(And some days it takes more Stones than others...) Where Mythical Bestiary meets Contemporary Culture and Chews On Its Leg Until Covered with Slobber.
Forrest Ackerman, ninety-something years old, is fading away in California, body failing but alert as a cricket and taking the greatest joy in messages of affection from unofficial "nieces and nephews" around the world. It isn't too much of an exaggeration to say Mr. Ackerman is one of the people who created and sustained genre fandom, with Famous Monsters of Filmdom one of the cornerstones. I was in the third or fourth grade when I first saw a copy at Steve Noel's house, with the ads for Mole Men masks in the back-- thirty years later, when I saw the cast of Mystery Science Theater wearing those masks, it was like a secret handshake.
Forrest Ackermman must look 'round at the San Diego Comicon with a wild surmise like Balboa on that peak in Darien. He's the Mr. Chips of science fiction, comics, horror and fantasy, and if anyone asks if he has any children, tell them "hundreds and hundreds".
Cards and letters are welcome at:
FORREST J ACKERMAN
4511 Russell Avenue
Los Angeles, CA
90027
2 comments:
I had the pleasure of meeting the Ackermonster on a few occasions, the last when he was a guest in KC for the 13th World Horror Con. I rented a vintage hearse to pick him up in and he was delighted to tool around KC in gothic style. God's speed Uncle Forry. We will never see your like again!
You might've seen this at the TT posts. I was lucky enough to mee Forry AND Basil Gogos (the cover artists on FMOF) at this tiny con called Fanntasy3Fest at on old theater out near O'Hare. Like a dream, because I've never heard of the convention since.
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