Worldcon Masquerades - The First 40 Years

For 2004 Worldcon Program Book WORLDCON MASQUERADES: THE FIRST 40 YEARS by Mike Resnick It all began, as so many fannish traditions did, with Forry Ackerman. He came to the very first Worldcon in New York City, back in 1939, and delighted the assemblage by wearing a futuristic costume that would probably have gotten him banned from any Manhattan bar (and dismembered in any working-class Chicago bar, where I grew up.)

But it made a lasting impression, and at the second Worldcon, held in Chicago in 1940, there was a small masquerade.

Now, as we all know, anything that happens twice in a row becomes a Worldcon tradition, and from that day to this the Worldcon has always had a masquerade. For the first couple of decades it was actually a masquerade ball. There was a dance band, and tables, and drinks, and now and then people got up and danced, and every once in a while someone in a costume would walk across a makeshift stage -- or simply through an area of the dance floor that had been cleared for it -- and at the end of the evening a few winners were announced.

It was pretty informal. But then the costuming bug struck, and costumes began getting more elaborate. Perhaps the first great costumer was Olga Ley, the wife of writer and scientist Willy Ley, who wore a series of stunning costumes in the late 1950s. Another relatively early and always elegant costumer was author/editor Lin Carter, who annually showed up in a gorgeous robe. Lin wore those robes as if he'd been born in them; there was no awkwardness at all. When I asked him about it, he confided that he frequently wore them around the house to get in the right mood to write his fantasy novels.

By the early 1960s a number of fans spent considerable time -- weeks, sometimes months -- preparing their costumes. Bruce Pelz was probably the most creative of them: in 1963 he was Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd, and in future years he was Jack Vance's "The Dragon Master", Pour Anderson's "Nicholas van Rijn", a one-legged fantasy figure, and one year he secretly shaved his beard off just before the masquerade and came out as "Gertrude the Bird Woman". His name wasn't announced until the end of the masquerade; it was the most surprised I've ever seen an audience.

Jon and Joni Stopa won a number of prizes throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. They were "Incubus and Succubus" at Discon I, some Leigh Brackett characters in 1969, and added daughter Debbie to their Phoenix costume of 1974.

Some of the others of that era who produced one memorable costume after another would be Drew and Kathy Sanders, Ann Layman Chancellor, Marjii Ellers, Astrid Anderson (Bear), Pat and Peggy Kennedy, and a little earlier you could count on Stu Hoffman to come up with a different B.E.M. every year.

Since the costumes were far less elaborate than by modern standards, a number of pros also participated. Perhaps the most famous was beloved old E. E. "Doc" Smith coming to the 1962 Chicon masquerede as C. L. Moore's "Northwest Smith". Fritz Leiber was his own "Mind Spider" at the same con.

Larry Niven came as "Implosion in a Time Machine" in 1966, and was back in costume with Bruce Pelz and both their wives at the 1972 LACon. One year David Gerrold did a striptease, revealing all 8 of his female breasts. Dick and Pat Lupoff were Captain and Mary Marvel back at Pittcon in 1960. At NYCon III in 1967 Isaac Asimov shoved a pipe in his mouth on the spur of the moment and walked across stage as "Harlan Ellison". Harlan retaliated a moment later by masquerading as "Isaac Asimov".

Many other pros competed over the years -- Marion Zimmer Bradley, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Sandra Meisel. Carol and I competed 5 times in the 1970s, winning 4 times, and a photo of our 1974 Best in Show winner, Clark Ashton Smith's "The White Sybil and the Ice Demon", actually knocked Richard Nixon's image off Page 1 of the Washington Post during that month of Watergate's climax.

The general consensus of old-time costumers is that the greatest costume of the first 40 years of Worldcon masquerades was Karen and Astrid Anderson's "The Bat and the Bitten", which was Best in Show at the 1969 Worldcon.

The first nudity showed up in 1952. There was no more until 1971, but all throughout the 1970s and early 1980s there were half a dozen or so nude costumes every year -- and a lot of them were prize winners. Probably the best of them was Kris Lundi (a/k/a Animal X) as a "Harpy" in 1974.

There were also a number of costumes that necessitated rule changes. In 1969 a space hero stood on a raised stage and fired his blaster at the audience -- and a huge flame shot out maybe a foot above everyone's heads. From that day on, no more fire.

In 1972, a costumer came as his own underground cartoon character, "The Turd". He was covered by gallons of peanut butter, and he evidently never figured out what happens to peanut butter when it's exposed to hot stage lights and photo lamps for 4 hours. It turned rancid, destroyed every costume he rubbed against, and did serious damage to the carpeting and drapes. From that day on, no more peanut butter.

In 1974, the masquerade dragged on for 6 hours. One group from "The Wizard of Oz" sang the entire score of the movie. Three different belly dancers performed their entire routines. And so on. From that day on, one-minute time limits.

The Trekkies discovered Worldcon in 1967. 7 of them came as "Mr. Spock", each no doubt thinking no one else would ever come up with the idea.

As the masquerades got bigger, the dancing ended, the bands vanished, and by the early 1970s it was much as you see it today: strictly a costume competition, with the participants on a presidium stage and the audience in seats rather than at tables. By 1974 there were regularly more than 100 costumes per worldcon, and while the masquerades always began at 8:00, I don't think the final judgment was ever rendered before midnight.

Worldcon masquerades got so cumbersome that in 1982 the competition was divided into the categories that still exist today: novice, journeyman, and master. Carol and I wore our last costumes in 1980, so you'll have to ask someone else about the past quarter-century. From what I've seen, most of the costumes that won prior to 1980 would barely merit honorable mentions today, which is as it should be. -end-