An Illustrated History Of Heidi Saha 2 2

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[N e r V]

From Vampilore.co.uk:

 

The Dark Side of Heidi Saha

 

The Illustrated History of Heidi Saha always seems to sell well, fetching prices from $600.00 to over $1,000.00 on sites such as eBay.

Apart from its rarity (reputedly only one hundred surviving copies or less) it is surrounded by mystery, myth and misunderstanding.

In fact, the whole Heidi Saha saga is enmeshed in controversy and misinformation. Certain sellers will promote the alleged salacious nature of anything related to Heidi to fetch a greater price. For example, Jim van Hines regularly sells a "candid" rear-end photograph of Heidi taken at a convention for exorbitant prices. This is probably the most "dubious" item in the whole Heidi Saha fable, and anyone willing to pay a lot of money for a copy of this photo must be a really sad individual.

Angelique Trouvere (sometimes known as "the other Vampirella" since she appeared in her Vampirella outfit at the same masquerade as Heidi in July of 1973) has had a unique opportunity to be privy to much of the Saha controversy and she is glad to share her knowledge to set the record straight.

Below is a reproduction of an "interview" she made with Ron Kasman in an online Blog.

RON: The way the magazine is often sold is disturbing. The magazine itself, and the memory of Heidi Saha, is even more disturbing.

When a copy was sold about a year ago, someone followed it up by trying to sell a photo of her, showing only the upper part of the photo, as though she was naked from the collar bone down. The language in the ad, and I will use that word again, was disturbing.

ANGEE: I saw that eBay ad and thought that the seller was wrong to lead the buyers on like that but then if a buyer bought the magazine strictly because he thought it contained a nude shot of a pre-teen girl, then he got what he deserved.

RON: Inside the magazine we find that she was the friend of Forrest J. Ackerman and James Warren. Her father was an SF editor at one of the big New York publishing companies.

ANGEE: Forry met Art Saha when Art was a young man and SF fan living in Los Angeles back in the 40's. Art and Forry were good friends and when Heidi was born in 1959, Forry consented to be her Godfather. Later Forry would join forces with James Warren when they published Famous Monsters in the 50's so there was a link between the 3 men through publishing.

RON: The magazine was produced and sold with the complete knowledge of her father, who used to take her around to the conventions.

ANGEE: Actually, it was Heidi's mother, Taimi, who was the driving force behind the magazine and poster. Warren talks about it briefly in "The Warren Companion" where he points out that she came to him with the idea and lots of photos of Heidi in costume. Her parents and again, mainly Taimi, wanted to make Heidi a celebrity or movie star and they felt that the professionally produced mag and poster would be helpful to that end. Warren then says that he did it because it was "his way of paying them back" for promoting a Warren property when Heidi would wear the Vampirella costume and appear in news articles and cons.

RON: In the magazine, Forest J. Ackerman comes off as less than dignified in the eyes of a modern viewer, in his attitude towards a girl perhaps 40 years his junior. Remember, this magazine came out in the early '70's. People looked at things differently back then. Society wasn't as concerned with the sexual exploitation of youth.

ANGEE: I would like to say that I've been friends with Forry for many years and I can vouch for his intense love for his wife, Wendayne. He was a flirt and a kidder but not unfaithful to her. His interest in Heidi was as a family friend.

RON: James Warren had previously published a poster of her dressed as Sheena the Jungle Girl. At one of the Seuling conventions in NY, Warren produced the program booklet. There was a space inside reserved for Heidi's signature.

ANGEE: This would come back to haunt the Sahas when it seemed to many that Heidi was appearing as Vampirella not as a fan but in a professional capacity.

At one point, Tom Fagan even referred to Heidi as " ...representing the wild world of Warren Comics...". When she won 3rd prize (a $25 savings bond, I believe) for her Vampirella, the crowd jeered her because it seemed to them that as a professional, she should not have been in competition with non-professional costumers.

RON: Again, to take you back a few decades, fandom at the time was 100% male except for Paty, Irene Vartinoff and Maggie Thompson. Any other woman at a convention was a dealer's wife. As a group we were physically unappealing. I don't know any other way to put it civilly and accurately. At these conventions, and there were very few at the time, the guys could be themselves instead of high school nerds that still read comics. We were becoming artists, writers, managers and publishers. Most of us did pretty well for ourselves over the years but those were tough times for kids who were into comics.

Heidi was a physically beautiful teenager who looked 14 or 15. She seemed completely out of place at the conventions. It seemed that her mere presence changed the mood of the entire dealers room.

ANGEE: Indeed! Heidi was stunning! She was tall and built! If you didn't know better, you wouldn't have guessed that she was 14 at the time of Vampirella (1973) and 13 and younger in the magazine. She was essentially a sweet and shy young girl who would rather be hanging out with her friends than parading around in a sexy costume and dealing with leering fan boys (and men).

I was in my very early 20's when I appeared as Vampi at that time and I was not fazed by that sort of thing. I welcomed the attention!

The story got out about her dad being an editor and that sort of explained it.

