I’ve often wondered how and why my interests developed as they did. I grew up on a small farm in Iowa in the 50s, and experienced all that went with that. So maybe it’s odd – or maybe it makes perfect sense – that from an early age, as early as I can remember, I was totally in love with science fiction and horror (monsters!) via all their delivery systems; i.e. books, magazines, comics, TV, and movies. Mainly movies, probably because films are so immediate.
I was an only child, and with no kids in my age range nearby, I was basically by myself until I started grade school. I developed an elaborate fantasy life, which fed directly off of all this stuff. My head was working overtime, mainlining every film and comic that crossed my path. My mother loved movies, so we went a lot. There was a glut of science-fiction monster movies in the 1950s, which now I see had a lot to do with post-war anxieties and fears of being vaporized by Commie nukes. But at the time all I saw in those films were giant insects buzzing around in the desert, mutated dinosaurs rising out of the ocean, and Martians in flying saucers wiping out national landmarks.
I loved all these films. One of the earliest I can remember is The Man from Planet X. In retrospect it’s not that great, but at the time I found it ineffably strange and sad, frightening and enthralling. My favorite, and certainly the most traumatic, was The Thing from Another World, which completely freaked me out when I saw it in 1951. Totally inappropriate for a six-year-old, but my mother apparently wasn’t paying enough attention. Which was a good thing, as far as I’m concerned. I was seriously scared for months, but it was worth it. Most of these were pretty disposable, but some hold up well today, such as Them!, It Came from Outer Space, The War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon (My mother got the manager of the theater in Sac City, Iowa to give me a one-sheet poster for The Creature from the Black Lagoon. It seemed like an incredible gift at the time, and it was.)
And then three things happened that created a kind of perfect storm in my life. First, the British film studio Hammer Films burst on the horror scene with The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957, which got a lot of attention, followed the next year with The Horror of Dracula, which got even more. All that blood and gore and heavy breathing in vivid Technicolor. More films followed, and I saw as many as possible. This wasn’t always easy, since by the time they reached our area, might be playing only as a midnight show, or at the local drive-in. I’m probably the only person I know who would go to the drive-in by himself, if necessary, to see the latest horror film. You do what you have to do.
Second, “Shock Theater” hit the scene in October 1957, a syndicated package for TV showings of 52 horror films of the 1930s & 40s from Universal Studios. That more than a few of them turned out to be mere mysteries instead of supernatural horror made little difference to me. This was my first exposure to the classic horror films: Frankenstein, Dracula, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, and on and on. A problem was that “Shock Theater” was carried locally by WOI-TV, a station in Ames, Iowa (one of three channels that we could get), which had the most problematic reception of them all. Of course, that didn’t make any difference. I’d sit there glued to the set regardless of how much interference there might be. It was great anyway. Snow, rolling picture, so what? All these films I’d had limited awareness of actually existed, and I could see them (when I could finagle staying up late enough to watch).
The third, and in many ways most important event was when I discovered the first issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland at a newsstand in February of 1958 and actually had enough money (35 cents!) on me to buy it. I couldn’t believe that such a magazine existed, but to me the fact that it did justified my love of these films and their world. This was something tangible I could hold in my hands. Famous Monsters was created, written and edited by Forrest J Ackerman, who for some reason didn’t punctuate his middle initial. It was intended as a one-shot, but proved so popular that 191 issues of the initial incarnation of the magazine were published between 1958 and 1983. I bought every issue between 1958 and 1962, when I started college, and then sporadically thereafter, until, in an act of stunning stupidity and lack of foresight, sold my entire collection for something like $20. I probably needed beer money.
“Forry” Ackerman was quite a character. He was born in 1916 and died in 2008 at age 92. In between he’d been deeply involved, to put it mildly, in the science-fiction world as an agent (Ray Bradbury was a client), author, editor, actor, one of the strongest boosters ever of science fiction & fantasy in print and film (he coined the term “sci-fi”), and was a major collector of sci-fi/horror memorabilia of all kinds in amazing quantities. But he’s probably best remembered for Famous Monsters, which was an acknowledged inspiration for filmmakers and writers such as Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, Peter Jackson, Tim Burton, Stephen King, Danny Elfman, and many others. (Check out his Wikipedia entry for much more, including the priceless detail that when he was very ill he told Joe Dante that he couldn’t die until he voted for Obama for president, which he did.)
