The 1950s knew an explosion of Sci Fi movies. Some had bigger budgets than other, but they all have a special charm mostly due to the practical effects and amazing sets. Sci Fi was everywhere - design, pulp novels, movies, etc. The largest fan conventions were Torcon, Cinvention, The Philcon and Chicon, where fans sometimes appeared dressed as androids, slans, robots or Buck Rogers.
The largest convention in 1951 took place in London under the name of Loncon. Over 20.000 americans crossed the ocean to attend the show. Back then what now we call Sci-Fi or SF was called STF (ScienTiFiciton). The mane fans were called fan/fen while the women were fenne.
The "true" fans started the frist clubhouses or slanshacks (slan: a superhuman biological mutation) ang gathered at fanferences (conventions) where they meet their favorite authors and auction off manuscripts of stories from prozines (Sci Fi Magazines) as well as original paintings for prozine covers. Casual fans were nicknamed by the hardcore ones: "insurgents".
But enough talk about SciFi, let's take a look at some interesting behind the scenes images.
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Rocket ship is built in When Worlds Collide to evacuate group of pioneers from the earth when it is threatened with destruction by collision with another body in space. Made by Geropge Pal, who also produces Destination Moon, this film will be marked by considerable pseudoscientific detail.
Science fiction makes a movie as space ship spotlight picks out humans in United Artists' "The man from Planet X".
(left)Mesmeric creature in Man from Planet X hypnotize earthling who is eventually rescued by Scotland Yard. (right) Vegetable babies, in RKO's The Thing, are examined by scientists. They sprouted from seed scraped from hand of vegetable visitor from "another world".
Talented robot, named Gort, native of an astral body 250 million miles from Earth, is a key figure in The day the Earth stood still. In this scene Gort, having just disintegrated two american soldiers with a flash of his one eye, is carrying a human female captive insto space ship just outside Washington, D.C.
The 1950 science-fiction banquet in New York was attended by more than 100 writers, publishers, agents and readers. The professional dinersbelong to the Hydra Club of New York. The amateurs are members of Eastern Science Fiction Association, abbreviated in science fiction fashion to ESFA.
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photos and documentation: LIFE Magazine (US) | Zetu Harrys collection
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