34th World Science Fiction Convention

The 34th World Science Fiction Convention carried the official name MidAmeriCon and was held September 2–6, 1976, in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, at the Radisson Muehlebach Hotel and nearby Phillips House hotel. The convention committee was chaired by Ken Keller, who had also chaired the "KC in '76" bid. There were 4200 registered members of the convention, of which 3014 actually attended.

Guests of honor

Heinlein at the convention

The professional Guest of Honor at the 34th Worldcon was former Kansas Citian Robert A. Heinlein. He did not prepare a formal guest of honor speech, as such, but gave a generally well received one, immediately following the convention's Hugo Awards ceremony at the nearby Art Deco-inspired Music Hall section of the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium. Heinlein came with an alarm clock and put it on his center stage podium and spoke casually until his own preset time period ended with the alarm going off. Heinlein was previously the Guest of Honor at the 3rd Worldcon (1941) and the 19th Worldcon (1961). He remains the only science fiction writer honored three times by the annual Worldcon. Heinlein attended many MidAmeriCon events, including a blood donation drive and reception held at the nearby Hotel Continental, one of the overflow hotels. Being someone with a very rare blood type, Heinlein had organized the blood drive and reception.

George Barr was the convention's Fan Guest of Honor. He provided the wrap-around dust jacket art for the convention's hardcover program book. Wilson Tucker (Bob Tucker) was the convention's Toastmaster.

Programming

Listed on the MidAmeriCon program was "The Star Wars Display" in Muehlebach Towers meeting room 364, where actor Mark Hamill and producer Gary Kurtz were on hand, promoting the upcoming George Lucas film that at this time was being called The Star Wars (Star Wars). A number of the film's props were on display, including the Darth Vader costume, C-3PO and R2-D2 robots, lightsaber and blaster props, behind-the-scenes production 8x10 stills, and a wall of conceptual artwork by Ralph McQuarrie. As a part of the studio's promotion of their film, a mimeographed press release was handed out at the display room; it depicted an early graphic of the Luke Skywalker character. A three-inch blue promotional button and a full color poster were also made available. The display proved so popular that all three promo items were gone by day two of the display. An hour-long slide presentation, made up of 35mm slides of the film's production artwork and on-set production photos, was narrated live in the Muehlebach's largest ballroom to a standing-room-only crowd; this was presented by Charles Lippencott, 20th Century Fox's head of publicity and promotion for the film. He outlined in great detail the entire plot of the film. A question-and-answer period followed with the large audience, with Lippencott, producer Gary Kurtz, and star Mark Hamill talking about the film.

The "electronic tonalities" soundtrack for the classic MGM science fiction film Forbidden Planet was first released in 1976 by Louis and Bebe Barron at MidAmeriCon. It was on a vinyl LP album, done for the film's 20th anniversary, on the Barron's own PLANET Records label (later changed to SMALL PLANET Records and distributed by GNP Crescendo Records). The LP was premiered at the convention by the Barrons as part of a 20th Anniversary celebration of the film being held at MidAmeriCon. They helped the convention's programming staff arrange for the rental of a sound print of the film from MGM's vaults. Three separate screenings of Forbidden Planet were held as part of the convention's all 35mm science fiction and fantasy film retrospective. The Barrons were on-hand to promote their signed soundtrack LP, and they introduced the first of the three screenings of the film.

For MidAmeriCon, science fiction and fantasy author George R. R. Martin, along with Gardner Dozois, organized the first-ever Hugo Losers Party. They gathered all the opened bottles of liquor and various left-over snack foods from Sunday evening's many open room parties; this for a uniquely themed "dead dog" party: It was to be a gathering spot for all past Hugo losers (and their friends and family), set to happen Monday evening after the "official" closing ceremonies of MidAmeriCon that day. Martin and Dozois had planned to host this "dead dog" party should Martin lose either Hugo for which he had been nominated. He became the party's undisputed host when he lost both his MidAmeriCon Hugo Awards: for the Novelette "...and Seven Times Never Kill Man" and the novella "The Storms of Windhaven," written with Lisa Tuttle. Whenever a past or current Hugo loser entered the room, Martin would take a swig directly from a liquor bottle and in a loud voice announce, "looooooose," as his other arm, held on high, made a wide, sweeping arc downward to the delight of the party goers. Later in the evening, writer Larry Niven was presented with a replacement Hugo by convention chairman Ken Keller. This replacement was for the Hugo Award Niven had dropped and broken in a stairwell backstage shortly after winning it, as he rushed back to his auditorium seat; he then quickly departed after receiving a loud round of boos and catcalls in response to Keller's presentation. In the years and decades that followed, the Hugo Losers Party became an annual event and evolved into one of the largest social gatherings held annually at every Worldcon.

The convention also produced another first: a highly collectible hardcover program and souvenir book, edited and designed by Tom Reamy; only two others have subsequently been done, one for the 45th World Science Fiction Convention and one for the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention.

Awards

The Hugo Awards, named after Hugo Gernsback, are presented every year at the annual Worldcon for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. Results are based on the ballots submitted by the membership of each Worldcon, which comprises the World Science Fiction Society.^[1] Other awards, including the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, are also presented each year at Worldcon.^[2]

Hugo Awards

• Best Novel: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
• Best Novella: "Home Is the Hangman" by Roger Zelazny
• Best Novelette: "The Borderland of Sol" by Larry Niven
• Best Short Story: "Catch That Zeppelin!" by Fritz Leiber
• Best Dramatic Presentation: A Boy and His Dog
• Best Professional Editor: Ben Bova
• Best Professional Artist: Frank Kelly Freas
• Best Fanzine: Locus, edited by Charles N. Brown and Dena Brown
• Best Fan Writer: Richard E. Geis
• Best Fan Artist: Tim Kirk

Other awards

• Special Award: presented to James E. Gunn for Alternate Worlds, The Illustrated History of Science Fiction^[3]
• John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: Tom Reamy^[3]
• Gandalf Grand Master Award: L. Sprague de Camp

See also

• World Science Fiction Society

References

External links

• World Science Fiction Society official website
• NESFA.org: The Long List
• NESFA.org: 1976 convention notes
• Hugo.org: 1976 Hugo Awards