Here’s today’s flashback:
At the 1976 Star Trek Bicentennial Convention, the most special guest was William Shatner (unfortunately, Leonard Nimoy could not attend because he was performing in a play at the time) And I’m happy to report that I was able to see The Shat at this event, he strode out in a navy blue leisure suit and charmed the life out of the whole auditorium of adoring fans! Unfortunately, I had a really crappy pocket camera at the time and, like in most Trekkie nightmares, none of my pictures of Bill turned out! At the moment, I cannot recall much of what he said, although I remember how the everyone cheered with delight when he referred to the storied tale of how “Leonard Lost His Bicycle” (Nimoy used to ride a bike from Trek set to Trek set to save time, and Shatner and the crew were always hiding it from him, at one point suspending just above from a catwalk, right over Nimoy’s head!)
Anyway, I don’t have Shatner pictures today, but I do have a ‘sneak peek’ flier that was passed around at the time, previewing the new biography of Bill that was still being written at this point. Titled Shatner: Where No Man… . This was Shatner’s first foray into the printed press, and the first of his several autobiographies to plunge into the awesomeness of his legend. The flier promotes the hell out the book, as well as the accompanying LP album William Shatner LIVE, which preserved several of his college appearances. The flier even includes a “questionnaire and interest checklist’ just for Trek fans to aid and assist the authors of the book (Shatner, Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath. The survey really digs with questions about how Trek and especially Shatner affected pop culture and real attitudes, for example:
Do you feel that the way Shatner played Kirk, as a strong man able and willing to express profound emotions, could have had an effect on people’s acceptance of emotional opennness, especially in men?
Wow, that’s pretty deep! But considering at the time that American culture had been through Vietnam and was evolving from an era when men were strong and silent,( like say Don Draper of Mad Men), these were pretty radical questions! I admit, I never read Shatner, Where No Man… but now I may check eBay for a used copy, just to see how they used this info from fans to write the book .
TrekkerScrapbook 
Hello Bi-Centennial 10 Convention Goers — What a thrill it is to see interest in this convention that I hosted so many years ago. That’s right . . . it’s me “Heash!” To clarify my legal birth name was Steven L. Hersh. In college “Hersh” got misspelled to “Heash” which is how I got my stage name. After hosting about six cons, I finally went back to my legal name, Steven L. Hersh, but having been “gifted” a role in STAR TREK: The Motion Picture, I went Hollywood and legally shortened my name from Steven L. Hersh (the “L” stands for “Lance”) to “Steven Lance.”
Now that the secret is out you can Google my Star Trek photo on Google Images. Just type in Steven Lance Star Trek and you’ll see the B&W publicity still. That’s me in the center flanked by Jimmy Doohan and Grace Lee Whitney.
I felt after 38 years (I hosted the original All Schuster’s INTERNATIONAL STAR TREK CONVENTION back in 1974) that I would finally sit down and write my memoirs. But, I can’t do it alone. So I am looking for everyone who attended one of those Star Trek Cons that I hosted in what seems like in the “Wink of an Eye.”
The Trek Conventions I hosted included The “Star Trek Lives” 1974 International Star Trek Convention; Star Trek 1975; Bi-Centennial 10; Star Trek America; Star Trek Philadelphia (1977 with the Liberty Bell program book cover); I filmed the Star Trek movie in 1979, then hosted a convention in 1980 and one last one at the Kennedy Airport Hilton in 1981.
My e-mail address is: StevenLance@juno.com
I look forward to hearing from you, reminiscing with you about those great days at the NY Commodore Hotel, The Statler Hilton and the Americana Hotels.
All my best,
-Steve (Heash)
LikeLike
Hi Steve! (that’s my son’s name!) What a delight to hear from you, and I’m so glad you got to read this post. I hope you’ve read all the Convention posts I wrote this week; it was a joy to stroll back down memory lane to what was an exciting time in my teen life. I’ll be happy to contribute anything I can recall for your memoir! And since I never met you at the Bi-Centennial 10 Con, let me just give you a belated Thank You so much for all the hard work you and your staff put into making the Bi-10 a success! I had a blast and I’ll never forget it. It was definitely a magical time, before the onset of Star Wars and after Trek had risen like a phoenix from it’s canceled ashes and at its zenith of popularity, a moment of time that will never be repeated.
I have hand written memoirs of the con (in my excited teenage scrawl) written with my “Society to prevent the obscuring of Captain Kirk” pen with it’s Vulcan green ink — I’ll be posting these here too, so keep an eye out for them! Thanks again for reading my little blog, and if you get a hold of Leonard Nimoy, would you tell him about it too? 😉 LLAP, Therese
LikeLike