Cinvention

Lois Jean Miles, “Miss Science Fiction,” at Cinvention.
She “sported a walkie-talkie attachment,” noted the Cincinnati Enquirer, but “had a difficult time keeping receiving set upright on her blond head.” The backdrop is by Bill Kroll. (From the collection of Forrest J Ackerman via Andrew I. Porter.)

Cinvention, the 1949 Worldcon, was held September 3–5 at the Hotel Metropole in Cincinnati, Ohio, with GoH Lloyd A. Eshbach and FGoH Ted Carnell. Carnell was also toastmaster with the title "Entertainment Master of Ceremonies". He was brought to North America by the Big Pond Fund. Alley Oop creator V. T. Hamlin was a special guest.

Attendance: about 190. It was a CFG project.

Art Rapp at Cinvention.
(Photo by Ran Cochran reprinted courtesy of The Cincinnati Enquirer in Bob Tucker’s Bloomington News Letter 13, October 1949.)

Don Ford carried out the duties of Chairman, but was officially Secretary-Treasurer; Charles R. Tanner had the honorary title of Chairman.

Dave Kyle created some controversy by promoting his girlfriend, Lois Miles, to local news media as Miss Science Fiction in order to hype the con. He sprang this on the concom without warning. A group of other fans, including Art Rapp, Nancy Moore and Jean Bogert, also posed in costume for publicity purposes.

The second Tucker Death Hoax cast a blight on the con.

Program

Ned McKeown, left, with E. Everett Evans at Cinvention. Photo by Ben Jason.

Sept 3

• 11am - 1 pm -- Registration
• 1pm -- Introductions
  • Briefing, Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, Author GoH, Fletcher Pratt, Robert Bloch
• 7 pm - Jack Williamson, Theodore Sturgeon, E. E. Smith

Sept 4

• 10:30am -- N3F, Dale Tarr, president
• 1pm -- Cincinnati Fantasy Group
  • Main Auction. Melvin Korshak, auctioneer
  • 7pm -- Ted Carnell, Fan GoH, Judy Merril, Arthur J. Burks, George O. Smith

Sept 5

• Fan Auction
• 1pm -- Business Session
• Fritz Leiber, Report from the Publishers
• 7pm -- Banquet
  • Ted Carnell as Toastmaster
  • Masquerade & Costumes
  • Hydra Club
  • PSFS
  • WSFA

At some point on the first day, Lester del Rey gave a speech about “Sex in Science Fiction” (Online here).

The speeches were printed afterward in the Cinvention Memory Book, a 95-page proceedings published in May 1950 in an edition of 500 by Don Ford and edited by Stan Skirvin.

Committee

From the Cinvention letterhead:

• Chairman: Charles R. Tanner
• Secretary: Darrell C. Richardson
• Treasurer and Recording Secretary: Donald E. Ford
• Associates:
  • C. L. Barrett
  • Dale Tarr
  • Stanley C. Skirvin
  • Bill Funk
  • Ronald Howes
  • Roy Lavender
  • Lou Tabakow
  • Philip Stevenson
  • Keith Hoyt
  • Warren Voorhis
  • Earl Short
  • Duke Henslee
  • Lee Greenweil
  • James W. Hanley
  • Floyd B. McClure

Not listed, but also working on the con were: Deedee Lavender and Betty Sullivan (“Official Hostess”).

Site Selection

Cincinnati beat New York in '49. See 1949 Worldcon Site Selection.

The 1950 Worldcon Site Selection was held there.

More reading

• Cinvention publications and photos on fanac.org
• Membership list
• Program Book
• The Cinvention Daily (unofficial)
• The Cincy Report
• Lloyd Eshbach's Cinvention Reminiscence
• Cinvention coverage in Bloomington News Letter 13 (October 1949)
• Cinvention Account by Fred Patten (1976)
• “Wha' Hoppened,” Stan Skirvin's memoir of the Cinvention, from Cinvention Memory Book
• Don Ford: “Post Mortem”
• Roy Lavender: “The Cinvention Scene Dimly”
• Rog Phillips: Comments on Sinvention
• “Vas Ve Effer in Cincinnati?” by Art Rapp, Spacewarp 30, p. 4

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

from Convention CinVention under Cincinnati Fantasy Group sponsorship was prefaced by the Second Tucker Death Hoax. Guests of honor were selected from both pros (Lloyd Arthur Eshbach) and fans (Ted Carnell, who had been brought over by the Big Pond Fund). A group of attendees appeared on TV to plug the con, Kyle arranged for a model to come from New York to pose for cheesecake photos of "Miss Science Fiction", pro guests included the author of scientificomic "Alley Oop", and Dave MacInnes recorded all on wire. 200 attendees met at the Metropole under Don Ford's chairmanship. The Cincy boys made a tidy profit to pass on to the next year's con. Parenthetically, Redd Boggs puzzled some fans no end by titling his comments on the con, "The Fantasy Boys Over the Rhine"; It turned out that "Over the Rhine in '49" was a World War II slogan used by those who thot the conflict would end in this year.

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Torcon I	Worldcon - Bidding - Hugos	NorWesCon
	1949

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