Tomorrow marks the centennial of the birth of the ultimate horror film fanboy, Forrest J Ackerman, best known for being the editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, who was born on November 24th, 1916. He’s also responsible for coining the term “sci-fi ,” was the literary agent for some of the biggest science fiction writers of that genre’s original golden age, and the creator of the dead sexy Vampirella comic book heroine (who was based on Danger Diabolik actress Marisa Mell as he told me once himself).
It was Ackerman’s boundlessly enthusiastic championing of fantasy and horror movies in the pages of Famous Monsters that saw his influence spread over a generation or two of America’s most dedicated monster movie nerds. You might say that he was a slightly pervy avuncular patron saint of the freaks and geeks of the 1960s and 70s. Many of his avid readers—like Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro and Rick Baker—grew up to make movies themselves and his home in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles saw visits from famous faces running the gamut from director John Landis to Ogre from Skinny Puppy. The Sci-Fi Boys, a 2006 documentary, was made about the many filmmakers who were inspired by Forry Ackerman.
In 1982, Ackerman—an avid punster and devote of the corniest of jokes—told the Los Angeles Times that he came up with the term “sci-fi” after hearing a radio ad extolling the virtues of high fidelity audio:
“My wife and I were listening to the radio, and when someone said ‘hi-fi’ the word ‘sci-fi’ suddenly hit me. If my interest had been soap operas, I guess it would have been ‘cry-fi,’ or James Bond, ‘spy-fi.’ “
The Ackermonster—or “Dr. Acula” as he was also known—represented such literary luminaries as Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Charles Beaumont and A.E. Van Vogt. He was also the agent for Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, and although Forry was not a Scientologist himself, was someone the notoriously paranoid Hubbard trusted throughout his life.
And then there was his magnificent collection of sci-fi and horror memorabilia, easily the best in the world. Ray Bradbury called it “the Fort Knox of Science Fiction.” Forry gave weekend tours of the collection, opening his 18-room home—dubbed the Ackermansion—to the public and showing off treasures like the stop motion models used in King Kong. Or a life-sized Maria from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Forry owned Bela Lugosi’s ring, which he wore, and also the actor’s Dracula cape. One of Johnny Eck’s outfits. Just imagine the most insanely iconic stuff from classic horror and sci-fi films and he lived among it. Forry had all the good stuff and it was a ridiculous tragedy when the city of Los Angeles declined to take conservatorship of his collection when he offered it to the city in the 90s. Instead the collection was sold off piecemeal over the years, some of it going to Seattle’s Science Fiction Hall of Fame, some to a museum in Berlin and some to Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson.
The City of Los Angeles fumbled the ball profoundly at that time, but last week, thanks to the efforts of a handful of Forry’s friends and Los Angeles City Councilmember David Ryu, the city has honored its native son by naming the intersection of Franklin and Vermont Avenues as “Forrest J Ackerman Square.” The location was not picked at random, as it is near old school LA diner the House of Pies, Forry’s preferred local haunt, a place where he could reliably be spotted chatting away with younger fans. I’ve eaten at least twice there with Forry myself. It’s truly the most perfect, perfect place to honor him. Ackerman’s hand and footprints can also be seen in front of the nearby Vista Theater where he had a lifetime free movie pass.
L-R: Paul Davids, Councilmember David Ryu, Alexandra Kondracke, Joe Moe, Sean Fernald
This tour of the Ackermansion in 2000 was produced by Eric Mittleman for the Channel 4 website that was related to my old ‘Disinformation’ TV show. I haven’t seen this since it was originally produced and it really captures Forry and his collection quite well, I must say. The narration is done by Forry’s close friend of many decades Sean Fernald, pictured above in the group shot.