Unknown #1 (Photo by Jay Kay Klein).
As I mentioned yesterday, the late Jay Kay Klein gave me permission to use his photos and sent me a box of them before he died.
Unfortunately, not all of them are captioned. I’ve been sorting through them, and trying to put names to the faces. Here are two of them, and if anyone can identify the people in them, please let me know.
Unknown #2 (Photo by Jay Kay Klein).
Berry says:
The gentleman in the second picture appears to be wearing a name tag that I *think* reads “John Brunner”, and Googling for pictures of him leads me to think that’s correct.
July 1, 2012, 4:29 pmPaul Durrant says:
I fear I must be missing something obvious, but isn’t that chap in the second photo wearing a name badge? John Le L..something?
July 1, 2012, 4:40 pmPaul Oldroyd says:
Isn’t no 2 John Brunner?
July 1, 2012, 4:52 pmDale Emery says:
The name on man’s badge looks like John Brunner.
July 1, 2012, 5:40 pmMichael Cassutt says:
#2 is definitely John Brunner, probably from the early 1980s. #1 could be SF editor (OTHER WORLDS, I believe) Bea Mahaffey.
Michael Cassutt
July 1, 2012, 7:19 pmCraig says:
I believe Michael Cassutt is correct about Bea Mahaffey. A quick Google Images search:
http://goo.gl/54qDq
July 1, 2012, 9:41 pmSilvio Sosio says:
I’m sure Frederik knew John Brunner very well, I think that the person he would caption is the man behind him.
July 2, 2012, 4:57 amMike Glyer says:
Others having settled on Brunner as the man in the foreground, Silvio encourages us to go for extra credit and identify the man behind him.
When I first looked at this picture the second person struck me as resembling Stu Hellinger.
If anybody recognizes the convention badge design that might help. Also, I don’t know how often Jay Kay got to England or Brunner to the US, so I might speculate the photo was taken at an East Coast con where Brunner was GoH, like the 1983 Worldcon in Baltimore.
July 2, 2012, 10:37 amGreg Costikyan says:
The guy behind our putative Brunner looks a bit like a young Gary Farber, but is sufficiently obscured that I can’t be sure.
July 2, 2012, 2:01 pmGardner Dozois says:
The foreground figure in number two is certainly John Brunner. The background figure is New York-area fan and radio professional Jim Freund.
July 2, 2012, 10:59 pmJim Braiden says:
Pretty sure the chap in the background in the John Brunner photo is Bob Shaw.
July 3, 2012, 4:34 amH. E. Parmer says:
I’m not sure, but I think the second picture is of Harlan Ellison, sneaking up behind John Brunner with the obvious intent of giving him such a wedgie!
July 3, 2012, 3:29 pmMichael Walsh says:
I’m with Gardner on the identity of the person behind Brunner. The badge is not a ConStellation badge.
July 4, 2012, 3:04 pmMike Glyer says:
Doubtless Gardner knows and is not just guessing. Photos of Jim Freund online also make this appear to be a plausible identification.
I would think it is neither Gary Farber or Bob Shaw. Farber has different cheekbones. Shaw, I believe, was taller than the person in this photo seems to be.
July 5, 2012, 10:44 amSilvio Sosio says:
While I knew Brunner quite well, I never met Bob Shaw in person, but I think that it could be a good guess.
July 6, 2012, 2:10 pmHenning Andersen says:
This link will lead you to a represent picyure of Bob Shaw. In fact, I believe the same photo was used in “The Ultimate Encyclopedia Of SF”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Shaw
This link will lead you to a photo of Jim Freund – a little later in life, than the one presented by mr. Pohl, but nevertheless
http://www.datlow.com/gallery/events/kgbread12/jim_freund.jpg
A comparison will undoubtably show why I – for one – is convinced that Mr. Dozois is right. And I should believe that Mr. Dozois knows what he is talking about, being who he is in this our “beloved” genre.
July 13, 2012, 11:09 amGardner Dozois says:
It’s not Bob Shaw.
July 14, 2012, 2:43 pmHenning Andersen says:
No! It is not Bob Shaw. Because it is Jim Freund! I’ve been so obnoxious to write Mr. Freund, asking him to verify this very statement, and – for the time being – I’m awaiting Mr. Freunds answer. And maybe it will come about on this site, since I asked him to do so, please. Time will show.
July 17, 2012, 11:13 amGardner Dozois says:
I’ve known Jim Freund for more than thirty years, and I’d bet money that that’s who it is.
July 17, 2012, 11:53 amJim Freund says:
Gardner gets the Kewpie doll — C’est moi. Unfortunately, I can’t ID the convention; I was heavily into fanac in them thar days. It doesn’t look like a Lunacon badge, but it does look like it stems from the year I interviewed John for his GoH speech. (He told me it should all be improv and then handed me a list of questions to ask
Anyway, I have added a beard since, and I have few pics of me with mustache sans beard. There’s a variety of shots of me at https://picasaweb.google.com/106678294333767576262/JimFreund# (including one of me and Fred Pohl.)
July 17, 2012, 12:50 pmHenning Andersen says:
I’ve had a very pleasant mailing-correspondance with Jim Freund, and he could verify that it is indeed him – as Gardner Dozois said – is “peeking” over John Brunner’s left shoulder. The question – though – remains – at which “con” was the photo taken? Was it a LunarCon, or was it at a EastCoastCon? And what year was it? Time for other investigators.
July 17, 2012, 1:30 pmRob Hansen says:
While #2 is obviously Brunner, I’m not convinced #2 is Bea Mahaffey. Mind you, I’m not unconvinced either. There a report with photos on my website of the 1953 UK national convention with more pics in one place of Bea than you’re going to find anywhere else. Look for yourselves and see if you think it is indeed her:
http://www.fiawol.org.uk/fanstuff/THEN%20Archive/1953Coroncon/Coron.htm
July 22, 2012, 7:45 amRobert Silverberg says:
#2 is surely Brunner. The fellow behind him isn’t Bob Shaw.
Been a long time since I saw Bea Mahaffey, but I don’t think she looked like the woman in picture #1.
July 24, 2012, 5:48 pm