RON: Eventually, Creation Convention published a program booklet with a poem in it to the metre of "Stairway to Heaven" probably called "Taking her to the Convention" written by Manny Maris. It was a viscious, unfair and very funny attack on Heidi.

ANGEE: Actually, I wouldn't call it very funny although, the lines, "There's a girl that I know, who's mom has her for show, and she's bringing her to the convention..." are amusing.

RON: The last line of it (if my memory serves me well; it was over 30 years ago) was "Seidi... HAHAHAHA". I think that ended her career as the comicon glamour Queen.

ANGEE: Indeed it helped. To understand this better you must know that Maris added a cut out from a men's mag (Oui?) of a very young, half naked blonde girl (probably not much older than Heidi herself by the look of her). There was a drawn in g-string to cover her exposed privates but the pose was undeniably sexy and salacious. This was supposed to represent Heidi, of course.

I've heard two stories about what happened next.

One, that when Warren heard about it, he ended the promotions because he didn't want to be associated with that kind of attention.

The other was that when her father saw it, he hit the roof and finally realised what they were doing to their reluctant daughter and put a stop to the promos immediately. This was in the early part of 1974, ironically right about the same time that a small article on Heidi appeared in Playboy magazine's "Potpourri" section in the back.

By the way, Heidi was very happy to see the promotions end.

RON: I would love to be able to read that poem again. Does anyone have it?

ANGEE: I do have it. Please e me and I'll send a copy to you.

RON: Manny proudly showed it to me in a hotel room. After laughing for about five minutes, I commented that she was just a little kid who didn't deserve the attack. Manny said that she was a public figure, who had a poster of herself being sold in three national magazines (Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella). Like any other public figure she was subject to satire.

ANGEE: Phil Seuling was also a friend of Heidi's. She and his oldest daughter were good friends, and he was livid when he saw the poem and practically strangled Maris when he saw him. Phil banned Maris from all of his cons from then on.

RON: I recently told my wife about the poem and she was quite upset. Her reaction was, "She was spoiling the party,eh?" When I showed my wife the magazine she realized that it was far more complicated than that. She was being exploited by her family like a would-be Brooke Shields.

ANGEE: Ironically Brooke was six years younger than Heidi but as anyone can see, her mother, Terri, was extremely successful at her bid to manipulate her child into the spot light. By the way, there's even a "Brooke Book" that really is very shady.

RON: The guys at the conventions didn't want to idolise a kid in Grade Ten for her cuteness. I honestly think we viewed people more than "skin deep" and we wished to be viewed as more than that ourselves. We sure didn't want to be told to put her on a pedestal by Jim Warren, Forry Ackerman and her Dad.

ANGEE: True. There's more than a few photos of Heidi taken from angles that emphasise the sexier side of the outfit.

RON: The story goes, which I can't confirm, that Jim Warren printed 500 copies of the Heidi magazine as a trial balloon to sell at a convention. When it flopped he decided not to go big with a second printing and pulped the unsold issues. There may be under a hundred of these things out there today. I have seen them go for as much as $1,025. The cheapest I have seen one go for is just over $600.

ANGEE: Actually, I was told that when Warren's company was being prepped for the liquidation sale in 1983, that her parents quickly removed the remaining posters and mags before they could be sold.

I think what upsets me about the whole Heidi thing was that she was going through terrible emotional turmoil at that time but felt helpless to do anything about it. Her mother once forced her to dance in front of a gathering of comic professionals at a private party like some trained animal. Friends who witnessed that said that her discomfort was obvious to everyone except Taimi who was too busy playing the cassette recorder she brought with her and shushing the audience.

Heidi had a lot of potential but her parents desire for her stardom really messed with her head, and let's just say that we're lucky that she didn't die on us.

 

 

 

[N e r V]

From Vampilore.co.uk:

 

The poem

In the early 1970s the Sci-Fi convention scene was THE place to be.

Fans and future stars of the comic book and Sci-Fi industry rubbed shoulders with the legends of the day. There were talks and "meet the stars" sessions, and a plethora of dealers tables selling everything you could possibly imagine related to the industry.

The highlight was the Masquerade - a competition for the fans to show off their home made costumes and, if really lucky, gain a few moments of fame and a prize - usually cash.

The 1974 Creation Con had a poem published in it's programme which raised a lot of controversy, leading to acts of violence between some of the organsers.

Though many of the casual attendees of the con would not have understood the ramifications of the poem many in the "inner circle" took it to be a personal attack on 14 year old Heidi Saha.

On this page Emanuel Maris, who wrote the poem and included it in the programme, explains his actions.

A scan of the poem from the programme is included to the right.

Read the poem, Emanuel's explanation of the events and Angelique Trouvere's and then decide for yourself.

 

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Emanuel Maris speaks out …

 

"Well, suppose I set the story straight(er), as to my reasons for writing the Heidi poem in the Creation '74 (Jan) program I edited and published for Malin/ Berman's convention.

"I always harboured a little bit of attitude against entrants for a Costume Parade Prize who didn't personally make their own costumes (like 'buying' a prize away from those fans who worked hard - or using steroids in a sports event).

