The above is a scan of the program of the first Dallas Fantasy Fair (DFF) that was held in 1982. The man who ran the show, Larry Lankford, I found out last week passed away on Christmas.
Unbelievably he was only 53 at his time of passing. Which meant he put together a 4 day show at the age of 22 that included such guests as Gil Kane, John Byrne, Frank Miller, Harvey Kurtzman, William Gaines, Philip Jose Farmer, etc., etc. I always liked the fact they he kept up with the fantasy part of the name and usually had a good roster of fantasy/sci-fi authors at his big shows.At one time the DFF was the third largest in the nation.
Looking back at some of the guest lists when I was there, but didn't register with me at the time, I could kick myself. I didn't attend my first DFF until the summer of '87. They were being held 2-3 times a year at that point and I made most of them until 1995. The show for '96 never came off, and there were numerous rumors as to why. Ultimately, it comes down to money though.
I haven't seen the guy since 1995, but still I will miss him. I worked for him in a couple of capacities at his shows. The first mini-con I went to I worked his booth for a few hours to get some books back in trade. At the DFFs I volunteered as a gopher in order to get in for free.
Lot of good memories for sure. Me and 7-8 of my friends crammed into one hotel room. Butch Patrick in a dunk tank. 24-hour anime rooms.
That program above is actually mine now, because in one of life's true coincidences a friend of mine ended up at Mr. Lankford's estate sale on Saturday and picked up some memorabilia like that. He gave it to me.
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