The Trap Door Spiders are a literary, male-only eating, drinking, and arguing society in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, with a membership historically composed of notable

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

personalities. The name is a reference to the reclusive habits of the

trapdoor spider Trapdoor spider is a common name that is used to refer to various spiders from several different groups that create burrows with a silk-hinged trapdoor to help them ambush prey. Several families within the infraorder Mygalomorphae contain trapdo ...

, which when it enters its burrow pulls the hatch shut behind it.

History and practices

The Trap Door Spiders were established by author

Fletcher Pratt Murray Fletcher Pratt (25 April 1897 – 10 June 1956) was an American people, American List of science fiction authors, writer of history, science fiction, and fantasy. He is best known for his works on naval history and the American Civil War an ...

in 1944 to exclude operatic soprano Mildred Baldwin, in response to the June 7, 1943 marriage between Baldwin and Pratt's friend Dr. John D. Clark. Baldwin was unpopular with her husband's friends, despite their participation in the ceremony (Pratt's own wife Inga Stephens Pratt was matron of honor, and

L. Sprague de Camp Lyon Sprague de Camp (; November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American author of science fiction, Fantasy literature, fantasy and non-fiction literature. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, both novels and works of ...

served as Clark's best man). Pratt reasoned that the club would give them an excuse to spend time with Clark without Baldwin. The presidency of the club rotated among the members, the president for a given evening being the member who had volunteered to host the meeting by giving the dinner and supplying a guest. Over the course of its existence the Trap Door Spiders has counted among its members numerous professional men, many of them writers and editors active in the science fiction genre, along with some prominent fans such as Dr. Clark. The get-togethers of the Trap Door Spiders followed a set format, which remained consistent through the years: a dinner, given by the host for the evening, to which he would invite a guest who would be grilled by the others and form the focus of conversation for the evening. The grilling was traditionally begun by the host for the evening enquiring of the guest "How do you justify your existence?" or some variation, such as "Why do you exist?"

Jack Coggins Jack Banham Coggins (July 10, 1911 – January 30, 2006) was an artist, author, and illustrator. He is known in the United States for his oil paintings, which focused predominantly on marine subjects. He is also known for his books on space tra ...

remembers that an editor for ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

'' went home from a meeting in tears after a brutally personal grilling. Coggins once invited Worthen Paxton, art director of ''

Life Magazine ''Life'' (stylized as ''LIFE'') is an American magazine launched in 1883 as a weekly publication. In 1972, it transitioned to publishing "special" issues before running as a monthly from 1978 to 2000. Since then, ''Life'' has irregularly publi ...

'', to a meeting. As of 1976, the club met roughly one Friday a month, eight or nine times a year, and maintained a membership of thirteen, among whom the privilege of hosting the meetings rotated. The host of a given meeting selected the restaurant, wine, and menu for the evening, and had the option of inviting one or two guests he believed might prove interesting to the other members. The group remained active through at least January 16, 1990, when its members attended a party given by

Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...

for

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...

Tavern on the Green Tavern on the Green is an American cuisine restaurant in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, near the intersection of Central Park West and West 66th Street on the Upper West Side. The restaurant, housed in a former sheepfold, has be ...

in New York City. The event commemorated Asimov's seventieth birthday and the fortieth anniversary of the publication of his first book. According to L. Sprague de Camp, the club was "still thriving" as of 1996.

Membership

Membership of the club was by invitation, and varied as some Trap Door Spiders died or moved away (or in at least one instance was dropped by the consensus of the other members) and as others were admitted on the nomination of existing members. Men known to have been members of the club include: * John Ashmead (1917–1992), author, English professor *

(1920–1992), author * Don Bensen (1927–1997), editor *

Gilbert Cant Gilbert Cant (September 16, 1909 – August 1, 1982) was a London-born American journalist. Cant arrived in the U.S. in 1934 and began working for the ''New York Post'' in 1937. He was a war correspondent in the Pacific during World War II and w ...

(1909–1982), editor *

Lin Carter Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft (for an H. P. Lov ...

(1930–1988), author *

Lionel Casson Lionel Casson (July 22, 1914 – July 18, 2009) was a classical archaeologist, professor emeritus at New York University, and a specialist in maritime history. He earned his B.A. in 1934 at New York University, and in 1936 became an assistant pr ...

(1914–2009), archaeologist *

John Drury Clark John Drury Clark, Ph.D. (August 15, 1907 – July 6, 1988) was an American rocket fuel developer, chemist, and science fiction writer. He was instrumental in the revival of interest in Robert E. Howard's '' Conan'' stories and influenced the wr ...

(1907–1988), chemist *

(1911–2006), artist, author *

(1907–2000), author *

Lester del Rey Lester del Rey (June 2, 1915 – May 10, 1993) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the author of many books in the juvenile Winston Science Fiction series, and the fantasy editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy an ...