"However, I always was polite to the Saha's and their daughter, even when Heidi's mom pestered me for photo's of past events with Heidi.

"The turning point came when Phil held a reception for the guests and workers of the '73 July Comic Art Convention [for which I ran the dealers room]. Held in one of the smaller ballrooms with large banquet-style round tables, one table was taken by Neal Adams and his Crusty Bunkers, and so on.

"I witnessed the following up close:

"Heidi's mom physically dragged an on-the-verge-of-tears Heidi into this reception, along with a cassette boom-box, which she turned on and nastily (sic) ordered Heidi to pirouette around the room. Heidi refused. Her mom got louder and nastier. Heidi again refused and started crying. Her mom then slapped her hard.

"The conversation in the room stopped, all eyes on this embarrassing scene. The entire Adams table got up and walked out, followed en masse by most of the guests. The reception prematurely over.

"I felt really bad for Heidi. And my suspicion of that *xxxx* of a mother's politic in USING her to vicariously live through her daughter was confirmed in spades.

"So later that year, I saw a picture of a young girl in Gallery magazine who was reminiscent of Heidi - and all of a sudden an idea popped into my head (at that point I had already been commissioned to produce the Creation program booklet) on how to make a public comment that would force the issue, and perhaps foment a situation wherein her mother would cease such behaviour.

 

"With a word she commands her 'bout the floor" (from my Stairway To Heaven parody).

"Al Schuster (who started the Star Trek conventions, and was also the printer for many fan related publications in the comic and SF worlds, and also of this booklet) decided to put his ad directly across from this page - and he was a friend of the Saha's!

"Many people/ artists/ writers, including witnesses to the reception travesty such as Neal Adams, came up to congratulate me for having taken such bold action. Others whom I had been friendly with beforehand, such as the Saha's good friend Gray Morrow, never spoke to me again.

"At night of the first day, Art Saha came running up to me in the lobby screaming, "That's not my daughter!" and proceeded to throttle me against a wall, my feet off the ground. I said it wasn't, he accused me of using a "spoonerism" (named after a certain preacher of the 19th century who would switch the first letters of two sequential words in his sermons to make a point humorously). Phil Seuling came to the rescue, and man-handled Art off of me.

"Phil did not attack me, Phil did not ban me from his conventions. Ahh, blogging is far worse - and more damaging - than the game of "telephone".

"The results are well known and can be seen by anyone by viewing the booklet - hopefully the less dim-wits amongst this blog can see that this attacked the manipulative mother, NOT the daughter.

"Warren himself was tight-lipped, but civil. He came up to me and expressed his sorrow that my father had passed (a couple of days before the convention). Future issues of Warren mags no longer advertised the Heidi book - he presumably had the rest destroyed as a result of the reception.

"Heidi herself understood - while walking away from her room on the eve of the second night, a few doors down from mine, one of her girlfriends peeled off from her clique and came up to me: "Heidi says 'Thank You' ".

"She knew (or hoped) her parents (mother and weak father) would never do this to her again."

 

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[N e r V]

From Vampilore.co.uk:

 

Heidi Saha

 

Heidi Saha is a rather "contentious" Vampirella model - by today's standards, anyway.

At 14 years of age she is undoubtedly the youngest Vampirella model to wear the costume in public.

There would certainly be some raised eyebrows if a girl of her tender years wore such a skimpy outfit in public today! Perhaps the early 1970's were more innocent times.

Born on the 30th January 1959, Heidi was the daughter of Art Saha, a well known science fiction editor.

As Art Saha was a President of the New York Science Fiction Society and President of First Fandom it is no surprise that she should accompany him to the 1973 Comic Art Convention.

What may be a surprise is that she attended wearing a Vampirella outfit (as did Angelique Trouvere), and the photo on the right is from an article on the convention in Warren's Vampirella #29 [November 1973].

The photographs of Heidi at the the convention were taken by Angelique Trouvere and Mark Leubker, an 18 year old attendee of the Comic Book Convention and show.

Mark says of one of his photos (shown on the right) "This pic was taken while waiting for an elevator up to the mezzanine level. You have to credit the girl's courage, walking around a convention full of comic fans in such a minute costume, and especially boarding an elevator with a handful of them!"

There are no prizes for guessing who was on the winning podium! History records that Cortlandt Hull’s wonderful Ming the Merciless won first place, the Darkseid costume took second, and Heidi won the last of the three grand prizes for her costume.

(Left) Heidi in the "costume party" room with all the other hopefuls in Fancy Dress competition.

If you click on the picture it will open in a new window and show the whole room with all the other competitors (including the "other" Vampirella, Angelique Trouvere).

What made Heidi's costume win over Angelique Trouvere's? Perhaps it was the fine details, such as the bat shaped "birthmark" on her chest and the bat welded to her right hand!

 

  

 

  

 

Heidi's next outing was at the 1973 WorldCon - an eclectic mix of annual meeting, exhibition, awards ceremony, opportunity for making publishing deals and "old home week" for some 6,000 Science Fiction fans and professionals. The WorldCon is an opportunity to share ideas, experience, and the love of the fantastic.

