If you are a fan of Robert Bloch, but you didn’t get to attend his induction into the Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Hall of Fame on 05-December-1976, then this blog is for you.
If you are a fan of Robert Bloch, but you didn’t get to attend the Dark Fantasy Panel of the 3rd. World Fantasy Convention in the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles October 28-30, 1977, then this blog is for you.
And, if you are a fan of Robert Bloch, but you missed his guest appearance on the Hour 25 Science Fiction radio program on Friday, 15-September, 1978; where he and Walt Daugherty were promoting the upcoming 1978 Fantasy Faire, then this blog is definitely for you!
And if you are looking for Robert Bloch Postcards, Photos, and More; take a quick run over to the newly added set of Robert Bloch materials on the CthulhuWho1 Flickr page at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cthulhuwho1/sets/72157624976191780/
Please note, there will be a couple of bonus pdf files somewhere down in this blog, so keep your eyes open!
NOTE: If you do a normal click on the MP3 file links in this post, WordPress will play them for you.
If you’d like to download and save the files for yourself, and you are using a PC, right-click, to bring up the right-click menu and use the “Save Link As” function to save the MP3 files to your hard drive.
If you’d like to download and save the files for yourself, and you are using a Mac, I believe that would be Ctrl + Click to bring up the right click menu, and use the “Download Linked File” function to save the MP3 files to your hard drive. I don’t own a Mac so please correct me if I am wrong!
The 1st. Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Awards Luncheon
Let’s begin with the oldest, and lowest quality recordings; from the 1st. Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Awards Luncheon, held 05-December-1976, in the Wilshire Hyatt House Hotel in Hollywood, California.
Pictures of this event can be found in the Robert Bloch set of the CthulhuWho1 Flickr Collection at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cthulhuwho1/sets/72157624976191780/
The quality is low, due to the recording being done from the back of the room with a hand-held microphone; but this can be followed quite easily by reading the transcript in Eldritch Leanings Issue #6 starting on Page 5 at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cthulhuwho1/sets/72157624536172013/with/4864278437/
And if you are a glutton for audio punishment, here’s a very noisy clip of Robert Bloch with several fans (including Yours Truly) in a hallway just before the Hall of Fame Awards luncheon.
The Third World Fantasy Convention in Los Angeles, October 1977
Pictures of this event can also be found in the Robert Bloch set of the CthulhuWho1 Flickr Collection at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cthulhuwho1/sets/72157624976191780/
The tapes are in sad shape, and the sound varies from poor to great, but the following six mp3 files are the best clips that could be pulled from Robert Bloch’s comments during the Dark Fantasy Panel in the Renaissance Room of the Biltmore Hotel, on Saturday the 29th. of October, 1977, from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m..:
Robert Bloch on the Hour 25 Science Fiction Radio Program
15-September-1978
Promoting His Upcoming Fantasy Faire Guest of Honor Appearance
While being Interviewed by Mike Hodel (above right)
and Mitchell Harding with Walt Daugherty Giving Convention Details
Scans of the 1978 Fantasy Faire Program Booklet, with a tribute to Robert Bloch have also been added to the Robert Bloch set of the CthulhuWho1 Flickr Collection at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cthulhuwho1/sets/72157624976191780/
First the mono version of the Robert Bloch and Walt Daugherty portion of the Hour 25 broadcast (which has Robert Bloch coming out of both speakers, instead of just being on the right):
01 Robert Bloch on Hour 25 SF Radio 15-Sep-1978 Part 1 with Walt Daugherty
02 Robert Bloch on Hour 25 SF Radio 15-Sep-1978 Part 2 with Walt Daugherty
03 Robert Bloch on Hour 25 SF Radio 15-Sep-1978 Part 3 with Walt Daugherty
Second, the full stereo version of the Robert Bloch and Walt Daugherty segment for comparison:
04 Robert Bloch on Hour 25 SF Radio 15-Sep-1978 Part 1 with Walt Daugherty Stereo
05 Robert Bloch on Hour 25 SF Radio 15-Sep-1978 Part 2 with Walt Daugherty Stereo
06 Robert Bloch on Hour 25 SF Radio 15-Sep-1978 Part 3 with Walt Daugherty Stereo
And last but not least from the Hour 25 broadcast, the show’s full opening in stereo, including Terry Hodel’s Science Fiction Calendar, and general chatting:
I’ve recently noticed that all of the main Hour 25 people that were there when I was recording the broadcasts, as well as most of the guests I was interested in, have died. Mike and Terry Hodel, Mitch Harding, Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber, etc., are all gone; and I wanted to share what I captured before I’m gone too. I hope somebody appreciates this stuff in the future!
