March 1968 'On the Cover'

Every month, the 'On the Cover' series goes back 50 years for a glimpse at what the top American chess magazines were reporting. This month marks four years since the first in the series, March 1964 'On the Cover'.

Left: 'Jerry Spann, Oklahoma City' (Badge)
Right: 'Medieval Manikins'

Chess Life

'Good Man Gone' by Ed Edmondson • There was a man, a man named Jerry. For that's how he was known to all of us -- simply, warmly, "Jerry" to his thousands of friends wherever chess is played. Jerry fought with characteristic verve and courage throughout the final months of an encounter with the toughest opponent of them all, succumbing to the last check early this year.

In the February 1968 'On the Cover', the cover of Chess Review informed us that Spann was a former USCF president. The March 1968 Chess Life included a second article, 'Legacy from Jerry' by Fred Cramer, Past President, USCF.

Chess Review

Mark Freeman reports to us: The recent "Artists as Craftsmen" exhibition at the East Side Gallery displayed the work of the gallery artists in their lighter moods. Whimsy, humor and originality marked many of the truly unique objects in this Annual.

A feature of the exhibition was a series of "Knights" by William D. Gorman. Using beach pebbles for heads and wood carving for bodies, he created beautifully crafted chess desk pieces, each of individualistic character. [...] CHESS REVIEW regrets not being able to present the set in its proper colors on its cover but is using green for St. Patrick's day.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary informs us that Manikin is a variant of 'mannequin' and 'mannikin', is 'dated, usually disparaging', means 'a little man', and has 'Popularity: Bottom 40% of words'. I don't recall the word ever being used to describe a chess set.