Rabanos Radiactivos 101

Written by Fred Patten, and published on the LASFS Rex Rotary, September 21, 1966. Intended for Apa L, 101st Distribution, LASFS Meeting no. 1519, Sept. 22, 1966. Address: 1825 Greenfield Avenue, Los Angeles, California, 90025. Phone: GRanite 3-6321.
New York in 1967! Los Angeles in 1968! Salamander Press #203.

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Well, it seems as thought 1825 Greenfield Avenue won't be disappearing down the drain after all. Ed Baker has decided to move in, and help me keep the place going. It's a good move for Ed; it's within walking distance of UCLA, where he works, and it gives him access to the LASFS Rex. What effect this will have on the Booby Hatch, I don't know, although I suspect that it'll mean the breakup of the slan shack unless Ed can be replaced fast by another rent-payer. If so, I'll be sorry to see the Hatch go, but not as sorry as I would be to see 1825 Greenfield go. Ed will make the sixth fan to become a permanent resident here since Al Lewis & Ron Ellik rented it back in 1962, and I don't know how many transient guests we've had over the years. May 1825 Greenfield last forever -- or at least until the freeway comes through!

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The trip to Disneyland last Friday was rather unusual in that none of us felt like hurrying around, and we didn't see nearly all there was to be seen, but we came away satisfied and without a feeling of having missed anything. Possibly this was due to the heat of the day, which stifled any hurrying around, and possibly we were all still a little tired from our TriCon trip and not fit for another full day on our feet. At any rate, we took things slowly, broke for rests often, and thus had what we considered to be a full day without exhausting ourselves.

The previous evening, I had gotten a phone call from Gloria Lange, a co-worker with Bruce at the UCLA Engineering Library, to see if she could join us on the trip since the Pelzes weren't going. I was agreeable, so at about 9:30 last Friday morning, Len Bailes, Jerry Jacks, Gloria, and I pulled into the Disneyland parking lot, just behind Don Fitch. We were joined by Ellie Turner as we went inside the main gate, and after another 15 minutes or so, the rest of the party arrived; Bĵo & Katwen, Tom Schlück, Lois Lavender, Ron Ellik, and Luise Petti. Larry Niven ran into us a few hours later to bring our group up to 13, which is about as large as a group can get without becoming unwieldy.

This was Disneyland's first week on this year's fall schedule, and things seemed greatly subdued all over. Lines were almost nonexistent; we even got onto the Matterhorn after no more than five minutes. A large area of Tomorrowland was sealed off for renovation, eliminating the Art of Animation and 2,000 Leagues exhibits, the Tomorrowland souvenir shop, the Moon Rocket, the Astro-Jet, the Flying Saucers, and all points inbetween. Presumably, all of this is to be replaced by new, more futurific material. Besides this shutting down of half of Tomorrowland, there were many other attractions that just weren't open, such as the Autopia, Sleeping Beauty's Castle, and the Fantasyland Theater. And, there were some attractions that weren't operating correctly, such as the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln -- Bĵo remarked that the robot looked as though it were having a heart seizure, and it almost fell over backwards when it was supposed to sit down. All of this, plus the heat, plus the lack of crowds, plus the short (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) schedule, made the day quite unusual; almost as though Disneyland were slowly running down. We spent more time just wandering around and looking at things than in taking any of the rides; I only used six tickets out of my ticket book, sitting out several rides the others went on that I've become jaded with. I still enjoy the Matterhorn ride and the Small World exhibit tremendously, though; I may just go around on those two rides continuously during the IBM trip in November.

The New Orleans Square has been partly opened, and was the only thing new to me. The Pirates ride isn't in operation yet, but all of the shops and restaurants are in business. It looks as though it's going to be another Adventureland, consisting principally of "theme" shops and eating places, and one big ride -- at least for the present. (The Haunted House, when it opens, will probably be to the New Orleans Square what the Enchanted Tiki Room is to Adventureland.) It's a pleasant place to walk through once or twice, but as the shops all contain junk souvenirs in which I'm not at all interested, and the eating places are all horribly overpriced (50¢ for a milkshake), I don't think that it will ever become one of my favorite lands.

Well, after a pleasant but unexciting day at Disneyland, we all went over to the Trimbles', then to a nearby steak house for dinner; and by the time dinner was over, Jerry had to get to the airport to catch his plane to the Bay Area. So that was the end of the latest fannish expedition to Disneyland.

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Yarst. I don't really feel like doing any more trip/party reports. This thing is being hastily on-stenciled between a trip to the Universal City studio tours this afternoon, and going to a drive-in movie this evening -- we're trying to show Tom Schlück as much of Southern California as possible before he leaves on Friday. The way we're all feeling now, though, we may kill the drive-in expedition and just loaf around. I dunno.

