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See You in TAMPA!
Where the Fun Association will convene in the Fun State – to print, swim, swap hobby experiences, and, hopefully, effect a solution to Postal persecution of our Mailing Bureau. – set by Helen Wesson
Support your AAPA – we ain’t proud!
The Gang’s All Here
Floral Park, N.Y. – Attending today’s fun-filled Metchap meeting at the residence of Fred and Betty Liddle, are the following ajayers:
Helen, Pamela and Sheldon C. Wesson;
Mike Silberman; Elliot M. Reugen;
Verle Heljeson; Merlin and Stephen Teed;
Betty, Dick, Sue and Jimmy Branch;
Roy Lindberg; and MacGillicudy.
Regrets from Wes Wise and Jim Hallock.
Long Island Revisited
by Fred J. Liddle
THE AMERICAN AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION held its 1942 Convention in Hempstead, Long Island and Association activities on the Island have been going downhill ever since. There are some who think it reached a new low when the author of this article joined the Association in January, 1969.
Today’s Metchap meeting is being held a mere stone’s throw (All right, five miles is too far to heave a rock!) from the site of that war time convention and it occurs to me that a few words about the old “Long Island bunch” are in order.
The names of Bill Groveman, Bob and Willard Smith, Norman Levine, Tom Erhard, and Paul and Bill Jackson don’t mean much to today’s members but thirty years ago they were among the most prolific publishers in AAPA.
The leader of the pack was Bill Groveman who issued such titles as Amateuria, American News, Printer’s Devil, The Informer, By Heck, Revealer, and Spirit of ‘76. World War II interrupted his ajay career until 1944 when he produced five issues of Snafu – an appropriate title for that era. One of the founders of the Metchaps, Bill is no longer a member of AAPA. Unlike some of our old timers, he couldn’t rekindle that teenage enthusiasm.
Little Boss, hectographed, was the first AAPA effort from Bob Smith. He, his brother Willard, and Groveman moved up to letterpress when they acquired a barrel of pied Caslon from a commercial printer. Bob was soon publishing such titles are Sour Notes, At Random, The Scarlet Cloak, and Dual Thoughts – the latter was co-published by Norman Levine. Bob and his brother also co-published a paper called – naturally enough – Cough Drop.
Willard Smith’s Nassau Amateur offset brother Bob’s wild enthusiasm with calm comments on ajay subjects of the day – people, politics, and papers.
The first paper from Norman Levine was Long Island Amateur. It appeared in hectograph, mimeo, and commercial letterpress. When Levine succumbed to the printing bug he issued Islander and Ajay Newstalk, flimsie which concentrated on ajay chitchat… we could use more of that today!
Space limitations prevent my listing the exploits of Tom Erhard and the Jackson brothers who also were part of the Long Island ajay scene. All these teenage stars shone briefly in the little world of AAPA. A couple of fellows by the name of Hitler and Hirohito then intervened… and the broken thread has never been mended.
Bankruptcy Impending… Again
Conversation today has centered around a perennial favorite topic: The impending bankruptcy of the AAPA. The presence on the premise of the President, Treasurer, Second VP, a Director and the P&P Manager probably stimulated the thinking.
Pres. Heljeson, with the sharpened instincts of a retired Government auditor, came up with the simple statement that the AAPA starts each year with an income gap of over $200. Thus impending bankruptcy is endemic. Even $5 dues – which everyone hopes will be approved in the next election – will not close the gap.
Must we depend on windfall income? Uneasily, we must.
The Constitution implies that contributions to the Mailing Bureau are expected from publishers, and the association makes up the deficit. In the practice of recent years contributions have become rare, and the Treasury has carried the burden of almost all the mailing costs automatically.
Solution: Shall we campaign hard for mailing contributions?
Done into print at The Rhatt Phincke Press