Again, Heidi wowed everyone there, including Forrest J. Ackerman (the creator of Vampirella) and other celebrities (including SciFi/Horror author Robert Bloch).

All of the pictures below are from Merv and Helena Binns' personal collection. Two pictures show Heidi standing next to Merv Binns (in the blue Scarab outfit).

 

    

 

    

 

Forrest J. Ackerman was so taken with heidi that he published one of the rarest and most sought after Warren magazines - the infamous "Illustrated History of Heidi Saha", a single issue magazine that Warren Publishing released in 1973. Vampirella, Creepy, and Eerie carried large advertisements for the magazine and for a poster with Heidi dressed as Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.

I believe that the magazine and posters were published in all innocence, as a celebration of a pretty young girl whose family connections placed her in the middle of the SciFi/Comic Book set.

They are now extremely rare.

There are rumours that the magazine was

• published and then recalled and destroyed,
  
• published in a limited run of 500 to sell at conventions, and
  
• that it was recalled due to "questionable content".

I believe it was just a limited run that didn't sell well.

Modern myth focuses on the "dubious content" aspect and there are so few people who have seen a copy that it is hard to refute, but I read a quote from someone who has a copy:- "I have paged through the book, and though the logic of its existence may be puzzling, there is NOTHING objectionable contained here. It's a goofy / innocent tribute to some girl that went to conventions dressed as various sci-fi / fantasy characters. There are no colour pics, no Vampirella pics, and NO inappropriate pics in this book. Heidi is seen at conventions with Forry Ackerman, Arthur C Clarke, etc."

Thanks to Angee Trouvere I now have a copy of the "Illustrated History of Heidi Saha", and I have to agree that there is nothing "dubious" in it at all! Not only that, but if I had bought it new back in the 1970's I would have been really disappointed as it really isn't that interesting a magazine. I certainly wouldn't pay the exorbitant prices it fetches now and would have considered it a waste of money at the time. The word "pointless" comes to mind.

I'm sorry, Heidi, but it wasn't one of Jim Warren's best efforts.

After her brief foray into stardom in the early 1970s, Heidi Saha vanished - presumably following the path of many other girls her age ... going to school, getting a job, etc.

Having been in contact with a number of people who knew Heidi and her family at the time (and since), I can understand her wish to avoid publicity.

If you are out there, Heidi, and get to read this page I would love to hear from you with any other comments, corrections, pictures etc.

 

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Mike Grace (Vampirella Revealed) has a little more to add to the tale:-

"For some years I heard nothing more on Heidi, then in March 2001 someone called Gentleman John e-mailed me with information explaining Heidi was now an artist having modeled for science fiction book covers earlier, and that she had known many of the science fiction greats such as Isaac Asimov.

Then, in February 2003 Deirdre Perez (nee Boardman) e-mailed me to tell me her mother, Perdita Boardman, was the designer and creator of the costume and bat Heidi wore in the photo above. Her mother always loved the bat the most, and was disappointed never to see it again until Deirdre stumbled onto my web site."

 

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Angelique Trouvere, in an interview with Richard Arndt, provides a very personal insight.

"Anyway, as we wandered into the area where the masquerade entrants awaited the start of the show, my friends pointed out the other Vampirella to me. Heidi Saha was tall and very pretty—her baby face sported blue eye shadow and lipstick red lips. As she peered out from under the long black bangs of her wig she reminded me of a beautiful doll.

"Someone told me that she was 14 years old and I remember thinking how young she was and that she must be rich because her bat wing earrings were gold, as were her armband and bracelets. Her boots were an exact replica from the famous 6-foot tall Jose Gonzales poster.

"It was a well-made and detail oriented costume that knocked my socks off.

"I made my earrings out of cardboard that I'd sprayed with gold paint and attached to ear clips. Then I'd jury-rigged the rest of the accessories with other cheap materials. Sadly, my boots were totally wrong: black vinyl with chunky heels but it was what I was able to afford at the time. (insert sad violin music here...)

"My costume was made from a stretch satin that my friend Stephanie and I worked on to fit within an inch of its life. Stephanie was a great help with the fittings of such a dicey costume and together we figured that since Vampi's costume looked shiny and was curve fitting in the comics and poster, than that's what we should aim for.

"Heidi's costume was made of polyester and cut like a swimsuit but it still looked great. She even had a paper-mache bat! I love attention to details! Man! I would've loved to have a paper-mache bat...

"Speaking of the paper-mache bat, I spoke with a very nice lady named Perdita Boardman, who confirmed that she actually made Heidi's Vampirella outfit from the bat to the boots, with the exception of the jewelry. Perdita and John Boardman were great friends of Art Saha, Heidi's father and Perdita readily agreed to use her considerable costume skills to recreate the Vampi costume when Heidi's mother, Taimi asked her for help.

"I believe that Heidi's parents had Perdita make the costume because they needed a professional looking outfit for the promotions that Jim Warren wanted to set up. Perdita was not aware of this aspect and considered her work on the costume as a favour to a friend. Heidi's mom was very proud of the fact that she made all of Heidi's costumes herself but, in this case, her skills weren't good enough for Warren's demands for complete perfection, which was a trademark of his.