The Universal studio tour was well worth the rather stiff $3 admission, and it's well worth a LASFS group outing. The length of the tour apparently varies, depending on how much of the studio is in operation at the time; there was no filming going on today for us to watch, so the tour ended in a little under 3 hours -- it's supposed to usually last 3 to 4 hours. The whole tour can be divided descriptively into two parts; the first is the tram tour through the assorted sets, sound stages, prop dept., a star's dressing room, etc.; and the second is a walking stroll through the studio's Upper Lot, where you're on your own and set your own schedule. The most interesting feature of the whole tour, in my opinion, is the stunt show in the Upper Lot, where some professional stunt men demonstrate how fights, falls off buildings, etc., are done. This is one of those technical tricks of the trade that everyone's seen explained in various movie & tv magazine articles from time to time; but it's never been nearly as graphic as when it's done right before your eyes as it is here, in a small outdoor amphitheatre in which nobody is too far away to catch anything. I got a twinge of nostalgia on seeing the remains of the set for the Roman Senate in "Spartacus", where I spent a day of marching around as a Roman Legionary in the scene where Crassus orders the Roman Army to go bring in Spartacus ("or his head!"), back around 7 years ago. It was fun.

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Feh. I just got back from the drive-in, and it's after midnight. We saw "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and "Oklahoma"; both good pictures, but unfortunately both prints were badly worn and spliced. Maybe some Dist'n comments tomorrow, if I have time between work and the Meeting.

Tom Digby -- Yes, the '67 WesterCon being in L.A. will probably be used as a major argument against the Pan-PacifiCon, if any other serious bidders do arise. There hasn't been a West Coast convention since 1964 that hasn't been in Southern California, and we're already being accused of hogging the show; the prospect of two major conventions in Los Angeles itself right after each other may be a bit much for some people -- or a convenient excuse for them to support somebody else. I don't expect that it will cost us the '68 bid, but it's the only vaguely reasonable reason for opposing the L.A. bid that's been brought up. ## Yes, there has been enough change in Apa L personnel that we could do another photocover with some of our more recent contributors, if we can get the photos. Could you bring your camera to one of the next couple of Meetings? I'd still like to get some good shots of our out-of-towners. ## The proposed Apa L cover art portfolio would've been issued loose-leaf, not stapled. However, as nobody else seems interested in the idea, I guess we can kill that project.

Dian Pelz -- Oh, my, poor old Apa L. If Apa L ever becomes so moribund that the kindest thing would be to kill it off, I won't fight it. However, I'll need a lot of convincing. Everything has its cycle of peaks and troughs, and I see no evidence that Apa L is in so deep a trough that it can't rise out again. We did a good job of pulling out of our Con-time slump last week, at least quantitatively. I intend on being around with my 4 weekly pages for a long time to come. I'm glad, though, that the scare rumors have brought you back, even if it's only briefly.

Steve Perrin -- The Green Goddess climax in The Star Magicians is lifted out of Hannes Bok's The Blue Flamingo (STARTLING, Jan. '48), an excellent fantasy in the Merritt tradition. [That reminds me; does anybody know whatever happened to that memorial volume of Bok's writings that Carter was supposedly preparing? Van Arnam, you're apparently in closer contact with Carter than most; have you heard anything?] ## You have been having trouble with the comic-book publishers, haven't you? At least Wally Wood's crew at Tower printed a public apology for their distortion of your LoC.

Sally Crayne -- No, no, no! Mondays are purple, Tuesdays are red, Wednesdays are blue, Thursdays are green, etc. It was all settled in Apa L well over a year ago. ## If you like the Pooh books, and Once On a Time, there's another volume of Milne's children's fantasies just out, "never before published in book form". This is Prince Rabbit and The Princess Who Could Not Laugh, two short pieces that remind me more of Fractured Fairy Tales than of anything else. Unfortunately, the book is hardbound, at $3.95; unless you're a really fanatical Milne fan, you'd do better to browse through it the next time you're in a bookstore. It's colorfully, if unspectacularly, illustrated by Mary Shepard, the "Mary Poppins" artist, who just happens to be the daughter of Ernest Shepard, who illustrated the Pooh books and The Wind in the Willows. Sort of gives you the feeling that all the good British children's fantasy is turned out by one small corporation.

Dave Van Arnam -- Very good Business Session synopsis; Best from Apa L material, I think. ## And how's The Black Magician?

Tom Schlück -- Welcome to Apa L, if only briefly. I hope you've had enough time to recover from all the scenery you saw on your way to L.A., because you're going to see a lot more before you get back to the East Coast. Hey, Bĵo, do you think you'll have time to stop in any redwood forest during the trip North this weekend?

Andy Porter -- Sorry, but Apa L is staying at 50 copies for the present. What do you care, if you're dropping out?

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