Leonard Nimoy Association of Fans

From Fanlore
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Fan Club
Name: Leonard Nimoy Association of Fans,' then, Leonard Nimoy National Association of Fans
Dates: February 1967-
Founder(s): Peggye Vickers and Gloria Lillibridge
Leadership: Louise Stange
Country based in: USA
Focus: Star Trek: TOS and Leonard Nimoy
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Leonard Nimoy Association of Fans was the official fan club for Leonard Nimoy.

a 1974 flyer

It formed after Vulcanian Enterprises and there were some tensions regarding access and power between these two groups. See below.

LNAF began as the "Leonard Nimoy National Association of Fans" or LNNAF. The name was changed in 1970 (sometime between March and August) when several British and Canadian members and chapters joined up, and Louise Stange took over the reins.

Smaller fan clubs could join as chapters of LNAF by following a few simple guidelines. The club's name had to include "Nimoy" or "Leonard Nimoy" somehow, and the club had to have UNICEF as their official charity. Chapter clubs included Sam Cole's Nimoyan-Spock's Scribes, LNSTFCCF, Denny Arnold's The Nimoy Nest, and Regina Marvinny's Nimoyan Federation. It appears that "Spock" could also fulfill this requirement, as seen with U.S.S. Spock and Spockness. In April 1967, there were apparently over 70 of these satellite clubs.[1]

In 1972, Nimoy himself addressed the growth of his club in the LNAF Yearbook, saying that club membership was up 30% that year and that lately, 70 new memberships were processed a week.

  • cover of the Welcome Booklet, artist is Kathy Bushman -- See these details

  • According to trekbbs.com, a number of photos appeared in TV-Radio Mirror in January 1968. This one is of Leonard Nimoy and Peggye Vickers when Peggye visited the Star Trek set; Nimoy holds a copy of "Leonard Nimoy Association of Fans Yearbook."

A Change in Leadership

Between March and August 1970, Vickers handed the reins of the club (at that time named "LNNAF") over to Louise Stange, who changed the name to just the LNAF a few months later.

From the March 1970 issue of Deck 6:

Peggye Vickers lives! But her new job doesn’t leave enough time for her to continue as president of the LNNAF. Peggye, who began the club in Feb. 1967, will remain as advisor to the new president, Louise Stange (whose last name rhymes with “tangy”). Louise’s “Capsule 7” chapter will merge with the LNNAF, so the 2000-and-some member club will now be even larger. For several months it had been assumed that Gloria Lillibridge, the vice-president, would assume the presidency, but she felt that taking on a third club would be unfair to the members of all three (how she manages two is beyond me!), so Gloria will stay on as vice-president. There is also a new position on the LNNAF staff: Mrs. S. Cornelie (“Sam”) Cole, president of the Nimoyan-Spock’s Scribes chapter, has been designated by LN himself as National Chapter Director; Sam will keep Louise and LNNAF members informed on chapter activities. Congratulations to Louise and Sam on their new positions, and thanks to Peggye and Gloria for three years of a fantastic club (and many more to come)!

The End of the Line

It is unknown when this club ceased. A fan in June 1983 said:

Nimoy's fan club (LNAF) fizzled. I caught Louise Stange, who ran it, at Chicon, and asked about it. She said that L.N. is not interested in fan clubs. I don't know whether this means all such clubs, or just the one she ran. Does anyone else know about any others? [2]

Official Main Publications

The Nimoy Award

The club gave The Nimoy Award to a fan honored for being the most active member of the LNNAF. [3]

Controversy

Crediting the Club

From the 1972 LNAF Yearbook:

I would like to stress is the importance of giving credit to the LNAF, We do, after all, owe a debt of gratitude to the LNAF for permitting us to form chapters. To my knowledge, it is the only fan club to allow this. It is the ONLY official club for Leonard Nimoy. A chapter becomes an official chapter through affiliation only. Since it is the LNAF that makes it possible for chapters to exist, it is only right we promote the LNAF to our chapter members. It is very important to get our members who do not belong to the LNAF interested in joining it. Also, when printing news of Leonard Nimoy, and the LNAF is the source, say so before or after the article. It is only fair to give credit where credit is due. It is very gratifying to have the opportunity to express ourselves through club publications. We are, in effect, a family of chapters with the LNAF as the mother club.

Power Games, Access, and Profit

At least one club, Vulcanian Enterprises, experienced conflict regarding power and access to Leonard Nimoy:

April [1967] had gotten us only to 47 members, and the LNNAF felt that starting to throw its weight around. Decision: let's be friendly until something definite develops. Loss of direct communication with LN develops from LNNAF interference." [4] ...At the meeting [in April 1967], the LNNAF was discussed and then voted upon. The result was that the club members ware not to join and fight against it. THIS IS HOW CHANGED.[sic] The past few weeks have brought enlightenment from several other fan clubs and "our leader". We were against becoming affiliated for several reasons: one person was controlling the whole information center and sending out pretty ridiculous bulletins (Mrs. Peggye Vickers), and the direct communication which we had enjoyed with L.N. was disrupted. Mrs. Vickers had a kind of dictatorship over the 70-odd clubs with no say towards our individuality. However, if I may coin a phrase, would you believe It was just organizing chaos just like that which "V.E." went through? Now direct comm. has been restored, with only strictly club material going to Peggye. Elyse and I have to join -- the only catch is that if we don't, no information will come to us. If any others wish to join, let one of us know. It is not necessary as all the info sent to us will be in the "Vulcanalia." The cost for joining is $2.00. [5]

