william...@aol.com
2008-12-06 00:49:22 UTC
Forrest J Ackerman, writer-editor who coined 'sci-fi,' dies at 92
The Los Angeles native influenced young fans with his Famous Monsters
of Filmland magazine and spent a lifetime amassing a vast collection
of science fiction and fantasy memorabilia.
By Dennis McLellan
December 6, 2008
Forrest J Ackerman, who influenced a generation of young horror movie
fans with Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and spent a lifetime
amassing what has been called the world's largest personal collection
of science fiction and fantasy memorabilia, has died. He was 92.
Ackerman, a writer, editor and literary agent who has been credited
with coining the term "sci-fi" in the 1950s, died Thursday of heart
failure at his home in Los Angeles, said John Sasser, a friend who is
making a documentary on Ackerman.
Hero Complex: Forrest J Ackerman dead at...As editor of Famous
Monsters of Filmland, Ackerman wrote most of the articles in the photo-
laden magazine launched in 1958 as a forum for past and present horror
films.
"It was the first movie monster magazine," Tony Timpone, editor of
Fangoria, a horror movie magazine founded in 1979, told The Times in
2002.
Timpone, who began reading Famous Monsters as a young boy in the early
'70s, remembers it as "a black-and-white magazine with cheap paper but
great painted [color] covers. It really turned people onto the magic
of horror movies."
Primarily targeted to late pre-adolescents and young teenagers, Famous
Monsters of Filmland featured synopses of horror films, interviews
with actors such as Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price, and
articles on makeup and special effects.
Famous Monsters reflected Ackerman's penchant for puns, with features
such as "The Printed Weird" and "Fang Mail." Ackerman referred to
himself as Dr. Acula.
"He put a lot of his personality into the magazine," said Timpone, who
later became friends with Ackerman. "It was a pretty juvenile approach
to genre journalism, but as kids that's all we had."
Among those who reportedly grew up reading Famous Monsters of Filmland
was author Stephen King. Other childhood readers included movie
directors Joe Dante, John Landis and Steven Spielberg, who once
autographed a poster of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" for
Ackerman, saying, "A generation of fantasy lovers thank you for
raising us so well."
Ackerman was a celebrity in his own right, once signing 10,000
autographs during a three-day monster movie convention in New York
City.
This, after all, was the man who created and wrote the comic books
"Vampirella" and "Jeanie of Questar" and was the ultimate fan's fan: a
man who actually had known Lugosi and Karloff and whose priceless
collection of science fiction, horror and fantasy artifacts ran to
some 300,000 items.
For years, Ackerman housed his enormous cache of books, movie stills,
posters, paintings, movie props, masks and assorted memorabilia in his
18-room home in Los Feliz.
He dubbed the house the Ackermansion.
The jam-packed repository included everything from a Dracula cape worn
by Lugosi to Mr. Spock's pointy ears; and from Lon Chaney Sr.'s makeup
kit to the paper plate flying saucer used by director Ed Wood in "Plan
9 From Outer Space."
For Ackerman, a native Angeleno born on Nov. 24, 1916, it all began at
age 9 in 1926.
That's when he stopped at a drugstore on the corner of Santa Monica
Boulevard and Western Avenue in Hollywood and bought his first copy of
the science fiction magazine Amazing Stories.
From then on, Ackerman was helplessly hooked.
By his late teens, he had mastered Esperanto, the invented
international language. In 1929, he founded the Boys Scientifiction
Club. In 1932, he joined a group of other young fans in launching the
Time Traveler, which is considered the first fan magazine devoted
exclusively to science fiction and for which Ackerman was
"contributing editor."
Ackerman also joined with other local fans in starting a chapter of
the Science Fiction Society -- meetings were held in Clifton's
Cafeteria in downtown L.A. -- and as editor of the group's fan
publication Imagination! he published in 1938 a young Ray Bradbury's
first short story.
During World War II, Ackerman edited a military newspaper published at
Ft. MacArthur in San Pedro. After the war, he worked as a literary
agent. His agency represented scores of science fiction writers,
including L. Ron Hubbard, Isaac Asimov, A.E. van Vogt, H.L. Gold, Ray
Cummings and Hugo Gernsback.
In 1954, Ackerman coined the term that would become part of the
popular lexicon -- a term said to make some fans cringe.
"My wife and I were listening to the radio, and when someone said 'hi-
fi' the word 'sci-fi' suddenly hit me," Ackerman explained to The
Times in 1982. "If my interest had been soap operas, I guess it would
have been 'cry-fi,' or James Bond, 'spy-fi.' "
At the time, Ackerman already was well-known among science fiction and
horror aficionados for his massive collection.
After a couple from Texas showed up on his doorstep in 1951 asking to
view the collection, Ackerman began opening his home up for regular,
informal tours on Saturdays.
Over the years, thousands of people made the pilgrimage to the
Ackermansion.
