Filler
Filler was a science fiction fandom fanzine co-edited by Norman Browne and Dean Grennell.
In 1953, while living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Norman Browne co-edited with 'Art Wesley', who was actually Dean Grennell, of Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin. U.S.A., a one shot titled Filler, consisting of 527 numbered 'filler' items, most of them one-liner jokes, off-the cuff remarks, tongue-in-cheek statements, cute comments, etc., from famous fans such as Robert Bloch, Redd Boggs (Sky Hook), Harlan Ellison (Science Fantasy Bulletin), Lee Hoffman (Quandry), and Walt Willis (Slant), and from well-known wits such as Ambrose Bierce and Oscar Wilde. The cover art was by Jack Harness.
In his own zine, Norman Browne invited contributions of items of less than six lines, with Author's name and source, and a free copy of the zine was offered to contributors sending twelve items or more. And in his column for the January 1955 issue of Abstract # 9, Dean Grennell wrote on fillers, and how to use them.
The idea was that fan editors, in order to save space, would type in the appropriate number and readers would then look up the actual 'filler' in their own copies of Filler. This concept proved very successful.
In September 1983, Harry Warner, Jr., wrote in Izzard #7 that; "It was a thick publication consisting of hundreds of bright remarks, each numbered. Apparently it was meant as an elaborate commentary on the excesses which fans were then committing on the craze for fillers..."
Filler was a Canadian Amateur Fan Publishers (CAFP) zine which, in the 1950s, also included A Bas by Boyd Raeburn, Damn! by Norman G. Browne, Deja-Vu by P. Howard Lyons, Escape by Fred Woroch, Fie by Harry Calnek, Gasp! by Gerald Steward, Ibidem by P. Howard Lyons, and Mimi by Georgina Ellis.
Norman Brown was also editor of Vanations, and Dean Grennell the editor of Grue.
