Minutes of the
FIFTH BIENNIAL CONVENTION OF THE FRIENDS OF FREDDY
Cooperstown, New York
October 18-21, 1996
Submitted by:
Connie Arnold, Secretary-Treasurer
On Friday, October 18, President Aladdine Joroff opened our meeting at 8:30PM at the
Hickory Grove Inn, Cooperstown, New York.
Our first speaker, Lee Secrest, compared the Freddy books to George Orwell's Animal Farm
and E.B. White's Charlotte's Web
, raising the provocative question: were these authors influenced by Brooks? Lee
followed this with an amusing but weird comparison of Brooks to someone who (late
in life) became something of a porker himself: Elvis Presley. Then Lee calmed himself
down and returned to serious matters, giving a most informative discourse on Brooks' "other
books": New York: An Intimate Guide, Ernestine Takes Over, Jimmy Takes Vanishing Lessons,
Henry's Dog Henry, Mr. Ed
and Favorite Stories
.
On Saturday at 10:30AM Michael Cart began the next talk, "Mr. Ed and Mr. Brooks."
(The "Mr." was imposed by the TV show; it's not in the stories.) Although the Saturday Evening Post
began publishing the series, their editors objected to Ed's earthy sense of humor.
Later stories appeared in Argosy
. A total of 28 stories were published; two remain unpublished. There are parallels
to Brooks' life in this series, which satirizes the wealthy, WASPy, Republican social
circle into which he was born. (Brooks was a life-long Democrat.)
Lee Secrest then treated us to an actual radio recording of Walter Brooks' voice on
the program, "Let's Listen to a Story." This was in Chicago on January 14, 1949,
as part of Knopf's publicity for the publication of Freddy Goes Camping
. Kevin Parker then gave a talk comparing Freddy with that other children's classic,
The Wind in the Willows
. Tom Heitz revived the barnyard tour concept, and off we went on a wet but scenic
tour of Cooperstown.
Upon reconvening at the Hickory Grove Inn, attending members received a real treat.
Pauline Hopkins, long-time friend of both Walter and Dorothy Brooks, shared some
reminiscences. Brooks' playful streak produced many a practical joke on his friends.
Yet he was a disciplined writer with a structured workday, and careful with his money.
One of his favorite authors was E. Nesbit, and he was a big fan of the (for its day)
irreverent comic strip, Pogo
.
Upon the conclusion of a most excellent banquet, we reconvened for some remarks on
Brooks the family man, by his stepson Steve Collins. Brooks was "pushed" by Knopf
into writing more fantastic Freddy stories, such as Freddy and the Flying Saucer Plans
. Knopf believed these contemporary themes made the series more marketable. The Bean
Farm may have been the farm next door to the cabin Brooks worked in, and Freddy was
Walter himself. Brooks was quite liberal politically. His family were Democrats,
"an admirable quality."
One of our final events to this long and wonderful day was the Secretary-Treasurer's
ten-year anniversary specialtotally tasteless awards to those who have served so
long and well:
* To Aladdine Joroff
, who has toiled for many years and will toil for four more (but this time in college),
a cowlendar, so that the Wisdom of Wiggins will be at her side
* To Nancy Joroff
, whose patient encouragement of her daughter's pig mania brought Aladdine to our
midst, two NON-Freddy books (Peter Pan
and Little Women
, which reflect her literary interests) just to show we know there is a life outside
pigdom
* To Eric Shanower
, artiste extraordinaire, the ugliest T shirtat least of a cowever made. (Those of
you who attended 1992 or 1996 conventions know Eric's fine, sensitive rendering of
the "Wiggins for President" political posters.)
* To Kevin Parker
, long-time keeper of the member list and now newsletter editor, another cowlendar
to keep the Bean Home Newsletter
publishing on time
* To our new Prez, Dan Josslin
, yet another cowlendar to schedule important FoF business (and because the Secretary-Treasurer
really likes cowlendars)
* To Alice Cooper
, a set of ducks donated by Bruce Mueller (Alice identifies with Alice, naturally)
* To Bruce Mueller
, whose generous donation of his time and van enabled the Freddy books to arrive safely
for our first-ever FoF auction, a cow mug
* To Janice Hodges
, whose efforts put Freddy on the Internet, a "Pigs Fly" puzzle
* To Michael Cart
, our former Prez and speaker extraordinaire, a matched cross-dressing Freddy and
Mrs. Wiggins stuffed animal set
* To Wray and Loni Rominger
, whose unstinting assistance with our Fleischmanns conventions made them so successful,
a pig-cow-rooster trivet
* To Victor Manjarrez
, who loves Brooks' villains best, his own cuddly alligator
* To Lee Secrest
, our former Prez, keeper of the Freddy Archives and friend to all FoFers, a cow-pig
faucet set described by none other than Dave Barry as "among the most totally tasteless
gifts you can buy"
* To Henry Cooper
, for his help with this convention and tour of Hyde Hall, a copy of The Ubiquitous Pig
(this tasteful gift was actually donated by the Joroffs)
Earlier, Aladdine had presented Tom Heitz with a copy of Freddy and the Dragon
for his invaluable help with organizing this year's convention. Lee Secrest had
also surprised Aladdine with a wonderfully charming plaque (signed by Freddy himself
and other Bean Farm animals) thanking her on behalf of FoF for her many years of
service.
After such a fantastic sendup on Saturday, where else to go but cyberspace? On Sunday,
October 20, FoF member Janice Hodges explained what she's done to put Freddy on the
Internet. For those of you who want to wallow in cyberspace, here's his home pen
(uh, page!) on the Web: http://www.outermost.com/freddy/. Since the page went up in
August, more than 280 people have visited Freddy, and several new members have joined.
