You are holding in your hands the final issue of DESPATCH

Open Letter
Title:	You are holding in your hands the final issue of DESPATCH
From:	Gail Saville (Slugger) and Barbara Metzke (DH aka Dark Horse)
Addressed To:	members of the fan club, Mark Lenard International Fan Club
Date(s):	December 1980 (date on Despatch #44), but the letter was written in February 1981 and this newsletter was sent out at that time
Medium:	print
Fandom:	fan clubs and Mark Lenard's roles in Star Trek: TOS, Here Come the Brides, Planet of the Apes, and The Secret Empire
Topic:
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You are holding in your hands the final issue of DESPATCH is a 1981 open letter and flounce by Gail Saville (Slugger) and Barbara Metzke (DH aka Dark Horse).

Saville and Metzke were the editors of the long-running zine series, Despatch and president of the Mark Lenard International Fan Club. The club and zine had a focus of Mark Lenard and some of the characters he portrayed on Star Trek: TOS (The Romulan Commander), Here Come the Brides (Aaron Stempel), Planet of the Apes (Urko), and The Secret Empire (Emperor Thorvald).

Metzke and Saville's letter is long, resentful, often sanctimonious, and full of hubris. It must have been devastating for many fans, to receive. It also must have been humiliating for Mark Lenard ("Our Beloved Honorary") to read.

The open letter is an example of the stresses that many fan club presidents endured. While club presidents enjoyed access to the celebrities they reported upon, including personal visits with their family and friends, access to sets, and getting insider information, these fans often also incurred personal debt, loss of time for their own family and friends, and altered relationships with other fans.

While many of Saville and Metzke's reasons for ending the club were valid, one cannot emphasize enough how boredom and weariness with fandom and fans could inflate other problems. When something that was once fresh, and new, and exciting becomes drudgery, the human tendency of finding fault with fans and fandom as an excuse to duck out is appealing. The expected challenges such as expenses, wrangling fans and their demands, and the late night phone calls become irritants. Some fans use their weary departures as an excuse to scold, complain to others, and unharness bitterness.

Saville and Metzke's joy, and then resentment, towards their club and newsletter is an old story. It has been repeated by fans who have found the responsibility and expectations of their fan activity and the product they have provided to others to have become a burden. Some fans bow out gracefully with open communication, others simply lose touch and disappear. Still others, such as Saville and Metzke, write four-page, single-spaced flounces that place the blame on others in a way that projects maximum damage.

Other examples of fandom flounces.

Some Topics Discussed

• running a fan club and publishing its newsletter is financially and personally draining, and it wasn't fun anymore
• many fans will be rude and unreasonable
• fans are too snoopy
• as one gets to know one's object of affection, you find out they are regular people and you are disillusioned to discover they have feet of clay
• Saville and Metzke wouldn't dream of passing on their massive burden to anyone else, and they want to save other fans from their own terrible fate (despite the fact that they were the fourth set of editors/presidents of the zine/club)
• the editors felt misunderstood regarding their motives for agreeing to their duties
• no, they weren't having sex with Mark Lenard
• fans need to get on with their life
• Mark Lenard participated in his club as a favor to fans; he didn't enjoy it
• most fans are needy and psychologically messed up, and Saville and Metzke were tired of being their therapists
• while not mentioned in the letter itself, but commented on by other fans, the assassination of John Lennon had just occurred, and this had a chilling effect on fandom and fans
• much more!

Some Context

Metzge and Saville were the fourth leaders for the club since its inception in 1969. Early membership appeared to be about 125; when the club disbanded, membership was just under 150.

Lenard himself was mostly a good sport about the club, visiting with fans, participating in set visits, and contributing information to the zine. But he could also be sporadic in his communication, something that various club presidents directly shamed him in editorial comments . At one point, Lenard's wife took up a pen and answered on his behalf, saying Lenard wasn't very good about letters.

Lenard tolerated interviews, phone calls, and visits, but he could also be a bit (understandably) caustic, impatient, and prickly at times.

Shortly before the club folded, he attended a con in his honor, NonCon. By several accounts, some fans had been too intense and inappropriate which made him, and others, uncomfortable. From a fan's letter in the last issue of Despatch:

I knew at NONCON that it was the beginning of the end. But you two are not to blame. You both have done a fantastic job, and I agree, it was taking too much of your lives. I can also see Mark's point of view and that of his family. Especially in light of what happened to John Lennon recently. At NONCON, I was shocked and a little frightened at the lengths some people go to for attention - and how ugly they can talk if they think they have been slighted. I was also embarrassed at the harassment Mark endured, and ashamed at the indignities of a few in our group - and very upset about some of the nasty remarks I heard. (The same small core, repeatedly.) I have encountered this undercurrent of meanness at every con I have been to for the past two years. S.T. Fandom is breaking up into factions and those factions are taking cheap shots at one another. If that keeps up, S.T.will die, killed by Civil War within fandom. I can understand why Mark and his family (or any other prominent person) would want to be less visible or accessible. And I don't think it has anything to do with you girls. It's just the prevailing meanness in today's world. (Eds: To underscore this point, Mark mentioned that Robert Brown, alias Jason Bolt, had been followed home from the grocery and his daughter shot.

