The seventh biennial Friends of Freddy convention kicked off at the Wyndham Arms (in Wyndham, NY, just a short drive from Brooks’ home in Roxbury) with a friendly and informal dinner on Friday evening, October 23, where all attending FoFers could make new friends and greet the old. On Saturday morning, October 24, the convention was opened officially by President Dan Josslin at 9:30 a.m. First at the podium was Lee Secrest, who gave a broad-brushed view of some aspects of Brooks’ life and discussed some of Brooks’ favorite books. Trivia for avid Freddy fans: Lee advises that in a forthcoming movie, The Confession, Freddy the Magician will be a prop! Lee also brought some terrific souvenirs to the convention—pens with Freddy and all our barnyard pals—designed by FoF member Keith Muraoka and described elsewhere in the newsletter.
Aladdine Joroff next spoke very briefly about the need for a business meeting to discuss FoF’s purpose and outreach. She exhorted members to talk to their local book clubs, libraries, newspapers and other media about the Freddy books and the Club. She also suggested a kit for library displays that could attract attention to the reissues. Finally, in the interest of promoting the Overlook reissues, Aladdine suggested that we consider printing new bookmarks in conjunction with Overlook and bookstores; the bookmarks would carry the name of a bookstore selling Freddy books, a list of reprinted books now available, and FoF’s address.
Gene Holt, a new member and President/Founder and First Pig of the "Happy Pig Collector’s Club," then gave a brief presentation on this Club’s activities. Gene was a pig farmer, now retired—and thankfully, not in Montana where Mr. Garble was always trying to ship Freddy off to be turned into bacon. No, indeed—we made very sure of Gene’s address and we can confirm that Gene’s pig farm is in Illinois. It’s still in operation but run by his sons, while Gene devotes himself to collecting pigs of all types. We carried information on this Club in the most recent newsletter, but if you are interested, the dues are $20 a year (sample issue $2.50) and the address is: Happy Pig Collector’s Club, PO Box 17, Oneida, IL 61467.
Then Connie Arnold spoke on "Adult Characters in the Freddy Series," a soon-to-be article in the Bean Home Newsletter, so I’ll just say that our attending members were significant contributors to this round-table discussion. Both literary insights and biographical insights were shared with all attending. One tidbit: Brooks often modeled his characters on people he knew, and seemed to lift those wonderfully humorous names out of the phone book, or perhaps the cemetery, as we found on a past trip to the Hamilton Cemetery where he is buried.
Following a lunch that was then followed by a delightful ski lift ride with panoramic views of the Catskills’ fall scenery, the convention meeting resumed with our Colossal, Wonderful, Stupendous Convention Book Auction. Total receipts were $2,586, but this is before book costs are deducted. (Your secretary-treasurer is currently too busy to look for all the canceled checks, so I’ll have to report on this in a future issue of the newsletter.)
The Saturday night banquet was another chance to pig out, and we all ate and ate and ate and ate. And listened, quite happily, to our special guest and banquet speaker Peter Mayer of Overlook Press. Peter thanked FoF member Wray Rominger for suggesting the reprints—and all of us FoFers do too, I’m sure! Peter says he didn’t really have to be sold; he’d read the Freddy series as a child and loved it. Peter was accompanied by Overlook staffer Margaret Nagy , who said Overlook is very pleased with current sales of the reissues, and happy to report that the schedule for reprinting is moving along as planned. In fact, sales are so brisk that both titles are already in their second printing! We spoke to Peter and Maureen about our book donation program described elsewhere in this issue, and Overlook is quite happy to offer us the trade discount (40 percent) for this worthy cause.
On Sunday, we reconvened with the business meeting. Secretary-Treasurer Connie Arnold reported that we now have 497 members throughout the U.S., Canada, and foreign outposts. We continue to expand our membership, largely through the Freddy Home Page (thanks again, Janice Hodges!). The First Animal Bank Account is bulging with nuts and berries, to the tune of $7,476, with more expected as members send renewal payments. Connie then proposed a way to utilize the funds for the benefit of needy children and their schools: to donate $2,000 or more to purchase the Overlook reissues at a trade discount (40 percent off the list price or $15 each) and donate these to high-need elementary schools. Connie happens to work for Reading Is Fundamental, the nation’s oldest and largest children’s literacy organization, so she can coordinate site selection on the job as she slaves away doing a million other things.
The objective is to donate the books to in-school classroom collections for third through fifth grade children, and encourage the teachers to use them as read-aloud books. (Connie is partial to this because she was introduced to Freddy this way while in fourth grade; do others have similar memories?) We hope to donate 50 sets of books this way; there will be two titles shipped to each lucky school.
Members are asked elsewhere in this mailing to contribute (as much or as little as you like) so that we can purchase as many sets as possible for this purpose. In addition, members who wish to adopt their own school, library, or other youth-serving organization can purchase two or more books at the same trade discount for direct shipment from the publisher to the organization you specify, as a gift that is acknowledged to you. PLEASE NOTE: The book donation program will not be for personal purchases, only institutional purchases that will help today’s children learn to love the Freddy books as we did. Again, please see the announcement enclosed with this mailing.
