
In 1951, as reported in Odd 12, p. 52, Misfit Ben Singer, an unmitigated prankster, sent Norm Kossuth, another member, an unsigned threatening letter. Kossuth promptly took the letter to the FBI. About three months later, Singer admitted that it was he who had sent the letter. Kossuth replied, "You’ll be having visitors soon!" and reported it to the feds.
They questioned Singer, who told them he belonged to the Misfits and that many of the members were Communists. This caused Bennett Sims to be investigated, too. Sims was so disgusted he resigned the club presidency.
Hal Shapiro reported in TLMA 6 (October 1952, p. 6) that Sims set off a bunch of firecrackers at Midwestcon 3, which didn’t improve poor hotel relations with Beatley's: “Being a Detroiter myself, I hate to say it, but the Michigan Science Fantasy Society has got two fuggheads, Bennet Sims and Riva Similanski.”
He was a cousin of Roger Sims’. By the late 1950s, Bennett produced comedy acts and brought Lenny Bruce to Detroit in 1959. He eventually moved to New York City, where he died in 2002.
| Person | 1933—2002 |
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