"By the way, I heard that Heidi sold the costume at an auction house a few years ago — I wonder if that's true and how much it sold for?"

 

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It wasn't all fun and games for Heidi.
Click here for a different perspective.

[N e r V]

 

FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #65 (May 1970).  Heidi appears with Forrest Ackerman (see photo at top) in the Professor Gruebeard ("The World's Oldest Answer Man") section, which debuted this issue.

 

[N e r V]

 

 

 

Heidi looks like she's ready to shoot her rivals.  FANTASTIC FANZINE SPECIAL #2 (1972) devoted a page to the costume contest at the 1971 New York Comic Art Convention, held July 2-4 at the Statler-Hilton Hotel.  12-year-old Heidi won 3rd prize for her en-deer-ing Wilma Deering costume.  Future comics artist Mike Zeck won top prize with his Black Bolt leotard.  So you defeated a little girl, Mike.  Are you proud?  (Actually, the blame goes to the three judges: Jim Steranko, Gardner Fox and Kirk "Superman" Alyn.)

 

[bounty_coder]

 What did I just witness 

[chevalmeow]

Wow.  That's a LOT of info on this mag.   Thanks!

[N e r V]

[N e r V]

1973  
NEW YORK COMIC ART CONVENTION 
 

Here's a better look at Heidi Saha's Vampirella costume, between Ming the Merciless and Darkseid and DeSaad. I'm pretty sure these were the winners, although there was a guy there who was a DEAD RINGER for J. Jonah Jameson, who I think should have won some kind of award. For some reason I never got his picture though.

Another look at Heidi Saha as  
Vampirella. This was waiting for an elevator up to the mezzanine level. You have to credit the girl's courage, walking around a convention full of comic fans in such a minute costume, and especially boarding an elevator with a handful of them!

Above is a kind of fuzzy look at a bunch of the costumes that were in the costume contest. (Why is it that cons don't seem to have those anymore?) There were two Vampirellas there--the infamous Heidi Saha (over on the far right, with a bat prop perched on her hand) and another (front and center) who was said to be an exotic dancer over on Times Square someplace.

 

[N e r V]

From Jungle Frolics:

 

 

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2010

An Illustrated History of Heidi Saha

 

 

 

 

Much of what's written about Heidi Saha on the internet takes place in fan boy forums, and most of the comments are directed at a rare magazine called AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF HEIDI SAHA, published in 1973 by James Warren with a print run of about 500 copies.  The item was available only through the mail, as advertised in his CREEPY, EERIE and VAMPIRELLA magazines, along with a 2 x 3-foot poster.  Usually only the cover is ever seen, showing a close up of a lovely, blonde 13-year old wearing a fur bikini and holding a spear.  This infamous magazine, it is said, contains nothing but questionable photos of the young girl.  Taking advantage of the notoriety of a book that few have seen, dealers have fetched $1000 and even more on eBay.  Some critics, who haven't even seen a copy and claim to have no desire to, have condemned it as child pornography, an abominable publication that should be burned, solely based on its lurid reputation.
 

  
I remember seeing those little black and white ads for the Heidi book in the back section of Warren magazines in the '70s, amidst other ads for monster masks, t-shirts, puzzles, posters, books, and Super 8 films.  I wondered what "Heidi Saha" even meant.  In the poster, she was standing in a fur bikini, a dagger strapped to her waist, a spear in her hands.  Was it a movie or comic book version of the Johanna Spyri classic given a barbarian or cave girl twist?  I had no idea -- until I found a copy 20 years later.  It was in a cluttered used book store, on a very busy street, but few people bothered to walk up the stairs to that lonely old shop.  The slim magazine was tucked away on a shelf filled with books of a fantastic nature.  When I saw it I thought, "Wow!  At last, I'll find out what this Heidi Saha thing is about."  I flipped through the pages -- then I closed it and slid it back into its spot.  They wanted a hefty $15 for the magazine, but I had another reason for not buying it.

So who was Heidi Saha and what really lurks in the 36 pages of her magazine?
 

Sci-Fi fans galore, at DisCon 1 / WorldCon 21, held in Washington, D.C. August 31 - September 2, 1963.  Young Betsy Wollheim in dragon costume, father Donald A. Wollheim (later publisher of DAW Books), 4-year-old Heidi, Forry Ackerman (genuflecting), and Ozzie Train.  Heidi followed Betsy around, holding aloft her tail.

 

 

Heidi Elizabeth Saha was born January 30, 1959.  Her mother, Taimi, was a stage mother whose only claim to fame was having written a short story, "Progress Report," for the May, 1974 issue of the science fiction magazine, PERRY RHODAN.

