This ad(click here to supersize) is for what may not be the most obscure magazine Warren ever put out, but it sure is the creepiest(no pun intended).Heidi Saha was a fourteen-year-old uber horror/comics fan, who would frequently go to cons dressed as various characters, like Sheena(pictured) and Vampirella(not pictured, for very good reasons).
Heidi caused such a stir that she developed her own fandom, so much so that Warren lost its head momentairily and put out A Pictorial History of Heidi Saha, a mail-order-only item featuring various pics and info about Heidi.
The problem with all this was, as I mentioned, she was fourteen years old. Looking at pictures of a sexed-up girl of this age is...problematic at best. It was probably barely legal then, and sure as hell is now. And those drooling quotes from two guys who shoulda known better, Forrest J. Ackerman and Isaac Asimov(Isaac Asimov!), don't help.
I have never seen a copy of the issue myself(and TwoMorrows was not able to find one to review for The Warren Companion), nor have I ever seen one on eBay. And even if I did, I'm not exactly sure I'd even want one, even though I collect Warren mags in general and odd Warren mags in specific. I mean, for all I know, it might be illegal--or close to it--to even have the thing, and who needs that kind of trouble?
8 comments:
I was creeped out by this magazine when it was published and especially when I was given a copy by Jim Warren. But Jim and I were friendly acquaintances - he had tried to get me to leave Marvel and work for him - and I didn't know how to graciously say no. The copy didn't remain in my hands for long. It was "borrowed" by a large friend of mine and, from the look on his face at the time, he was never gonna part with it. Which was fine with me.
There is a lot more to the Heidi story, but it's not my story to tell. I just hope she came out of this nonsense okay.
Tony, Rob, & gang-
I recall that ad.
As a kid of about her age, who dressed up at Halloween, wanted to be an actor, and loved genre characters, the creepiness went over my head at the time.
But do a little Yahooing on the subject:
When you actually see the pics, including the leering, 40 yr. old nerds all around her, it IS skanky as all hell...
(Especially, adding the fact that her folks were essentially "pimping" the show.)
The oily underbelly of the "I live in my folk's basement" side of fandom...
-Craig W.
I was at the NY Comicon in 73 when Heidi Saha debuted as Vampirella in the costume show. It was very chaste. I think she wore a body stocking, the costume stayed rigidly in place. There nothing sexy about it, nothing “Lolita”, it was merely “cute”. She came out, took the classic Vampirella pose with her arm out holding a plastic bat, and the crowd cheered.
The Warren people were VERY upset because there was a second, unexpected Vampirella in the show, Dominique Trouvere, who was a young adult woman with serious curves who literally spilled out of her dinky little Vampi costume. Her appearance was delayed until someone got a box of Band-Aids to tape around her crotch. Trouvere laughed and said, “I’m so pubic!”. When she came out on stage, the fans went wild and reacted like the wolf in a Tex Avery cartoon.
If I recall, the jury gave both of them a prize. When the two Vampis came out together at the end, it further emphasized the cute innocence of Saha when she stood next to the very sexy adult Trouvere. People looked at Saha and said, Aw, look at the cutie pie, and when they looked at Trouvere, they went Hamana Hamana.
I saw Heidi Saha again at a science fiction convention. Again, very demure, just a kid in a cute costume. What WAS extremely creepy was the photo session after the costume presentation with guys like Robert Bloch and Forry Ackerman posing with her, hamming it up, leering, tongues out, the whole bit. This was supposedly funny. As for Isaac Asimov, don’t forget he wrote a book called Confessions of a Dirty Old Man and posed on the cover with a bra on his head. I liked Asimov, he was always nice to everyone, but when he was mingling with fans, I saw him behave in embarrassing ways with female fans. It was tasteless then and would probably get him arrested and sued today.
Here's a recent thread on Heidi Saha
http://tinyurl.com/2r53l7
wow, helluva thread, there...some real anger flying.
to be fair to Jim Warren, as far as i know the Heidi Saha thing wasnt really meant to be as bad as it seems now... i think the guy declaring that anyone who wants a copy is automatically a pedophile is a little harsh. like you said, Pierre, it seems like Heidi was more cutie-pie sexy rather than sultry sexy, which makes sense.
if i saw a copy at a con for less than a fortune would i get one? as a warren collector, yes. would i look at the thing more than once? hell, no.
Wow, there's some interesting history. It was probably more innocent back then but today's cons have gotten worse, it's pretty gross the way some guys act at a con regarding women.
