Lora Crozetti

(May 18, 1913 – November 24, 1980)

Lora Ruth Crozetti (née Ruth Gentry Warner), an early LA fan and member of LASFS, helped prepare Fancyclopedia 1. She was the author (as R. Warner-Crozetti) of The Widderburn Horror, which was the the basis of the film, House of the Black Death, and other books. Additional noms de plume include J. M. Loring and Rich O'Mahoney.

Lora was the younger sister of LASFS Director Helen Finn. The club was full of their relatives: Helen’s two daughters, Peggy and Dorothy; their husbands, William Crawford and Henry Hasse; and even the sisters’ mother and Lora’s little daughter came to club events. Shangri-L'Affaires 13 (April 1944, p. 2) noted:

The club can also lay claim to having one of the youngest dues-paying members in stfandom in Jeannette Crozetti, five years old, daughter of Laura Crozetti, editoress of Venus, super femme which, if advance proofs are any indication, will cause a furore in fandom when completed.

And the report on the 1945 LASFS Fanquet in Shangri-L'Affaires 23 (February 1945, p. 11) noted: “Introduced as '3 generations of fans' were Lora Crozetti, her Mother--Mrs Eva Roberson, and her daughter--Jeanne Crozetti.”

Lora planned at least four issues of Venus, offering a $5 prize for the best article submitted by the beginning of 1945, to be published in issue 4. Issue #2 had apparently not been sent out in September 1944, however; the February 1945 Shangri-L'Affaires article commented:

Lora characterized herself as 'the publisher of Venus, that fanmag printed but never seen.' (Issue #2 has been completed for mos., but never distributed.)

Lora’s daughter, Jeannette Margaret (1938–86), who later went by Janice, was the result of Lora’s brief first marriage to Genardo "Jesse" Aredondo. Lora married Jay Crozetti (1915–52) on October 20, 1942, and did not remarry after he died at the age of 37. Jay returned from his Army service on Oahu in 1945; in 1947, Lora moved to Whitewater, Wisconsin, for a short time, to live with her mother. In the 1950 census, she was back in L.A. with Jay and Jeannette, and working as a secretary. She was listed as a "full-time writer, 1960–DATE" in Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, A Checklist, 1700–1974, Volume 2 (Wildside Press, 2010).

LASFS was not kind to Lora: Francis T. Laney wrote in Ah! Sweet Idiocy (1948), after an uncomplimentary remark about her age and looks:

She was too sensitive herself to be as outspoken as she often was, and by no means was an easy person to get along with. Nevertheless, she was a spasmodically active member who could perhaps have been of considerable value to the club had any sizeable number of the members made any effort whatsoever to make her stay with us pleasant. As it was, Crozetti-baiting proved a major sport around the LASFS; I'm not surprised she is no longer in the club.

Bill Watson skipped the part about her skills and contributions, instead going straight to an outrageously rude personal description of her in a fanoir in Energumen 12 (June 1972, p. 17). Jimmy Kepner wasn’t quite so insulting, but also commented on Lora’s size in this description in Shangri-L'Affaires 23 (February 1945, p. 21):

Lora Ruth Crozetti is the largest fan I have ever met. She has published the most handsome fanzine ever to come from a femme fan, and has her third issue almost ready. She first appeared in the LASFS a couple of years ago and was amazed to find that her sister, Helen Finn, and two nieces, who later became Mrs Bill Crawford and Mrs Henry Hasse, were already members of the club. Lora claims to be the daugh­ter and the mother of a fan, as her mother has read science fiction ever since the ARGOSY days, and her six-year-old daughter was last year a member of the LASFS in good standing. Lora is runner-up to Mrs Burbee for the title of fandom's best cook. Besides her work on her fanzine VENUS, she is working on several professional stories and novels, she says. Her husband, Jay Crozetti, is in the army overseas. Lora is a big fan---Mrs Five by Five, and one of the jolliest fans around here till she loses her temper.

• FindaGrave entry.
• Bibliography at ISFDB.

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Venus [1944–45]

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Person

1913—1980

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