Her father, Art Saha (1923-1999) was the son of Finnish parents, William and Henrikka Saha.  He served as a Merchant Marine in World War 2 and graduated from Columbia University.  He moved to Cooperstown, New York and became active in science fiction fandom.  He was a member of the Futurians, and a friend of Donald A. Wollheim, publisher of DAW Books, and Forrest Ackerman, the world's greatest science fiction fan.  He became an editor at DAW, putting together numerous "best of the year" anthologies, for which he won many awards.  He served as President of the New York Science Fiction Society, also known as the Lunarians, as well as President of First Fandom.  He is also credited with coining the term "Trekkie" in 1967, to describe fans of Star Trek.
 

Zap!  Heidi as Wilma Deering, at Phil Seuling's New York Convention, 1971.  She won 3rd prize

  
With so much science fiction in her life, it's little wonder that Heidi would become involved with the fandom aspect of the genre.  She would attend many science fiction and comic book conventions, entering and often winning the costume contests, beginning in 1963.  She was Wilma Deering (Buck Rogers' girlfriend); Sheena, queen of the jungle; Shahna of Triskelion (at the New York Startrekon); a "Bergey Girl" (after the "Good Girl" pulp magazine covers by artist Earle K. Bergey); Lakla (from A. Merritt's 1919 novel, THE MOON POOL); and countless others.  She had fans and admirers, young and old alike, including Forrest Ackerman, editor of Warren's FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Gene Roddenberry, and actor Kirk "Superman" Alyn, all of whom were photographed with her.  And through it all she didn't ignore her scholarly duties.  Indeed, she was an honour student, delivering speeches and winning awards and medals for essays.

 

Virgil Finlay's illustration of Lakla, from A. Merritt's Conquest of the Moon Pool

 

Heidi as Lakla, WorldCon 1971.  She won "best interpretation" in the junior division.

 

 

 

 

  
But the trouble started when a 14-year old Heidi went to a few conventions dressed as Vampirella.  The costume was skimpy, to be sure, but that wasn't the problem.  Angelique Trouvere, a young lady in her early twenties about to become another popular fixture at conventions, also went as Vampirella to the Sixth Annual New York Comic Art Convention.  She remembers seeing Heidi for the first time in the waiting area for the costume contest:

"Heidi Saha was tall and very pretty -- her baby face sported blue eye shadow and lipstick red lips.  As she peered out from under the long black bangs of her wig she reminded me of a beautiful doll.
 

 

TorCon 2/WorldCon 1973, held in Toronto

  
"Someone told me that she was 14 years old and I remember thinking how young she was and that she must be rich because her bat wing earrings were gold, as were her armband and bracelets.  Her boots were an exact replica from the famous 6-foot tall Jose Gonzales poster.  It was a well-made and detail oriented costume that knocked my socks off.

"Heidi's costume was made of polyester and cut like a swimsuit but it still looked great.  She even had a paper-mache bat!  I love attention to details!  Man!  I would've loved to have had a paper-mache bat..."
 

 

At the 6th annual New York Comic Art Convention, held July 6 - 8, 1973

  
As it turns out, the costume was made by Perdida Boardman.  She and her husband were friends of the Sahas, and Taimi, usually the proud seamstress of Heidi's costumes, asked Perdida to create a more professional looking outfit.  Taimi, in a fit of jealousy, tried to have Angelique barred from competition, on the grounds that her Vampirella costume was somehow indecent.  Organizer Phil Seuling bowed to the pressure, and Angelique covered up the "offending area" with flesh-coloured band-aids.

The lovely (and built) Miss Trouvere went on stage sometime before Heidi "and the audience went wild".  Heidi went on last and struck the pose used in the 6-foot Jose Gonzales poster of Vampirella, her out-stretched arm holding a bat.  The crowd "went crazy".  Unfortunately, a rumour had gotten around that Heidi was there operating in a professional capacity for James Warren.  When it was announced that Heidi had won third place, the reaction wasn't kind.  "Poor Heidi.  She stood on that stage, holding her pose like a real trooper amid the boos and heckling.  It must have hurt like hell," says Angelique.  "However, If the crowd had a problem with James Warren or her parents, they shouldn't have taken it out on an innocent kid!"
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She was a real trooper: she posed again as Vampirella at TorCon 2 in Toronto.  Angelique didn't attend.

 

posing at TorCon '73

 

 

 

Warren denies that there was any deal with Heidi's parents before her appearance as Vampirella to publish the book and poster: "It was my way of paying them back for Heidi wearing a Vampirella costume, promoting a Warren property.  But it wasn't a quid pro quo, it was because they wanted to promote her into the movies.  My guess is that they were grooming Heidi to be a movie star and if she had her own magazine and her own poster, it was a step in the right direction."

An article appeared in the November, 1973 issue of Vampirella under the headline: "TWO VAMPIRELLAS STUN 5,500 AT 1973 COMIC ART CONVENTION", accompanied by photos of both Angelique Trouvere and Heidi.  It read, in part, that a Ming the Merciless costume won first prize, but that "it was undoubtedly the two Vampirellas who captured the hearts of the 5500 fans gathered for the five-day affair.  The first of them was a well-proportioned brunette actress, known professionally as Destiny, who is as ravishing as Vampi herself.  The other was everybody's favourite fan, 14 1/2 year old Heidi Saha, whose distinguished costume was one of the three grand-prize winners."
 

