Betty Jo Trimble
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Betty JoAnne Trimble (née Conway; born August 15, 1933), known as Bjo (, ), is an American
science fiction fan Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization (although ...
and writer, initially entering fandom in the early 1950s.


Introduction to fandom

Trimble's introduction to
science fiction fandom Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization (although ...
was TASFiC, the 1952
Worldcon Worldcon, officially the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during Wor ...
. She was serving in the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
at
Naval Station Great Lakes Naval Station Great Lakes (NAVSTA Great Lakes) is the home of the United States Navy's only current recruit training, boot camp, located near North Chicago, Illinois, North Chicago, in Lake County, Illinois, along Lake Michigan. Important tenan ...
and happened to see an announcement in ''
Astounding Science Fiction ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William C ...
'' about the upcoming convention that weekend. She met a number of other science fiction enthusiasts, including
Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime fiction, crime, psychological horror fiction, horror and Fantasy Fiction, fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and ...
,
Willy Ley Willy Otto Oskar Ley (October 2, 1906 – June 24, 1969) was a German and American science writer and proponent of space exploration and cryptozoology. The crater Ley on the far side of the Moon is named in his honor. Early life and Berlin y ...
, and
August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. He was the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. He made contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the Lovecraftian horror, cosmi ...
; and claims that
Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave science fiction, New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. His published wo ...
, "this bespectacled young man who had just sold his first short story", "decided he liked me and proposed on the spot." (She declined.) When it was discovered that she was an artist and cartoonist, she was recruited to contribute illustrations for
science fiction fanzines A science-fiction fanzine is an amateur or semi-professional magazine published by members of science-fiction fandom, from the 1930s to the present day. They were one of the earliest forms of fanzine, within one of which the term "''fanzine''" w ...
. Trimble says that she met future husband John Griffin Trimble under
Forrest J Ackerman Forrest James Ackerman (November 24, 1916 – December 4, 2008) was an American magazine editor; science fiction writer, and literary agent; a founder of science fiction fandom; a leading expert on science fiction, horror, and fantasy films; a ...
's piano, where several fans had taken refuge during a particularly crowded party. "John was in the Air Force, so he and I traded Stupid Office Stories and discovered we liked each other a lot."


Fan activities

Trimble helped revive a flagging
Los Angeles Science Fiction Society The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Inc., or LASFS, is a science fiction fandom#Science fiction societies, science fiction and fantasy fan society that meets in the Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles area. The current meeting place can be f ...
(LASFS) in the late 1950s. In 1958, she put together the "Worldcon Futuristic Fashion Show" at Solacon, the 1958 16th World Science Fiction Convention. She ran once again in 1966 at Tricon, the 24th Worldcon, incidentally giving fandom a glimpse of three early ''
Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...
'' costumes. Trimble started and directed "Project Art Show", the first modern convention art show, in 1960. The success of Project Art Show led to art shows becoming a profitable part of most conventions, large and small. The Trimbles were part of the successful "Save Star Trek" campaign, generally credited with allowing the series to run for a third season rather than being canceled after two. They also helped with the campaign to have the first of
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
's
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...
s named ''Enterprise''. Their efforts earned them uncredited roles as a crew members in '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture'', along with a contingent of other members of
fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of Fan (person), fans characterized by a feeling of camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significan ...
who were allowed to serve as extras in full costume, portraying crew members (both human and alien) in the Recreation Deck scene (at the time, the largest number of persons ever appearing in a single ''Star Trek'' scene). Her other film credits include
makeup Cosmetics are substances that are intended for application to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering appearance. They are mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources or created sy ...
design for ''
Flesh Gordon ''Flesh Gordon'' is a 1974 American superhero sex comedy feature film which is a spoof of Universal Pictures first (of three) '' Flash Gordon'' serial films from the 1930s. The film was produced by Walter R. Cichy, Bill Osco, and Howard Z ...
''; and a role as 'Ma Cant,' a satirical version of
Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
's
Martha Kent Jonathan Kent and Martha Kent (often referred to as "Pa" and "Ma" Kent, respectively) are fictional characters in American comic books published by DC Comics. They are the adoptive parents of Superman, and live in the rural town of Smallville (co ...
, in a film short called ''Superbman: The Other Movie''. Trimble contributed to the first encyclopedic collection of data for ''Star Trek'', the '' Star Trek Concordance'', which contains cross-referenced details on every character, setting, event and device in every episode of the original ''
Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...
'', and, in later editions of the book, its
animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...
incarnation and the ''Star Trek''
films A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of Visual arts, visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are gen ...
. The first edition of the book was self-published in 1969, followed by a supplement in 1973 and a mass-market printing in 1976 by
Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in ...
; the work was subsequently updated for a new edition published by
Citadel Press Kensington Publishing Corp. is an American, New Yorkbased publishing house founded in 1974 by Walter Zacharius (1923–2011)Grimes, William''New York Times'' (MARCH 7, 2011). and Roberta Bender Grossman (1946–1992). Kensington is known as "Am ...
in 1995. According to former ''Trek'' archivist Richard Arnold, the ''Concordance'' was used as a primary source of official
canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...
by writers of the ''Star Trek'' Universe when he first started working at Paramount. In 1982, Trimble published a memoir of her experiences in ''Star Trek'' fandom entitled ''On the Good Ship Enterprise: My 15 Years with Star Trek''. In 1974, Trimble was among the first group of winners of the
Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at Comic-Con Internati ...
by
Comic-Con International San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...
. Trimble received the
Big Heart Award Edward Everett Evans (November 30, 1893 – December 2, 1958) was an American science fiction writer and fan. He married science-fiction author Thelma D. Hamm in 1953. His works include the novels '' Man of Many Minds'' (1953), ''The Planet Ma ...
in 1964, and (in her
persona A persona (plural personae or personas) is a strategic mask of identity in public, the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. It is also considered "an intermediary ...
of Flavia Beatrice Carmigniani) the
Society for Creative Anachronism The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century. A quip often used within the SCA describes ...
's Order of the Laurel, an art award. Bjo and John are also both members of the SCA's Order of the Pelican for service. (She and John were Baron and Baroness of the SCA's Barony of the Angels os Angeles Chapter of the SCAfrom September 2008 until January 2012.) She and John also received the International Costumers Guild's Lifetime Achievement award. The Trimbles were celebrity guests at InterCon in Utah, 1976. Trimble was Guest of Honor at 1995's
DragonCon Dragon Con (previously Dragon*Con and sometimes DragonCon) is a North American List of multigenre conventions, multigenre convention, founded in 1987, which takes place annually over the Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
, the 6th
North American Science Fiction Convention NASFiC, an abbreviation for North American Science Fiction Convention, is a science fiction convention scheduled in North America during years when a Worldcon is being held outside North America; NASFiCs are held only during such years. Bids for ...
, as well as at many other science fiction and ''Star Trek'' conventions around the world. Bjo and John Trimble were the Fan Guests of Honor at the 60th
Worldcon Worldcon, officially the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during Wor ...
, ConJosé. The Trimbles, who owned and operated the business Griffin Dyeworks & Fiber Arts until 2015, lived in
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
.Trimble, Bjo. "About Griffin Dyeworks & Fiber Arts" bjotrimble blog
/ref> In April 2024, it was announced John had died.


References


Further reading

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External links


Griffin Dyeworks & Fiber Arts
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trimble, Bjo 1933 births Living people People from Hughes County, Oklahoma Star Trek fandom Writers from Oklahoma Fan labor American science fiction writers Inkpot Award winners United States Navy sailors Writers from California