From the Letter

So, everyone is dying of suspense, wondering what could POSSIBLY make DH and Slugger give up MLIFC and Mark Lenard, especially after NONCON was enjoyed by all that attended. It does seen to he most ironic that those capable of seeing the club and Mark in the light that we always have finally got a chance to do just that at NONCON this summer. However, their numbers were few. Events began to occur -- long before NOMCON -- which indicated that 1) Mark was growing tired of the club and 2) we were growing tired of the club. He could just leave the answer at that and let rumors abound (which we learned over the years, they have) but we decided that you deserved to have an explanation and we deserved to GIVE an explanation to you.

You in MLIFC must understand that OUR reason for taking on MLIFC and handling it as we have over the past three years was solely out of friendship for Mark. When we took on the presidency of MLIFC, we did so believing it would be fun, interesting, a chance to meet new people, and because we believed in Mark and his career and enjoyed our friendship with him. We vowed to keep the club until such time as it was no longer fun — that is, until it became WORK (reads drudgery).

Well, friends, that time has come.

First of all, the qualifications for being a fan club president are outrageous. For one, you have to be independently wealthy because the club has to become a substantial part of your monthly budget and a paycheck only stretches so far. You have no idea how many times a fan club president contemplates her check book, wondering if she'll be able to buy groceries and pay the rent that month because an issue of DESPATCH has to be mailed. (And yes, we DID try to cut corners...recycling envelopes, buying paper wholesale....) Sitting at her desk, playing with her calculator one day, Slugger figured it cost a little more than $1,500 to print and mail four issues of DESPATCH. MLIFC has a little less than 150 members...at $5.00 a head, that cores to $750 with which we have to work. Guess who pays the other half of that $1,500? And that only counts paper, ink, postage, envelopes, address labels, electronic stencils, printing of photos, staples; it does not count typewriter ribbon, stationery, membership cards, membership photos, membership booklets, postage — have you any idea how many people do NOT includes SASEs? Roughly HALF of all inquiries/renewals—mimeo and typewriter repair, phone bills, P.O. Box rental, and a myriad of other incidentals that happen to crop up in the course of running a fan club. (Like NONCON expenses, for example.) Nope, folks, not even photo sales and an occasional feeding of the kitty by a generous club member offset expenses... they hardly made a dent...and our other schemes for making money— like T-shirt transfer sales, for instance — were impractical because there are simply too few MLIFCers to make any venture worthwhile.

Another qualification is unemployment, or, at least, lack of outside interests/hobbies. MLIFC IS your hobby, and very nearly your entire, social life. Do you know what it's like to go out on a date and feel guilty because the latest issue of DESPATCH isn’t finished? Do you know what it's like to feel guilty about doing the job you’re PAID for at work — like having to finish a $100,000 grant proposal in a matter of days, or completing four dozen pages of inventory —- because you know DESPATCH needs to be finished, or there are memberships to process, or letters to answer? Do you know what it's like to come home after a full day of work and work up photo orders until three in the morning? Barb does. Do you know what it’s like to spend a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon indoors typing stencils until your eyes blur? Gail does.

A third qualification is a hide as thick as a rhinoceros and a total disinterest in your reputation. You see, rumormongers lurk everywhere, and the RMs love to spread tales about the "fringe benefits" of being a fan club president. How you couldn’t POSSIBLY get the honourary to be cooperative without sleeping with him. (The fact that you treat him with respect, cherish his family and homelife, act professionally, and maintain a STRICTLY platonic friendship with him count for NOTHING, of course! If you're under 60 and ambulatory then you’re a target for every vicious piece of gossip afloat no matter HOW innocent you are.)

You also have to enjoy getting phone calls at work (especially in the middle of the lunch-hour Christmas rush), at two in the morning, or while you’re cooking/eating dinner. You have to enjoy being snapped, snarled and growled at because "my membership was mailed TWO WEEKS AGO and I haven’t gotten ANYTHING!" or because someone demands to know, "WHERE IS MY DESPATCH?" Nobody cares that you may have been sick for a month, on business trips that afforded you three hours of sleep a week, working overtime until midnight, have piles of stories that need to be edited, or have not been able to get in touch with your honourary because HE’S been on trips, working overtime or sick. No, you're not a human being -- and neither is HE —- you’re a FAN CLUB PRESIDENT and, by golly, I paid my dues and I want my stuff and NO EXCUSES! (Death certificate, only, accepted.)

Another qualification is a master's degree in psychology. There are many who are drawn to fandom -- and particularly TREK — who are lonely and isolated. We're lonely and isolated at times, too, please understand. But there are many in fandom with problems that require professional counseling. I've had these burdens on our shoulders for three years, corresponding with many of you personally, worrying about your conflicts with your friends — or about your lack of friends — frequently running up phone bills trying to help or bring a smile. But enough is enough. We've felt an infringement into our lives, and we simply can't take it anymore.

