Forrest J Ackerman

[calimac]

He'd been literally on his deathbed for weeks, and there had been false reports of his demise, but now it appears he's really gone at the age of 92.

Forry was the first person ever to receive a Hugo. (He promptly gave it away.) The category, never repeated, was "#1 Fan Personality", and in 1953 nobody else was likely to win it. Forry was the compleat science fiction fan. He read everything even remotely related to science fiction that there was to read, he collected everything there was to collect, and he did everything in SF fandom that there was for a fan to do.

Everyone in fandom did that in those days, because there was so little SF to read and so little fan activity to partake of, people craved what there was all the more. But Forry was more dedicated than most. Science fiction was his religion, his sole interest. "Fandom is a way of life," as the saying went. It wasn't dedication alone that made him prominent, but it did make him pre-eminent in the 1930s to 50s.

Since everybody read everything in those days, there wasn't much differentiation between fans' specific interests. That changed in the 1960s, when the field began to grow. It was no longer possible to follow everything, and people began to specialize. It turned out at that point that what Forry Ackerman loved more than anything else was monster movies. He edited a magazine called Famous Monsters of Filmland and, while he continued collecting across SF, his most loving attention went to that area.

By the time I came around, Forry was rather peripheral to fandom as I came to know it. I did see him at conventions and chatted with him occasionally. But we didn't interact much, because he didn't participate in the fanzines I read, and despite his mammoth Kolektinbug he wasn't much obsessed by recounting fan history.

Forry contributed a lot to fandom, but I most cherish him for one thing: in his heyday, he was the most persistent punster fandom has yet produced. He came up with the single best - no, I mean worst - no, maybe I do mean best - pun that I have ever read.

This was reported by the late great Irish fan Walter A. Willis in The Harp Stateside, the epic report of his trip to the U.S. to attend the 1952 Worldcon. After the con in Chicago, Willis, Ackerman, and some other folks piled into a car and drove to Los Angeles. Willis recounted this part of his trip with the aide-mémoire assistance of the road maps he'd picked up along the way:

On the rest of that day and during the following night we drove on through North Platte, Ogallala, Kimball, Cheyenne, Laramie, Rock Springs, Green River and Ogden. I don't remember a thing about any of them, but it's nice to think I've been there; and to be able to say, in an offhand manner, "Last time I was in Cheyenne."

Come to think of it, the last time I was in Cheyenne, Forrest J. Ackerman told me, "This place is noted for its fiction, you know."
"Is it?" I asked innocently.
"Sure," said Forry. "Didn't you ever hear of Cheyenne's fiction?"

We passed through a thunderstorm soon afterwards and I fully expected Forry to be struck by lightning. However he survived, and next day desecrated the name of Zion, also.

Comments

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Arr arr arr.

[wild-patience.livejournal.com]

I never met the man, but he was part of my life when I was a teenager. I used to watch Bob Wilkins' "Creature Features" on channel 2. Forry was a guest on that sometimes and had a great wealth of knowledge.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

The best pun I ever read was this:

Why was Joe Louis called the King of the Heavyweights?

Because he had a divine right.

cof, cof.

The eulogy Forry wrote for his wife moved me to tears, and I have never forgotten it.

K.

[fr-john.livejournal.com]

I also had only occasional contact with Forry over the years I've been involved in Fandom. I think I may have seen him on Bob Wilkins' show a number of times. And it was nice to see him crop up as an extra in movies from time to time.

What I remember is that he was always welcoming to new fans. Some other old fharts just hang out with their other old fhart friends. But Forry would talk to anybody--sometimes for hours.

The tv special (available on DVD) called "The Sci-Fi Boys" which is about the crop of sf/fantasy film-makers who came up in the 1970s--people like John Landis, Peter Jackson, Lucas, Spielberg, and others of the same kidney--turns out to be an extended tribute to Forry and "Famous Monsters" and Ray Harryhausen. Almost all of them credit Harryhausen's movies and "Famous Monsters" for them taking up film as a career.

re: Forrest J Ackerman

[a-blue-moon-cat.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the pun story! I wish that I could remember more of the gerbil jokes that he told as Master of Ceremonies at an Atlanta Fantasy Faire costume contest that had gone wonky. It started with "is there a gerbil in the house?" and rapidly went downhill from there. The audience was in stitches, however. LOL!