The First Worldcon, held over the 4th of July 1939 at Caravan Hall in New York. GoH: Frank R. Paul, Chairman: Sam Moskowitz.
The 1939 Worldcon did not have a name, but simply called itself "World Science Fiction Convention". It has subsequently been called "Nycon I" and "The 1939 Worldcon".
The convention was controlled by a so-called 'Ruling Triumvirate' whose other members were William S. Sykora and James V. Taurasi. The Exclusion Act at NYCon attempted to keep some members of the Futurians from attending after Dave Kyle had anonymously distributed A WARNING!, a somewhat incendiary pamphlet.
Noreascon Three printed a number of reminiscences of NYCon in its PB:
- Forrest J Ackerman
- Julius Schwartz
- Lloyd Arthur Eshbach
- Harry Harrison
- John Baltadonis
- Milton A. Rothman
- Dave Kyle
- Charles D. Hornig
- Sam Moskowitz
See http://efanzines.com/1939Nycon for scans of several post-convention reports.
See also Worldcon, New York Worldcons, List of Worldcons and Early Conventions.
It is difficult these days when there are fans of all ages to appreciate how young fandom was in 1939. Here is a table of ages of major figures during the First Worldcon:
| Sam Moskowitz (the chairman!) | 19 |
| Donald A. Wollheim | 25 |
| John W. Campbell, Jr. | 29 |
| Robert A. Heinlein | 32 |
| James V. Taurasi | 22 |
| Bob Tucker | 25 |
| Jack Speer | 19 |
| Dave Kyle | 20 |
| Fred Pohl | 20 |
| Isaac Asimov | 19 |
| E. E. Smith (the old man!) | 49 |
| from Fancyclopedia 1 ca. 1944 |
| The First World Science-Fiction Convention in New York in 1939; called originally by its enemies who denied that it was a "world" convention, the name was generally adopted after the Chicon. The enemies of WSFC committee also called it the World's Fair Science-Fiction Convention, 1939 being the first year of the NY Worlds fair. |