Now, you may all think, "Well, if you two don't want it anymore, then pass it on. Who do you two think you are folding MLIFC just like that? How dare you take away from us one of the few bright spots in our lives. Don't you think anyone could POSSIBLY follow in your illustrious foot-steps? Aren't you just being mean and selfish?” Anyway, that's probably what WE'D be thinking if someone just shut the door on US.

Well, we have good reasons for not passing the club on to anyone else. First, it's not that we think that someone else — equally dedicated and naive — couldn't do as good a job as we did. We know that some of you could find the time to put into MLIFC, the money, and would do so with the greatest devotion...which is how a club should be run. But there is also a fine line of reality that must be observed, where fantasy characters end and people begin. This ability to speak both languages — that of the actor, and the fans — is not shared by many.

Perhaps there is, somewhere out there, an individual who could put hours and money and personal sacrifice into MLIFC, knowing full well that they would be ONLY a glorified, unpaid secretary. We believe that the personal side of Mark and our interactions with him is the primary ingredient that is what you, the fans, found enjoyable in our DESPATCHES. Those revelations were achieved only through our friendship. A secretary would not necessarily see such things. The club, as you have grown to know it, would not continue as it has been. We've tried to put dignity into fandom/honourarydom, and found it sadly lacking.

Truth, like tasteful literature, can be quite dull. We've had rumors filter back to us, that, in discussing them with Mark, we've all asked, "What must they think of me?" It is sad how little of the real us we've managed to convey. Perhaps, someday, those of you who dwell so much in fantasy will realize that when you work very closely with someone, you realize all their big and little flaws, and you see them as they really are... and then, you've opened Pandora's box and you can never, ever really look with rose-colored glasses and go star gazing. You accept individuals as they are — faults and all — and you try to work together. This conception is what the two of us have worked with over the past years.

And it is also why we cannot personally pass the club onto someone else. Sooner or later, anyone who cared about the job they were doing and the man they were doing it for, would confront the same insurmountable problems. Thus is the nature of the two-pronged fork. We could not, in good conscience, pass along to anyone the burdens such as we mentioned previously (large expenses, loss of free time, reputation and general enjoyment of life/career), but, disregarding all that, there is a better reason for not passing the club along: MARK DOESN'T WANT US TO. In fact his own words were (in a phone conversation of February 1, 1981 ), "It (the club) has been around a long time... too long. It's time we put it to rest, let it go...let it die with dignity."

As careful as we — and past presidents — have been not to intrude on Mark's free time, MLIFC has become an ever-increasing responsibility — and intrusion — from which he would now like his freedom. He wishes a release from the adoring legions of his followers — not from fans' interest in his career, but from fans' intrusion into his personal life — and a retreat into the peaceful privacy of his family life, unhampered by the time-consuming activities of reporting to the club, signing pictures, writing notes for DESPATCH, making his every activity known because somewhere, someone might want to know what he's doing. Quite frankly, the club has, over the years, become an ever-increasing intrusion on what little time he has for his family. (As Mark put it, the club is solely for the fans' enjoyment, not for his...and although the three of us have tried to keep all of you happy as long as we could, again, enough is enough.) Neither Mark nor his wife want their children smothered under their father's spreading limelight. All too often, someone will ferret out some small piece of information from a DESPATCH — like the fact that his in-laws are in Washington, D.C. — then, like super spies, they'll track them down, trick them out of private information — like phone numbers and addresses — and use this information to further infringe on Mark's private home life. Then, too, fans are becoming too concerned about him... too hovering, too deeply enmeshed in his life, to the detriment of their own lives. It is tine, simply, for all of us — Mark, Barb, Gail, all of us — to get on with our lives and not build our existence on one person. Mark knows, all too well, the deep responsibility — and often, hardships, both financial and time-related that we and our predecessors have endured. Our careers and our bankbooks have suffered, our social lives have all but gone down the tubes. He has determined that no one else should suffer likewise, at least, not because of him. There are more things in life than fan clubs and, certainly, we all can make better use of our time.

We accepted that we had a responsibility to publish the DESPATCHES owed, for we have no intention or wish to defraud anyone. (Believe us, we can find far superior ways to make money. MLIFC, from its inception, has required frequent transfusals of funds from our pockets to maintain the quality of publication that we have.) So, here it is...the last issue you will receive, which will, in most cases, complete memberships. If you paid for subsequent DESPATCHES (e.g., #45),you will receive credits redeemable for MLIFC merchandise (see MLIFC Sale, elsewhere in this issue, for details).

Someone once said, "All good things must come to pass." MLIFC was, quite often, a good thing. But its time to pass has come. Let us make way for other good things to come and remember it fondly.

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  from Despatch #44, the open letter

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  from Despatch #44, the open letter

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  from Despatch #44, the open letter

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  from Despatch #44, the open letter

Fan Reaction

Fan reaction to the letter is unknown. Since it was published in the last issue of Despatch, there was no opportunity in that venue for fans to respond.