The UNICEF Piece

Some clubs did not want to become LNAF chapters because they did not support UNICEF. Reports had circulated for years that a disproportionate amount of UNICEF funds went to Communist countries. Today, this would be like finding out that your official club charity was giving money to kids whose families were involved in al-Qaeda. Religious groups also objected to the "godless" UNICEF greeting card line, which omitted specific reference to Christianity or any other faith because these cards were going to people of many faiths.[6][7] [8] Others simply believed that UNICEF didn't adequately monitor the distribution of funds; or they just wanted to choose their own charities.

In 1972, Regina Marvinny pulled the Nimoyan Federation out of LNAF because of a disturbing (and verified) report that UNICEF officials were using funds to support lavish lifestyles, and that the food and medicine provided were inappropriate for malnourished children -- their digestive systems couldn't handle it.

The Nimoyan Federation changed its name to STREK and its charity to Save the Children. In 1975, the LNAF changed their official charity to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, after Nimoy's nephew Alan died from that disease:

the August 1975 LNAF Bulletin, Leonard Nimoy's letter announcing the change in charity donations

From an August 1975 letter by Nimoy addressed to club members:

For some years now, you the members of the LNAF have very generously contributed funds for our official charity, UNICEF. I have always been very proud of the work you have done in this area.

I have recently had numerous conversations with your President, Louise Stange, with your UNICEF Chairperson, Gloria Lillibridge, and many individual members about the possibility of changing the designated charity of this organization. As a result of those conversations it has been decided to devote our charity energies to an area which holds a very personal interest for me.

Approximately two years ago, my nephew Alan Nimoy who was then seventeen years of age died as a result of a disease known as Cystic Fibrosis. Since then a scholarship fund has been established in his name in the area of his home.

Starting immediately, charity funds contributed to or raised by this organization will be divided equally between the Scholarship Fund and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation...

The division of the funds will be reviewed periodically so that we can achieve a meaningful balance.

Again my thanks for your wonderful support in the past. [9]

Welcome Booklets

  • One of the many smaller chapter's zines, this one is for "Chapter of the Leonard Nimoy National Association of Fans: The Cape Kennedy Fanaticals" (1968).

  • cover of an undated welcome booklet -- see the whole thing here

  • cover of the 1975 edition (the photo that was affixed to the front is missing). This magazine was sent as part of the welcoming package to those who joined the Leonard Nimoy Association of Fans. It is 8.5" x 11", 14 pages. Contents include a letter to his fans from Leonard Nimoy, an article describing the Leonard Nimoy Association of Fans and its activities, an article "Meet Leonard Nimoy" (which includes his acting and directing credits as well as biographical information), and an article "How Can I be an Active LNAF'er?".

  • this is possibly a "Welcome Booklet" for the club, undated, includes "George Montgomery photo of a The Performing Arts Triptych, Ed Ames: original photo (3"x 3"), Stamps of James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols, Deforest Kelly along with their biographies, poems, photos, news, 30 pages, undated John Vyvian: original photo (5"x7")

  • cover of an edition of the welcome booklet for new members

  • cover of a 1969 edition of the welcome booklet for new members

Details from a 1969 (?) Welcome Booklet

One of the welcome booklets, likely from 1969 (some sample pages below) contained a Leonard Nimoy biography, a Spock biography, a welcome letter from Nimoy, a welcome letter from the fan club staff, a listing of Nimoy's musical recordings (and a plea for fans to buy them), an explanation of Unicef, a placeholder for a membership card, and a section for fans to write questions and send them to Nimoy to answer in future issues.

  • front cover, art by Kathy Bushman

  • back cover

  • club officers

  • letter from club staff

  • letter from Nimoy

  • about Spock, and a place for questions

References

  1. ^ "Mrs. Vickers had a kind of dictatorship over the 70-odd clubs with no say towards our individuality." from the April 1967 issue of Vulcanalia
  2. ^ from K/S & K.S. (Kindred Spirits) #5
  3. ^ Papergreat: The Nimoy Award for 1967 goes to..., Archived version
  4. ^ from the January 1968 issue of Vulcanalia
  5. ^ from the April 1967 issue of Vulcanalia
  6. ^ UNICEF For Beginners, pamphlet issued to children recruited for collection drives.
  7. ^ Maggie Black, "In A Popular Cause" (PDF link), chapter 9 of The Children and the Nations: The Story of UNICEF, 1986.
  8. ^ Dr. James T. Shaw, What's Wrong with UNICEF, pamphlet issued by Dr. Carl McIntire's Bible Presbyterian Church in 1966.
  9. ^ the front page of the LNAF Bulletin, dated August 1975
Retrieved from "https://fanlore.org/w/index.php?title=Leonard_Nimoy_Association_of_Fans&oldid=2494300"