Nycon

Nycon Program Book heading by Frank R. Paul, courtesy of Thrilling Wonder Stories.

Cardboard placard displayed in New York City just before Nycon. Printed by Conrad H. Ruppert, a 1930s fan noted for the excellence of his publications.

The first Worldcon was held Sunday, July 2 – Tuesday, July 4, 1939, at Caravan Hall in New York. GoH: Frank R. Paul. Chairman: Sam Moskowitz.

The organizers of the 1939 Worldcon simply called it the "World Science Fiction Convention." It was subsequently called "Nycon" (a nickname Forry Ackerman claimed to have coined) and "The 1939 Worldcon." "Fifth Eastern" was tagged on it by detractors. About 200 fans attended.

The convention was controlled by a so-called 'Ruling Triumvirate' of Moskowitz, William S. Sykora and James V. Taurasi. In the Exclusion Act (which see), they kept some Futurians from attending after a long history of feuding between their club and the concom, exacerbated when Dave Kyle (who wasn’t banned) anonymously created A Warning!, a somewhat incendiary pamflet. He had hidden the copies, but the Triumvirs found it.

One event held at the First Worldcon did not become a Tradition, as it was repeated only at the Chicon: the Softball Game.

NYCon did not select a site for the next Worldcon — it had not occurred to the NYCon committee that it could possibly be an annual event. But fandom loved it, and a few months later, at Philcon 1939, the fans present voted to hold another Worldcon in 1940 in Chicago. See 1940 Worldcon Site Selection.

The convention drew disdainful coverage from Time magazine, whose uncredited reporter called the teenaged fen the “jitterbugs of the pulp magazine field,” and made “goshwowoboyoboy” a fannish catchphrase.

See also New York Worldcons and Early Conventions.

Members

Fans took the opportunity to visit Coney Island, where this foto-op took place. Front, from left: Mark Reinsberg, Jack Agnew, Ross Rocklynne. Rear: Vincent Kidwell, Robert A. Madle, Erle Korshak, Ray Bradbury, July 4, 1939. Courtesy of Robert Madle.

It is difficult these days when there are fans of all ages to appreciate how young fandom was in 1939. Here is a table of ages of major figures during the First Worldcon:

Nycon 1 had a list of members, but it was neither accurate nor complete. Not accurate, because many people signed up with pseudonyms -- in some cases more than one. Not complete in that an estimated 50 people didn't sign in at all! (The $1 membership fee, while not insignificant to those poverty-stricken young people, was not a major source of convention income, so there was little attempt to get everyone to pay.)

This list was published in Julius Unger's Fantasy Fiction Field Nycon Review (June 1942; see online). New Fandom 6 (January 1940, p. 10) also contained a partial list. We have added names for which there is evidence of their attendance.

1. Charles D. Hornig
2. Harl Vincent
3. Nelson S. Bond
4. L. A. Eschbach
5. R. D. Swisher
6. Otto Binder
7. Jack Williamson
8. Ross Rocklynne
9. John D. Clark, PH.D
10. Manly Wade Wellman
11. Edmond Hamilton
12. Ray Cummings
13. Charles Schneeman
14. Frank R. Paul
15. Leo Marguiles
16. Mort Weisinger
17. Isaac Asimov
18. Milton A. Rothman (Lee Gregor)
19. Malcolm Jameson
20. John Victor Peterson
21. Kenneth Sterling
22. John W. Campbell, Jr.
23. L. Sprague de Camp
24. David C. Cooke
25. Charles F. Ksanada
26. Norman L. Knight
27. Robert A. Young
28. David V. Reed
29. Ruroy Sibly
30. A. S. Johnston
31. F. E. Hardart
32. Julius Schwartz
33. John Giunta
34. Sam Moskowitz
35. James V. Taurasi
36. David A. Kyle
37. Carl Rachlin
38. William S. Sykora
39. Jack Speer
40. Mario Racic, Jr.
41. Raymond Van Houten
42. Bill Mosher
43. N. Gilbert Dancy
44. Henry Lemaire
45. Oswald Train
46. Ray Bradbury
47. Betty Cummings
48. Francis J. Moroff
49. Joseph Lipton
50. Myrtle R. Douglas
51. Forrest J Ackerman
52. Paul W. Poulson
53. Eugene Sander
54. Norman Spector
55. Alphonse Grimminger
56. Charles Eastabrooks
57. Jerome Seigel
58. Sidney Levine
59. A. J. Murphy
60. Marvin Weingold
61. Irving Frankel
62. Sol Knegov
63. Albert Roger
64. Vida Jameson
65. Mark Reinsberg
66. Israel Krenzel
67. A. W. Lincoff
68. Scott Feldman
69. John V. Baltadonis
70. Walter Sullivan
71. Gertrude Kuslan
72. David Verne
73. Louis Kuslan
74. John A. Mellerner
75. George Weinstein
76. D. De Pass
77. Frederick Morgan
78. Hyman Tiger
79. Dale Hart
80. Julius Pohl
81. Richard Ogden
82. Abe Oshinsky
83. Robert A. Madle
84. Jack Agnew
85. John Rubinson
86. Julius Unger
87. Beatrice Unger
88. Franklin Janson
89. Robert Studley
90. Anna Krenzel
91. A. L. Selikowitz
92. Leslie Perri
93. Allen R. Charpentier
94. Richard Wilson
95. Edward Weisinger
96. Conrad H. Ruppert
97. Pearl Moskowitz
98. Morris Moskowitz
99. Harry Moskowitz
100. Wilber J. Widmer
101. Herbert Schaefer
102. Jeannette Reol
103. Herb Goudket
104. William H. Dellenback
105. J. Lacker
106. Jack Darrow
107. Julius Pohl, Jr.
108. Joe Kucera
109. Robert A. McCarthy
110. L. H. J. Ubuear
111. Bernice Keller
112. Millie Taurasi
113. Frances Sykora
114. Frances Alberti
115. Rose Alberti
116. Margaret Skiffington
117. Bill Stockton
118. Leonard Levy
119. William Smith
120. Robert G. Thompson
121. Ann Racic
122. Carmen Maris
123. Mr. & Mrs. M. Racic
124. Mr. & Mrs. C. Sykora
125. Mr. & Mrs. D. Alberti
126. Murray Theaman
127. Langley Searles
128. Leonard Myers
129. Isadore Flauenbaum
130. Arthur Young
131. Arthur Ford
132. Betty Keat
133. Ruth Cuher
134. Frances N. Swisher
135. Mrs. J. W. Campbell, Jr.
136. Mr. & Mrs. Insana
137. Mrs. Frank R. Paul
138. Joan Paul
139. Patricia Ann Paul
140. Leon Burg
141. David Charney
142. Warren D. Woolsey
143. Harry Dockweiler
144. Thomas Stats
145. George Herman
146. Eldred Mendyk
147. Henry Dowds
148. Mary Jameson
149. Arthur L. Widner
150. Harry Harrison
151. Kenneth Rohan

