Bjo Trimble | |
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| Born | Betty Jo Conway[1] (1933-08-15)August 15, 1933 (age 92)[1] |
| Occupations | Writer, small business co-owner |
Betty JoAnne Trimble[2] (néeConway; born August 15, 1933), known asBjo (/ˈbiːdʒoʊ/,BEE-joh),[3] is an Americanscience fiction fan and writer, initially entering fandom in the early 1950s.
Trimble's introduction toscience fiction fandom wasTASFiC, the 1952Worldcon held in Chicago. She was serving in theUnited States Navy atNaval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago and happened to see an announcement inAstounding Science Fiction about the upcoming convention that weekend. She met a number of other science fiction enthusiasts, includingRobert Bloch,Willy Ley, andAugust Derleth; and claims thatHarlan Ellison, "this bespectacled young man who had just sold his first short story", "decided he liked me and proposed on the spot." (She declined.) When it was discovered that she was an artist and cartoonist, she was recruited to contribute illustrations forscience fiction fanzines. Trimble says that she met future husband John Griffin Trimble underForrest J Ackerman's piano, where several fans had taken refuge during a particularly crowded party. "John was in the Air Force, so he and I traded Stupid Office Stories and discovered we liked each other a lot."[1]
Trimble helped revive a flaggingLos Angeles Science Fiction Society (LASFS) in the late 1950s.[citation needed] In 1958, she put together the "Worldcon Futuristic Fashion Show" at Solacon, the 195816th World Science Fiction Convention. She ran once again in 1966 at Tricon, the24th Worldcon, incidentally giving fandom a glimpse of three earlyStar Trek costumes. Trimble started and directed "Project Art Show", the first modernconvention art show, in 1960. The success of Project Art Show led to art shows becoming a profitable part of most conventions, large and small.[4][5]
The Trimbles were part of the successful "Save Star Trek" campaign, generally credited with allowing the series to run for a third season rather than being canceled after two.[3] They also helped with the campaign to have the first ofNASA'sSpace Shuttles namedEnterprise.[6][7] Their efforts earned them uncredited roles as a crew members inStar Trek: The Motion Picture, along with a contingent of other members offandom who were allowed to serve as extras in full costume, portraying crew members (both human and alien) in the Recreation Deck scene (at the time, the largest number of persons ever appearing in a singleStar Trek scene).[8] Her other film credits includemakeup design forFlesh Gordon; and a role as 'Ma Cant,' a satirical version ofSuperman'sMartha Kent, in a film short calledSuperbman: The Other Movie.[citation needed]
Trimble contributed to the first encyclopedic collection of data forStar Trek, theStar Trek Concordance, which contains cross-referenced details on every character, setting, event and device in every episode of the originalStar Trek, and, in later editions of the book, itsanimated incarnation and theStar Trekfilms.[9] The first edition of the book was self-published in 1969, followed by a supplement in 1973 and a mass-market printing in 1976 byBallantine Books; the work was subsequently updated for a new edition published byCitadel Press in 1995. According to formerTrek archivist Richard Arnold, theConcordance was used as a primary source of officialcanon by writers of theStar Trek Universe when he first started working at Paramount.[10] In 1982, Trimble published a memoir of her experiences inStar Trek fandom entitledOn the Good Ship Enterprise: My 15 Years with Star Trek.
In 1974, Trimble was among the first group of winners of theInkpot Award byComic-Con International. Trimble received theBig Heart Award in 1964,[citation needed] and (in herpersona ofFlavia Beatrice Carmigniani) theSociety for Creative Anachronism's Order of the Laurel, an art award. Bjo and John are also both members of the SCA's Order of the Pelican for service. (She and John were Baron and Baroness of the SCA's Barony of the Angels [Los Angeles Chapter of the SCA] from September 2008 until January 2012.) She and John also received the International Costumers Guild's Lifetime Achievement award.[11] The Trimbles were celebrity guests atInterCon in Utah, 1976. Trimble was Guest of Honor at 1995'sDragonCon, the 6thNorth American Science Fiction Convention, as well as at many other science fiction andStar Trek conventions around the world. Bjo and John Trimble were the Fan Guests of Honor at the 60thWorldcon,ConJosé.[4]
The Trimbles, who owned and operated the business Griffin Dyeworks & Fiber Arts until 2015,[12] lived inSouthern California.[13] In April 2024, it was announced John had died.[citation needed]
Star Trek fan Bjo Trimble already had experience in mobilizing trekkers; she had spearheaded a fan campaign to save the original Star Trek series from cancellation in 1967. That effort stretched the show's run into a third year. Trimble organized Star Trek fans in a new campaign to name the first space shuttle Enterprise instead of Constitution. The White House received somewhere between 10,000 and 40,000 letters urging the name change (although some estimates go as high as 200,000).
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