Discon

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The 21st Worldcon and first in the Baltimore/Washington area, Discon (often styled DisCon at the time; retroactively it was fitted with the Roman numeral I, later often simplified to 1) was held August 31–September 2, 1963 (starting only on Saturday), at the Statler-Hilton Hotel, Washington, DC. The GoH was Murray Leinster, with Isaac Asimov as Toastmaster. Starspinkle 19 reported[1]

Over six hundred people picked up memberships at the desk, and there's reason to believe that unpaid attendance pushed the number over eight hundred.

This might be explained by the "melee" that reigned at the hotel while four other events were also held.

The committee was tiny, just eight people, and their titles were...amusing:

Opening Ceremonies included a sword fight between Fritz Leiber and L. Sprague de Camp.

At the Sunday banquet, the five 1963 Hugos and two Special Committee Awards were given (the last to Asimov, who moaned throughout the presentation about never winning). The Discon Business Meeting later held the 1964 Worldcon Site Selection (San Francisco in '64, the only left standing) and also adopted the World Science Fiction Society Constitution in its modern form. Hugo rules were specified so that "Individual [short] stories appearing together as a series are … not eligible taken together under the title of the series" after complaints when Brian Aldiss won the 1962 Best Short Fiction Hugo for "the Hothouse series", published as five tales in F&SF throughout 1961.

Chairman George Scithers wrote an extensive Con-Committee Chairman's Guide reporting on both the Worldcon events from his side, and the run-up to it. It's a wonderful example of what conrunning was like in simpler days – when the entire program fit on two pages of the program book and mostly in a single room, some 60 feet (18 m) square.

The Program[edit]

Saturday[edit]

  • 9:00am Registration
  • 12:30pm Opening of the DisCon
  • 12:45 Jim Blish:
    AN ANSWER OF SORTS
  • 1:30 Bob Silverberg & Ed Emsh:
    RING AROUND AN ILLUSTRATION
    Problems in writing a story around an illo; or, pleasing editor’s whimsy for fun and profit.
  • 2:00 Ted Cogswell & Cohorts:
    HIPPOCRENE AND HYPERSPACE
    Cogswell struggles with the Muses, best two falls out of three.
  • 2:30 Introduction of notables, auction, and break.
  • 3:15 Larry Ivie & Dick Lupoff:
    SF ILLUSTRATION & ART IN THE COMIC BOOKS
    (Me to Your Leader Take)
    All in color for a dime: the rise and fall of the comic book.
  • 4:30 Willy Ley:
    MYSTERIES OF ASTRONOMY
    A spring day on Pluto, and such.
  • Jon and Joni Stopa in their award-winning Discon masquerade costume, “The Succubus and her Mate.”
    7:30 The Convention Members:
    THE COSTUME BALL [Admission by badge]
    Scenes to numb the senses and appall the mind, with music by Ira Sabin and his Orch.

Sunday[edit]

The art of putting art on stencil and other aspects of good mimeography.

Monday[edit]

More Reading[edit]


Chicon III Worldcon - Bidding - Hugos Pacificon II
first Discon Discon II
1963
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