To Pierre and other posters on this subject:
Hi, I'm Angelique Trouvere--not dominique--although sometimes I'm known as "the other Vampirella" because I appeared in my Vampi costume at the same time that Heidi did hers and I'd like to comment on pierre's posting:
pierre wrote:
"I was at the NY Comicon in 73 when Heidi Saha debuted as Vampirella in the costume show. It was very chaste. I think she wore a body stocking, the costume stayed rigidly in place."
--no she did not wear a body stocking--her costume stayed in place because it had been cut wider than the one on the character.
"There nothing sexy about it, nothing “Lolita”, it was merely “cute”. She came out, took the classic Vampirella pose with her arm out holding a plastic bat, and the crowd cheered."
--true--she did a very nice job of getting the poster pose perfect.
Now, here's something that you may not have known: Heidi hated being in the costume but her parents forced it on her because they had a deal with James Warren that she would promote as he put it "a Warren property" in exchange for the Heidi magazine & poster. They--especially her mother--wanted to make her a celbrity/movie star in the worst way and didn't care who they had to step on to do it and that included her daughter.
"The Warren people were VERY upset because there was a second, unexpected Vampirella in the show, Dominique Trouvere, who was a young adult woman with serious curves who literally spilled out of her dinky little Vampi costume."
--Ok--first, it was NOT "the Warren people" who were upset at my appearance. It was Heidi's mother, Taimi Saha who tried to get be barred from the competition.
The Warren people who were there were exceedingly nice to me and invited me to visit the Warren offices sometime.
And yes, my costume was "dinky" I suppose--my friend & I worked on it to look like the poster. (ps--please remember, it's Angelique not Dominique, ok? :)
"Her appearance was delayed until someone got a box of Band-Aids to tape around her crotch. Trouvere laughed and said, “I’m so pubic!”. When she came out on stage, the fans went wild and reacted like the wolf in a Tex Avery cartoon."
--my appearance was not delayed but indeed one of my friends got the band aides so that I was ok to go on stage. I really don't remember saying, "I'm so pubic!" at any time--perhaps you misheard--after all, you thought Heidi was wearing a body stocking....
"If I recall, the jury gave both of them a prize."
--nope. The judges awarded 1st to Cortlandt Hull for his magnificent Ming the Merciless and 2nd went to a Darkseid & Co (don't remember their names--sorry) and Heidi won 3rd for her excellent Vampirella.
"When the two Vampis came out together at the end, it further emphasized the cute innocence of Saha when she stood next to the very sexy adult Trouvere. People looked at Saha and said, Aw, look at the cutie pie, and when they looked at Trouvere, they went Hamana Hamana."
--you may also remember that the audience booed & jeered Heidi when she won 3rd because they felt that she was appearing at the convention in a professional capcity. Also, I learned only recently that her costume had been made by a professional costumer as well.
"I saw Heidi Saha again at a science fiction convention."
--was that the 1973 WorldCon in Toronto? TorCon II? I wasn't there--did Heidi win anything?
" Again, very demure, just a kid in a cute costume. What WAS extremely creepy was the photo session after the costume presentation with guys like Robert Bloch and Forry Ackerman posing with her, hamming it up, leering, tongues out, the whole bit. This was supposedly funny."
--there are photos of her & Forry, who is her godfather and a long time friend of her father's, on the fanac site (www.fanac.org)
I really like those pictures because she's smiling and enjoying herself. There are also some shots of her with Bloch but he's very dignified in them.
"As for Isaac Asimov, don’t forget he wrote a book called Confessions of a Dirty Old Man and posed on the cover with a bra on his head. I liked Asimov, he was always nice to everyone, but when he was mingling with fans, I saw him behave in embarrassing ways with female fans. It was tasteless then and would probably get him arrested and sued today."
--Asimov was a brilliant writer & lecturer--he was usually kidding around for the most part. Much like Forry did but people sometimes forget that Forry was deeply in love with his wife, Wendayne and would never cheat on her.
BTW--I just completed an online interview about my early costumes like Vampi & Red Sonja and experiences with Heidi, and her mother, Warren, Forry & many others. If you'd like to read it, please go to
www.enjolrasworld.com
and scroll until you see "new interview: "Angelique:..."
and please let me know what you think, ok?
xx
angee
Angelique! My apologies for the name mixup.
What a treat it is to read your comments. Thank you for setting the record straight. Thank you also for the link to your interview, it’s excellent. Your comments and your kind thoughts about Heidi Saha are extremely touching. The stage mother story explains a lot.
Yes, the other time I saw her was at Torcon II. I can’t remember if she won a prize. I’m sure I still have some pictures from the costume ball. If I can dig them up (we’re talking 35 year old slides) I’ll be sure to share them with you.
Again, thanks for that interview. It honors you. Your generosity of spirit shines through. Bravo, Angelique, for standing up for Heidi Saha!
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