Star Trek Lives! (convention)

Star Trek Lives! was a early and influential series of Star Trek conventions held in New York in 1972-1976.
These cons were created by "a small group of die-hard fans who were tired of being ignored and/or patronized at the regular science fiction conventions and decided to have one of their own. The rest is history." from Star-Borne #5 (Jan/Feb 1973) 
The first convention was held January 21-23, 1972 at the Statler Hilton and featured guests (Gene Roddenberry, Majel Barrett, Isaac Asimov, Hal Clement and D.C. Fontana), an art show, a costume call, NASA space displays (moon rocks and an astronaut suit), and a hospitality room. Episodes were also screened from 16mm prints, including the original pilot The Cage and a blooper reel. Devra Langsam, a member of The Committee wrote about this con extensively in Star Trek Convention, or, how I spent my vacation, or What would I have done for aggravation if I hadn't been helping run a convention?.
The phrase "Star Trek Lives!" was used on the flyers advertising the first convention in 1972 and was part of the Star Trek revival campaign undertaken by fans in the early 1970s. 
==The Individual Cons==
==Quick Guide to Titles and Dates==
* In the summer of 1971, the committee organized a meeting in "Brooklyn Collage's Gershwin Auditorium, which could barely house the turnout."HISTORY-THE BEGINNING OF STAR TREK by Fraser Stone; reference link.
* The International Star Trek Convention/Star Trek Lives! at the Statler Hilton Hotel, New York (January 21-23, 1972)
* The International Star Trek Convention at the Commodore Hotel. This was Leonard Nimoy's first convention appearance. (February 16-19, 1973)
* February 15-18, 1974 at the Americana Hotel, New York
* The Star Trek Convention at the Commodore Hotel, New York (February 14-17, 1975)
* The Star Trek Convention 1976 at the Commodore Hotel, New York (February 12-16, 1976)
==The Name==
For many years the event was simply referred to as "The Star Trek Convention" or the "Committee Con," the latter in reference to The Committee. 
While Al Schuster was chair of The Committee (1972, 1973, 1974), it was also called the "International Star Trek Convention." Schuster took the name "International Star Trek Con" with him when he broke away to create Schuster Star Trek Conventions.
This con was also commonly referred to as FebCon.
As more conventions popped up in other cities and as the New York convention group split into two groups, the name "Star Trek Convention" became less unique. To avoid confusion with the overlapping names, "Star Trek Lives" has been selected for this article on Fanlore to refer to the series of New York Star Trek conventions before the split with Al Schuster.
==Early, But, Not the Actual First==
It is commonly believed that the 1972 convention was the very first Star Trek convention, but that honor goes to a smaller convention in 1969 held in Newark, New Jersey: Star Trek Con (1969 Star Trek con). However, the 1972 convention was the first convention that had guests.
==Swag and Merchandising==
Commemorative program books and other goods were sold by Tellurian Enterprises, Inc..
==In the Planning: Late 1971==
From an early flyer: 
==Descriptions==
From a 1974 mainstream press article: 
The organizers of "Star Trek Lives!" anticipated only 500 attendees. When 3000 fans showed up, by the final day of the event registrars were issuing ID cards made from torn scraps of wrapping paper and some fans were let in for free: "We ran out of everything," Devra Langsam remembers. "We were cutting and sticking labels and pinning them on with straight pins." True Trekkie: Joan Winston tribute unsigned and undated; WebCite. See also NPR's Star Trek Present At The Creation dated May 20, 2002.
An article in the Village Voice in 1972 describes the first convention:
In spite of what the outside world thought about fandom, fans were ecstatic to be gathering:
One of the highlights of the convention was the fan built life size bridge of the Starship Enterprise. In his book "Star Trek: The Complete Unauthorized History", Robert Greenberger describes how fans disassembled the bridge, which was housed in update New York, and transported it down to Manhattan to be reassembled for the Committee conventions . Fans would photograph themselves on the bridge often wearing costumes.
The history of the convention was detailed in Joan Winston's 1977 essay So you want to have a "Star Trek" convention which was printed in the Starlog magazine. More history can be found in her New York Times Obituary in 2008.. Others have blogged about the convention here'1972 ST Convention Report' WebCite; WebCite of pre-con article; WebCite of the Monster Times post-con article. and here.STAR TREK - THE SEVENTIES: THE CONVENTIONS, THE FANS WebCite by BoG, April 15, 2010. Another fan has written up her recollections of the 1972 convention here; however, she may be remembering a later event as she described the actors being present, which they were not at the 1972 convention; WebCite.
Even though the 1972 convention netted the organizers only $92.36 each (after expenses)Star Trek: The Complete Unauthorized History By Robert Greenberger page 67. the organizers assembled for another, larger convention in 1973 and over 10,000 fans registered to attend. The Committee planned better in 1973, picking a larger hotel, The Commodore, and this second event was the first one that actors James Doohan and George Takei attended. Mr. Spock, aka Leonard Nimoy, made a surprise appearance - he happened to be in town - and was almost mobbed.Star Trek Conventions in the Seventies by BoG, April 15, 2010. One fan has blogged about his recollections of attending the 1973 convention here. The First Star Trek Convention, or How I Got my Geek Cred WebCite, January 3, 2009.
 