Recorded elsewhere as having attended:

1. Joe Christoff
2. William H. Groveman
3. Vincent Kidwell
4. Erle Korshak
5. Ken Krueger
6. Jack Newton
7. Pete Racic
8. Bobby Wright
9. Farnsworth Wright
10. Marjorie Z. Wright

Excluded from the convention

See Exclusion Act.

1. Cyril Kornbluth
2. Donald A. Wollheim
3. Fred Pohl
4. John B. Michel
5. Robert Lowndes
6. Jack Gillespie

Boosters

The program book, meanwhile, contains a list of “Scientifictionists” who each paid 25¢ to be included, a way of supporting the convention. Like all such lists at early conventions, there are numerous pseudonymous duplicates, including many names for Forry Ackerman.

Futurian Conference

A conference held on Tuesday, July 4, 1939, the third day of the Nycon, while many of the Worldcon attendees were playing the Softball Game on Flushing Flats. The Futurians, most of whom had been banned from the Worldcon, and their sympathizers held their own free mini-con in Brooklyn. They discussed the Exclusion Act and Michelism.

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

From Conference – Third day of the Nycon, where most of the attendees were playing softball on Flushing Flats, the Futurians and their sympathizers met in a Futurian Conference. They discussed the Exclusion Act and Michelism.

More Reading

• Nycon I publications and photos on fanac.org.
• Illustrated Nycon Review.
• Video of panelists at MagiCon panelists reminiscing.
• David Dorman's search for traces of Caravan Hall.
• Noreascon Three printed reminiscences of NYCon by a number of attendees in its PB:
  • Forrest J Ackerman
  • Julius Schwartz
  • Lloyd Eshbach
  • Harry Harrison
  • John Baltadonis
  • Milt Rothman
  • Dave Kyle
  • Charles Hornig
  • Sam Moskowitz
• Other con reports:
  • “Amazing! Astounding!” Time magazine, July 10, 1939. (Also: “‘Scientification’ Fans Meet,” Owen Sound Daily Sun-Times, July 13, 1939, p. 4.)
  • “The New York Convention” by Louis Kuslan, The Satellite Vol. 2, No. 8 (August 1939, p. 3).
  • Uncredited report, New Fandom 6 (January 1940, p. 4).
  • “The ‘Fifth’ (World's Fair) Convention” by Jack Robins, 1940 (another copy at Fanac.org)
  • Conreps at eFanzines.
  • “The Great Exclusion Act of 1939” by Dave Kyle, Mimosa 6 (April 1989).
  • “Caravan to the Stars” by Dave Kyle, Mimosa 22 (June 1998).

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

from Convention NYCon I was held in New York 2-4 July under the auspices of New Fandom as the World Science Fiction Convention, "First" being added later. (Annual Worldcons were not at first contemplated; idea and site for the ChiCon were not formally approved by fans till the PhilCo later this year.) With a total attendance of 200, it was the largest before World War II ended major conventions. It set the pattern for subsequent conventions lasting more than one day, but was marred by the Exclusion Act. The name of NYCon (or "Fifth Eastern") was tagged on it by the Wollheimists to downgrade the claim implicit in "World", but after the ChiCon such portmanteau-names were always used.

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

The First World Science-Fiction Convention in New York in 1939; called originally by its enemies who denied that it was a "world" convention, the name was generally adopted after the Chicon. The enemies of WSFC committee also called it the World's Fair Science-Fiction Convention, 1939 being the first year of the NY Worlds fair.

---

first	Worldcon - Bidding - Hugos	Chicon
first	New York Worldcons	NyCon II
	1939

This is a convention page. Please extend it by adding information about the convention, including dates, GoHs, convention chairman, locale, sponsoring organization, external links to convention pages, awards given, the program, notable events, anecdotes, pictures, scans of publications, pictures of T-shirts, con reports, etc.