View source for Pacificon I Reminiscence (Ackerman)

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Pacificon I Reminiscence}}
1946 -- [[Pacificon I]], [[Los Angeles]]
by [[Forrest J Ackerman]]
From the [[Noreascon Three]] [[PB]]

After a 4-year [[wartime]] hiatus the Angele–os were gungho to go with the interrupted Pacificon (again my name) of 1942. I had survived 3 years 5 months & 29 days of [[WW2]] (altho 
my brother got killed) and so my collection had not become the [[Fantasy Foundation]] that had been envisioned if I had lost my life. I think some people were disappointed.

So a clamor arose: why wait for the demise of [[Efjay the Terrible]], why not establish the  Foundation at the Pacificon with my collection as the, er, foundation? I thought we should offer potential participants more than empty promises so I decided to get busy and catalog my hardcover collection -- all 1300 titles. (Now, including paperbacks, about 40,000 volumes.) So I began recording the names of the books on stencils. Then I thought, as long as I'm at it I might as well record whether they are First Editions or what. Include whether they had jackets. Why not be more considerate for collectors, bibliophiles, would-be readers, and give a helpful hint as to the contents: prehistoric, futuristic, interplanetary, supernatural, sequel, Atlantean, whatnot. Pretty soon I was burning the proverbial candle at both ends and included the middle as well when I decided to add a list of the magazines of the year. I burned myself out, as we shall soon learn.

Bright and early the first day of the [[Con]], I was practically the first one in the hall. As a humorous note, I exhibited a copy of [[Lovecraft]]'s ''The Outsider and Others'' with a steel chain around it attached to a brick. I lasted till 4 in the afternoon, at which time I collapsed with cold chills and fever, shaking uncontrollably. I was in bed for 20 days with physical exhaustion. But not before I accomplished two important things:
(1) I put in the pitch for the [[Fantasy Foundation]] and all kinds of [[fans]] & [[professional|pro's]] volunteered donations on the spot: a copy of the ''[[Amazing Stories Annual]]'', a copy of the ''[[fancyclopedia 1|Fancyclopedia]]'', an [[Arkham House]] book...that sort of thing.
(2) I sowed the seeds for the [[TransAtlantic Fan Fund]] of the 1950s, with its precursor the [[Big Pond Fund]] which was instrumental in "importing" the first [[fan]]/[[pro]] from abroad, the late [[Edward "Ted" Carnell]] of [[London]], England.

The last thing I remember on the afternoon of the first day of the first 4-day Worldcon was [[Bob Bloch]]'s opening remarks:
"I made 3 sales before I left Milwaukee for this convention:
"My typewriter...
"My winter coat...
"And my automobile."
So, as they say in Show Biz: Always leave them laughing.

{{fanhistory | year=1946}}
[[Category:worldcon]]
[[category:US]]