(1915–1993), author, editor * Kenneth Franklin (1923–2007), astronomer, educator *

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing magic, scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writin ...

(1914–2010), math & science writer *

Richard Edes Harrison Richard Edes Harrison (March 11, 1901 – January 5, 1994) was an American scientific illustrator and cartographer. He was the house cartographer of ''Fortune'' and a consultant at ''Life'' for almost two decades. He played a key role in "challe ...

(1901–1994), cartographer * Stefan Kanfer (1933–2018), journalist, author *Charles H. King (1934–2017), novelist * Caleb Barrett Laning (1906–1991), admiral, writer *

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 ...

(1906–1969), science writer *Jean Le Corbeiller (1937–2010), math professor *

(1897–1956), author *

George Scithers George H. Scithers (May 14, 1929 – April 19, 2010) was an American science fiction fan, author and editor. A long-time member of the World Science Fiction Society, he published a fanzine starting in the 1950s, wrote short stories, and moved ...

(1929–2010), author, editor *L. Roper Shamhart (1926–2017), Episcopal minister *John Silbersack (b. 1954), publisher, agent * George O. Smith (1911–1981), author *Harrison Smith, publisher *

Theodore Sturgeon Theodore Sturgeon (; born Edward Hamilton Waldo, February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American author of primarily fantasy fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and Horror fiction, horror, as well as a critic. He wrote approximately 400 ...

(1918–1985), author *Donald Wilde (1926–2015), ad executive, playwright *Robert Zicklin, lawyer According to magician and skeptic

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author, and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.#Rodrigues, Rodrig ...

, other prominent figures attending Trap Door Spiders meetings included authors

Frederik Pohl Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American list of science fiction authors, science-fiction writer, editor, and science fiction fandom, fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first ...

(1919–2013) and

L. Ron Hubbard Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author and the founder of Scientology. A prolific writer of pulp science fiction and fantasy novels in his early career, in 1950 he authored the pseudoscie ...

, as well as Randi himself. All three appear to have attended as guests rather than members (Pohl in particular has written he was never a member), though Randi did consider himself an "honorary" member. Owing to the writings of Isaac Asimov (see below), those most closely associated with the group are Bensen, Cant, Carter, Clark, de Camp, del Rey, and Asimov himself.

The Trap Door Spiders in fiction

The Trap Door Spiders are fictionalized in L. Sprague de Camp's historical novel '' The Bronze God of Rhodes'' (1960) as "The Seven Strangers," a social club holding symposia in the ancient Greek city-state of

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

. Such Spider elements as the rotating presidency and the question put to guests are faithfully represented in the practices of the Strangers. The club was also the inspiration for

's fictional group of puzzle solvers the

Black Widowers The Black Widowers is a fictional men-only dining club created by Isaac Asimov for a series of sixty-six mystery fiction, mystery short story, stories that he started writing in 1971. Most of the stories were first published in ''Ellery Queen's Mys ...

, protagonists of a long-running series of mystery short stories beginning in 1971. Asimov, a

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

resident who was often an invited guest of the Trap Door Spiders when in New York, became a permanent member of the club when he moved to the area in 1970. Asimov loosely modeled his fictional "Black Widowers" on six of the real-life Trap Door Spiders. He gave his characters professions somewhat more varied than those of their models, while retaining aspects of their personalities and appearances. Asimov's characters and their real-life counterparts are: * Geoffrey Avalon (

) * Emmanuel Rubin (

) * James Drake (

) * Thomas Trumbull (

) * Mario Gonzalo (

) * Roger Halsted ( Don Bensen) Other non-fictional men, including members of the Spiders and others, also occasionally appeared in the series in fictional guise. These included

(albeit deceased and offstage) as Widowers founder Ralph Ottur in the story "To the Barest," and (as guests) Asimov himself (in a humorously unflattering portrayal) as arrogant author Mortimer Stellar in "When No Man Pursueth",

as stage magician The Amazing Larri in "The Cross of Lorraine", and

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 ...

as writer Darius Just (a character who first appeared as protagonist of Asimov's 1976 mystery novel '' Murder at the ABA'') in "The Woman in the Bar." The remaining member of the Widowers, the group's waiter and unfailing sleuth Henry Jackson, was completely fictional, though Asimov did liken the character to that of

P.G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...

Jeeves Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Bertie W ...

from the

Bertie Wooster Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is a fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. An amiable English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intellige ...

novels.

References

Sources

* * * {{Cite book , last=Gardner , first=Martin , title=Undiluted Hocus-Pocus: The Autobiography of Martin Gardner , date=2013 , publisher=Princeton University Press , location=Princeton, New Jersey

External links

Ian Summers' account of a Trap Door Spiders meeting at which he and the Amazing Randi were guests in the mid-1970s
Science fiction organizations Writing circles Culture of New York City Organizations established in 1944 1944 establishments in New York City Men's organizations in the United States