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If you follow fanzines and fanews you know about the latest "death" of Earl Tuckleton. This is the fourth time Earl's death has been reported. First time was back in 1936 when Earl was a very young fanpoet and humorist.
Earl wasn't too well known then, just an up and coming young writer. His poetry had appeared in a couple of zines and he'd written a humorous article or so under an alien penname, but he hadn't done any publishing himself. Not even L'Nethpen. Anyway the fanzines made a big to-do of it when Earl's death was reported. Dedicated issues to him and all that. The report was that Earl had been attending the screening of chapter six of a new stfilm, The Underseas Kingdom with Crash Corrigan or something like that. According to the report Earl had been trapped in the theater and couldn't get to safety. He was the only casualty. In fact, he was the only person in the theater at the time. The fans wondered about that but the report went on to state that Earl had been trapped in a folding seat that had needed oiling.
Well, Ray Slosher called the theater management long-distance and found out that that peculiar theater didn't have folding seats as it was a drive-in, so Tuckleton's first death was revealed as the work of a fan hoaxter. The culprit, it turned out, was Walt Fletcher, a Michifan of the period, and supposed friend of Tuckleton's.
The second death was Earl's own idea. It occurred in 1941 and was perpetrated by Tuckleton and a friend who printed the local paper. This friend ran off fifteen copies of the local journal without the lead story. In its place he substituted the following: Tuckleton Blows Lid - Local Rocket Enthusiast Enthusiastically Rockets Into Space - Earl Tuckleton (27), gas station attendant, was last night confronted with a dark gas tank and a broken fuel meter. He lit a match to determine whether or not there was any gas in the tank. There was. Mr. Tuckleton was last seen at latitude 34, longitude 8 headed due west at approx. 364 miles an hour. Further progress reports will be carried daily, climaxed after his landing by a gala funeral and clambake financed by the local fan group of which Mr. Tuckleton was a very popular member.
All fandom wept at this report and it was said and said again, "That's how Tuckle would have wanted to go ... fast."
When the clam-bake failed to come off, the affair was looked into and Earl was found to be working as a car hop for the Snazzy Drive-In Cream and Custard Bar. That was unusual, as they hired only female car hops. Then it was discovered that Earl had let his hair grow into long ebon curls and padded his T shirt.
But he was fired three weeks later because he had forgotten to shave off his mustache. Seems the boss was nearsighted and he hadn't noticed it until he realized that he was especially tickled by Earl's kisses.
For a couple of years after that Earl went along in a normal rut, pubbing L'Nethpen pretty regularly and writing for other fanzines. He even did a column called "Slobbers by the Slobberer" for a Southern fanzine.
Then early in 1943 a rumor was circulated around fandom that the draft board had discovered Earl's mustache and realized that those long ebon curls were a fraud, so Earl was in the Army.
Nine months later a telegram was received by Mrs. Tuckleton informing her that Earl was missing in action in the Pacific. According to the report, Tuckleton had been lost his first day of combat duty. There was a campaign in fandom to petition the president for a citation for Earl.
After the end of the war, tho, Tuckleton was discovered teaching Sunday School in the mountains of Burma at a small Red Cross hospital. But the mustache gave him away again and the Nurse Corps sent him back to the United States where he explained his sudden disappearance by temporary amnesia. There was some talk of AWOL and court martial but fandom came to the rescue by sending the psychiatrist a complete set of L'Nethpen. After the doctor was certain that Earl wasn't given to violence he released him into his wife's custody on the condition that the moment he showed any signs of becoming violent he was to be confined.
So after three deaths and several short confinements, Earl returned to actifandom. He began his re-activation by writing book-reviews for fanzines, and soon he was publishing a page called Local Littered Reviews and News. Soon he changed the title to Reviews and News Litter.
Tuckleton's fourth death was reported to fandom a little over a month ago. According to the reports Earl had been working as a popcorn salter in a local theater. He was dissatisfied with his work and generally unhappy. News Litter wasn't selling and he had been unable to place a single one of the many books he had written during his confinement.
Word came to him one September morn that he had been appointed chairman of the next annual convention. That afternoon, Sam Neanderthal received a phone call from Earl's co-worker, Koliver Ping d'Smythe who worked on the same machine with Earl as popcorn butterer., to the effect that Earl had been cleaning out the inside of the popcorn machine when he received a telegram. He read the telegram with a pained expression. Then he reached down and switched on the machine. He was popcorned to death.
d'Smythe was quoted in Fantasy-Times "It was horrible."
But for no reason at all some fans were suspicious. They questioned this report of Tuckleton's death. One even called the chief of police (popcorn division) in the town where Earl lived, and questioned him. There was no record of a man being corn-popped to death in over three years. Another fan called Tuckleton's home but a man answered and through sheer force of habit the fan hung up.
Still there was doubt. Koliver Ping d'Smythe was obviously a pseudonym. No such person could exist. Earl was no doubt alive somewhere. Fans all over the country began watching for an ebon-haired woman with a mustache. Three were found but one turned out to be a dyed blonde and the other two were members of the House of David auxiliary.
Then one day a stranger walked into the LASFS club room and announced that he was Koliver Ping d'Smythe and even produced his driver's license for identification. Finally he was persuaded to tell the whole story of Tuckleton's last "death" and here is that story exactly as he told it:
Earl and I worked side by side all day on that popcorn machine and we got to be pretty good friends. When Earl got that telegram telling him he had been appointed next convention chairman he was pretty disappointed. He had wanted to be treasurer.
So he sez to me, "Kollie, I think I will get out of fandom once and for all."
Earl wasn't one to do things in a small way, not Earl. If he was gonna quit he was gonna do it up big. So he told me his plan and got me to agree to help him pull it off. In fact, the only place where he slipped up was in not getting the chief of police (popcorn division) in on it.
Well, I made the phone call and everything just like he told me to do. Then we went down to this little place around the corner from Earl's for some beer.
We was sittin' there, the two of us, talkin' about it all and Earl sez to me, "Kollie, I have died so often before that those stupid fans may not believe me when I say I have died again. There is one last thing I must do to convince them that I have actually died.
"What is that, Tuckle, ole boy?" sez I.
"This," he replies. Then he takes out a gun and shoots himself right through the head.
Not one to do things in a small way, that Tuckleton, not him!
-(Sic Transit Gloria Tuckleton)-
Data entry by Judy Bemis
Hard copy provided by Geri Sullivan
Data entry by Judy Bemis
Updated September 29, 2015. If you have a comment about these web pages please send a note to the Fanac Webmaster. Thank you.