Wed 30 Apr 2014
WINDY CITY PULP CONVENTION 2014 REPORT, by Walker Martin.
Posted by Steve under Collecting , Conventions , Pulp Fiction[21] Comments
by Walker Martin
As many of you may know I love going to pulp conventions and I’ve been attending them since 1972. I have a maniacal desire to read and collect old books and pulps. I realize it may be an addiction and a vice but it doesn’t seem to hurt my health or finances like drinking, drugs, gambling, or chasing women. Well at least it didn’t hurt me until this convention.
For the last few months my legs have developed a pain which bothers me while sitting and sleeping. I’m often awakened at night by the pain and I’ve yet to find a comfortable position to sleep. I’ve seen different doctors and pain pills don’t help that much. A nerve doctor said maybe my back problems was the cause and I have scheduled further x-rays and MRI’s. But the main thing the medical profession agreed on was that I would not be taking any 15 hour trip to Chicago. (Airplanes are a problem because of claustrophobia and limited bags to bring back pulps.)
Needless to say, being the insane collector that I am, I ignored all medical advice and on Thursday, April 24, I was in a car heading from Trenton, NJ to Morristown, NJ, where I was one of five collectors who had rented a big van. After an hour in the car, and even before getting to the van, I was in distress and reminding myself that I was a book collector and reader and nothing was going to stop me. I had to keep saying this to myself several times during the trip, which I now refer to as Death Trip 2014.
But somehow, 15 hours later, I limped into the Westin hotel near Chicago and thought only about going to my room and having a stiff drink, pain pills or no pain pills. But in my room, the usual desire to meet other collectors and talk about books and pulps, kicked in and I went to the hospitality room. Once there, I stationed myself against the wall near the refrigerator where the beer was and I proceeded to drink, thinking By God, I made it.
And I’m glad I did because I met a man who runs one of the very best pulp blogs. Sai lives in India and administers a blog called Pulpflakes. A great name for a great website and it’s all about pulps, the authors, the editors, the artists, the magazines. This was Sai’s first pulp convention.
Another interesting person was Mala Mastroberte, the queen of the pulp pin-ups. Ed Hulse had the great idea to have her at his BLOOD n THUNDER table and perhaps it was too great an idea. I heard more than one collector refer to table not as the BLOOD n THUNDER or Ed Hulse table, but as the Mala table. Mala was a big hit and fortunately she had her boyfriend to watch over her because some collectors are all about the books and they don’t know how to act around women. Nothing worse than a leering bookworm. I ought to know.
But don’t feel too sorry for Ed Hulse because he stumbled across the find of the show. Shortly after the convention opened he bought several long comic book boxes of ALL STORY. Most seemed to be priced at $5.00 and included several Edgar Rice Burroughs issues. Most were from 1917-1920 and there were over a hundred. I need one issue from this period and since I only need a total of 4 to complete my set, I was naturally very excited and figured the issue had to be there.
Since we were all busy the first few days of the convention, there was no time to look through the magazines until Sunday afternoon. With great anticipation I watched as the magazines were sorted into years and then into months. The issue I need is dated July 7, 1917 and I noticed there were 11 months well represented from 1917. But one month was completely missing. You guessed it. No July issues at all.
There is nothing more embarrassing than seeing some old guy sobbing because he needs a pulp. I managed to control myself and slunk off to the bar to drown my sorrows. I can deal with leg pain but not with missing out on my book wants.
A good friend of mine told me about his find. He bought over 50 WEIRD TALES from the 1930’s for only like $25 to $45 each. I couldn’t believe such good luck and almost had him convinced that something must be wrong with the issues, perhaps pages excerpted or poor condition. But no, the magazines were ok.
At this point I’d like to talk about the importance of attending these conventions, not only Windy City, but Pulpfest and the few one day shows that are held. I realize there are valid reasons for not attending, such as poor health and lack of money. But I’ve always forced myself to figure out someway to attend because I find so much not only in the dealer’s room but through friends and contacts. For instance I managed to get the several lots I wanted in the auction. If I had stayed home because of my leg problem, I never would have gotten them.
