Cos Story Transcript - Morojo
At a world languages meeting at some point in early 1937 a woman starts a conversation with a young man and fellow Esperanto enthusiast about their mutual passions.
After the meeting the young man extends an invitation to her to the Los Angeles chapter of The Science Fiction League, joining him and fellow fanatics in a celebration of the sub culture of Science-Fiction
It soon becomes clear that this is not simply two people finding a common interest but the beginning of a decade long partnership that will create the building blocks for fandom as we know it.
The two of them become inseparable, editing the club fanzine IMAGINATION! together, the early fandom form of blogging, and, when the first World Science Fiction Convention took place in 1939 attended in costume, the only ones to do so.
This pair were Forrest “Forry” Ackerman and Myrtle “Morojo” Douglas.
They were two of the early developers of fandom, helping shape it into what it is today. Beyond this however, stand the costumes that Morojo made and the change they made to the landscape of fandom and pop culture. This is the story of Morojo; the mother of cosplay.
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Cos Story; Stories of cosplay and pop culture.
Episode 2: Morojo
Born in 1904, Myrtle R. Douglas was a divorced single mother when she met Ackerman in 1937. Their mutual love of Esperanto and all things nerdy drew the pair together, with Ackerman giving Myrtle the Esperanto name that she would carry amongst fans for the rest of her time at the Science Fiction League, Morojo.
While she had, had a tough life, Morojo found a place with the Science Fiction League, becoming treasurer for the LA chapter, and for a short time it’s director, as well as co-editing IMAGINATION! with Ackerman. The two also founded and ran the more well known fanzine, Voice of the Imagination (or VOM) which published letters and works by the likes of a young Ray Bradbury.
Like many women of this period in fandom, Morojo has often been remembered as simply the girlfriend of a male fan, but this is more than just a wrong done to her; it does the history of fandom as a whole a disservice.
Francis Towner Lanely, editor of the science-fiction fanzine “The Acolyte”, known for publishing the works of H.P Lovecraft and his circle, said of Morojo:
“I hope that he [Forrest Ackerman] fully realises the extent of her services to him – keeping the club on a smooth financial keel throughout most of her membership, doing most of the drudgery of VOM and other Ackerman projects, and keeping the wolves from yapping at his heels in a score of other ways.”
Without Morojo, the LA chapter of the Science Fiction League would, in all likelihood, not have flourished as it did and its members not have made the great strides in science-fiction and the creation of fandom that they achieved.
She even lost her place in cosplay history, as, up until recently, the creation and appearance of her costumes at World Con in 1939 were credited to Ackerman, with Morojo merely cited as his girlfriend in the footnotes of fandom lore.
It is fair to include Ackerman in the story of these costumes, and to give him some credit for having the courage and charisma to carry off wearing a giant cape to a serious science fiction convention in the middle of New York City, the credit for the designs and construction falls squarely on the shoulders of Morojo.
Whether the idea sprung from them as a pair, is not known, but it is by far Morojo’s characteristic drive and conviction that bore these outfits to fruition and saw the fantasy of the science-fiction brought into reality. If that isn’t the idea core of cosplay, then what is?
The two cut a dashing pair on the floor of the Caravan Hall in New York, as their strolled through the convention decked out in their “futuristicostume”. They were straight out of a movie, H.G. Wells’ 1936 Things to Come to be exact. Morojo dazzled in a romper repurposed from a ball gown, with matching cape and Ackerman cut a dapper figure in shining shoulder pads and breeches.
Many fans flooded to the idea, joyfully embracing this new expression of fandom, while others turned their noses up at the costumes, for not taking science fiction and fandom seriously. Some things never change.
Despite this the idea of costumes took off and soon they, and the term “fan-costuming that accompanied them, were staples of World Con and beyond.
The year, with many more fans expressing their love through costume, Morojo held an unofficial masquerade, fan-costuming event in her hotel room after which the official competition and costume masquerade was instated on the World Con roster, where it remains there to this day.
Morojo continued to make and wear costumes, promoting the new fan-costuming through fanzines and events. At a later World Con she even donned a costume which included a mask by the then unknown special effects artist, Ray Harryhausen.
In the decades following her first appearance in costume, the hobby took off around the world, and though Morojo fell out of love with fandom, possibly due in part to the split between herself and Ackerman, her legacy in fandom lives on. Her desire to show her love for science fiction in an open and creative way, beyond that of the fanzine and the fan clubs has left a permanent, eccentric and jubilant mark on the convention scene beyond anything she could have imagined.
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You have been listening to Cos Story, brought to you by The Cosplay Journal.
Scripted, read and produced by Holly Swinyard
Information for this episode came from Rob Hansen’s web archive THEN, The Fancyclopedia and Racked, Meet the Woman Who Invented Cosplay
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