Pittcon

Singers at the Pittcon Hugo Awards Banquet, including Doc Smith, center.

Pittcon, the 18th Worldcon, and third in Pennsylvania, was held September 3–5, 1960, at the Pittsburgh Penn-Sheraton Hotel (commonly called the William Penn Hotel, now called the Omni William Penn). The GoH was James Blish. Isaac Asimov was Toastmaster, and it was chaired by Dirce Archer.

The bidders in the 1960 Worldcon Site Selection were: Chicago in '60, DC in 1960, Philadelphia in 1960, and Pittsburgh in '60. The Pittsburgh bid beat the DC bid in a vote at the WSFS Business Meeting at Detention.

The Pittcon Business Meeting limited Hugo nominations to members of the Worldcon due to an attempt to stuff the ballot. (See 1959 Hugos for details.)

Dirce Archer, Pittcon chair. Photo by James O'Meara.

Carl Brandon's 1958 fannish play The Purple Pastures and James O'Meara’s fannish musical, Requiem for a Fake Fan, were presented by a joint group from LASFS and CHIAC. The 1960 Hugos Banquet featured entertainment from a group of singers, including Doc Smith.

The 1961 Worldcon was awarded without objection to Seattle for Seacon in the 1961 Worldcon Site Selection at Pittcon.

Hal Shapiro published the STF and FSY Songbook and distributed it at Pittcon. This was one of the first filk songbooks distributed in connection with a convention.

More Reading

• Pittcon publications and photos on fanac.org.
• Sam Moskowitz' Pittcon Reminiscence.
• Report on the 1960 WSFS BM by L. Sprague de Camp and Poul Anderson from Amra.
• Cry of the Nameless #145 (December 1960): cover is photos from Pittcon, p. 4 is a long con report by Wally Weber.

Future Trivia

The Hugo Award Ceremony was held in the 17th floor ballroom of the hotel. In May 1977, the wedding reception for Brenda W. Clough and Larry Clough took place at the same location. Scenes for at least two movies (the banquet scene for Foxcatcher (2014) and the medical convention scene for Concussion (2015)) were shot in this ballroom.

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Detention	Worldcon - Bidding - Hugos	Seacon
Philcon II	Pennsylvania Worldcons	Millennium Philcon
	1960

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