The Gem Theater: Fanzines

Introduction

Downtown Wichita Falls, Texas, in the mid 1940’s was a bustling metropolis for a boy of 7 just away from the farm and ranch community where he was born. My father, a cook and cowboy by trade, had just started as one of the first cooks for the Casa Manana restaurant in 1947. He moved us to an apartment on Ohio Street, right across from the Gem Theater, between 7^th and 8^th Streets. It’s here that we would stay for the next three years. The Gem Theater became a magic palace for a young mind. But it had to share that distinction with the rest of the magic that was Wichita Falls. I attended San Jacinto and Carrigan elementary schools, as well as Reagan Junior High, and belonged to the Boys Club on 6th Street. Please join, and share your stories and pictures through a Guest Blog, of early Wichita Falls - or your home town. Contact me at fadingshadows40@gmail.com or leave a comment. We could use old pictures of movie houses, drive-in theaters, and other nostalgic pictures related to our youths.

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Fanzines

Fanzines

Fanzines have been around since the early 19^th century. Basically, meaning fan magazines, early magazines popped up for movie fans, science fiction fans, monster fans, and who knows what else. I was familiar with some of them; my wife even subscribed to Soap Opera Digest – perhaps a prozine like the TV Guide, but the same difference Can you believe people collect TV Guides and Soap Opera Digest?

I became aware of book collector fanzines in 1970 when I discovered BRONZE SHADOWS, a fanzine devoted to Doc Savage and The Shadow, with interest in pulp magazine heroes. Pulp magazines ran from 1896 to the mid 1950s, the heyday being the 1930s and ‘40s. Most ended by 1953, though a few lingered. In 1965 BRONZE SHADOWS showed up, and others were quick to follow.

We started ECHOES in 1982, becoming the longest running (in numbers) fanzine dealing with pulps. ECHOES lasted as a magazine for 100 issues, then continued for another 57 issues as a newsletter, for a total of 22 years.

There are several still around today, but mostly electronic fanzines on the Internet. One Doc Savage print fanzine still around is THE BRONZE GAZETTE, which has been around for over twenty years now, has just reached Issue #70.