<<

Forrest J. Ackerman

The Drink Tank 191 I’ll miss Forry. I didn’t spend My family went to LA that much time with him, I haven’t a lot. I love LA, to a degree, been to the Ackermansion since the and there was a lot to do late 1980s or to the Ackermini-man- there. One day, I think right sion, but I always felt that there was around the time of the 1984 always Forry, there even if not present. , we went over to I’ve never known fandom without For- Forry’s place, as fans had ry, and I think that everyone in fandom been doing for a few dec- can say that. He was such a part of ades at that point. Forry everything and so over-whelmingly walked around with us, important to the formation of our tradi- telling stories and cracking tions. Like Lloyd Penney said “if there jokes. I remember that he hadn’t been a Forry, we would have was so happy to be showing had to create him.” people around, and he had ’s passing is the best stuff ever. I can the only time I can remember a New vividly recall the False Maria York Times obituary mentioning spe- and I seem to remember cifically that someone was a science him showing us a model of fiction fan. It’s easy to understand a dinosaur from King Kong. why, he was the most identifiable SF I was the only kid of the group, which and writers and people who were big fan ever, even during the periods when was my family and another couple, and deals around the world. He told the he was less than active, he was always I was big-eyed with excitement. story of the time that young filmmak- known to us, always talked about, al- This guy lived in a museum! ers who would ask him to watch their ways felt. I had been going to museums my movies and give blurbs, about how he Why did I take his death so hard entire life. School went to a museum acquired some piece or another for his when I hardly knew the fellow? Well, a month, Mom or Dad would drag me collection and how much he had to beg there’s the fact that this fandom that I to the Rosecrusian or the de Young or to get this that or the other thing. I re- love grew from seeds he helped plant. the Academy of Sciences, but this was member the top hat that I thought was There’s also the fact that my love of so much cooler than mummies, Asian from a Jack the Ripper movie, but was movies partly came from the minds of art and African Mammal Dioramas. really from London After Midnight. those who were inspired to go into the This was fun stuff. This was a guy who And I remember him smiling. business by reading Famous Monsters had everything you could see on Dial- This guy lived at his museum of Filmland. The biggest reason is that ing for Dollars when they’d show old and he was smiling, excited still by Forry is the reason I’m working in a movies like Things to Come or When the objects, by getting to share them. museum today. Worlds Collide. He had death masks, That’s why I knew I would work at a That’s right, it’s all Forrest J something I’d never seen, and he had museum when I grew up, and that’s Ackerman’s fault. signed photos of all sorts of movie stars why I’ll never work anywhere else. Forry and Me the convention and I, along with several important work, the salvaging of movie A memoir of Forrest J Ackerman other fans, had dinner with Forry in the props for display at the Ackermansion, By Steven H Silver hotel dining room the first night. much downsized since its heyday. Forry was quiet at dinner that As a fanwriter, Forry was no Walt The first time I met Forry, I believe, night, perhaps the result of his harsh Willis. As an author, he was no Ray was at a Rivercon on July 29, 1994. The travel schedule. I don’t think I had ever Bradbury. As an editor, he wasn’t a John day I was leaving for the convention, I seen him that quiet. Nevertheless, we W. Campbell, or even a . had picked up a copy of Reel Futures: The knew that he was listening to every word Nevertheless, Forry’s influence on the field Stories That Inspired 16 Classic Science that we said and filing it away for stories of was as great as any of Fiction Movies, edited by Forry and Jean he might relate to make it sound much those men and more. In the wide world, Stine. Naturally, since I knew Forry would more exciting than the simple dinner he may not have the name recognition be at the con, I took the book with me. it was in a restaurant in Bloomington- of Robert Heinlein, , George Early in the con, I found myself Normal, Illinois. Lucas, or Steven Spielberg, but he helped sitting in front of Forry at a panel. Before For Forry was a raconteur of the mould the public perception of science the panel started, I asked if he would sign highest caliber. His skill was in taking a fiction as much as any of those men. He the book and he agreed. When I passed it story, however mundane, and breathing helped form the field and, perhaps more back to him, Forry expressed confusion. a life into it that make the listeners wish importantly, the culture that surrounds it He had never seen the book before, had they had been present when the events in fandom. not yet received his author’s copies. He happened. I, and many others, have tried signed it for me and then asked if he could to