Harry & Johnny

Harry & Johnny is a slash fandom created by Ruth Kurz and Teri White utilizing the characters Harry Callahan from Dirty Harry and Magnum Force, and John Davis from Magnum Force. Harry was played by Clint Eastwood while Davis was portrayed by David Soul, the actor who played Kenneth Hutchinson in Starsky and Hutch, and that was an immediate fandom bridge with people. 
Regarding the premise: Ruth Kurz, the publisher of the Harry and Johnny universe rewrote the ending of the Magnum Force movie where John Davir is killed off by Dirty Harry. In the Johnny & Harry universe, Davis doesn't die when Dirty Harry shoots him off the dock but instead returns, and the pair fall blissfully in love.
==Private, Indulgent, and Fun==
Some fans feel that the Harry and Johnny zines were quite possibly the sweetest, most wonderful indulgences that Starsky & Hutch and Clint Eastwood fans ever created. Or as one fan put it: 
In 1981, Ruth Kurz said: "H/J is for fun," and "I have often said, ‘I can write better than this,’ and in the attempt to prove it, accidentally created a whole, new universe!" 
She also said: "It’s okay. Friends don’t need secrets, and H/J is for friends." from a 1981 issue of S and H 
==About the Fandom==
From Klangley56 :
==The Shared Universe==
Ruth Kurz recruited many other authors to help write fiction in this very tightly controlled universe. The lives of Harry and Johnny were thought out in every detail and aside from a few planned instances, there was no overlap or contradiction in the fiction. 
Kurz quoted Marion Zimmer Bradley when she wrote in Whatever Happened to Harry and Johnny: 
Some similar shared fan-created universes:
* Kiefer/Lou
* Tris/Alex
* Vas & Dex
==Kurz' Descriptions and Comments==
===1982===
 Kurz wrote that the inspiration for the entire series/universe came from a story by Billie Fowler. 
===1993===
Kurz wrote about her fannish journey and how it led to creating Harry/Johnny: 
 
Kurz explained the origin of this shared universe:
Regarding point-of-view:
 
About the cliches:
About the size of the fandom: 
===1994===
===1995===
==Two Rare Ads==
Harry/Johnny fiction was a word-of-mouth fandom and zine ads were rare. Here are two:
==Harry & Johnny and the Formation of Slash==
Comments by Judith Gran:
==Where H/J Falls On One Fan's Slashibility Scale==
In 1984, a fan rates four television shows on their levels of "slashability": 
==A Sort of RPF in Photos: Fancasting==
 
The Harry and Johnny zines contained a small were portrayed in photos as OMC: Paul Michael Glaser (Dr. Ben Stein), Elizabeth Glaser (Miriam Stein), Dustin Hoffman, Gary Sandy (Sandy Morgen), Robert Redford (Richard Eckert), Paul Newman (Bob Lockard).... This "RPF" element was physical only; it wasn't the actor or the actor's roles that were referenced, simply the photos.
 
 File:Hjportart9.jpg| He may LOOK like Starsky or Paul Michael Glaser, but he is really Dr. Ben Stein, friend and doctor. Artist is Cyndee Morand, the art appeared in A Portfolio of Poetry and Portraits (1981?)
 File:Hjportart11.jpg| He may LOOK like Robert Redford, but he is really a friend named "Rick/Richard" Artist is Ruth Kurz, the art appeared in A Portfolio of Poetry and Portraits (1981?)
File:Decharry-4.jpg|He may LOOK like Gary Sandy, but he is really a friend named "Sandy." "[Johnny] surveyed the living room full of friends. These people were too close to him -- to them, he amended, glancing warmly at Harry - to call them guests. Ben and Miriam, Richard and Sandy. Almost family. God, he felt good, and it wasn't the beer either." -- from December (1982)
File:Bookendsgayle.jpg|Harry Callahan is portrayed with BOTH Johnny Davis and Kenneth Hutchinson, artist is Gayle F, from Double Play 
File:Faceinthecrowdpage.jpg|She may LOOK like fan, Roberta Rogow, but she is really an OC named Reva Walsh
Image:harryjohnnycartoon.jpg|See! Even Dirty Harry gets confused sometimes! -- from A Portfolio of Poetry and Portraits, artist not credited (1981?)
 