And the conventions revive your interest in collecting, which I seriously believe is one of the joys of life. I actually feel sorry for non-collectors and people who call collectors the dreaded “hoarder” name. (There is a big difference in meaning between “collector” and “hoarder” but that’s another subject that many non-collectors simply do not understand at all.)
Collecting has helped increase my desire to keep living, otherwise I might just pine away and eventually waste away like many of my non-collecting friends. I would have to say collecting books and pulps is the grandest game in the world and one that can give your life meaning.
Now you might ask what did I get after all the trouble described above? Well, one problem with living a fairly long life is the chance that you might start to run out of things to collect. I guess at one time or another, I’ve collected just about every major pulp, digest, and literary title, including many slicks. I never bothered with the love, sport, and aviation genres but I’ve been involved with most other titles.
So my wants are getting kind of esoteric and bizarre. A few issues here and there to complete sets. A few pulp artists or magazine cover paintings. Many years ago I used to collect the hero pulps but I sold them all. But the auction listed several lots of the SHADOW digests. They had most of the issues from 1944-1948, a total of 40 in all.
I was interested in these issues because the magazine became more of an adult crime magazine during the post war years. Returning WW II vets did not give a damn about the Shadow but the back up stories and novelettes were of interest. I managed to be the high bidder on all the Shadow digest lots, a total of 10 lots. The average price came out to only $21 per issue which was far lower than the $50 -$80 prices that I saw in the dealer’s room.
Another item I desperately wanted was a preliminary sketch by artist Lee Brown Coye. The finished piece of art in FANTASTIC, February 1963, I think is stunning and I noticed the preliminary drawing was very detailed and close to the finished art. Again, I was the winning bidder at $650.
Speaking of the auctions, there were two that lasted several hours during the evening. The Friday auction was mainly from the collections of the Jerry Weist estate and the Robert Weinberg collection. The Jerry Weist items were mainly very nice condition SF magazines and the Weinberg collection included some stunning SF correspondence, cancelled Munsey and Popular Publications checks and all sorts of interesting items.
The original manuscript of C. L. Moore’s “Black God’s Kiss,” which appeared in WEIRD TALES, October, 1934, bought the highest amount of money I’ve ever seen at a pulp convention auction: $4,500 plus the $500 buyer’s premium. That’s $5,000 for an iconic, unique item.
Some other authors represented by checks and letters were L. Ron Hubbard, Farnsworth Wright, Henry Whitehead, Abraham Merritt, Austin Hall, Homer Eon Flint, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Murray Leinster, Isaac Asimov, Fred Pohl, Otis Adelbert Kline, George Allan England, Algis Budrys, Eric Frank Russell, and others too numerous to name.
The Saturday night auction was made up of over 100 lots listing most of the issues of the SHADOW magazine. Most issues went for reasonable prices. Following the SHADOW auction there were almost another 100 lots listing various pulp magazines but there also was a Frank R. Paul illustration from FANTASTIC NOVELS which went for $800.
The Windy City show is not just the dealer’s room and auction, though that’s what most collectors are interested in. There also was a very large art show with quite a few pulp paintings and illustrations from the collections of Doug Ellis and Deb Fulton, Robert and Phyllis Weinberg, and others. Ed Hulse put on his usual fine film show which lasted all day and even after the auction in the early morning hours. The themes celebrated the 95th birthday of BLACK MASK and WESTERN STORY.
There were two panels after the dealer’s room closed. The first one was on a subject that was very much needed but had often been ignored over the years at Pulpcon. The Western Pulps panel was comprised of Ed Hulse, Walker Martin, and Tom Roberts. In about an hour we tried to make up for lost time and discuss major elements of this important topic. Which of course is impossible since there were scores of western titles and it was the biggest selling genre by far except for perhaps the love pulps.
I gave my opinion concerning the best western pulp magazines, all of which I have collected over the years. The biggest of all was WESTERN STORY, 1919-1949 with over 1250 issues. I need about 11 issues including the first one and I’ll never be able to complete the set but I have hopes of getting it down to single digits.
The second best and some would say even better than WESTERN STORY, was definitely the Doubleday issues of WEST during 1926-1934. During this 8 or 9 year span the magazine was often published on a weekly and bi-weekly schedule and had all the good authors. It was sold to another publisher in 1935 and continued on for many years but not at the Doubleday level. Third and fourth best would be DIME WESTERN and STAR WESTERN and some feel they were the best westerns published by Popular Publications.