The Robert Bloch Toastmaster Press Release for the 1984 World Science Fiction Convention
I discovered I have a complete press kit for the 1984 World Con, which includes the following Press Release:
Toastmaster Robert Bloch Press Release
Robert Bloch Donated Materials at The American Heritage Center
The American Heritage Center (AHC) is the University of Wyoming’s (UW) repository of manuscripts collections, rare books, and the university archives.
http://ahc.uwyo.edu/
While searching for information on Diana Thatcher (Robert Bloch’s most devoted fan), I found the following American Heritage Center documents related to Robert Bloch which mentioned her name, as well as my own fanzine, Eldritch Leanings:
Check Out The Unofficial Robert Bloch Website
I really enjoyed finding the Robert Bloch Biography at:
http://mgpfeff.home.sprynet.com/bio-01.html
You will too!
Final Thoughts on This Current Blog
Pulling the Robert Bloch material together for this blog, and for the CthulhuWho1 Flickr page has taken far more time and effort than I expected; but it has gotten me excited about what I’ll be able to post next for Fritz Leiber! Because I have hours of Fritz Leiber recordings already ready to go…
If you are a Fritz Leiber fan, and you enjoyed hearing his voice in the H. P. Lovecraft panel recordings, which have already been posted here, you’ll soon be in for a multi-format treat of photos, letters, and hours of audio recordings.
Keep checking in here, or at the CthulhuWho1 Flickr Collections, or in the Lovecraft newsgroups, or send an email note saying you’d like to be added to the CthulhuWho1 notification list to willhart-at-roadrunner-dot-com.
CthulhuWho1's Blog 
Will, the material you are posting is invaluable!
Have you located any info on Diana THathcer? I am really intrigued that you refer to her as “Bloch’s most devoted fan”. Why was this?
– cheers
Leigh Blackmore
President, Australian Horror Writers Association
http://www.australianhorror.com/member_pages.php?page=86
Leigh, I’ll keep posting any of the good stuff I can find as I mine through my collection looking for nuggets. As to Diane Thatcher, I have not managed to locate her, and if she got married, and changed her last name I might never find her. She was the one who referred to herself as, “His most devoted fan.” So I always made sure I quoted her statement. In the late 70’s, on most occasions, when Robert Bloch would be at an event, Diane would also be there. That’s why I caught her (at least partially) in-frame in December of ’76 for the Hall of Fame Awards ceremony, and fully in-frame at ClaytonCon2 (in the photos in the Robert Bloch collection on Flickr). As a Bloch collector, what have you found here on the blog, or in the Flickr collections that has been of most importance to you? I ask so I can have a better idea of what to keep an eye out for.
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I don’t know what to say except to just let it out simply. THANK YOU for all your words on Bob Bloch and sharing your audios. I won’t go into details here (can’t be told in a line or two) but Bob was one of my best friends, my pal, my mentor . . . he became family (as did his lovely wife Elly). If anyone has ANY VIDEO on Bob (so little seems to be around) of interviews, lectures, roasts or whatever, it would mean so much to me to experience them and share with Bob’s family and his other close friends. Once you’ve known Bob you seem to forever be in need of “a fix” of his gentle kindness, soft voice and wonderful observations . . . oh yes, he also was a hell of a talent. But trust me, as a human being Bob was even greater . . . forever missed.