The first time I got to meet Forrest Ackerman was in December 1987 when he decided to auction a large chunk of his collection in New York to raise money for, as I recall, his wife’s considerable medical expenses. I went to a preview night at the Puck Building, where he was scheduled to give a talk. It was amazing to be there. Besides rare posters, manuscripts, stills, props and costumes, I also saw – and was able to handle – items such as Bela Lugosi’s drivers license and SAG card. It seemed amazing, and a little sad, that this ephemera of Lugosi’s life was now up for sale. Later I stood in line to be received by Forry. It was like waiting to see Santa Claus at Macy’s, or maybe the Pope. What I remember when my turn came was when he pointed out that a ring on his finger had been worn by Boris Karloff in The Mummy. I was awestruck. It was a great night, seeing all these pieces of movie history and Forrest J Ackerman in the flesh.
The second time I saw him was in 1998 when I flew to Los Angeles for a job interview. The interview was Thursday and Friday, with Saturday a free day before returning to New York on Sunday. I remembered reading that Ackerman usually held open house on Saturday mornings at his home, the “Ackermansion.” Before coming out I called and heard a recorded message with the details, so I knew he was still hosting these events. Despite being nearly as freaked out by having to drive a rental car on California freeways as I was when I saw The Thing years before, I somehow found my way to his home in the Hollywood Hills, and managed to park safely on the narrow, winding street.
There were twenty or more people gathered outside his house waiting for 11am, when the open house was scheduled to begin. At the appointed time an appropriately spooky recording invited us to go around to the back entrance. As we walked to the door, I saw Forry through a side window, moving clothing from a washer to a dryer. He was doing his laundry! I thought this was really great.
Soon he came to the door and invited us in. We were in the lower level of the house, which was stuffed wall to wall and floor to ceiling with props, posters, death masks, books, models, everything. He gave us the full tour. Between 1951 and 2002, Ackerman welcomed some 50,000 fans like myself into his home on such tours of his world. Eventually he said to follow him upstairs and he’d tell us some stories. Which he proceeded to do as we gathered around, listening and asking questions as he related anecdotes about his encounters with Karloff and Lugosi and many others.
At one point I asked if it was true that Bela Lugosi had been buried in his Dracula cape. He replied that there had actually been three capes. Lugosi was indeed buried in one, and his brother had the second. Then Forry’s eyes lit up and he proclaimed, “And I’ve got the third!” He jumped up, went to a closet where he pulled out the cape and whipped it on in classic vampire style. True story.
I was sad when I heard of his death on December 4, 2008. Because of failing health, he had stopped giving tours of his home some years before, so I felt lucky to have been included. He brought a kid’s enthusiasm to what he loved, and passed that on to thousands of people. I was one of them. – Ted Hicks
Films etc. 
Bela Lugosi is my favorite Dracula ever. Great post by the way and congrats on making it to freshly pressed. 🙂
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We scares yet love them. There is huge community of them behind the screen.
But The community of MONSTERS are amazing and ever popular for the theme of screen play with guarantee of success.
OMG! this was a great read. i LOOOOVVVEEE old sci, and b-movies. i have soooo many. these movies might be cheesy, with bad acting, and poor scripts but they are fab! some of my favs are:
chained for life
it came from outer space
reefer madness
cult of the cobra
leech woman
monster on campus
them!
white zombie
i married a zombie
and i could go on and on. my friends use to tease me about watching these.now they all ask…”what your latest movie Toy?” you see, they not only realized how great these are they know that they can watch w/the kids too.
Reblogged this on S K Y ( हर कोई चाहता है एक मुठ्ठी आसमान ) and commented:
We scares yet love them. There is huge community of them behind the screen.
But The community of MONSTERS are amazing and ever popular for the theme of screen play with guarantee of success.
I remember Shock Theater: I thought it was local programming in the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area. We never stop learning…… Thanks for the great article, the remembrance of Forrest Ackerman, and for that picture at the top of your posting. I recall seeing that on the inside cover of a sci-fi book in my high school library (WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE?). Thanks for your great writing and for the excellent editing.