We now live in a era that has no western short fiction magazine and this is hard to believe when we look back to the 1930’s and 1940’s when the newsstands groaned under the weight of these titles.
There were many interesting western writers and some of my favorites are Luke Short, W.C. Tuttle, and Walt Coburn. Coburn had a drinking problem and this showed in some of his work but when he was feeling good and sober, he was one of the best because he grew up on a working cowboy’s ranch and knew how the men dressed, talked, and rode. Black Dog Books will soon be publishing a collection of Coburn’s fiction from WESTERN STORY. Keep an eye out for BULLETS IN THE BLACK by Walt Coburn. Introduction by the great James Reasoner.
My old friends of 20 or 30 years ago would have said that I have committed sacrilege by not including Max Brand. Max Brand collectors used to be all over the place at Pulpcon, collecting the pulps, binding the stories into home made books, writing articles and talking about him. In fact, if they were still alive I would not dare say anything negative about Brand. Not if I wanted to keep their friendship. They loved Max Brand and for over 50 years I’ve tried to love him also. Some of his work I like and some I hate. I now would have to say that Max Brand wrote too much and too fast and that’s going to hurt him as far as being remembered.
The Second panel was on Saturday night and discussed Hammett, BLACK MASK, and the Detective Pulps. Moderated by John Wooley along with such experts as Ed Hulse, Digges La Touche, and Bob Weinberg. I was so jealous about not being on this panel that I tried to pick a fight with Digges by yelling at him, “So You’re the expert on Earle Stanley Gardner!”. But I didn’t have enough to drink to be drunk enough, so they ignored me.
Bob Weinberg did make one interesting statement about the cover art of DIME DETECTIVE being better than the covers of BLACK MASK in the 1930’s. Maybe the late thirties yes, but when Paul Herman, another BLACK MASK art collector, and I heard this, we started muttering that though we love and have covers from DIME DETECTIVE, the early 1930’s covers of BLACK MASK are amazing. Joe Shaw made sure the cover artist captured the tough, hardboiled, atmosphere of the magazine.
The funny thing is that someone told Bob Weinberg about my disagreeing with him. Later on, he approached me and told me I was wrong, and how could I say such a thing, etc. But this just shows why Bob and Paul and I, are pulp art collectors. To collect cover art you must be opinionated and passionate about the subject. Otherwise you don’t collect original art at all.
The program book, which is compiled and edited by Tom Roberts, is excellent. About 50 pages on the detective pulps, another 50 pages on the western pulps, and 50 pages on art and film. I’m certain you can get a copy from Black Dog Books.
On Sunday, I talked with Doug Ellis about the attendance. He said they broke 500 for the first time ever (the most the old Pulpcon ever had was 300) and had 150 dealer’s tables. I spent the entire three days limping around the room and the place was always busy. The old Pulpcon used to have periods where it looked deserted but you don’t see this at Windy City or Pulpfest.
So, on Monday morning, in a steady rain, we just barely crammed in all our treasures into the great white van. There were a couple times I almost said to stop the van, so I could get out, but we made it back to Morristown in about 14 hours. I was so exhausted that I wondered if I could make it to the car for the ride back to Trenton. We transferred all the boxes to Digges’ car and were ready to go. I told myself, look I just made 14 hours, I can make another hour or so. Then Digges told me the car battery was dead and the car would not start.
At this point the details are a sort of blur for me. I remember standing in the dark and thinking what now? If it was up to me, I’d still be standing there. Fortunately Ed Hulse’s sister let us come into her house even though it was late and gave us coffee. She even called her Triple A and had them jump start the car. So off we finally went.
Now the big question is will I be able to make to Pulpfest, August 7, 2014? Collectors, you better believe it!
May 1st, 2014 at 9:49 am
Walker, you always write up such thorough convention reports. It’s almost like being there for those of us who weren’t able to attend. Thank you, Bill
May 1st, 2014 at 10:51 am
Bill, I do love the pulp conventions and I guess that’s why I’ve been attending them now for over 40 years. I’m always hoping my reports may encourage others to attend them also.
