by Yes, folks. I was there.
I know, it’s hard to imagine somebody as cool and as non-geeky like myself would go to a Star Trek Convention. Well, it was 1972, I was very young, and I went with my sister, Jill, my brother, Mark, and my Mom (Mom had a secret crush on DeForest Kelley). The convention was held in the second floor ballroom of the Staler-Hilton Hotel on a cold weekend in January.
My family and I jumped on the subway and breathlessly raced down to the westside of Manhattan. At the hotel the convention staff stamped our hand with an ink ‘tattoo’ and we rode the escalator to the second-floor ballroom. The place was packed. Then an unexpected party-pooper ruined everything—the fire marshall of the FDNY announced it was over capacity and thus a fire hazard and some people would have to leave. The FDNY proceeded to kick people out and a small riot broke out. Meanwhile, in the confusion of the combative crowd I ran into a school friend of mine. We both had our 35mm Pentax SLR cameras around our necks. He and I stood at the top of the escalator and watched a fireman trying to single-handedly control a bunch of angry Trekkies in the lobby. “A riot always makes a good shot,” he said, as he snapped picture after picture of flailing arms and bulging eyeballs in the crowd.
Once the riot had subsided it was time to enjoy the convention. There were a few tables selling Star Trek memorabilia scattered around the room. My mother complained it was mostly junk, but yet she still bought a pair of rubber Spock ears. And she was right, it was junk. The damn Spock ears were impossible to get over your ears. There were people walking around dressed in full make-up and costume of various alien characters from the TV show.
At some point the stars of Star Trek made an appearance for their fans. On a stage in the ballroom, Nichele Nichols who played Ahora walked out in a floor length evening gown. She spoke for a little while and then DeForest Kelley (Dr McCoy), George Takei, James Doohan (Scotty) came out. Kelley had laryngitis, and a fan gave him a cough drop. The last star on the stage was William Shatner. He talked about growing up in Canada and how he started off as a stage actor in Shakespearean plays. For the next 30-minutes the cast answered questions from the audience, and that was that.
Next, my mother, sister, brother, and I separated to check out various venues at the convention. My mother wandered into a room where a man was giving a lecture on the Klingon Empire. He gave a power-point presentation of the Klingons space ships, pointing out the engine room, command center, etc. Then he went on to discuss the proper pronunciation of the Klingon language. When my mother came out of the lecture room, she rolled her eyes and said, “Geez, he was talking about the Klingons like they really exist.”
In another room, a very famous science-fiction writer (who shall remain nameless) who had written one of the Star Trek episodes, was giving a talk to a small crowd. Suddenly, a man in the audience began to heckle the writer. This lead into a war of words. The writer angrily said, “Don’t think because I’m wearing a turtleneck sweater that I won’t come down there and kick your ass.”
I don’t remember how long I was at the convention, but I stayed ’til the end. The event was wrapped up with a encore appearance of the Star Trek cast. The crowd had dwindled and only a few fans remained behind. We all sat crossed-leg on the ballroom floor. Suddenly, the MC on the stage pointed over my head and said, “We have Candice Bergen in the audience.” Everyone turned their heads to look in my direction and I turned around, too, and sitting directly behind me was the actress Candice Bergen. She was holding a Nikon SLR camera and looked very embarrassed to be recognized.
I can still remember some of the audience’s questions. One young man asked Shatner “Will there be gay people in space?” And Shatner gave a politically-correct polite answer. Then someone asked Shatner if he had enjoyed himself at the convention. Well, he cleared his throat and commented on how rude and hostile everyone had been. He added, even the people asking him questions had a chip-on-their shoulders (I have to agree with Shatner it was a rough crowd).
And on that note the first Star Trek Convention came to a close.
Were you at the 1972 Star Trek Convention? If so, what were your experiences?