get Forry to write his memoirs, flip through it. Of course I agreed, and I and they may exist, but they didn’t get the book back until after the haven’t been published, except for panel was over. Forry spent the entire pieces here and there in time flipping through the book. When he that some enterprising fan might did return it to me, he invited me to stop one day piece together into a by the famed Ackermansion if I was ever coherent narrative. in and gave me his phone Another aspect of Forry’s number (MOONFAN). ability as a raconteur was to build I was never able to make it to the up his own involvement. He has Ackermansion. numerous great accomplishments The last time I saw Forry was under his belt, from his at Ditto in 2001. Partly to honor the editorship of Famous Monsters other contender for the title of Greatest of Filmland (a magazine which, I Fan Ever, the convention was held in admit, I’ve never looked through) Bloomington, Illinois, home of Wilson to the popularization of the term Tucker. Forry had flown in for the “sci-fi” (although there is strong convention, but because of a mix-up, indication that Heinlein used it he thought the con was in Bloomington, before Forry) to his work as an Indiana. Good communications and long agent (usually for minor authors distance driving on the part of other fans whose work would disappear brought Forry from Indiana to Illinois for otherwise), to perhaps his most I met him twice. A gentleman to his followers. Once, when I was in filmdom’s history, donated by Forry’s who flirted beautifully. I kissed him college, I called his home and left a many industry friends, were scattered on the cheek and called him sugar message. (His phone number was an and strewn about the place, fondled by the last time I saw him. open secret.) It blew my young mind fanboys. -M Crasdan when he called me back and talked for Forry would hold court, regal- what may have been a half hour. On ing his people (and I still count myself Sci-Fi Forry’s A Jolly Good Fellow his dime. among them) with stories of Bela Lu- David Thiel, http://thielavision.com/ Perhaps the most remarkable gosi and Boris Karloff. I’m sure that he thing about Forry was the fabulous loved the attention, but still, one has to One thing that I missed during “Ackermansion,” his house in the Hol- appreciate the commitment and will- my recent spell of gastrointestinal dis- lywood outskirts in which resided a ingness to share. tress was the passing of uberfan For- massive collection of novels, photos, During my year in L.A., I had a rest J Ackerman last Thursday. Acker- movie posters and props. On most eve- couple of significant encounters with man could’ve laid claim to a significant ry Saturday afternoon for many years, Forry. I once had lunch with him, place in pop culture history for several Forry held an open house in which though I’m pretty sure that the reason reasons. He coined the term “sci-fi.” fans from all across the world visited he invited me had more to do with my As a literary agent, he represented Ray to stumble in slack-jawed awe through roommate at the time, a young woman Bradbury, H.P. Lovecraft and L. Ron the detritus of dec- Hubbard. (I’ll forgive him that last one.) ades. Most importantly, for some 25 years Now, truth he edited the preeminent newsstand to tell, I was a lit- magazine devoted to sci-fi, and tle dismayed at horror, Famous Monsters of Filmland. the condition of The cheaply printed black-and- the some of the white mag was chock-full of terrible items on display puns and rare photos from unheard-of when I made my or forgotten feature films. In the days first pilgrimage in before VCR, DVD or IMDB, Forry of- 1986. Forry’s wife fered tantalizing, sometimes frustrating Wendayne was glimpses of horror flicks a young fan still alive, and she would’ve likely had to stay up until 3: requested that the 00 am to watch, if they aired on TV at collection stay in all. Famous Monsters inspired a gen- the basement. As eration of fantasy filmmakers, includ- you might image, ing a couple of guys named Lucas and it was not exactly Spielberg. climate-controlled. Forry was always approachable Unique items from named Margo who was a big Lugosi fan Whatever I am today I owe in at least communicating, in his much-cited and had communicated with Forry for some small part to you. letter to Jack Darrow, was Forrest J. years. Forry was hailed as the Hugh Ackerman. Frequently, from diverse Hefner of sci-fi, and I think that wasn’t corners, this letter is credited as the entirely due to his magazine publishing beginning of Fandom itself. In a very interests. important sense, Forry was the first Later that year, my friends and I fan. crashed his 70th birthday party. Yes, For years, Forry was in the we were the sort of people who did that vanguard of Fandom. He wrote that sort of thing. Granted, at least one of first letter, contributed to the first us (not me) had an actual invitation, fanzines, and at the first Worldcon, he and no one questioned the others when was the first to wear a stfnal costume. we arrived at the hotel bearing his gift: As Fandom got bigger, he was there a life-sized, head-and-shoulders