Frienz
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Frienz |
| Publisher: | Pat Massie ("MASSochist Press") (#1-24), then Jean Holmes #25-50) |
| Editor(s): | |
| Type: | |
| Date(s): | November 1988-September 1998 (possibly November 1998) |
| Frequency: | every two months at first, then more sporadically |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Starsky and Hutch |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Frienz is a gen and non-explicit slash Starsky & Hutch letterzine.
They contain letters, want ads, con reports, clippings, flyers, and occasional fiction.
Pat Massie was the editor of the first 25 issues, and Jean Holmes the editor of the last 25 issues.
On a flyer, this zine referred to itself as "the reincarnation of the Starsky & Hutch letterzine." It is unclear which of the letterzines Massie was referring to.
"Frienz" ran for ten years and was later succeeded by Me 'n Thee Times, a UK publication which began in early 1999. The arrival of the internet had changed fannish communication, a topic that came up in later issues. It was also likely that fans were tired of the fighting about the acceptability of slash; there had been several blow-ups with gen-only fans, and the last one led to a prominent fan's flounce in July 1996, something that caused several other fans to cancel their subscriptions in support, and later channel their energies into the militantly-gen letterzine, Black Bean Soup.
The fracturing of the fandom, and the arrival of the internet, led to Me 'n Thee Times to only last eight issues. Starsky & Hutch fandom had had a print letterzine since 1979, and with the folding of Me 'n Thee Times in 2000, communication ceased on this platform, and was replaced electronically.
See List of Starsky & Hutch Letterzines.
The Issues
See these subpages for details about individual issues, including quoted opinions and summaries of fannish views on topics current then, and now.
Some Topics
- general episode discussions
- occasional fiction, especially in the early issues
- con reports for SHareCon, ZebraCon, ZedCon, MediaWest*Con
- much about the appeal of hurt/comfort
- numerous comments about gen and slash: the acceptability, the likelihood, the appeal, the morality, censorship and tolerance -- comments about slash were always a topic
- a 1992 flareup was about slash, characterization, suggested discrimination, and involved a prominent pseud/sockpuppet incident: issue #20 and issue #21
- 1993 supplements that were an attempt to clear the air of fandom behavior and grudges
- a fan flareup regarding a Suzan Lovett art that gen fans found too suggestive, see Hero's Heart
- a BNF introduces herself in issue #29, wrote of a situation regarding a slash vid at MediaWest*Con in issue #31, has very anti-slash comments in issue #33, issue #34, issue #35, issue #35, and then a fandom flounce in July 1996
- comments about previous letterzines and past fandom and how 1) everyone back then got along better, 2) everyone gets along better now than they did in the past
- many comments about the fourth season: was it a decline, a natural progression of their relationship, a disappointment, an opportunity...
- comments about the documentary, Without Walls: C4PD Starsky and Hutch
- much about 1996 The Starsky and Hutch Experience in London
- much about the Vas & Dex universe, comments by one of its creators
- later issues had comments about David Soul and his work, small interactions with him in England, play reviews
- in September 1990, there were 35 US members and 21 UK members; during the last few years, the tribbers to "Frienz" were mostly made up of fans from the UK; this is due to several reasons: 1) David Soul had moved to London, 2) there had been a major promotion of the show in London, and this drew in many new fans, 3) a lot of US anti-slash fans dropped out
- fan awards
- favorite zines and stories, lots a bout Decorated for Death, Distant Shores
- some discussion of songtapes
- sexuality, WNGWJLEO, and "gay sensibility"
- the role of women in the series, and in the fanworks
- a huge blowup about zines sold by Amapola Press; this included many heated statements, including a chaotic, cruel one written with a pseud in #20
- SH fiction set in historical time periods, why the lack of SH AUs
- this fandom as a "closed fandom," issues of visibility
- issues of visibility got much more pronounced as computers and the internet began to become a reality
- issues of visibility was one thing that shut down the short-lived The Starsky & Hutch Lending Library, one example of comments are in issue #32 in July 1995
- descriptions of London Fandays, a fan gathering
Pat Massie and the 1980 Seed of This Zine
Pat Massie created five issues of ACTV-Partners, a newsletter with a focus of keeping reruns of the show on the air, and of pressuring television stations into syndication.
