Midwestcon 4

Midwestcon 4 was a relaxacon held May 16-18, 1953 at Beatley's in Indian Lake, OH

This was the last Midwestcon held at Beatley's for a number of reasons: The hotel turned away Bev Clark, an Indiana fan, due to their Jim Crow policy; Buck Coulson and Gene DeWeese left with her. Harlan Ellison expressed outrage, but remained.

Ellison and a group of young cronies spent the weekend parading around with a bright red birdbath, proclaiming the rise of 7th Fandom and other rowdiness.

An unrelated incident also no doubt contributed to Midwestcon’s move. In Mimosa 16 (December 1994), Roy Lavender and Bob Tucker tell the story:

Lavender: ...Beatley's was used to incidents -- they had the American Legion in there at times. But those incidents did cause a certain amount of uproar. One involved Randall Garrett and a lady from Cincinnati -- he was climbing on the dresser and leaping into bed, yelling 'Geronimo!' And then the bed gave out and collapsed. Mrs. Beatley's son, who was on night duty, came up to see what had happened, and in the ensuing discussion, the whole thing moved out into the hallway. The lady came out, wrapped in a blanket. Somebody stepped on the blanket, and when she ran down the hall, the blanket stayed behind. And in the ensuing discussion, Mrs. Beatley's son cold-cocked Randall, but he hurt his hand in doing so. So the next day, at the banquet, we presented him with a blackjack.

Tucker: I remember Randall Garrett and his lady well, because my room was right across the hall; I was in bed, but not asleep, if you follow me. So when I heard the noise, I got up, opened my door, walked out and watched the whole damn thing.

Tucker wrote more about the move in his conrep; see Beatley's.

Midwestcon 4 publications and photos on fanac.org

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Midwestcon 3	Midwestcon	Midwestcon 5
	1953

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