I was thrilled to find that illustration to put at the top of the post. You’re quite right that it’s from the inside front & back covers of a science fiction series published by John C. Winston in the 50s. I read all of them our school library had. Recently bought a copy from an online used-book outlet (Abe Books) of one I especially remembered, “Danger: Dinosaurs” by Richard Marsten (pseudonym of author Evan Hunter, who also wrote crime novels under the name Ed McBain). Cost me $125, a mere 1000% markup over the original $2 price. A bargain for the memories it brought me. And that inside-jacket illustration still gives me a thrill when I see it.
Yeah….I remember seeing the movie “Them” which was about giant ants. I don’t think I’ve used salt since….: )
I remember that Forey’s favorite actor was VINCENT PRICE. I had the opportunity to spend an evening with this horror legend. My story can be found on the link below:
If there´s one movie I would really like to see again, is Tom Thumb. I wonder if it would look the same after fifty years.
That’s a George Pal production, I think. I’ve never seen it. It’s probably available through Netflix or some other outlet if you’re really interested.
Thanx Ted.
My favorite is Frankeinstein. Uy!
I love the subject of your blog and keep it up! Congratulations on being freshly pressed too! 🙂
What an experience you had… i love sci-fi/horror movies what would be your favourite Stephen king film..??
“The Dead Zone”
What a lovely post! Although I was born decades after some of the Greats you mentioned, I loved loved loved old Monster movies as a child. Bride of Frankenstein was one of my absolute favorites. In fact, I still prefer the “horror” movies made before I was born to the versions of today. Have just been given the opportunity to produce an indie feature with a very modern take on the Vampire lifestyle (still in the fundraising stage). Should be interesting, but I love that the Writer/Director has a similar fondness for the old and great horror films of yesteryear. Anyhow, I love your writing, congrats on being a featured post!
Great post. I grew up in the same rural situation in north central Pennsylvania and lived for the day that the post office delivered FM! I worshiped Forest Ackerman.
Great memories, Ted. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Thanks for sharing your story. I too have a huge collection of movie posters, projectors, movie reels, stand-ups and films. In fact my grandmother stated that my living room looked like MGM studios. What can you say when you crave the good stuff? A couple of my favorites, The orginal Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Incredible Shrinking Man.
My God, I can’t believe I didn’t cite Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Incredible Shrinking Man when I mentioned 50s films I thought still hold up. They’re both great. I plan to write about those and others soon. Thanks!
I love these old horror movies, when I get the chance to see them.
Hi there … I really like your blog,especially this MONSTER one. If you have a couple of ticks to spare you may like to see my wordpress site http://www.the1951club.org. as I think it may interest you.
Keep up the good work and well done on getting freshly pressed.
I wish I could have gone on one of those tours. Thanks for sharing your stories.
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lucky you … glad you got to meet a hero of yours, I love horror and sifi too, if the story is good and the special effect even better … give me cinema and popcorn any day of the week
Wow! Really good!
Reblogged this on avaarden and commented:
I love this site! I just found it! Check it out! Famous Monsters and Me–how much better can it get?
Love the entry! “You do what you have to do”!
Your love for science fiction seems to have kept you young at heart. I almost want to go find all these classics and have a movie night.
Reblogged this on Ivycreekstudios's Blog and commented:
Classic scary movies!
Great post. Though I’m younger to you and came to these films from tv, I still love them and can relate to nearly every word of this post. Though I never met Forry, his legacy is legend.
I loved reading this interesting post and learning about your priceless memories! I didn’t read through all of the comments, so perhaps someone else may have mentioned it, but one of the Famous Monster magazine covers must have inspired Pixar’s little one-eyed star “Mike Wazowski” in MONSTERS, INC. Don’t you think? 🙂
I’m glad you were Freshly Pressed so I could read this entertaining and education post. Have a great day!
Reblogged this on Runnymede Residents Community Web Site and commented:
For the sci-fi fans out there and I know there are a few….
Quite nostalgic 🙂
I just saw Avengers recently and left the film actually tired and unimpressed. I long for the real explosions and actual sets of yester-year that were created in studio monster labs rather than by a guy with a computer. Rad post! http://beginningstoendings.wordpress.com
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I am new to following the horror genre. Blame my mother she didn’t let us watch them. I will say that I do love/enjoy the classic monster movies. I find the enthralling in a way and the artistry in them is something that is on a league of it’s own.