On behalf of those original Webbs--Bean Farm spiders Mr. and Mrs. Webb--welcome!
(Digressing from the minutes but related to our Cyberpig: If you were watching the
NBC Today Show's 8:30AM segment on Friday, December 27, you were not hallucinating.
That was me, my daughters Theresa and Natalie, and friend Joey holding up a stuffed
pig and a sign with Freddy's home page address. Theresa also got in a plug for FoF when
the weatherman spoke to her. Maybe new members will come of this! Also: If you happened
to tape this, please let me know. NBC charges a minimum of $150 for any tape they
sell.)
Eric Shanower took the stage (literally) with a rousing description of life on Mars
in Flying Saucer Plans, Men From Mars,
and Baseball Team from Mars.
Eric then performed some of the Martian dialogue in the series, to the delight of
all attendees. Eric's was a hard act to follow, so he graciously followed it himself
with a reading from "A Princess Steps Out," published in the June 1937 Esquire
. In this side-splitting short story, Brooks satirizes both university life and ancient
Egyptian family life.
We were then treated to another special presentation. FoF member Henry Cooper was
a fan of the Freddy series in the 1940's, and his mother invited Brooks over for
lunch on September 12, 1948. Unfortunately, the meeting did not have the desired
effect. Brooks brought along the latest Freddy book (Camping
) and a special poem written just for Henry. But apparently Walter was expecting an
8-year-old, not the 15-year-old teenager who Henry actually was at the time. Traumatized
by the conviction that he must be too old for the series, Henry never read another Freddy book! But he did get an autographed edition of Camping
, a letter from Brooks, and a poem dedicated to him.... And now he reads Freddy books
again.
Off on another trip we wentHenry Cooper had arranged a private tour of Hyde Hall,
where Mr. Camphor might well have lived, along with several ghosts from the old Grimby
House.
Sunday evening brought Connie Arnold's talk, "Politics in the Freddy Series" or "Freddy:
A Democrat for All Reasons," soon to be a BHN article. Lee Secrest--having refused
Connie's challenge to debate this subject--attempted to upstage Henrietta with a simple-minded blow-up of a page in which Freddy is (satirically) labeled a Republican. Lee
was thrown off the stage by Old Whibley, thus meeting the same fate as Charles in
many a Freddy book. (Lesson to Lee: She who writes the minutes also writes convention
history.)
And since I'm running out of room, a quick wrapup of other talks and events: Theresa
Arnold's comparison of Ernestine Takes Over
to the Freddy series ... David Maxine's "What's In a Name?" ... Eric Shanower's reading
of the short story, "Second Chance," from the Saturday Evening Post
... Aladdine Joroff's (soon to be a major BHN
article) talk on Brooks' favorite children's writer, Lily F. Wesselhoeft ... Michael
Cart's illuminating discussion of Brooks' first wife, Anne Mary Shepherd Brooks ...
Lee Secrest's tape of "Hobby Horse Presents" ... Dan Josslin's whimsical foray into
unpublished Freddy titles ... Tom Heitz's rollicking original melodrama, "Freddy the
Cyberpig" ... Lee Secrest's staging of Brooks' short story, "The King of Smithia"
... the 13 remaining members on Monday morning traveling to the Brooks' gravesite
in Hamilton ... and more!
Our thanks to convention attendee Virginia Hermann, whose articles on Freddy and the
FoF convention appeared in the November 3, 1996, Rome Sunday Sentinel
. If anyone else spotted other coverage, please provide me two copies, if possible.
(Canadian CBC journalists from Toronto were in attendance for part of the convention,
for possible radio coverage.)
Boring business news
: The dues will be increased from $12.00 to $15.00 for eight issues of the Bean Home Newsletter
effective with your next renewal. We now have 392 members, but a continuing problem
with members who "disappear" when they move (especially Canadians). We voted to
donate $250 to the Roxbury Library. Our first-ever book auction was a big success,
grossing $2571 (netting about $1500 to the club), leaving a First Animal Bank balance of
$4768.65 as of 1/1/97. Our thanks to members who helped, including Sondra Langford,
Lee Secrest, Dan Josslin, and Gordon Birrell. In addition to the auction receipts,
$812.75 in pig paraphernalia were sold (T-shirts, illustrations and other souvenirs).
See Pig Paraphernalia Order Form elsewhere in this mailing.
Attendees at the convention and officers for 1996-98:
Connie and Theresa Arnold (MD), Lois Benes (CA), Helen Brodock (NY), Cerena and Gordon
Burns (CA), Michael Cart (CA), Steve Collins (NY), Debbie, Bill and Raymond Cooke
(NY), Henry S. F. Cooper (NY), Sandy Fiebelkorn (NY), Cheri Hamilton and Anthony
Kalbfus (NY), Tom Heitz (NY), Virginia Hermann (NY), Janice Hodges (CT), Pauline Hopkins
(NY), Aladdine, Jaimee and Nancy Joroff (MA), Dan Josslin (CA), Lyle and Mary Ann
Linder (NY), Victor Manjarrez (CA), David Maxine (NJ), Bruce Mueller (VA), Kevin
Parker (MD), Howard Phipps (NY), George and Gail Reddick (NY), Wray and Loni Rominger (NY),
Peter Scherbaty (ONT, Canada), Lee Secrest (GA), Eric Shanower (NJ), George Sheetz
(IL), Alice Tracy (MD), Sidney Franklin Wallace (NY), Wayne Wright (NY), Nancy Wright
& Jeb Rong (MA & Mongolia).
President:
Dan Josslin
Vice Pres. & Convention Manager:
Aladdine Joroff
Vice Pres., Canada:
Dave Carley
Editor, Bean Home Newsletter
:
Kevin Parker
Secretary-Treasurer:
Connie Arnold