Chicon II

“Chicon II,” the 1952 Worldcon and second in Chicago, was held at the Hotel Morrison in Chicago, Ill. from August 30–September 1. GoH: Hugo Gernsback. Chaired by Julian C. May. The committee attempted to call the convention the “TASFiC” (for "Tenth Annual Science FIction Convention"), but this was ignored by fandom.

The convention was run by a "Committee of Seven," consisting of Julian May, Mark Reinsberg, Erle Korshak, William Lawrence Hamling, Ted Dikty, Oliver Saari and Bea Mahaffey. It was criticized for being largely a committee of professionals and there were concerns that the pros had taken over Worldcon.

Julian May was the first female chairman of a Worldcon and took four months off work to focus on it.

The con was officially sponsored by the Chicon II Society, also known as the Chicago Science Fiction Society.

Other notable points

There was significant criticism of registration which apparently took several hours. Attendance was an all-time high of over 1,100. GoH Hugo Gernsback received long ovations before and after his GoH speech.

The third night featured fans and pros performing music, skits, plays and other entertainment. Walt Willis was a special guest, courtesy of WAW With the Crew in '52, the first fan fund; he wrote about it in The Harp Stateside.

Erle Korshak has questioned the attendance figure. His recollection is that 1,350 members were present, a figure that would not be equaled or surpassed until the 1970s. In a contemporary report by Sam Moskowitz in Fantasy Times, (V7 #17, First September 1952), Moskowitz estimates that "over 1,000 [pre-]registered, 1,050 attended, and over 1,500 members had been enrolled." Harry Warner reports in A Wealth of Fable that registration approached 900 and an estimated 175 persons crashed the gates. (Regardless, this was by far the largest convention to date even without the numerous ghosts.)

The con issued Moon Deeds on the back of its membership cards.

More reading

• TASFIC Program
• Convention publications
• Juanita Coulson's Reminiscence of Fandom in 1953: comments on the site selection vote at Chicon II.
• Lloyd Eshbach's Chicon II Reminiscence
• Science Fiction Newsletter #27: extensive con report
• Con report in SF Times

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

TASFIC The ChiCon II (1952). The committee wanted to call it this -- initialese from Tenth Annual Science Fiction International Convention -- but fen wouldn't have it, since the tradition of naming the con for the town was strong; and anyway, the Worldcon notion began with the NYCon I in 1939, not in 1942 when the planned Pacificon was canceled, so "Tenth Annual" was incorrect.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

from Convention ChiCon II went to the other extreme, being the largest since the war with over 1100 attendees. Walt Willis was brought over by Shelby Vick's WAW With the Crew in '52 campaign and the Little Men held a fabulous penthouse party (which, however, didn't get the con for Frisco in '53); John Pomeroy told everyone How To Be An Expert Without Actually Knowing Anything, and Gernsback introduced the peculiar idea that writers should claim a sort of patent or copyright on ideas they introduced in stfyarns.

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Nolacon I	Worldcon - Bidding - Hugos	Philcon II
	1952

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