The Moon Changes, Too
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| Title: | The Moon Changes, Too |
| Creator: | Bob Tucker as Recorder H. P. Pong |
| Date(s): | March 1939 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Science Fiction |
| Topic: | History of science fiction fandom |
| External Links: | Hosted online by fanac.org. Spaceways #4 pp. 18-19. March 1939. |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Moon Changes, Too was a 1939 humor article by science fiction fan Bob Tucker.
The Moon Changes, Too parodied The World Changes, an article by Sam Moskowitz printed in the previous issue of Spaceways. It followed a rough outline of actual history, but presented a version of events where the author founded multiple prominent zines, with a staff consisting of pro science fiction's biggest fans-turned-editors, all of whom were poached from him over the years. It ended with Pong being named as editor of the real new pro magazine Unknown.
Some of the real events included Charles Hornig's recruitment by Hugo Gernsback and the slump in pro magazine quality that Jack Speer called the First Transition--Tucker moved it from 1936-37 to 1935.
Sam Moskowitz wrote Hey! Stop! Please! in part as a response to Tucker's parody.
Text
(Not to be confused with "The World Changes", published here last issue. Editor)Jee, but itsa fonny feeling to start this here ar-tikle by debunking convention and gravity and exclaiming that electricity travels in cycles, but it's dee truth, so help me! On our light fixtures and things, it says: "For 50-60 cycles only", so I guess dat proves it. Of course history repeats itself! Moskowitz has written another ar-tikle on old time, that's history repeating itself!
And as for the audience I know I am lecturing to---Jee, nuttin' to it! Knowing the circulation of SPACEWAYS, I know derned well that at least five hunnerd fans, old, new, and some buried are readin' dis! And none of 'em gives a pot of Martian gold about fan history, but I'm gonna give it to 'em anyway.
Of course, the first fan mag dates back to 1927, Moskowitz to the contrary. On February 29, 1927, the first fan mag blossomed: "PONG'S PHANTASY PANTAGRAPH" we called it, and Doc Sloane was assistant editor. Names? Shux, look: Charlie Hornig was copy boy; Mort Weisinger was city editor; Ray Palmer looked after the club page, and dug up the advertisements; it was here that Bates, while rejecting MSS for us, got the idea for Hawk Carse; Danny McPhail, then a lad in knee-breeches, kept a path worn from our back door, across the alley to a speakeasy--for us, you understand, not for himself; Ackerman was writing reviews of the latest silent stf. movie; Campbell sat in the back-room most of the time scribbling on the backs of envelopes. (We later learned that he put all the envelopes together and pretty soon "The Mightiest Machine" was published.) Ah, that was an era! We called it the first era.
Then came the second era. On the 31st of June, 1928, I started "PONG'S PHANTASY PARTICLES", and merged the PANTAGRAPH with it. By this time Sloane had left us to take a job with AMAZING. Its publishers valued him for the experience he gained while with us. Harry Bates was upped to editor's position. McPhail was now old enough to smear ink, so he became printer's devil. Charlie Hornig looked after McPhail's former duties. It was at this time that Ray Palmer started the most successful fan club the world has ever known: "PONG'S PHANTASY PANCEERS". Our membership reached nearly three thousand, over half of our total circulation. Julius Schwartz was our ACE reporter. It was he who got for us the news that scooped the world: a new pro mag, named ASTOUNDING STORIES, was to be published! Sure enough, it was, but it was also our loss. A Mr. Clayton, who published the mag, discovered Harry Bates on our staff and lured him away from us with higher pay. That was the end of the second era, for the old afternoon domino games weren't the same without Harry.
There was a stalemate at this period. The 1929 crash was due any week now, so we didn't start another fan mag for awhile. Then, along about the turn of 1930, I gathered together Hornig, McPhail, Campbell, and the rest of the boys that weren't busy or doing time, and launched my third fan mag: "PONG'S PHANTASY PAMPHLET". This was an immediate success, despite the fact that Schwartz and Weisinger left to start a mag of their own (they got a peep once into my bank account and found out that there was big money in fan mags). A guy named Allen Glasser was publishing the "TIME TRAVELLER" in competition to my own, and they formed "THE SCIENCE FICTION DIGEST" and merged with him, or vice versa. However, the P. P. PAMPHLET held out, despite all odds, until Hornig broke away to start the FANTASY FAN, and Campbell turned to the detestable practice of writing stories for a living, and we just didn't have the heart to continue without the old gang. Ah, fond memories! I figured this would be a good time to quit, so pleading the excuse that I didn't want to unfairly compete with my own friends now publishing other mags, the P. P. PAMPHLET silently folded its presses and rumbled away.
McPhail migrated to Oklahoma to fight the Injuns. Claimed it was more exciting than answering letters of dopey readers. Jim Babcock went up the river for a stretch. Ray Palmer shipped out to Milwaukee where hardy pioneers were building homes for themselves in the wilderness. Charlie Hornig was wandering around the banks of the Hudson one day, and a man named Gernsback stopped him and asked him how'd he like to be an editor? Hornig answered that he guessed it would be okay, anything was better than writing stories. He'd hate like sixty to have to stoop to doing that for a living. So Charlie became editor of a thing called "WONDER", and spent all his wages publishing a fan mag called "FANTASY FAN". Come to think of it, two or three more era's passed while all this was going on. Gadzooks, but era's were thick in those days!
So, we come to the sixth, and final era of Pong's magazines, and of course, fandom, for it rose and fell with Pong. FANTASY MAGAZINE, FANTASY FAN, etc., had given out. It was now in the gloomy days of 1935. A desperate situation was at hand. Something startling was needed to perk the fans up, save them, band them together. I came gallantly to the rescue, my blood filled with sympathy for my science fiction brothers. The upshot of it all was, I started my last fan magazine: PONG'S PHANTASY PAPYRUS. Other fans saw the plight, came dashing to my rescue.
McPhail left college, came to be my copy boy and beer-runner. Schwartz, now a literary agent, saw to it that all the best MSS came to me. Hornig stopped in on every trip across the country to give me the latest dope and help out wherever possible. Campbell came back to haunt the back room, and scribbling on envelopes again. (This time, "Who Goes There" was the result.) Babcock came back from his stretch, and took to snitching dollars out of the incoming envelopes to play poker with. We had a devil of a time figuring out who had paid for their subscriptions and who didn't. But it all came out right in the end.
Street & Smith became so dazzled over the P. P. PAPYRUS they promptly hired yours truly, H. P. Pong, as editor of their new "UNKNOWN". Thus closes the era to end all eras.
Reactions
Sam Moskowitz, feeling that Tucker was angry with him, returned with Hey! Stop! Please! in the next issue of Spaceways.
Jack Speer referenced his own theory of Numbered Fandoms:
Mr. Hoy's article was quite funny, but I hope he isn't trying to cover up the fact that there actually have been distinct periods in the history of fandom. [Sam may have] picked out more than I would recognize, but that's his right. Bob Madle was rather hard on SaM. I don't count myself much more of an old-timer than S. Other than the First Staple War I haven't a close knowledge of anything before about 1935-36, and I believe that Moskowitz was around, after a fashion, by then....Jack Speer: Letter printed in Spaceways #5, pg. 19. May 1939.
The top item was Pong's "The Moon Changes, Too". But, I must register a complaint. The first fan mag was not "Pong's Phantasy Pantagraph," but "Kussie's Katastrophic Komplaint" which appeared in 1925. If Pong cops that, I can always do a little more lying.Louis Kuslan: Letter printed in Spaceways #5, pg. 21 May 1939.