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Taken at the Indian Lake, OH home of C.L. "Doc" Barrett in September of 1949, the weekend after Cinvention (7th World SF Convention; September 3-5, 1949; Cincinnati, OH). Fan Guest of Honor Ted Carnell stopped by on his way back to England after a brief side trip to Chicago, and the con staff -- which is to say, most of the CFG -- spent a relaxed weekend which set the tone for future Midwestcons.

Yes, Kiddies, there really was one, even if it didn't have the name. Remember, the Cincinnati Fantasy Group started cold and one year later, put on the Cinvention. It was a real rat race and you can read my somewhat blurred report, The Cinvention Scene Dimly, at http://www.cfg.org/history/cinvention/mb/lavender.htm.
As the convention committee, we were far to busy to visit with our guest of honor, Ted Carnell.
The following weekend, Ted was visiting Doc Barrett at his cottage at Indian Lake, Ohio. Doc invited the ConCom and a few other Ohio fans to the lake and we got to visit with Ted. That was so much fun, we decided to do it again and the Midwestcon was born.
That was a half century ago and MWC still happens the last weekend in June. It is the original relaxicon. A weekend long bull session, with no panels and no programming beyond a buffet where some BNF get introduced.

--Roy Lavender

#000.001: [c]
Dave McInnes, Doc Barrett, E. J. "Ted" Carnell, Jerry Barrett

485 x 335 pixels; 22.6K

#000.002: [c]
Charles Tanner, Ted Carnell, Don Ford

485 x 336 pixels; 22.2K

#000.003: [c]
Bea Mahaffey, Ted Carnell, Carey Tabakow, Fred Rothfus

482 x 333 pixels; 28.7K

#000.004: [c]
Charles Smith, Lou Tabakow, Ted Carnell, Roy Lavender, Carey Tabakow (rear); Fred Rothfus, Stan Skirvin (front)

482 x 333 pixels; 25.8K

All photographs on this page courtesy of Roy Lavender

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000.002	Author Charles Tanner was pressed into service as the nominal chairman of Cinvention (the 7th World SF Convention; Cincinnati, 1949) as a confidence-building move by the bid committee, but Don Ford was responsible for the actual organization and operation.
000.004	Lou Tabakow was the last CFG Dictator (President for Life or Until We Say He Doesn't Have to Be Any More) before our current one. Stan Skirvin created the Cinvention program book. Almost fifty years later, and long since relocated to Arizona, he miraculously appeared at a CFG meeting (held at Chez Webgeek!) just when his memories were most needed in the print-to-web transition.

[ t o p o f p a g e ]

URL: http://www.cfg.org/history/gallery/mwc/mwc000.htm

All material © Cincinnati Fantasy Group, unless otherwise credited.
Last updated: Monday, August 25, 2008
Created for the CFG by Scott Street (scottst@ix.netcom.com).
Maintained by the author.

Comments, questions & broken link reports: (webgeek@cfg.org).