I can honestly say that no one has ever regretted going to a pulp convention based on my recommendation. Many have been hooked like me and enjoy the convention experience. There is nothing like a gigantic room with 150 dealer’s tables crammed with thousands of pulps. An unbelievable sight and one that every collector should see.
May 1st, 2014 at 4:17 pm
I would love to go to one if someone would just padlock my wallet before I went in.
May 1st, 2014 at 4:46 pm
David is right because you see so many great collectibles that you can’t help yourself and you end up spending money. There were a couple Pulpcons in the 1970’s and 1980’s where I spent all my money buying pulps in hotel rooms before the convention even started.
May 1st, 2014 at 10:14 pm
I’m so glad you could make it to the con, Walker. When I saw you walk into the hospitality room on Thursday night, you still had that unique Walker “I’m Here!” Martin expression, despite your health issues. I enjoyed seeing your enjoyment. Your love of collecting is inspiring. I sure hope you can get yourself back to at least close to 100 percent. I recommend doing a lot of walking. It sure helps me.
I, too, had issues while struggling with apparent food poisoning during the days of the show, and especially Sunday when I went to the C2E2 comic show at McCormick Place. But, like you, I was determined to hang in there and collect!! Fortunately, dealers were kind and provided chairs, help, etc.
I was excited to see The Windy easily exceeded 500 fans, making it as far as I know the largest pulp show of all time. Lots of folks seemed to be having a great time. Wonderful to see! I picked up some great pulps, including my long-sought Texas Rangers #1 (I love Jim Hatfield stories) for only $50 from Art Hackathorn.
I got back home today after driving 5,000 miles over 12 days. Talk about going to extreme to collect! I found numerous vintage pulps, comics and valuable books and had a great time both at the shows, book stores, antique malls and library sales, even struggling through the illness for some five days. There were also heavy rain storms, lightning storms, a tornado I dodged, huge dust storms, 75-mph straight-line winds for many, many miles in Nebraska and almost as bad in Kansas, and so on. But it was nothing like what the people in the Southeast faced. I have seen an unbelievable number of extreme climate events in the last 10-15 years compared with the previous 35 years (I’ve been traveling around the country for nearly 50 years now). I can’t believe how much the climate is changing. Not quite sure what to do about it, and it’s now become so politicized. Oh, I saw more than a dozen trucks blown over on the Interstate in Nebraska, until they had to close the highway. They sent us all on what became a long, slow caravan on a country road. Ah, collecting!
I was so glad you won all those Shadow lots. Interesting and intriguing items! I would have liked to look through those, since I own only one Shadow digest. They seem better than the Doc Savage digests; certainly the covers are. I worked out supporting deals with half a dozen fellow collectors so I could be able to bid so high on all three sports pulp lots, just so I could get 5 issues! I am more than 90 percent complete (except for Street & Smith), so I’m really going after those remaining 114 sports pulps or so that I need. Fortunately, a sports pulp collector friend had asked me to keep bidding since he could not be there. I thought I would not have much competition, but a collector whom I did not know really provided tough, unexpected competition. But that’s the nature of auctions.
Again, thanks for the usual compelling report. I do hope you’ll be healthier for PulpFest. Yes, I’m sure you’ll be there, flashing that great big pulpy smile!
May 1st, 2014 at 10:23 pm
Walker,
Another great report! Yes, hard to believe that Bob Weinberg doesn’t care for BM covers from the GREATEST period of that magazine. Go figure. But you didn’t mention one of the pieces of art you bought from Doug on Day 1. For all you reading this, I made the same recurring mistake AGAIN! During setup on Friday a.m. I walked over to Doug Ellis’s booth and looked at the artwork he brought to sell. There were two pieces in particular that I liked. Both were black and white pen/ink interiors for pulp magazines. One was by Marchetti from Galaxy, I think. The other was from a detective pulp of no significance, but the image was really good. It shows a man removing a stack of books from a safe, and in the background, a woman in the doorway pointing a gun at him. AND of course, I said to myself, lets look around the room once before buying any art. I can always come back later and get these two gems! Well, you all know what happened. I’m still mentally kicking myself a whole week after the show. Walker, ENJOY that ART!! I’m glad you guys made it home safely and I look forward to the next show in August. By the way, I’m trying my best to get Joseph Shaw’s granddaughter and possibly daughter to go to Columbus this year. I’m told they could tell many terrific stories. I’m sending her a copy of the Windy City con book to entice her.