From a fan in 1993: 
Another fan explained in 1995: 
===Fancasting Bumps Up Against Reality===
Paul Michael Glaser, his wife Elizabeth Glaser were fancasted as Ben and Miriam Stein (and their two young sons, Paul and David). This use of real people as characters was done long before the Glaser family was struck by tragedy. One example of this is in the zine, September, which also includes photos of the Glasers.
 
In 2002, a fan was outraged that a "Harry & Johnny" zine she had purchased on ebay included a depiction of Elizabeth Glaser. From an excerpt of a lengthy discussion on a mailing list: 
 
A fan on the same mailing list responded to these comments: 
==Vids==
Harry and Johnny was a very small, very private fandom and this may explain why there were few songvids produced. The additional challenges of creating a constructed reality vid may also have been a factor. 
In 1995, Stacey D submitted her Harry/Johnny vid "The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" to the Escapade vid show to mixed reactions. "If meeting Dirty Harry was the best thing that ever happened to Johnny," one convention goer remarked wryly, "then I feel very sorry for Johnny." recollection of attendee Morgan Dawn 
In 1996, Ruth Kurz commented about what appears to be another H/J vid: 
Possible H/J vids:
* The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me by Stacey D
* The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Stacey D
* Feels Like The First Time by Stacey D
* I'll Stand By You by Bliss
* Johnny Feelgood by Bliss
More vids at List of Harry and Johnny Early Songvids
==Harry & Johnny Zine Timeline of Events==
This list is summarized and wikilinked from Ruth's timeline in "Whatever Happened to Harry & Johnny?".
For a list of these stories, see: Harry & Johnny/Stories As They Fit Into the Timeline
			
==The Zines==
The creation of the zines was somewhat unique in that they were based on a combination of a formal shared timeline, with multiple independently written offshoots. The original idea behind putting the fiction into zine format was that the fiction would be shared with a very limited number of people for the price of zeroxing and mailing. Those original zines cost about three dollars each (plus first class postage). However, the popularity of the fandom grew and the zines were also sold at conventions. 
===The "Month" Novels===
The Davis Diary and Callahan Calendar series (co-written by Teri White and Ruth Kurz unless otherwise marked). Each novel focused on one month in the life of Harry and Johnny in 1975.
January | February | March | April | May 
| June | July | August | September | October | Response to October | November | December
===Other Novels===
Behind the Enforcer | Face in the Crowd | G-String | Magnum Force: Davis | Magnum Force: Harry | Magnum Force: Wolf | Man of the Streets | Night Games | Photo Flash | Rapid Fire | Shooting Star | A Week in L.A.
===Anthologies===
Bear Hugs & Bunny Kisses | Bicentennial Trek | Bits and Pieces | Double Play | Free and Easy | Free to Be You and Me | Freebie | Harry & Johnny Fun Supplement | Love is a Many-Splendored Zine | A Little Past, A Little Future | Mixed Media | More Fun with Harry & Johnny | A Portfolio of Poetry and Portraits | Potpourri | Son of Freebie | | Spring Fling | Timeline | Tying Up Loose Ends | Whatever Happened to Harry & Johnny? | Wheels of Darkness and Other Stories
===Multimedia Anthologies with Harry & Johnny Content===
Best Little Valentine Zine in Texas | Boys in Blue | Fruit Cocktail | Hungry Hearts | Magnetism
==Fan Comments==
===1983===
===1984=== 
 
===1988===
===1993===
===1996===
===2001===
===2003===
===2014===
 
==Intensely Small, Intensely Personal==
In 1981, the fandom's creator, Ruth Kurz described H/J:
Other fans wrote about the fandom's small and private reach:
==References==
Category:Harry & Johnny
Category:Dirty Harry
Category:Shared Universes