As a kid I used to think it would be cool to have a drive-in and show these classic movies. My dad took our family to a drive-in once. I don’t remember the movie, only that it was a time we all enjoyed being together. What a treat! Nice post.
Really enjoyed reading “Famous Monsters and Me,” and wanted to share a couple of things with you. Although born in Hollywood, CA, I was privileged to visit Iowa in the summers of my youth, between ’56 and ’65. Although I’ve never returned, Ft. Dodge, Iowa, and the Dopp/Swearengin clans are very clear in the Ray Bradbury-like landscape of my memories. My first issue of Famous Monsters was #15 in ’61 — and I was hooked. I never met Forrest J Ackerman till the ’90s, and finally got invited to the Ackermansion in the early 2000s. Soon after, co-producer Edward Plumb and I asked Forry to host our horror anthology — a DTV comedy feature, called, “The Boneyard Collection.” Although Uncle Forry is gone — he lives on in Wal-Mart and Sears, hosting segments guest-starring Robert Loggia, George Kennedy, Tippi Hedren, Barbara Steele(!), Ronn Moss, Candy Clark, Brad Dourif, Kevin McCarthy, Ken Foree, Susan Tyrrell, and others Forry-friend Ray Harryhausen appears in an unbilled cameo, and FJA wears the Lugosi Dracula cape and Karloff scarab ring you mentioned — as his greatest character, “Dr. Acula.” That the distributor put Forry’s face and name on the DVD cover was an unexpected homage. Thanks for your great blog!
How lucky you are to have met Ackerman! Thank you for sharing,
Artphalt (http://artphalt.wordpress.com)
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Now that’s some good fortune! What a great person!
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You could certainly see your enthusiasm within the article you write.
The world hopes for more passionate writers such as you who aren’t afraid to say how they believe. Always follow your heart.
Thanks! I only wish every piece I wrote came as easily as this one did.
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June 2019 – Ted, thanks for your great post about Ackerman !. i was 13 when i, along with my bro (he was 17) first visited him at his original “AckerMansion” home in west Los Angeles (on Sherbourne Drive, i think)….
It was the summer of 1969, and my bro and i were living with our mother in a small rented 1920s house just west of downtown L.A. We were sci-fi and stop-mo monster fans since 1964 (after seeing Ray Harryhausen’s “First Men in the Moon” at the Tower Theater, downtown), and he had just recently purchased a FAMOUS MONSTERS # 1 (in near mint condition, for only $10) at “Everybody’s Books” (a now decades long-gone bookstore). He later told me the FMs were not on display in the store, so he first inquired about FMs at the counter. We had also sometimes visited Hollywood and he had purchased a few of the small 8mm digest films of Harryhausen’s “7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD”, “MIGHTY JOE YOUNG” and a few others, and he bought a cheap toy 8mm movie projector from “California Toys” (another decades long-gone downtown store), which we enjoyed using to watch the 8mm films (in that pre-video era)….
Altho we were poor, he had a paying part-time job, so he could afford to buy those things and that FM #1, but he didnt have enuff then to buy any of the other early issues that bookstore also had for sale. So during that summer we began using our weekend time to go to Hollywood (by bus) to rummage thru boxes of old used monster mags at a few movie memorabilia bookshops on Hollywood blvd, looking for anything on stop-motion monster movies (Ray Harryhausen/ Willis OBrien /Jim Danforth/ Zeman films, etc), and so we started a stop-mo monster scrapbook, and a small collection of original movie stills and lobby-cards (all showing stop-mo FX of course), with most costing between $1-$5. I too had saved some pocket money, earned from selling my mother’s home-made feather gifts on a sidewalk stand (at the southwest corner of MacArthur Park), so i also purchased a few of these items, but we both considered it all as “our” collection. I also remember during one of those Hollywood visits, some of Charlie Manson’s “Family” passed us by on the sidewalk, chanting something about Charlie, i think….
My bro was then planning to produce a cheap (mimeographed) fanzine entirely on stop-mo monster movies, titled “DynamatioNews” (later changed to “AnimatioNews”), with me creating the interior b&w illustrations, and he had mailed out a lot of flyers advertising it, but then we discovered that Ernest Farino (whom my bro had contacted) did it a little sooner and better with his “FXRH” fanzine on Harryhausen (four issues /1971-75). One day we were at the main public library looking for any books, mags and historical info we could find on stop-motion movies when he happened to find Ackerman’s phone #, so he phoned Ackerman (in the library phone booth), who welcomed us to visit him at his home on a Saturday….
