The Student Labour Club after its takeover by the conservatives. Zbigniew Brzezninski is third from the left, and Jack Bowie-Reed is on his left. 1948.
A minor Fortean and science fiction fan, though he had some big associations.
I know almost nothing about C. Jack Bowie-Reed’s early history. He was born in Alberta, was of Anglo-Saxon heritage, and supposedly related to Buffalo Bill Cody. He attended McGill University in the late 1940s, where he befriended Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Polish emigre who would go on to serve in the administrations of American Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter. The two were stridently conservative—Brzezinski’s anti-communism was fed by the Soviet’s recent overtaking of his home country—and felt out of step in the liberal college. (Bowie-Reed was out of step with even his fellow conservatives, in his recollections, as most were either of Polish extraction or Greek royalists.) Bowie-Reed and Brzezinski were interested in politics and indulged in what they later admitted were dirty tricks—such as taking over the liberal political club on campus, which they thought overrun with communists, and rewriting its constitution. Bowie-Reed created the “Young Conservative Association” in 1947 to associate with the renascent McGill Tories, and Brzezinski was an early member.
Bowie-Reed carried his interest in politics out of college. He ran for MP in 1953 (collecting less than 13% of the vote); in 1957; and, again, in 1982, for Ottawa City Council. I do not know anything else about his career, but in 1980 he was with the federal transport department in Ottawa.
In addition to his political work, Bowie-Reed was interested in organizing Canadian science fiction, and his efforts along these lines took place at about the same time. Canadian science fiction fans were slower to organize than their American compatriots, but did not suffer as much as those in England, and so Canadian fandom first took shape in the early and mid-1940s. In 1946. the McGill Montreal Science Fiction Society formed, with Bowie-Reed’s involvement. Collaborating with other local groups, they formed the Canadian Science Fiction Association in 1948. There is controversy among fan historians over how much of an Association the CSFA really was—whether it did indeed knit together Eastern fan groups or was just a fancy name for a small group of people that never had any larger impact. In either case, it was an attempt to coalesce Canadian fans into a larger group. And even in the most optimistic accounts, the CSFA did not survive long, having to be revived in 1950 the Winnipeg Science Fiction Society after many of the eastern groups associated with the CSFA went under.
Bowie-Reed was the Johnny Appleseed of this organizational moment. He traveled frequently through different parts of Canada, and whenever he stopped in one place for a few days he would run an ad in the local newspaper inviting science fiction fans to meet with him. From that meeting would arise a new local group. According to CSFA by-laws, it only took three people to constitute a new group and apply to join the Association. (There’s something very Christian about this arrangement. Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I.”) There were attempts by the CSFA tout together bibliographies and member lists, and start a lending library, the better to stitch together the wider community. He wrote a history of Canada’s science fiction fandom’s organizational attempts in 1953, and that is the last I really find of him involved with science fiction, at least in a public way.
*****************
Bowie-Reed only appeared in four issues of Doubt, all in 1947 and 1948, when he was at McGill University. His first mention came in a long paragraph of credits that Thayer compiled for Doubt 19 (October 1947), the flying saucer issue. What he contributed exactly is impossible to pinpoint. His name showed up again in the following issue, Doubt 20, put out in early 1948. Again, his name appeared in a list of contributors—to what Thayer called “No-such-monsters” (and categorized under the title “Run of the Mill,” meaning standard Fortean subjects), but would now be called cryptozoology. This time, though, it’s possible to speculate intelligently on which item he might have contributed. It seems most likely that the Canadian Bowie-Reed contributed a story about a forty-five foot skeleton found washed up on a Vancouver beach, which was initially termed “the oddest specimen” a fisheries specialist had ever seen, but was later deemed to belong to a basking shark. (One member, surnamed Willis, had written to the authorities to get more information, so Bowie-Reed may not have been the main contributor.)
a Bit more information comes from the very next issue, in which Bowie-Reed was mentioned a couple of times. That was issue 21, from June 1948. He was among the contributors Thayer considered honoring with his mock “first prize” for best submission. The article in question came from the Montreal Herald and told of five truckloads of gold sent from Montreal to Saudi Arabia. The reporter could find no one willing to explain the payment, but suggested it was for oil or “friendship.” A few pages later, Bowie-Reed was named as among those who contributed a story about a rain the color of “lime soda pop,” along with a host of other Forteans. And then, few more pages on, under discussion of Thayer’s proposed “Fortean University” (it was one of his passing fads), he notes that Bowie-Reed uses Fort’s books in his lectures at McGill University. There is, however, no discussion of just how he used them. (In a Fortean coincidence, the other lecturer Thayer noted was George C. Bump, who would grow up to be an strong conservative.)
Bowie-Reed’s final appearance Doubt was two issues later, December 1948, just after he and Brzezinski took over the school’s Labour club. It was again a cryptozoological kind of tale, though in this case Thayer (and the Forteans) were making fun of experts for not knowing bayou something common. (Already he had been poking at some who were confused by the fact that Manx cats were tailless.) From the Toronto Evening Telegram came the story of a legless animal that could nonetheless jump, and had done so on the breakfast plate of one Canadian man. Supposedly it had university experts “stumped.” Thayer figured from the description it was a “Mexican Jumping Bean.” Hardly an anomaly, then, just more proof that so-called experts were dimwitted.
There are suggestive hints here, of what Bowie-Reed took from his Forteanism. He fit it with his conservatism, and, perhaps, a bit of political paranoia. He also seemed to belong to that species of Fortean who thought scientists over-rated in their intelligence: they dismissed the possibility of some animals, could not identify other common ones, and were generally confused—one surmises—on the topic of aerial phenomena. Likely there was some connection between his interest in science fiction and Forteanism, if he was using the books in lectures of some kind. One only wishes it was known what he was saying.