Kevin Parker took the stage next to discuss the newsletter. It’s great, as we all know, but Kevin would really like you to help write it—so send in those articles, letters, artwork or anything you’d like to share with other Club members. As membership chair, Kevin also suggested that we publicize the club by dropping off membership brochures. (Write Connie Arnold to receive these.) NOTE: Kevin prepared a new membership list, but we will not mail this out to all members, as has been our usual custom, because our growth over the past two years has made the list so long that it is impractical for a mass mailing. If you wish a copy, please write Kevin.
It was suggested and agreed that members can also help promote the Club by establishing Web links to other sites. We are currently linked to Overlook, the nefarious Mr. Eha, and some book dealers, and please give thought to any other links that we might benefit from.
Michael Cart then put on his librarian’s cap and petitioned for another donation to the Roxbury Library, a private library that Dorothy Brooks volunteered at for many years, and which maintains a collection of Freddy books and a display of FoF information. We agreed to donate $250 to the library, which was done expeditiously the very next day. Our contribution is part of an ongoing Walter R. Brooks Endowment Fundthat is used to purchase children’s books. We also agreed to donate a set of the new Overlook books to the Roxbury Library.
Next, a hasty election (but remarkably free from all the treacherous turns that characterized the election in Wiggins for President) was held. Kevin Parker was elected President, re-elected editor of the Bean Home Newsletter, and retains his title as Membership Coordinator—since he’s the one who manages the mailing list. Talk about chief cook and bottle washer! Connie Arnold was reelected Secretary-Treasurer, and she’s not too clear on what other posts were filled, but it seems that Aladdine Joroff is likely to continue as Convention Coordinator and Dave Carley will remain Vice-President For Canada For Life. IF THERE’S ANYTHING YOU WANT TO VOLUNTEER FOR, PLEASE BE ASSURED THAT WE WILL WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN TROTTERS.
Ending this bout of business, Alice Tracy took the podium to present a delightful talk on Mr. Boomschmidt and the circus characters in the Freddy series—the subject of an article in the current newsletter issue.
Michael Cart then gave the most amazing talk ever presented at a FoF convention—all 26 books in 26 minutes. He didn’t quite manage this, but it was a miracle that it didn’t take 26 hours, since Michael is so knowledgeable about the books and Brooks’ life as well. We’d love to have him write it all down because the next two years’ worth of newsletter issues would then be filled. Michael focused largely on plotting and character development, and I’m sure everyone attending learned more than a few items of interest from this enlightening talk.
Aladdine Joroff returned to the subject she spoke on at our 1996 convention—the influence of Lily Wesselhoeft, author of a children’s book series that Walter read when he was young. There are many parallels to the Freddy series, particularly in the earlier books when, like Wesselhoeft’s animals, the Bean animals did not converse with humans. Some passages in her books could easily be mistaken for Brooks’ writing, including the poetry. Aladdine will be contributing an article to the BHN, further exploring this interesting subject.
Kevin Parker then returned to the podium with Chicken Soup for the Freddyite Soul, or The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Freddy, thereby cribbing from TWO popular titles! Sharing eight lessons learned, from the Freddy series, Kevin also put in a ringing defense of Charles, everyone’s favorite gasbag in the Freddy series—unless you prefer Uncle Wesley, I guess. Charles saved the day in Florida, fearlessly charged Aaron Doty in Freddy Plays Football, and performed other brave acts generally forgotten by readers of the series.
On Monday, October 26, remaining FoFers made a trip to Brooks’ former home in Roxbury, where we were welcomed by the current owner, Robert Cucinotta. We also enjoyed a delightful visit to the Roxbury Library, where our $250 donation was presented for the Walter R. Brooks Memorial Fund. Any members who wish to contribute directly to this fund may send a check to: Friends of the Roxbury Library, Roxbury Library, Roxbury, NY 12474. Or you may send a check payable to Friends of Freddy with a cover note indicating your intentions to the Secretary Treasurer, and we will forward any amounts received.
Members attending the seventh biennial convention:
Connie and Theresa Arnold
Judy Bickart
David, Noah and Paul Bickart
Helen and Jim Broddock
Michael Cart
Carey and Jac Conoway
Robert, Sharon and James Cucinotta
Cheri Hamilton and Tony Kalbfus
Janice Hodges
Gene and Betty Lou Holt
Aladdine, Jaimee, Michael and Nancy Joroff
Dan Josslin
Sarah and Pierce Koslosky
Robert Loud
Victor Manjarrez
Sharon and Noelle Moore
Kevin Parker
George and Gail Reddick
Wray and Loni Rominger
Lee Secrest and Shari Stanford
Pete Sluis
Byron and Lynette Spinks
Joanne and Nick Sturgeon
Betsy Tisdale
Alice Tracy
Nancy Wright and Jeb Rong
Wayne Wright