May 1st, 2014 at 10:28 pm
p.s
Added to the previous post, I’m also trying my best to get Sam Cherry’s son, Steve to attend Pulpfest as well. He’s got lots of stories and info about his Dad I’m sure many of us would love to hear.
May 1st, 2014 at 10:38 pm
Yes, the desire, the enthusiasm to collect books, pulps, and original art has helped me through some hard times. The urge to read excellent fiction and non-fiction can get you through rough spells.
And the collectors! Always fun to talk with and see people who have the passion to collect something of interest. The older I get, the more I demand from my friends that they be readers, collectors, men and women who do more than just live. Just about everyone can work, eat, watch TV, sleep. But collectors see there is more to life.
Collectors are my favorite type of people and that’s why I’m so happy to attend such great conventions as Windy City and Pulpfest. Even when the old Pulpcon was on its last legs, I couldn’t miss going.
There is nothing better than a room of old books and fiction magazines. Heaven indeed…
May 1st, 2014 at 10:55 pm
Paul, in Comment #6 mentions the two pieces of art at Doug Ellis’s table that I bought. The GALAXY piece is from 1951 and I’m a sucker for anything from GALAXY, my favorite SF digest. The other piece shows a man with a pile of books and a woman is pointing a gun at him. I interpret this image to refer to the constant battle going on between the collector and the non-collecting spouse. He’s bought more books and she is going to shoot him because she hates collectors and what she calls “clutter”. I made sure to put it where my wife can see it!
But I also made mistakes at Doug’s table. There was another piece from GALAXY by the Dillons and when I went back it was gone. A tragic blunder that had me cursing my stupidity. And another piece I should have bought was the pen and ink sketch from MAMMOTH ADVENTURE showing two battle ships under full sail.
I hope you can get Joe Shaw’s daughter and granddaughter to attend Pulpfest this year. I named my son Joseph after Shaw and his middle name is Chandler, after Shaw’s greatest discovery. Thirty four years ago I thought so much of Joe Shaw that I named one of my children after him. If that doesn’t get their attention, nothing will!
May 2nd, 2014 at 12:53 pm
Hi Walker,
Thanks for providing another in depth con report, especially under the circumstances regarding your health. Can you tell me if there were any heretofore unseen vintage paperback paintings at the show to be had?
Cheers,
Ruben
May 2nd, 2014 at 4:40 pm
Ruben, I did see several paperback paintings but they all seemed to be more than I wanted to pay or else I was not interested in the image, etc.
Craig Poole, Fred Taraba and others had art. A new female dealer had several and was set up next to Fred Taraba. Ray Walsh had some. The art exhibit was stunning but was mainly pulp paintings. There was a lot of art available, not like the old days when art was not available that often. Of course the prices are higher now.
Pulpfest is coming up in Columbus, Ohio, August 7-10. They will have art. Checkout their website at pulpfest.com.
May 2nd, 2014 at 11:35 pm
What a great report! It made me wish I had been there. It would have been especially nice to see my old pal Tom Roberts! Those All-Story’s were quite the find!
May 2nd, 2014 at 11:50 pm
I just remembered something I forgot to talk about in the report. Comicbook fans had their own convention going on the same time as Windy City in Chicago. It was called C2E2 and held at the McCormick Center.
The local Chicago TV station covered the C2E2 show several times during Friday and there must have been thousands of comic fans swarming around in costumes, etc.
A big difference between the two conventions since C2E2 had a lot more attendees and a younger crowd interested more in comics and movies. Windy City had hundreds instead of thousands and we were all about the books and magazines. We were a hell of alot older also.
Needless to say, the TV coverage of Windy City was alot less and in fact I did not notice any coverage at all. But it sure was the more interesting convention.
The only comics I can read now are the EC comics from the early 1950’s. They were excellent and still hold up to a rereading all these years later. The horror titles gave me nightmares as a 9 year old and my mother threw my entire EC collection away. But they have all been reprinted several times and I have the EC Library and other reprints.
