Columbicon

(Don - 3rd)

1975: August 8-10

Slayton House, Columbia, MD

GOHs: Gordon R. Dickson, Frederick Pohl

This was one of the strangest cons before or since. Registration and the Friday night movie were in the Cross Keys Inn; Huckster's, Art Show and Program were in a community auditorium called Slayton House; and the Saturday Night movies were held in the Columbia Cinema. Total attendence couldn't have been more than 250. How they got Dickson and Pohl to come is a complete mystery.

Nevertheless, the Columbicon was a very intimate and friendly convention. The setting was appropriate -- a Saturday-morning presentation explained that Columbia was the 1950s vision of The City of the Future.

Don remembers buying comics in the huckster's room and eating hot dogs which an enterprising Filthy Pierre brought to the auditorium to sell. For Saturday night's films the con invaded the local cinema, where they all sang "God Save the Queen" and Don saw THX- 1138 for the first time. His biggest thrill, however, was seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey again after too many years. (Little did Don imagine that he would one day own the movie on videocassette, and could watch it whenever he wanted....)