The Dracula/Frankenstein room featured a casket as a "coffin table"
and the cape Lugosi wore in the stage version of "Dracula." A case
displayed one of the horror film legend's bow ties, which, Ackerman
would gleefully note, contained a drop of blood.
Among the collection's other highlights: the ring worn by Lugosi in
"Dracula," the giant-winged pterodactyl that swooped down for Fay Wray
in "King Kong," Lon Chaney's cape from "The Phantom of the Opera" and
"Metropolis" director Fritz Lang's monocle.
The affable Ackerman would escort his visitors through the priceless
warren of books, posters and memorabilia, settling into a chair in
each room and answering questions.
"He was always just a big kid," said Fangoria's Timpone. "I really
cherished all the times I've been with him."
Ackerman wrote more than 2,000 articles and short stories for
magazines and anthologies, sometimes under his pseudonyms Dr. Acula,
Weaver Wright and Claire Voyant.
He also wrote what has been reported to have been the first lesbian
science-fiction story ever published, "World of Loneliness." And under
the pen name Laurajean Ermayne, he wrote lesbian romances in the late
1940s for the lesbian magazine Vice Versa.
As an editor, Ackerman edited or co-edited numerous books, including
"A Book of Weird Tales," "365 Science Fiction Short Stories" and "The
Great Science Fiction."
Over the years, he made numerous cameo appearances in films, including
Dante's "The Howling" and Landis' "Innocent Blood." Landis also had
Ackerman eating popcorn behind Michael Jackson in the movie theater
scene in his "Thriller" video.
Famous Monsters of Filmland ceased publication in 1983. But the
magazine returned a decade later with Ray Ferry as publisher and
Ackerman as editor. Ackerman, however, reportedly had a falling out
with Ferry and left the magazine. Years of litigation followed. In
2000, after a civil trial, Ackerman won a trademark infringement and
breach-of-contract lawsuit against Ferry, though he said a year later
that he not yet collected a penny of the judgment.
In recent decades, according to a 2003 Times story, Ackerman slowly
sold pieces of his massive collection in order to survive. Because of
health problems and his still-unresolved legal battle, he put up all
but about 100 of his favorite objects for sale in 2002.
The same year, he moved out of the Ackermansion and into a bungalow in
the flats of Los Feliz. But he continued to make what was left of his
collection available for viewing by fans on Saturday mornings.
"I call it the Acker Mini-Mansion," he said.
Ackerman's wife, Wendayne, died in 1990; he had no surviving family
members.
McLellan is a Times staff writer.
The Los Angeles native influenced young fans with his Famous Monsters
of Filmland magazine and spent a lifetime amassing a vast collection
of science fiction and fantasy memorabilia.
By Dennis McLellan
December 6, 2008
Forrest J Ackerman, who influenced a generation of young horror movie
fans with Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and spent a lifetime
amassing what has been called the world's largest personal collection
of science fiction and fantasy memorabilia, has died. He was 92.
Ackerman, a writer, editor and literary agent who has been credited
with coining the term "sci-fi" in the 1950s, died Thursday of heart
failure at his home in Los Angeles, said John Sasser, a friend who is
making a documentary on Ackerman.
Hero Complex: Forrest J Ackerman dead at...As editor of Famous
Monsters of Filmland, Ackerman wrote most of the articles in the photo-
laden magazine launched in 1958 as a forum for past and present horror
films.
"It was the first movie monster magazine," Tony Timpone, editor of
Fangoria, a horror movie magazine founded in 1979, told The Times in
2002.
Timpone, who began reading Famous Monsters as a young boy in the early
'70s, remembers it as "a black-and-white magazine with cheap paper but
great painted [color] covers. It really turned people onto the magic
of horror movies."
Primarily targeted to late pre-adolescents and young teenagers, Famous
Monsters of Filmland featured synopses of horror films, interviews
with actors such as Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price, and
articles on makeup and special effects.
Famous Monsters reflected Ackerman's penchant for puns, with features
such as "The Printed Weird" and "Fang Mail." Ackerman referred to
himself as Dr. Acula.
"He put a lot of his personality into the magazine," said Timpone, who
later became friends with Ackerman. "It was a pretty juvenile approach
to genre journalism, but as kids that's all we had."
Among those who reportedly grew up reading Famous Monsters of Filmland
was author Stephen King. Other childhood readers included movie
directors Joe Dante, John Landis and Steven Spielberg, who once
autographed a poster of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" for
Ackerman, saying, "A generation of fantasy lovers thank you for
raising us so well."
Ackerman was a celebrity in his own right, once signing 10,000
autographs during a three-day monster movie convention in New York
City.
This, after all, was the man who created and wrote the comic books
"Vampirella" and "Jeanie of Questar" and was the ultimate fan's fan: a
man who actually had known Lugosi and Karloff and whose priceless
collection of science fiction, horror and fantasy artifacts ran to
some 300,000 items.
