Rest In Peace - Forrest J. Ackerman

Hey Kids...

I thought it appropriate to say a few words about a man who influenced a generation of monster fans all over the world.

"Editor Forry" of Famous Monsters of Filmland will forever be missed. But it isn't as if we weren't missing him already. I know I'm not going to make any fans by saying this, but the rise of Star Wars and the '80's "Splatter Films" really were the death of Forry's pun-filled, tongue-in-cheek fan mag that so many of us loved and hated simultaneously. True fans know what I'm talking about.

Beneath the usual beautifully painted cover by Basil Gogos, Famous Monsters was...well...INfamous for republishing stories from earlier issues to fill space when "monster news" got sparse. But more often than not, it would issue forth some pearl of rarity. That still of Jack Pierce applying Boris Karloff's Frankenstein make-up that you had never seen before, or that shot of the animation models from King Kong lined up like kids waiting to get on a bus. Forry's Famous Monsters was the only source for those images and they came from his private collection.

In the '90's I had the pleasure of going to his house to see the collection for myself. Forry, as always, was gentle, friendly and loved engaging his fans with stories that ranged from his early love of monsters and his friendship with Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen, to the passing of his wife.

I learned later on that decade that Forry had, unfortunately, been cheated out of much of his treasures by a selfish collector. That was the beginning of the end of Mr. Ackerman.

So after suffering this indignity, and bad health Forry, hopefully can find peace among the other Famous Monsters of Filmland he loved so dearly.

S.