 

 

The caption under Heidi's photo read: "Miss Heidi Saha, a 14 1/2-year old comic fan, caused quite a stir at the Hotel Commodore when she made her entrance in her award-winning VAMPIRELLA costume.  It was like having Vampi come to life!"
 

 

 

Emanuel Maris edited and published the program booklet for Creation Convention 1974, which took place in January, and included a poem he'd written about Heidi Saha, to the metre of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven".  It was meant as a criticism of Taimi, and what he perceived as her exploitation of Heidi.  It wasn't an unfair satire, but it probably had no business being in a program booklet:

There's a girl that I know,
Who's mom has her for show,
and she's bringing her to the convention

When she gets there, mom knows,
the men will eye her clothes,
With a word she commands her 'bout the floor

And her costumes have shown,
from a tailor are borne,
For her, the portrayals have no meaning

In the line at the ball,
She is there standing tall,
Sometimes all of her faults are forgiven

I've a feel of unrest,
when looking at the best,
and then to know she will wind up winning

And I see all around,
that fine costumes abound,
And hear voices of those who sit booing

And it's whispered that soon,
If we all call the tune,
Then the judges will lead us to reason

And the prizes will pass
to those who stand fast
And the audience will echo with laughter

SEIDI?

HA HA HA HA HA HA
 
To make matters worse, Maris included a photo of a barely legal model, "reminiscent of Heidi", from the men's magazine, GALLERY.  Some of the artists and writers he was acquainted with congratulated him "for having taken such bold action."  Others never spoke to him again.
 

 

 

Art Saha ran up to him in the lobby screaming, "That's not my daughter!"  Maris says Heidi's father was so irate he had him off his feet, up against the wall, throttling him.  Phil Seuling had to pull Art off of him.  Jim Warren had little to say to Maris, except that he was sorry to hear his father had passed away a few days before the convention.  Reportedly, Heidi was grateful.  That year, Heidi made her last appearances in costume.  She retired from competition, and Warren Publications discontinued their ads for the magazine and poster.

"That's the Heidi Saha story," as Jim Warren says.  At least, that's the story of the fandom celebrity.  For mild-mannered Heidi Saha, civilian, the story continues.  She graduated from high school in 1977 and has lived a quiet small town life since.  In 1996, Heidi sold her Vampirella costume at auction (Sotheby's), including the brass wrist bands, the bat earrings, leather boots, wig, and even the brush, all said to be in fine condition.  She came out of retirement briefly in 1999 to write an obituary, "Arthur Saha, My Father", which appeared in the January, 2000 issue of LOCUS, a magazine covering the latest in the world of science fiction.  (Arthur Saha died in November of 1999.)
 

with Forrest Ackerman

Ads for AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF HEIDI SAHA and the large poster started appearing in issues of Warren magazines in the fall of 1973.  The copy read, "Fandom's own famous and fabulous femme, HEIDI SAHA, has thrilled thousands of Comix and Sci-Fi fans with her stunning costumes and winning manner.  Now you can have the pinup of a lifetime: HEIDI SAHA as Queen of the Jungle..."  The book was described as "a pictorial biography of Fandom's Pulchritudinous Princess".

The magazine was filled with black and white photos of Heidi, mostly supplied by her parents, from infancy to age 13.  The project was largely the work of Forrest J. Ackerman, who had been the editor of Warren's FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND since the first issue in 1958.  The Sahas were old friends of Forry's, and he remembered the first time he saw Heidi, at the costume ball for the World Science Fiction Convention in Washington, D.C., in 1963.  "The next time I saw Heidi was at a Lunacon several years later.  Now about 10, she was a dimpled darling and I delighted in her request to be photographed with me..."  That photo was later printed in an issue of FAMOUS MONSTERS.
 

with Forry, at Lunacon 1970

 

 

Perhaps some of the magazine's notoriety stems from the captions accompanying the photos.  Forry was famous for his alliterative sentences and bad puns, and he stayed true to form when writing the Heidi book.  Though he was obviously being playful ("a girl who makes mirrors look good"), to some readers his words might come across as inappropriate by today's standards: "...she's Lilith, Lolita & Lorelei melded into one fantastic young colt around whom there's already a cult."

There's also the paeans of praise which abound throughout the book: "In the so-called real world, among the beasts of science fiction and Comicdom...there now walks a great beauty.  The young Goddess known as Heidi: supple, blonde reed of womanhood, bending in the wind of the sighs of her would-be wooers, her stricken swains.  Heidi the delightful, the full-of-life dweller on the pink cloud of fantasy and wonder.  Heidi -- unbelievably refreshing, soft and shy, wildly exciting -- Heidi -- a poetic blend of fantasy and wondrous reality."
 

Heidi as Shahna of Triskelion, at the 1973 Star Trek Convention in New York

 

 

Forry even included Heidi's measurements: "At the present time she neatly distributes 35" 24" 36" into a 5'7" frame weighing 120 lbs. and topped by a heavenly cascade of honey-blonde hair."  As for her eyes, Forry assures us that they "vary from feline yellow to sea green."