All kinds of hints, but nothing substantive.
I know almost nothing about C. Jack Bowie-Reed’s early history. He was born in Alberta, was of Anglo-Saxon heritage, and supposedly related to Buffalo Bill Cody. He attended McGill University in the late 1940s, where he befriended Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Polish emigre who would go on to serve in the administrations of American Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter. The two were stridently conservative—Brzezinski’s anti-communism was fed by the Soviet’s recent overtaking of his home country—and felt out of step in the liberal college. (Bowie-Reed was out of step with even his fellow conservatives, in his recollections, as most were either of Polish extraction or Greek royalists.) Bowie-Reed and Brzezinski were interested in politics and indulged in what they later admitted were dirty tricks—such as taking over the liberal political club on campus, which they thought overrun with communists, and rewriting its constitution. Bowie-Reed created the “Young Conservative Association” in 1947 to associate with the renascent McGill Tories, and Brzezinski was an early member.
Bowie-Reed carried his interest in politics out of college. He ran for MP in 1953 (collecting less than 13% of the vote); in 1957; and, again, in 1982, for Ottawa City Council. I do not know anything else about his career, but in 1980 he was with the federal transport department in Ottawa.
In addition to his political work, Bowie-Reed was interested in organizing Canadian science fiction, and his efforts along these lines took place at about the same time. Canadian science fiction fans were slower to organize than their American compatriots, but did not suffer as much as those in England, and so Canadian fandom first took shape in the early and mid-1940s. In 1946. the McGill Montreal Science Fiction Society formed, with Bowie-Reed’s involvement. Collaborating with other local groups, they formed the Canadian Science Fiction Association in 1948. There is controversy among fan historians over how much of an Association the CSFA really was—whether it did indeed knit together Eastern fan groups or was just a fancy name for a small group of people that never had any larger impact. In either case, it was an attempt to coalesce Canadian fans into a larger group. And even in the most optimistic accounts, the CSFA did not survive long, having to be revived in 1950 the Winnipeg Science Fiction Society after many of the eastern groups associated with the CSFA went under.
Bowie-Reed was the Johnny Appleseed of this organizational moment. He traveled frequently through different parts of Canada, and whenever he stopped in one place for a few days he would run an ad in the local newspaper inviting science fiction fans to meet with him. From that meeting would arise a new local group. According to CSFA by-laws, it only took three people to constitute a new group and apply to join the Association. (There’s something very Christian about this arrangement. Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I.”) There were attempts by the CSFA tout together bibliographies and member lists, and start a lending library, the better to stitch together the wider community. He wrote a history of Canada’s science fiction fandom’s organizational attempts in 1953, and that is the last I really find of him involved with science fiction, at least in a public way.
*****************
Bowie-Reed only appeared in four issues of Doubt, all in 1947 and 1948, when he was at McGill University. His first mention came in a long paragraph of credits that Thayer compiled for Doubt 19 (October 1947), the flying saucer issue. What he contributed exactly is impossible to pinpoint. His name showed up again in the following issue, Doubt 20, put out in early 1948. Again, his name appeared in a list of contributors—to what Thayer called “No-such-monsters” (and categorized under the title “Run of the Mill,” meaning standard Fortean subjects), but would now be called cryptozoology. This time, though, it’s possible to speculate intelligently on which item he might have contributed. It seems most likely that the Canadian Bowie-Reed contributed a story about a forty-five foot skeleton found washed up on a Vancouver beach, which was initially termed “the oddest specimen” a fisheries specialist had ever seen, but was later deemed to belong to a basking shark. (One member, surnamed Willis, had written to the authorities to get more information, so Bowie-Reed may not have been the main contributor.)
a Bit more information comes from the very next issue, in which Bowie-Reed was mentioned a couple of times. That was issue 21, from June 1948. He was among the contributors Thayer considered honoring with his mock “first prize” for best submission. The article in question came from the Montreal Herald and told of five truckloads of gold sent from Montreal to Saudi Arabia. The reporter could find no one willing to explain the payment, but suggested it was for oil or “friendship.” A few pages later, Bowie-Reed was named as among those who contributed a story about a rain the color of “lime soda pop,” along with a host of other Forteans. And then, few more pages on, under discussion of Thayer’s proposed “Fortean University” (it was one of his passing fads), he notes that Bowie-Reed uses Fort’s books in his lectures at McGill University. There is, however, no discussion of just how he used them. (In a Fortean coincidence, the other lecturer Thayer noted was George C. Bump, who would grow up to be an strong conservative.)
Bowie-Reed’s final appearance Doubt was two issues later, December 1948, just after he and Brzezinski took over the school’s Labour club. It was again a cryptozoological kind of tale, though in this case Thayer (and the Forteans) were making fun of experts for not knowing bayou something common. (Already he had been poking at some who were confused by the fact that Manx cats were tailless.) From the Toronto Evening Telegram came the story of a legless animal that could nonetheless jump, and had done so on the breakfast plate of one Canadian man. Supposedly it had university experts “stumped.” Thayer figured from the description it was a “Mexican Jumping Bean.” Hardly an anomaly, then, just more proof that so-called experts were dimwitted.
There are suggestive hints here, of what Bowie-Reed took from his Forteanism. He fit it with his conservatism, and, perhaps, a bit of political paranoia. He also seemed to belong to that species of Fortean who thought scientists over-rated in their intelligence: they dismissed the possibility of some animals, could not identify other common ones, and were generally confused—one surmises—on the topic of aerial phenomena. Likely there was some connection between his interest in science fiction and Forteanism, if he was using the books in lectures of some kind. One only wishes it was known what he was saying.
All kinds of hints, but nothing substantive.
