Art Widner

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(September 16, 1917 – April 17, 2015)

R. Twidner atLAcon 4.Photo byMark Olson.

Big, beardedArthur L. Widner, Jr., akaArlawi and “yhos” (“your humble and obedient servant”; when signing or referring to himself, he used lowercase), was one of the founding members ofThe Stranger Club, the pioneers ofBostonfandom. He often signed his name with a variation ofR. Twidner (R! Twidner).

HechairedBoskone I andBoskone II (1941 and 1942), the first two BostonSF conventions. He was one of the five people attendingBoskone IV and of the three atMainecon in 1943, where the spellingfen was "unanimously resolved."

Along with the other members ofThe Stranger Club, he wasFan GoH atNoreascon 3. He was nominated for the1946 Best Fan Writer Retro Hugo atL.A.con III in 1996.

Widner appeared in the 1940Worldconmasquerade as Giles Habibula (fromJack Williamson'sLegion of Space), his costume constructed from “Pogo’s hat,Trudy Kuslan’s pillow, and an anonymous bar-tender’s wine bottle.” He returned in 1941 as “Old Granny” fromSlan.

Art Widner (1940s).Courtesy ofRob Hansen.

In 1941, he organized a car pool from theEast Coast toDenver forDenvention, a very adventurous undertaking in those days, which was immortalized as theWidneride. (He was an old practitioner of the ancientfannish practice of namingcars, having driven theSkylark of Foo, theSkylark of Woo-Woo, and theFooFoo Special (and he publishedCruise of the Foo Foo Special). In his younger days, he was reported to beBuilt Like a Gorilla.

Hegafiated about 1948, becomingrevenant in the late 1970s, and resumingpubbingYHOS after a gap of 34 years.

Hepublished over 160fanzines, the longest running of which wasYHOS (1940–45 and 1979–2001 forFAPA). He helped to publishedThe Stranger ClubfanzineFanfare. He also publishedQuaro forSAPS. Hispublishing house wasBodacious Publications.

Art Widner Auctioning (2007). Thanks to Mike Ward.

He helped found theN3F editedBonfire in 1941 and 1944, and waspresident in 1947. He publishedPoll Cat. He investigated thePseuicide. He was a member of theFAPABrain Trust.

He invented one of the first science fiction boardgames,Interplanetary. It was never published commercially, but handmade versions were played atBoskone III and many laterconventions.

A member ofFirst Fandom and theFirst Fandom Hall of Fame, he was honored with theBig Heart Award in 1989, was the 1991DUFF delegate and, in 2001, was selected asPast President of the Fan Writers of America for 2000. He received a Special Lifetime Achievement Award atCorflu in 2011.

His singleprozine sale, “The Perfect Incinerator”, appeared under the nameArthur Lambert in the December 1942 issue ofRobert Lowndes’Science Fiction Quarterly.

Karen Cooper andMinicon 25 publishedRemember When in his honor in 1990 and in 1998, thetributezineArt Appreciation was published byAndy Hooper in his honor.ArtCon andArtCon Millennium Edition were held in his honor. He was a longtime member ofFAPA and, in 2014, was made its first (and so far only) Life Member. On August 19, 2011, while attending a birthday party forRandy Smith atRenovation, he claimed to be the World'sOldest Living Fan.

FromFancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944
ArlawiNickname ofArt Widner, invented in the mistaken belief that it wasEsperanto.


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Person1917—2015
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