He noted that it was getting increasingly difficult at conventions to get a photo with Heidi.  "I'll be lucky if I can get close enough to ask!"  He made another pun (a good one, but in dubious taste) about Arthur C. Clarke: "take one look at those pictures of him and Heidi and you can't help but wonder if (stand in line) he isn't waiting for Childhood's End?!"

For Heidi, it might have been thrilling to have a magazine devoted to her -- or it might have been embarrassing for a girl who'd just entered high school to have childhood pictures of herself in print, especially when the book contained captions such as, "According to legend, Heidi stuck a star on her popo-nappie when she was only 3 days old and announced in grammatically perfect Finnish, 'Look, ma, I'm the Big Diaper!'"
 

with Robert Bloch, TorCon

Warren says that as cheap as it was to print the magazine, the company made no money from it.  He probably didn't expect it to.  It would have been of no real interest to the readers of his horror comics.  No pictures of Heidi as Vampirella were included, as the book was put together earlier.  It was nothing more than a family photo album, with humorous comments and anecdotes thrown in by Forrest Ackerman.

Today it might be of interest to Warren magazine completists or to fans who were there and would like to recall the good ol' days of early conventions.  Otherwise, AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF HEIDI SAHA is an innocuous piece of memorabilia, celebrating a wonderful young fan girl.  As for those who might pay $1000 to glom onto a copy "strictly because he thought it contained a nude shot of a preteen girl," as Angelique Trouvere says, "then he got what he deserved."
 

Heidi as Sheena, Queen of the Conventions, at the New York Comic Art Convention, 1972

(Also on this blog: Heidi Saha: Addendum)

 

 

 

 

 

[N e r V]

Arthur William Saha (October 31, 1923 – November 19, 1999) was an American speculative fictioneditor and anthologist, closely associated with publisher Donald A. Wollheim.

 

Saha became active in New York City science fiction fandom, becoming a member of the Futuriansand First Fandom, and was a close associate and ally of Wollheim and Frederik Pohl in the early fan wars.

Later an editor at Wollheim's publishing house DAW Books,^[1] Saha co-edited numerous "best of the year" science fiction anthologies with Wollheim, and was Wollheim’s choice as successor to Lin Carter as editor of a similar line of fantasy anthologies. Saha’s compilations were routinely entered in the Locus Poll Award for Best Anthology; The 1978 Annual World's Best SF he co-edited with Wollheim came in second for the 1979 award.

He was inducted into and received a First Fandom Hall of Fame award for 1992 for his contributions to the field of science fiction. He served as President of the New York Science Fiction Society, better known as the Lunarians, and as President of First Fandom^[1] for many years until his death.

 

 

CoinageEdit

Saha is credited with coining the term "Trekkie" in 1967 to describe fans of Star Trek.^[2] He had used the term in an interview that Pete Hamill was conducting on the science fiction phenomenon for TV Guide.

 

[oakman29]

I think it's tawdry sensationalism of a very young girl,that adult fanboys should be ashamed of themselves for acting like child molesters.

I'VE GOTTA HAVE ONE!

[Stemocro]

You can look at this story several ways and it makes you wish Heidi would say she either quit because it was too much drama, too much spending time with mom, or weirdly pervy.  The fact she dissapeared makes it feel like an unsolved mystery with dark corners.  I like to think she left because unlike her, the scene got old.

[Stemocro]

Here’s one on Comiclink auction May 10, 2018. 

Illustrated History of Heidi Saha

CGC 9.0

 I’m hoping she fought the pervs, mom, and the scene and flew out into the dusk.  I enjoyed the mystery, but I think she got out before it destroyed her.  I hope so anyway.

[Larryw7]

Forry Ackerman was a perv. He sexually harassed women for years, and Lord only knows what he was thinking when he put this sordid mag together. There's a whole thread about his antics on the Classic Horror Film Board.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/monsterkidclassichorrorforum/forrest-j-ackerman-s-metoo-moment-t68925.html

 

[N e r V]

19 hours ago, Larryw7 said:

Forry Ackerman was a perv. He sexually harassed women for years, and Lord only knows what he was thinking when he put this sordid mag together. There's a whole thread about his antics on the Classic Horror Film Board.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/monsterkidclassichorrorforum/forrest-j-ackerman-s-metoo-moment-t68925.html

 

Based on the number of news stories breaking on the subject today it seems there are a number of famous and high profile men that fit that bill. The only difference is it’s easier to be outed as such than it was 40 years ago.

I have to slot a number of people now like others have done with Ty Cobb for years in separating their professional accomplishments with their disgusting behavior as human beings. 

Sad....

[FoggyNelson]

This is such a interesting read ‼️‼️ Thankful for posting Nerv

[FoggyNelson]

This is one of most in depth threads I ever read on the boards 

it took me over a hour to read this an was fascinating read

thank so much Nerv

??❤️??

[N e r V]

I think I forgot this photo earlier in the thread but here’s a latter photo of Heidi (left)  from the 1987 World Fantasy Convention. By this time she would have been around 28 years old.