Photos from the 1974 convention convention are archived hereFanac's Star Trek Convention 1974 WebCite and for the 1975 convention here. Fanac's Star Trek Convention 1975 Page 2 WebCite here.
===Renaming, and a Split===
In 1973, the convention was retitled to the "International Star Trek Convention." This name would move on with Al Schuster when he split with the rest of the Committee in 1975.
After Schuster's departure, the convention was held three more times in 1974, 1975 and 1976. 
In a flyer advertising the 1974 con, Al Schuster addressed attendance and financials: 
In 2017, Devra Langsam, one the con's founders, commented on Schuster's divergence:
 
 
Image:spacetimecont5-7.jpg| from Space-Time Continuum #5, 1974 statements by fans
The February 1975 convention returned to The Commodore Hotel with a new chairperson Devra Langsam under the name: "Star Trek Convention". Guests included William Shatner, Isaac Asimov, Majel Barrett, Hal Clement, David Gerrold, Devra Lansing, Gene Roddenberry, George Takei, and Bill Theiss, costume designer who brought with him costumes that he had fans model. This convention "was also crowded, more so because some sneaky kids teamed with a dishonest printer to sell counterfeit tickets.""Star Trek Conventions in the Seventies by BoG, April 15, 2010. See also Star Trek: The Complete Unauthorized History page 70 By Robert Greenberger. Al Shuster, the former "Committee" chair put on his own Star Trek convention a month earlier under the name "The International Star Trek Convention" at the Statler Hilton after having a falling out in 1974 with the original organizers which led to at least one lawsuit. Fanac's International Star Trek Convention 1975; see also an article detailing the fall-out and subsequent lawsuit in These are the Voyages newsletter. Al Schuster was able to secure William Shatner's attendance even though the 1975 Star Trek Convention had booked him to appear at their event one month later. Luckily, both events did well. Star Trek: The Complete Unauthorized History By Robert Greenberger.
The February 1976 convention was the last organized by 'The Committee' and opened at the Commodore Hotel under Thom Anderson as chairman. Over 5,000 fans attended and the overflow had to be turned away.magazine article about the 1976 convention. The Committee event faced stiff local competition with Al Schuster's International Star Trek Convention taking place in mid January 1976 and Lisa Boyton's highly commercial event only two weeks later.Star Trek Promoters Out To Make A Fast Buck in the Lakeland Ledger dated Feb 22, 1976; reference link; reference link.
Also by 1976, the 10th anniversary of the airing of the show, many more conventions began appearing across the country. Chicago hosted its first Star Trek convention in August of 1975, at the Conrad Hilton Hotel; 15,000 fans were estimated to show. Video footage can be found here. Read also Bob Eggleton's account of the 1978 Star Trek convention held at the Statler hotel . And, that year, Al Shuster put on his own 10th Anniversary convention held at - yes again - the Statler hotel in New York. Another fan led group, Tristar Industries based on Staten Island, sprang up and continued hosting Star Trek conventions in New York. They continued organizing conventions until 1982 when commercially run, for-profit conventions began taking over:
In 1976, Gene Roddenberry commented on the "Star Trek Lives!," similar cons, and of profit:
===Comments by Devra Langsam: 2016===
In 2016, Devra Langsam said: 
===Comments by Devra Langsam: 2017===
In 2017, Langsam said: 
 
 
 
 
 
==Nancy Kippax Remembers==
Nancy Kippax has blogged extensively about her experiences at the series of New York conventions:
*Reminisce With Me/Conventions
* The Big New York Cons, Part I
* The Big New York Cons, Part II
==Shirley Maiewski Remembers==
From a 2000 letter to the Canadian zine Trexperts, Shirley Maiewski says: 
==Attempts at Replacement==
The cessation of "Star Trek Lives!" and Equicon created a hole in many fans' lives, and they either turned to the Schuster Star Trek Conventions, quit going to cons, turned towards smaller regional cons, or, in the case of the chair of August Party, attempted to created a new series of Star Trek cons. From a January 1978 appeal: 
From Kolker's description in Ambrov Zeor #6 (January 1978): 
==Articles, Meta, Further Reading==
* by Paul Grimes, "New York Times" (May 30, 1976)
* So you want to have a "Star Trek" convention, by Joan Winston (January 1977)
*Memory Alpha Wiki's entry on the convention
*Joan Winston: Recollections and Tributes which discusses the convention
*Star Trek Lives! Star Trek convention timeline with photosTimeline WebCite.
*Newsweek's Collection of Photos from Star Trek conventions in the 1970s
* clipping from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, February 29, 1976
* Star Trek Conventions in the Seventies posted on April 15, 2010 at the Base of Galactic forum (many photos) reference link.
*Fanac's TrekCon Photo Album - Master Index (history and photos)
*'Star Trek' fans eye convention by David George, The C-W ?? 1973 (University of Alabama student newspaper)
* , article about Star Trek: Mission New York con, includes recollections and photos of the "Star Trek Lives!" organizers (2016)
* , Robert Greenberger, unknown date
* (2017)
* (2017)
==References==
Category:Star Trek Conventions
Category:1970s Conventions
Category:Conventions in United States