Beanie Brigade

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

Members of the Beanie Brigade, sometimes referred to as the Beanie Brigadiers, did not comprise a real group, merely a concept.

Bob Bloch so characterized Cinvention photos of "an army of goons wearing beanies, false beards, and Buck Rogers blasters" — referring to Art Rapp, who wore a large fake beard, George Young in propeller beanie and the large Misfits delegation at the 1949 Cincinnati Worldcon.

Today, when the propeller beanie has become a tongue-in-cheek crown of honor, fans are more apt to be disdainful of drobes and droogs.

See also: Asinine Teenagers.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

The segment of fandom that acts, at cons, like all the fugg-headed teenagers that ever lived, thereby lending those gatherings some of their disenchantment. Distinguished by its costume (theoretically including a zapgun and helicopter beanie, hence the name) and its preference for collecting a mundane audience in preparation for its feats. It was first pilloried by Bob Bloch, who commented that it did fandom harm to publicize the screwball-adolescent fringe, and pointed to the Cinvention photos of "an army of goons wearing beanies, false beards, and Buck Rogers blasters". Actually, he may have been referring to an eminent and mannerly Fan of Distinction, Art Rapp, who wore a large fake beard and George Young's helicopter beanie. The large MSFS delegation Rapp led could quite easily have been confused with an army, says DeVore.

---

Fanhistory

1949—????

This is a fanhistory page. Please add more detail.