"The club is growing steadily. It now possesses
a membership of more than thirty. We have the
makings of the greatest science-fiction club in
the country. And we'll achieve that goal!"
--Ben Singer , The Mutant, Sept. 18, 1948.
Ben Singer relinquished the presidency of the MSFS in September, 1948, and shortly after sent a farewell message to the editor of Mutant, the zany, unscheduled, and rambling organ of the club. He stepped from his office, and prophesied that the MSFS would reach a high peak of fan activity -- a peak topping even the summit of the Battle Creek era in 1941, as well as our own achievements thus far.
Unfortunately, Singer's crystal ball was not receiving impulses properly that day; for the year and a half which has elapsed has been a woeful chronicle of schisms, political shenanigans, and insurgentism.
In 1947 and 1948, the Michigan Science Fantasy Society arose nova-like from obscurity, beleaguered with competing feuds with the Detroit Hyperboreans, and numbed by the Battle Creek migration in 1942 to Los Angeles. In the space of two years its members became familiar names in fandom; mostly thru the feud of Singer, Nelson and Conner which made Spacewarp notorious for no-holds-barred disputes. Contemplating the seeking of the convention site for 1949, the MSFS was powerful enough at Toronto to dicker in smoke-filled rooms, and eventually participate in electing Cincinnati for that year as a compromise.
The MSFS heralded their name throughout fandom by journeying to Canada, Milwaukee and Chicago, seeking support for regular Midwest Conferences. Despite the relative absteemers in the group, they gained alcoholic renown by sponsoring these midget conventions. On a state basis, bi-annual conferences were inaugurated and extensive recruiting undertaken. Besides such required activities as holding bi-monthly meetings, the MSFS regularly invaded Saginaw and helped publish various Rapp magazines; they smuggled magazines into Canada on a grand scale, despite heroic defiances by the Immigration and Customs departments. The finest achievement of this effort was the publication of James' Dark Wisdom & Other Tales, the first item on the agenda of Mutant Mimeo (or Misfit Press, as it was simultaneously advertised!)
The smoldering criticism which later burst into open secession was first directed against the club's organ. The irregularity of Mutant's appearance, and the lackadaisical irresponsibility displayed by the editor and publisher, led to many an attempt to stabilize a schedule for the fanzine, and set up an efficient editor-publisher combine which would be unhampered by intervening borders, distances, and temperaments. The criticism resulted in more delay, until finally the ire was shifted to another facet of the MSFS.
Constitutional crises had followed hard upon one another's heels, reducing consecutive meetings to harangues against regimentation, equal opposition to laissez-faire anarchism, and generally against the whole bureaucratic facade which permeated the executive. Ray Nelson led the first definite secession by withdrawing the whole Cadillac chapter from the MSFS. He re-entered later only to leave the organization finally over constitutional bickering.
From this point, which laid the way for further insurgentism, deterioration set in speedily. Old-timers hardly concealed their dislike of the present administration, and inertia gripped all officers. "Let George do it!" became the watchword of the day; but George didn't.
Sufficient cohesion still existed at Cinvention time, and as in the Torcon days, the Misfits went en masse via Alger Enterprises, Inc. Before September of 1949, a slight renaissance began; Mutant was hurriedly stenciled up several issues in advance, and issues were published under a new editor-publisher arrangement. This lasted until the innovation wore thin, but the decline which followed was swift, sure and decisive.
Cadillac had been alienated for quite some time, and activity all but ceased, except on an informal basis, in that sector. Saginaw, after the Bomb Incident, aftermath of a regular MSFS meet there, bolted the club. The Wolverine Insurgents organized themselves into a fan version of the Scourge of Allah, proceeding to harry the Detroit segment of vanishing statewide fandom mercilessly. Through Insurgent one-shots, the DSFL was attacked by disparaging accounts of its meetings; personal caricatures upon individuals in the Detroit area; and general ridiculing of the bureaucracy which Detroit unwisely salvaged from the Michigan club after its collapse.
Since the DSFL stands as the inheritor of the MSFS and its potentialities, Singer's departing speech in 1948 is as far from reality as Aldebaran from Sol. DSFL is not growing, but rather stalled; with the out-state factions enjoying blissful anarchy or strongly held by determined Insurgents. Besides inheriting the worst aspects of the MSFS, the degeneration of the DSFL is furthered by the admission of non-fans and semi-fans into its membership. The criterion of "Fantasy League" is sadly neglected in determining admission.
The founders of the MSFS, at least two of them anyway, are officers in the DSFL. Singer, whom Alger described as "one percent perspiration, ninety-nine percent inspiration", is no longer the firebrand fan of Michifandom. The energy that led him to tackle religious feuds with fandom's most renowned feudists, the terrific drive that enabled him to herd members to meetings, activity and publishing, is all but flickered out. Young, the most promising fan of the old guard, has lapsed into stasis, contemplating the non-fan members with lax indifference and enjoying his official status as president of DSFL. The remaining guardists are dissatisfied, unable to utilize the benefits of Insurgent Saginaw due to the distance barrier.
The DSFL has no fannish reason for existence. The goal that Singer envisioned is further away now than it was in 1948. The ground held at that time by the club must be regained before we can even seek another inch of progress. The remnants of the state wide fandom of that day are sharply diversified groups in Detroit, Saginaw and Cadillac. The international connection with Canada has been severed, and the three score membership at the peak has lessened to a tenth active members. Fanzine publishing is concentrates solely at Saginaw, where Spacewarp-Universe and various FAPA, SAPS and NFFF zines are published. One-shots also stem from Saginaw, while Detroit has mothballed Mutant and concentrated on a small Detroit Stfan, of extreme local interest only.
Detroit is regimented and decadent; Saginaw is Insurgent; and never the twain shall meet.
- END -
Text versions by Judy Bemis, page scans by Judy Bemis and Kim Huett
Data entry by Judy Bemis
Updated June 19, 2015. If you have a comment about these web pages please send a note to the Fanac Webmaster. Thank you.