In the very last issue of ACTV-Partners in September 1988, Massie (who was a big fan of writing in all CAPS, as well as Starsky & Hutch!) thanked fans for their support and described a vision of the future:
WELL, MY DEARS, ACTV-PARTNERS ROLLS TO A CLOSE WITH THIS EXPANDED ISSUE. I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO CONTINUE RAPPING WITH YOU AND SHARING THE JOY. I AM HOPING TO BRING OUT AN EXPANDED VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL NEWSLETTER BY THE END OF THE YEAR. IT WILL BE A POTPOURRI OF GOOD NEWS DEDICATED TO THE SPIRIT OF STARSKY & HUTCH. I CAN NEVER FORGET THEM OR YOU. YOUR RESPONSE WILL DETERMINE JUST HOW MUCH EFFORT I SHOULD PUT INTO MY NEW IDEA. HEY, GANG! DON'T FORGET YOURS TRULY. HELP HER WITH HER S&H MANIA. TRY OUT "FRIENZ" COMING SOON. I LOVE YOU ALL, AND, I LOVE THEM.
[...]
WRITE TO US. ASK ABOUT "FRIENZ." INQUIRES WELCOME...
SINCE YOU ASKED: "FRIENZ" [IS] AND ALL NEW (TO ME, ANYWAY) STARSKY & HUTCH NEWSLETTER TO BE FILLED WITH YOUR CREATIVITY. I AM LOOKING FOR POEMS, IDEAS, THOUGHTS, FEELINGS, LIKES, DISLIKES, EPISODE DISCUSSION, PLUS VIGNETTES FOR OUR NEW JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE HOW MUCH YOU'RE GONNA LOVE IT PUBLICATION CALLED "FRIENZ." ALL CONTRIBUTORS WELCOME.
INTERESTED/ SURE HOPE SO. I DON'T THINK I CAN TAKE THE REJECTION. HAVE NOT WORKED OUT ALL THE DETAILS YET, PLUS I'M GOING TRAVELING FOR ABOUT A MONTH. HOPE YOU'VE COME TO DEPEND ON ME AS MUCH AS I'VE COME TO APPRECIATE Y'ALL. DROP ME A LINE AND I'LL GET BACK TO YOU AS SOON AS I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT IT WILL COST. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR KIND SUPPORT, YOUR ENTHUSIASM, YOUR CARING. SOUNDS LIKE ONE TV SHOW HAS CHANGED MANY LIVES, DOESN'T IT? TILL THEN, I REMAIN A BELIEVER IN LOVE, FRIENDSHIP, SOUL-SHINE, AND YOU....
ALWAYS, PAT XX [1]
Discussion About the Title
The was quite a bit of discussion about this zine's title in issues of Tell Me Something I Don't Know!. Was the title a creative spelling of "friends," or was it a play on words with the word "frenzy"? And did frenzy mean "wild excitement" or "violent agitation."
From a September 1988 Announcement
Published in Tell Me Something I Don't Know! #9:
COST: $4.00 per issue; $4.50 overseas. PUBLISHED: Bi-monthly. MAX. LETTER LENGTH: 2 typed pages...
TOPICS: Fan Angst (ie. why do I bother with all this, anyway? Why do I like S&H? Why do I spend the time, the money, the money? Why do I .... you get the picture, anything to say about this?)
Blond or Brunette; curly or (dare I say it?) straight; dark meat or light; why Starsky? Why Hutch?
H/C head count, how many of you dig it? Why?
Favorite Season, why? (I mean besides the no-moustache-on-upper-lip-I-like everything but 4th Season answer).