bust in the middle of it, whether it was of Charles Laughton as the Hunchback in the N3F or keeping LASFS alive of Notre Dame. I wound up at a table during the worst of Laney’s reign of with , Jr. terror. Eventually, Fandom got bigger I talked to him a few more times than 4SJ, but it never got too big to in the 20 years since I left L.A. I even include him, and (as the association took Vic on the journey to the Acker- of his name with the Big Heart Award mansion once. indicates) he was always big enough The last time I spoke to Forry for Fandom. His willingness to bring was perhaps four or five years ago. strangers in to see the Ackermansion Medical and legal bills had forced him represented some of the best of the to sell his house and much of his col- First Among Equals fannish spirit of community. lection, and he’d moved to a smaller by But you know these things. abode. (He still had his regular open Warren Buff You probably wouldn’t be reading a house, though.) At the time, I was oc- tribute to Forry if you didn’t know Ever since I read Bob Madle’s casionally filling-in as a host for WILL- these things. I am overwhelmed by the TAFF report, I have stood by the AM’s interview shows, and I’d hoped to notion that it is not my place to write notion that a fan is definitionally schedule Forry for an hour of chat. For a memorial to a man I never met. I someone who is interested enough in whatever reason, it never happened. will doubtless be one of the youngest science fiction to want to communicate I’m sorry about that. It would’ve been to contribute to this project, though with other like-minded individuals. fun to have him share his tales with not necessarily the youngest. Yet I While there had been previous our Central Illinois audience. feel compelled to say something. I communication between the early know who 4E was, and why he was fans in the letter columns of prozines, I doff my skull-cap to you, Forry. important, and I want to be sure that the first fan to take a direct route to those who come after me also know. follow in Forry’s example. Today, too, 11 Point Courier New We cannot forget him, for he was not can be our glorious past. by Jay Crasdan just the first of us, but also one of the When I lamented to Glug that Excerpts from a longer article exemplars of the best of our spirit. I didn’t know how to write this piece, meant for a Drink Tank in 2006 Yet we must not let his death he suggested that, as the young fan I learned about fandom from change us. Fandom has, of late, who had no personal acquaintance a guy at my school named Gary weathered a number of great losses. with Forry, but wanted to recognize Lewis. He read all the pro-mags and This decade has seen the passing his significance, I ought to follow a attended Windycon. In high school, he’d lend me copies of Analog and of such luminaries as Walt Willis, theme of “and ye will know him by Omni and I’d pass them on to SaBean Bob Tucker, Meade Frierson, Hank his works.” I have tried to do this or M and then they’d pass them on Reinhardt, and Jack Speer (please without cataloging them, as so many to whoever they were sleeping with forgive my regional bias – I know that sources already have. And in trying to at the time. Gary’s issues were we’ve lost great ones all over), and find a way to say goodbye to the fan I all over the place, but he didn’t Fandom has carried on. There is never knew who once dressed as the care. One day, he had a stack of a tendency among those who knew Man of the Future, I decided that the old issues of Famous Monsters. He them best to pause, remembering best epigraph had already been used. didn’t let me borrow them. He sat the glorious past, and lament that it When I went to find the exact wording, across the table from me in the will never be so good again. We must I found that Christopher Wren’s tomb Library and we passed issues back resist this, for as surely as my elders bore precisely the right words: and forth. That’s when I first heard miss those they looked up to in their “LECTOR, SI MONUMENTUM REQUIRIS, about Forry. youth who had, in later days, become CIRCUMSPICE.” I visited the Ackermansion. their greatest friends, so too will I one Reader, if you would seek his I’ve been to some magical places, day miss them. We can, however, monument, look around you. but few of them compare to that endure these losses, and grieve for house. It held wonders, a False them, without losing ourselves. We Maria, Bela Lugosi’s cape and his can remember ring, a mile of pulps. Forry and Forry, and make I talked about Harryhausen and O’Brien. He showed me the model sure that his of the stegosaurus from King Kong legacy endures, and I knew I would never be closer by carrying on to anything so historic. He told as he did. While me stories of old that Fandom will afternoon. never again be When Forry passes, we will drawn from the lose another connection to the ether, it can start of fandom, but worse, we’ll continue to be lose the one who taught us what it grand fun, as we meant. My parents took me to England Forrester Eckman, Fisher Trentworth, One area that I was surprised for 3 months when I was 12 years