~ Peter Michaels
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I would also love to see any video at all of Bloch himself. The only stuff I’ve seen so far is on the extras to the STRAIT JACKET DVD, and a brief appearance in a documentary called THE HORROR OF IT ALL.
Also, does anyone know the whereabouts of the manuscript of PSYCHO? There are holdings of Bloch manuscripts at the American Heritage Center (short stories and screenplays) and at the Library of the Uniersity of Wyoming, but that manuscript does not seem to be among them. I’m curious about amny of his other novel manuscripts as well – some may well be in the archives of his surving daughter, with whom I’n in contact, but it would be invaluable for someone such as you, Will, or Randall Larson, who have access to that archive, to compile a list fo what manuscript material may be housed there.
– Leigh Blackmore
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I was a very dear friend of Bob & Elly’s, so thanks for all the images. I have many of my own and home video taken in their home over Chritsmases and Thanksgivings as well as New Years. running from 1987 up until Elly sold the home after his death. I met Bob in 1985 when I was just a tennager. and have some photos from 81985 thru 87 as well. I eventually worked in the publishinbg industryb and then film. Some of all this I’m willing to share. A number of the photos I took of Bob over the years at events have shown up either unattributed or misattributed to obscure my copyright. If you would like any of the material I deem appropriate for public consumption, all I ask is that you attach a notice that the material remains copyrighted by ME and is used by permission. I will give you permission for as long as you maintain the site. Thanks for the fond memories. The one video I love the most is Bob giving my friend and fellow writer, Kari Smith a tour of his office at home and of his “awards” room” which was stuffed to the gills. Lisa Feerick Pollison
Dear Lisa,
I’m so very glad that my Bloch stuff has brought you here! And I hope you’ve looked through the rest of my Bloch stuff over on my Flickr pages (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cthulhuwho1/sets/72157624976191780/), where you can also see my much younger self in 1976, on the day I first met Robert Bloch in person. I personally would love to see your photos, and I would especially love to see any and all video footage that you have of him (which I hope you have converted to a digital format!), but all of my online efforts, here, on Flickr, and on YouTube, are posted (and listed) as being free stuff for anyone and everyone to take and use any way they would like to; and I merely ask that they put in a credit for me if they can. So anything I add to these sites needs to also be as freely available for others to take and use. I will write to you privately to discuss sharing your email address (and possibly files) with some of the Robert Bloch authors and collectors I know, so they can discuss with you the Robert Bloch projects they are working on.
BTW, are you the same Will Hart who came by the little Apartment I once shared with a certain Author on Sycamore in LA, asking for your typewriter back circa 1990/91? The apartment that used to be Grant & Peggy’s? If yes, we ought to talk. I got out from under that dark cloud long ago & am not associated in any way with that. But if you ARE that Will Hart, I’d like to chat with you since I believe we have many acquaintences & friends in common. The original encounter was intriguing. As you can see, I’m a married gal now, going on 16 years. My husband has worked for Sam Raimi’s various companies in way capacity or another for over 20 years. even if you aren’t the SAME Will Hart, we likely have a lot of shared interests. BTW, my SIster lives in a suburb of Providence, RI. and I have snaps of various Lovecraft sites.
Dear Lisa,
Someday I’ll meet the other “Will Hart” that keeps dogging my footsteps in Los Angeles, but I’m actually sorry to say, based upon your intriguing letter, that I was not the one looking for his typewriter on Sycamore (which I WAS on during that time period for other reasons!) We will talk though, because you are right, we have covered a lot of the same ground and interests… I’ll (as already stated in my other response) send you a personal email. In the meantime, please tell your thrice-married husband David, to tell Sam Raimi that I am still miffed at him (after all these years!), because he didn’t use me (even as an extra!), in Army of Darkness! See http://www.flickr.com/photos/cthulhuwho1/4889259567/in/set-72157624666011156/ for the look I put together at that time to try to get a part in the film. I’ve still continued collecting everything Sam has worked on (even the obscure items), but you never forget the one that got away! You can also tell Sam, that I’m now looking for old, bald, fat-man parts, and keeping my S.A.G. dues paid just in case he ever does need me… sniff.
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