Why does Hutch have so many changes of outerwear and how does he fit them all in his locker?
And, is Starsky's tush really built on ball bearings?
More info, to follow in next SNITCH concerning who to contact in England. Also, editorial policy will be explained in Issue One. As for now, keep it friendly, keep it clean, and come out writing.
I won't be doing a "/" head count, I already know how many D.).W.[2] are out there.
Regarding the Supplements
There were two 1993 supplements, plus two that were proposed but did not make it off the ground.
It appears there may have been another supplement. In issue #27, the new editor wrote: "If you want to read the letters Pat received for the cancelled Winter Supplement/Slash Discussion please send me a SASE & I will mail you copies of the letters."
The reason for these supplements was conflict.
From the second 1993 supplement:
Hence the Supplements? — as an outlet for the questions and grievances which had been accumulating on the L/Z desk—re-routed into a Supplement and keeping the L/Z for its SH purposes. There's sort of a contract which says that an editor should pick up those problems; this editor didn't walk away. It cannot have been an easy exercise but, judging by gratified references in recent correspondence, SH fandom now has a multitude of Happy Readers, engrossed in long-awaited zines. And if they should all stand up for counting—having counted on the L/Z and on Pat — it should mean quite a bunch of grateful letters.
Fans Remember
I can't express how important Jean's contribution to fandom was to me--I belonged to Frienz, that beloved ole paper letterzine. It was so exciting to find it in my mailbox! I remember how wonderfully connected I felt to my fandom, even fans in far away countries, when I would open up the letterzine and see names old and new. It was such a pleasure to craft a response to the last issue's comments. It even inspired me to draw a Starsky & Hutch cartoon. The fact that Jean kept Frienz going for so long--long enough for me to discover it not long before the explosion of net fandom--is something I'll always appreciate.[3]
Jean may have been quiet at cons, but she was a doer in fandom. When the editor, Pat, of the long-running SH letterzine, Frienz, needed to pass the zine on, Jean took it over. Frienz was in business for 10 years, an excellent record, and Jean was at its helm for the last four.
Letterzines were the original "discussion lists". Before the internet, people put out digest or full-sized zines full of people's snail mail letters focusing on fannish issues, photocopied articles about favorite stars, and in general encouraged communication among fans and kept fandoms alive when it wasn't so easy to find your favorite show on TV.
People were able to get episode tapes through letterzines, share zines, plan fannish get-togethers, advertise cons, especially smaller single-fandom cons, communicate about the production schedules for zines, and, yes, argue furiously with each other.
I'm fortunate enough to have a collection of the issues of Frienz that Jean edited, and they are beautifully produced. These were digest sized with artwork, stories, articles, and of course, letters.
Being a letterzine producer was akin to being a list-mom, only harder, since there were publishing deadlines to meet. You couldn't depend on folks writing in, you had to prod and cajole them to do so. Everyone *intended* to write, but deadlines crept up before folks would remember, and the letterzine editor would have to stay on top of folks to make sure there was *something* to publish.
Jean's letterzines overlapped with the development of the internet, so many of the people who might've used Frienz to communicate were suddenly turning to the more immediate net. Yet, she managed to keep the letterzine going until November, 1998, when she turned it over to a British fan, and the zine turned into the Me and Thee Times.
I wouldn't want to face putting VP on paper and turning it into an attractive mini-zine every few months. Jean's lovely letter zine is a treasure, and I've read it often. I had no trouble finding it on my desk when I wanted to talk about her.[4]
References
- ^ from ACTV-Partners #5/6
- ^ "D.).W." is what? Perhaps a riff on D.O.B.?
- ^ from Kath Moonshine at And Now a Word from our Sponsors..., posted 2002, accessed December 18, 2012
- ^ comments by Flamingo, June 2002, shortly after Jean Holmes' death, quoted from VenicePlace on Fanlore with Flamingo's permission