The old Pulpcon was concerned about comics taking over the convention and as a result Rusty Hevelin, the organizer, had a strict rule about no comics being allowed. He made an exception if they were about a pulp character like The Shadow. Though I did see some comics at Windy City, there was no ban.
May 3rd, 2014 at 1:40 pm
A great report, Walker. I’ve reached the point where I don’t intend to buy anything more, then turn around a buy something that I’ve always wanted, from when I was a kid.
I can understand your comments about leg pain. I developed sciatica at an American Booksellers Association convention back in Washington, DC, back in the 1980s. I’d been walked around lugging several tote bags loaded with books, freebies and copies of my mags, and suddenly felt areas in my legs where I lost all feeling.
Apparently you can get really painful sciatica—from nerve damage caused by carrying Too Much Stuff—or, like I did, a form of it where parts of your legs go numb every now and then. So I live with my form. Believe me, numb beats pain every time!
But it’s just another way for Mother Nature to tell you, “Whatever you’re doing, dummy, stop it right now!”
May 3rd, 2014 at 4:02 pm
You may be right Andy. I’ve certainly overdone it many times with carrying boxes of books and pulps around. I just received the Medicare Summary Notice of the costs, fortunately covered by my insurance. Over $12,200 for the leg nerve tests. Next up will be the costs for the many x-rays and MRI.
Lucky I have medicare and other insurance or I would be headed for the poorhouse.
May 3rd, 2014 at 4:09 pm
In Comment #12, Ray Cuthbert mentions Tom Roberts. I talked with Tom and he looked well. His Black Dog Books is refusing to accept the public’s distain for western fiction and he is going full steam ahead with another excellent collection of western novelets, this time by Walt Coburn.
I encourage everyone to buy BULLETS IN THE BLACK and thus support western reprint fiction. It has the great Walter Baumhofer cover from WESTERN STORY, which is in the running for greatest western pulp cover.
May 5th, 2014 at 11:31 am
I wish I could attend events like this. Sadly I have a bad case case of Social Anxiety Disorder–luckily it doesn’t affect me in professional settings. But I can’t fit in comfortably in groups larger than three where I have to be “myself”, even if it’s a party or event where I already know everyone.
Thanks to everyone–especially you, Walker–who made me feel I was right there with you with your descriptions.
May 5th, 2014 at 12:52 pm
Rick brings up an interesting subject. Though the pulp conventions cater to all types of book collectors, there are many collectors who are not there to party or talk with everyone in sight. I’ve known plenty who come for the books and magazines and that’s it.
Not that they are unfriendly or rude but they love the collecting experience and when the dealer’s room closes they have a quick dinner and retire to their rooms to read. Others like to talk alot, eat with several other collectors and attend the panels and auctions.
There are some who like the films and spend time alone in the dark watching movies. I’ve met all types during my years of attending the shows.
When you think of it, reading is a solitary activity, done alone and usually in quiet surroundings. That’s why some readers and collectors run into problems with their wives and girlfriends. They feel neglected and ignored when the collector happily sorts through the collection and picks something out to read. Collectors are always looking for female book lovers who also collect but like some rare pulps, they are few and far between!
May 11th, 2014 at 1:54 pm
Walker,What a great report.Up to your usual high standard.I must tell you how much I admire your Stoic philosophy. All the way out and all the way back,there were no complaints from you.If it had been me ,with my usual courage and self_control,I would have been whining and sniveling both ways.Especially during the dead battery period,which was due to my forgetting to turn the dome light off.
May 11th, 2014 at 5:04 pm
Thanks Digges. I guess my philosophy comes from reading so many British pulp stories. You know, the old “stiff upper lip”, “the thin, red line”, and the whole RAJ nonsense. I’m still hoping we can open an English club in Lambertville, NJ. But our only exclusion rule will be no non-readers allowed!
May 13th, 2014 at 5:45 pm
“But our only exclusion rule will be no non-readers allowed!”
I fear membership might be very sparse, then. There seem to be fewer readers … even older folks whose attention spans are being ripped down by modern gadgts and endlessly accessible videos. But there’s always hope …