old. SF Balboa, Hubert G. Wells, Jacues at was his role with the Daughters of It was the first time I ever flew, and I De Forest Erman, Jone Lee Heard, Sgt. Bilitis. The is one had to write out my “last will and tes- Ack-Ack, and Dr. Acula. In collabora- of many groups founded in San Fran- tament” before leaving. I never told tion with others: Jacques de Forrest cisco in the 1950s that put the focus my parents, but I left everything to Erman (with Wilfred Owen Morley), on issues of Gay Rights. It was a signif- Forry. At that stage, my worldly goods Geoffrey Giles (with Walter Gillings) icant group, less political at first than amounted to several Tintin books and I also believe he was Donald the Mattachine Society, it started as a a pencil case - but Forry meant so Lane at one point, and probably Ken- social group and evolved. much to me, it was all going to him if neth DuMond. The soft core stuff that Forry helped by working with the the Jumbo Jet had gone down. they wrote would fit Forry’s voice. m to produce The Ladder, the news- -Peter Jackson on Aintitcool.com I think one of the truly great Fan letter for the society. He even wrote History projects that someone could do some of the material for them and was One thing that made Forry would be to find all of Forry’s pseudo- named an ‘honorary ’ for all the great was that he kept you guessing. nyms. I’m betting there’s at least 100 work he’d done. It’s an interesting part I’ve always been a guy for Aliases. My or them, certainly if you include things fo the story which gets over-looked, but mom often yelled at me for giving weird like 4SJ, ForSJay, Forry and so on. is interesting. names at restaurants when I was a kid. Thor was always a favorite, as was Lincoln and Shaft for the few weeks after Dad rented the video of Shaft Goes to Africa. And I used to make up names when I’d meet new kids. Den- nis Hopkins, Floyd Merrymonth, Mike Dupp. All of them were stupid little games. But Forry was even more devil- ish. He had dozens of psuedonyms. I believe the reason my Dad loved to use fake names at cons over the years was that he knew Forry did it. Wikipedia lists a bunch of them, but certainly not all: Weaver Wright, Spencer Strong, Wal- ter Chinwell, Allis Villette, Alus Kerlay, Laurajean Ermayne, Alden Lorraine, J. amongst the ruins weekly column for The Drink Tank. Sadly, so of Jervaulx Abbey mammoth a task proves beyond even Pete’s and scattered mystic abilities. Maybe I should send Chris the Ann’s ashes bill. alongside those of her ragamuffin Elsewhen, we bade farewell to Forry. terrier Baldrick. The last time I saw “Mister Sci-Fi” was at It was Phil who Manchester’s Festival of Fantastic Films introduced the back in 2001. His fellow guests included Ray two of us nearly Harryhausen, and the two of them had huge t w e n t y - s e v e n fun introducing the original King Kong at a The previous days had seen rain and years ago, and who stood next to me at her restored 1930s cinema in Stockport (conven- snow, and the following weekend would bring hospital bed as she slipped away from us on tion members arrived aboard a double-decker freezing fog, but that particular Thursday 29 July; it would have been inconceivable for bus boasting “Skull Island” as its destination). afternoon in early December, the wind him to be anywhere else that day. Ann had been requested by the committee dropped and the winter sun cast a cool gaze to look after their seats whilst the pair upon Phil Greenaway and me as we stood Thence to the historic naval city of reminisced about the way that particular movie Portsmouth, or rather to Portsea Island, had transformed their lives, and took great which lies at its bow. It’s my first trip to the delight in telling one latecomer: “I’m sorry, coast since Ann’s funeral, but the South Hants these seats are reserved for Mr Ackerman Science Fiction Group is holding its xmas and Mr Harryhausen.” And then, so typical of shindig this coming Saturday and it’ll be good my wife, she shifted position so I should sit to relax amongst friends. next to Ray. My hosts are Peter and Anne-Marie Another treasured memory of that weekend Wright, along with my elder god-daughter was Forry’s delight at the surprise appearance Rachael, and I arrive Thursday lunchtime to of Ron Bennett, whose newszine Skyrack was discover the four of us are being treated to one of the main inspirations for Martin Tudor’s a meal at the nearby Blue Cobra Restaurant and my own Critical Wave. Two old friends, by SHSFG mover and shaker-in-exile John the many overlaps of their past suddenly Richards. It’s all connected to cosmic karma, telescoped into the present, like so much of gentleman John explains later; is that like fandom. I mourn them both. chicken korma, I wonder, suitably stuffed with house specialities hush tikka (tandoori duck) and Bombay buffalo bhuna (I didn’t realise Ann Green at Jervaulx Abbey, North Yorkshire, they had buffalo in Mumbai). June 2008 Friday morning sees Pete (the male half of [photograph by Phil Greenaway] Wright Computer Ltd) attempting to perform a necromantic ritual upon my laptop, which has finally buckled under the strain of producing a