It was a warm summer mid-day and some people were already in his home, wandering around in awe of all the vintage movie posters, props and items that were all over the walls and on all the furniture, leaving only a narrow walkway through the many rooms of his two-story home (even his 2-story garage was full of racks holding FM back-issues and other mags)….-original 1930S stop-motion dinosaurs from “KING KONG”, original sci-fi movie spaceship miniatures and props, -the original “Zanti” alien bug (with a human-like face) from the OUTER LIMITS TV episode “The Zanti Misfits”, -the original CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON head mask, -original “FRANKENSTEIN” and “DRACULA” (and other Universal films) props and masks, shelves of rare 1st edition books, original Harryhausen stop-motion dinosaurs, dozens of (even then) rare sci-fi and fantasy film posters on all the walls….just an amazing place !
Before we left, i noticed on one of his desks in a corner a lot of piles of papers and envelopes (probably fan mail), including a few small drawings on top, one of which was of a sci-fi robot (with a medieval knight look)….drawn by me ! I then remembered i had drawn it and sent it to a mailing address in FM a couple years earlier, and had totally forgot about it ! From 1969 to 1971 we also visited a few other stop-mo related people in the L.A. area, including Kong/dinosaur-armature builder Marcel Delgado, Jim Danforth, David Allen, Mark Wolff (Ron Borst, many years later) and a few others (Harryhausen was still living in GB at the time, so we couldnt meet him). But sadly, many years later, a few of these people (friends of each other) later transformed into a group of rude, lying snobs (and one, also a thief) to me, personally. In 1991, i finally met Ray Harryhausen for the first time at a signing appearance (at “The Golden Apple” comic book store in west L.A., now long-gone). And again in 1993 at a convention, after the release of “JURASSIC PARK”, where i heard him (a few feet away) suddenly exclaim “Stop-motion is dead!” (!). But of course he probably didnt mean “entirely” dead, because he knew it wasnt. I have been a fan of his movies since seeing “THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD” in a theater in 1958 !
Then in 1971 my bro got drafted into the Army, and into a religious cult in Washington DC, where he was quickly converted and soon lost all interest in movies and everything else. But i never did, and at 63 i still like the old stop-mo monster movies (and other non stop-mo monsters like “GORGO”, and the new CGI-fx monsters, like “GODZILLA” 2014/2019, etc) !
Many years later (after i returned to L.A. in 1977), in 1986 i revisited Ackerman (then living just south of Griffith Park in East Hollywood) during one of his open-house-tour days. During a brief conversation with him he asked if i was working, so (deciding not to seem like an unemployed bum) i quickly said i was “between jobs” at the time. Weeks later i realized he was possibly going to offer me a job there, but then i just forgot about it because i had already found another job. The last time i saw him (i was 50) was at a 2006 sci-fi convention. He was alone at an autograph-signing table, on a wheelchair, looking very pale, very thin and frail, and not speaking. Not one of his good days.
Forrest J Ackerman (1916-2008) was an eccentric, a life-long atheist, the first sci-fi, fantasy & horror super-fan, multiple fanzines, books and magazines agent, author and editor, the first movie-memorabilia super-collector, the first fantacinema historian and promoter (and good with humor and puns), inventor of the word “SCI-FI”, creator of “Famous Monsters” and “Spacemen” magazines and others, a futurist, a sci-fi pop-culture icon, with many friends and admirers throughout the World, and an honorable, decent and caring man.
– Paul Merrill
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Paul Merrill again….To EVERYONE HERE, i need to post this IMPORTANT UPDATE : in 2019 i posted a lengthy commentary about my teenage memories of the landmark Warren filmagazine FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND (1958-1983), including praising it’s famous co-creator FORREST ACKERMAN….but after reading about the “Sexual Abuse Allegations” included in the Wikipedia page on him (since removed by someone), and the many similar comments about him on the CLASSIC HORROR FILM BOARD online, i have to honorably renounce everything positive thing i wrote in my entry here in 2019 about him, and i regret having posted it. NOTE : I later tried to have my 2019 entry here edited or removed, but was informed by the blog administrator Ted Hicks that he is technically unable to remove anyone’s entries.