For years, Ackerman housed his enormous cache of books, movie stills,
posters, paintings, movie props, masks and assorted memorabilia in his
18-room home in Los Feliz.
He dubbed the house the Ackermansion.
The jam-packed repository included everything from a Dracula cape worn
by Lugosi to Mr. Spock's pointy ears; and from Lon Chaney Sr.'s makeup
kit to the paper plate flying saucer used by director Ed Wood in "Plan
9 From Outer Space."
For Ackerman, a native Angeleno born on Nov. 24, 1916, it all began at
age 9 in 1926.
That's when he stopped at a drugstore on the corner of Santa Monica
Boulevard and Western Avenue in Hollywood and bought his first copy of
the science fiction magazine Amazing Stories.
From then on, Ackerman was helplessly hooked.
By his late teens, he had mastered Esperanto, the invented
international language. In 1929, he founded the Boys Scientifiction
Club. In 1932, he joined a group of other young fans in launching the
Time Traveler, which is considered the first fan magazine devoted
exclusively to science fiction and for which Ackerman was
"contributing editor."
Ackerman also joined with other local fans in starting a chapter of
the Science Fiction Society -- meetings were held in Clifton's
Cafeteria in downtown L.A. -- and as editor of the group's fan
publication Imagination! he published in 1938 a young Ray Bradbury's
first short story.
During World War II, Ackerman edited a military newspaper published at
Ft. MacArthur in San Pedro. After the war, he worked as a literary
agent. His agency represented scores of science fiction writers,
including L. Ron Hubbard, Isaac Asimov, A.E. van Vogt, H.L. Gold, Ray
Cummings and Hugo Gernsback.
In 1954, Ackerman coined the term that would become part of the
popular lexicon -- a term said to make some fans cringe.
"My wife and I were listening to the radio, and when someone said 'hi-
fi' the word 'sci-fi' suddenly hit me," Ackerman explained to The
Times in 1982. "If my interest had been soap operas, I guess it would
have been 'cry-fi,' or James Bond, 'spy-fi.' "
At the time, Ackerman already was well-known among science fiction and
horror aficionados for his massive collection.
After a couple from Texas showed up on his doorstep in 1951 asking to
view the collection, Ackerman began opening his home up for regular,
informal tours on Saturdays.
Over the years, thousands of people made the pilgrimage to the
Ackermansion.
The Dracula/Frankenstein room featured a casket as a "coffin table"
and the cape Lugosi wore in the stage version of "Dracula." A case
displayed one of the horror film legend's bow ties, which, Ackerman
would gleefully note, contained a drop of blood.
Among the collection's other highlights: the ring worn by Lugosi in
"Dracula," the giant-winged pterodactyl that swooped down for Fay Wray
in "King Kong," Lon Chaney's cape from "The Phantom of the Opera" and
"Metropolis" director Fritz Lang's monocle.
The affable Ackerman would escort his visitors through the priceless
warren of books, posters and memorabilia, settling into a chair in
each room and answering questions.
"He was always just a big kid," said Fangoria's Timpone. "I really
cherished all the times I've been with him."
Ackerman wrote more than 2,000 articles and short stories for
magazines and anthologies, sometimes under his pseudonyms Dr. Acula,
Weaver Wright and Claire Voyant.
He also wrote what has been reported to have been the first lesbian
science-fiction story ever published, "World of Loneliness." And under
the pen name Laurajean Ermayne, he wrote lesbian romances in the late
1940s for the lesbian magazine Vice Versa.
As an editor, Ackerman edited or co-edited numerous books, including
"A Book of Weird Tales," "365 Science Fiction Short Stories" and "The
Great Science Fiction."
Over the years, he made numerous cameo appearances in films, including
Dante's "The Howling" and Landis' "Innocent Blood." Landis also had
Ackerman eating popcorn behind Michael Jackson in the movie theater
scene in his "Thriller" video.
Famous Monsters of Filmland ceased publication in 1983. But the
magazine returned a decade later with Ray Ferry as publisher and
Ackerman as editor. Ackerman, however, reportedly had a falling out
with Ferry and left the magazine. Years of litigation followed. In
2000, after a civil trial, Ackerman won a trademark infringement and
breach-of-contract lawsuit against Ferry, though he said a year later
that he not yet collected a penny of the judgment.
In recent decades, according to a 2003 Times story, Ackerman slowly
sold pieces of his massive collection in order to survive. Because of
health problems and his still-unresolved legal battle, he put up all
but about 100 of his favorite objects for sale in 2002.
The same year, he moved out of the Ackermansion and into a bungalow in
the flats of Los Feliz. But he continued to make what was left of his
collection available for viewing by fans on Saturday mornings.
"I call it the Acker Mini-Mansion," he said.
Ackerman's wife, Wendayne, died in 1990; he had no surviving family
members.
McLellan is a Times staff writer.