1988 - 07/1988 Meeting

Page Created: 09/18/10. Last Update: 09/20/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 01/18/08.

E T STEADMAN

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: July 9, 1988.

Meeting Site: Nickel's Alley Restaurant, Paramus, New Jersey.

Official Attendance: 35.

Meeting Program: Dinner and Talk/Slide Show by Science Fiction Artist.

Notes:

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 1988 Philip J De Parto:

Every year the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County attempts to escape the dog days of summer by holding the July meeting in a comfortable, air-conditioned restaurant. The 1988 meeting was held at Nickel’s Alley, 205 Paramus Road in Paramus on Saturday, July 9th. The guest speaker for the evening was illustrator Broeck (E. T.) Steadman. He was accompanied by his wife, Marlys, and adorable six-month-old daughter, Tillie.

Nickel's Alley was chosen because of its convenient location, ability to handle a group our size, and willingness to be flexible on certain conditions. A somewhat larger than expected group of us, 35 including guests, arrived for dinner at five thirty and were seated without problems.

Unfortunately, the eatery was short-handed and very busy that evening. Despite truly heroic efforts by the one waitress assigned to our party, each course was late, and taking care of even the simplest of requests, like refilling the water pitchers, became an adventure. The meals were not cheap, although I heard no complaints about the food or serving size, but the net effect was, as one of our members put it, "restaurant prices with cafeteria service."

Luckily, the Association abounds with interesting tablemates, so that no matter where you sat, you were assured of good conversation. The slow service delayed the start of the slide show by over an hour. This resulted in a half-dozen of us having to leave before the program started (although it meant that the three people who showed up for the meeting portion only received free ice cream).

Broeck Steadman opened his talk with the observation that our group must really be in dire straits if we were forced to invite someone like him as a guest. He then began an 80+ slide show which indicated that maybe Phil knows what he's doing after all.

Most of the slides were black and white pieces illustrating scenes from ANALOG magazine, which was his doorway into the science fiction field. Others were from TWILIGHT ZONE magazine, advertising jobs, and cover paintings from Bantam Spectra Books. He also displayed six paintings used as book covers.

Accompanying the slides were anecdotes and personal reminisces about individual assignments, art directors, and agents. The highlight of the show was a paining done for the Coca-Cola Company with the presidents on Mount Rushmore displaying cans of classic coke.

Close to a dozen of us popped over to the Forum Diner to gossip about the rest of you after the music started downstairs at Nickles. Anyone wanting to know about chocolate mice or the busload of models that broke down will have to speak to Phil privately.