Bye, Forry

The sad news this weekend is that Forry Ackerman, sci-fi fan supreme, has died at 92.  This was not unexpected; he had been in such poor health lately that his death had already been mistakenly reported at least once.

Good obituaries are at the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.  I'm sure there will be many, many more in fannish publications and on fannish websites.  I won't try to summarize his deliciously weird and eclectic life (see the obits), and he wasn't a personal friend.  I never visited the Ackermansion.  But I encountered him once, and it was memorable:

I had just arrived at the Glasgow airport, a few days before the 1995 world science fiction convention.  I'd never been to Scotland before, and as usual when I travel, I had made no particular plans other than getting round-trip airline tickets and purchasing a guidebook.  So I was drifting quietly around the small airport lobby getting the feel of things and locating the currency conversion desk and the lodging info desk so I could at least make a reservation for the days of worldcon itself prior to heading off to explore Edinburgh a bit.

I don't remember how I found myself standing next to Forry, whom I didn't know by sight, or why exactly I thought to say "are you also here for worldcon?"  He must have been wearing something that clued me in, or maybe he just looked fannish.  But I'll never forget what he did: turned to me and waved one hand dramatically in front of my face.  On one finger was a gigantic ring.

"Do you know what this is?"

I stammered something negative and confused.

"THIS is the ring that Bela Lugosi wore in Dracula!"

I was utterly speechless.  In fact, I was still picking my jaw off the floor when he swept around and made a dramatic exit from the airport.

I don't think I ever saw him again, but I did deduce whom I'd, well, not exactly met.  I didn't take the picture at right, but it captures my memory of him precisely.

Forry wore a costume to the very first worldcon in 1939, starting the costuming tradition in fandom.  I am proud to be a part of that tradition as part of my fanac.

You can see Forry on Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video, at about 3:45 in on the version here, as the only person in the movie theater besides Jackson himself who is calmly sitting and munching popcorn while the werewolf attacks.  That fits.

Bye, Forry.  Thanks for the memory.

Images above: Left, Forry in Dracula ring and cape; artist unknown to me.  Nicked without permission from Seeing Stars.  Right, Forry flourishing his ring; photographer unknown to me.  Nicked without permission from Upcoming Horror Movies.

Comments

[Serge]

Forry also appeared in John Landis's "Schlock". There's this scene where the recently resurrected caveman wanders into a cinema where a movie about resurrected dinosaurs & a caveman is playing. Schlock (that's the caveman's name) sits right next to Forry, who is totally oblivious to him, so engrossed is he by the movie and by his popcorn.

[Serge]

Repose en paix.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Aren't the SFWA embarrassed to put up an obituary which apparently no one bothered to proofread? These are supposed to be writers!

"Normally the phrase he is best known for & comes into a piece like this on a person's life and loves."

Huh?

"Bela Lugosi presented him with Dracula's cape and ring, King Kong's paw, the golden Idol that Indiana Jones stole in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Tribbles from Star Trek, and Yoda from Star Wars."

No, really, other than the ring and cape, he didn't. Lugosi died in 1956.

"By my count has only missed 2 or 3 Worldcons."

Can I buy a subject, please?

And there's more!

Sheesh!

[Serge]

Susan... Huh?

To say the least.

[Kip W]

I had one encounter with Ackerman so undramatic that there's no point in trying to relate it. Instead, I'll say (as I have elsewhere), "Thanks, Forry, for your contributions to my lifelong goddam hobby."

[David Bellamy]

Hi Susan. This is sad news. I might not have heard about it for weeks if you had not posted it here, what with final exams and all. I never encountered Forrest Ackerman at all; I knew him only by reputation. Wish I had.

[Susan de Guardiola]

I never fully appreciated all the interesting things he'd done in his life until I read the various obits.

[P J Evans]

I met him, more or less, working registration at a Loscon in Pasadena in the late 80s. He was buying a membership, apparently forgetting he had one as a program participant.

[AJ]

I had only seen him referenced on B movie sites and thought he was just a guy who did a lot of work as an extra in a lot of bombs. I had no idea that he was some sort of uber-fan, and I feel rather sad that I didn't learn who he was until after his death.

[Susan de Guardiola]

I'm boggling over the fact that he was a literary agent. That, I never knew before. The line between fan and pro was very, very fine back then, and he crossed back and forth over and over again.

[Serge]

Susan... He must have been wearing something that clued me in, or maybe he just looked fannish.

This reminds me of Chicago's worldcon in 1982(*). I was on the big shuttle bus taking my room-mate and I from the airport to the hotel, and we got to wondering how many other passengers were also on their way to the con. We soon found out, as the bus drove past the "Battlefield Earth" billboard: everybody onboard was a fan.

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(*) Our then-teenage Rixosous Hostess's first worldcon, if I remember correctly.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Yes, Chicon IV in 1982 was my first.

[AJ]

I think a lot of pros start out as fans, and they don't stop being such once they go pro. For instance, if I ever get published, I'm certainly not going to stop dressing up like a faerie for conventions*, reading authors and comics I like, or any of the other nerdy things I do.

*Ok, I probably won't wear my wings if I'm at a signing, it would be really bad if I put one of my fans' eyes out.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Some pros do, some don't, especially nowadays. Some fans who turn into pros stay fannish. Some don't; I remember being told by one, in a horrified tone of voice, that he wouldn't go to a particular convention where he was not getting an all-expenses-paid trip because, "I'd have to pay for it!" The person in question still considers himself a fan, but I think he's crossed a mental line.

[Serge]

Turner Classic Movies remembers 2008 and includes Forrest Ackerman.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Thanks for the link, Serge! Wow, that was a lovely montage. It made me cry even though I only recognized a few of the people. I'm amused that he's in as a "film historian." I guess that's one way of describing Famous Monsters of Filmland! (Okay, he had several books on the topic as well.)

It was lovely that they included Arthur C. Clarke as well. And I liked how they toned down the color saturation in the color clips so that they blended in nicely with the black and white portions. Very well done.

(Serge cross-posted this from his own LJ entry, by the way, so hop on over there and give him some comments too!)

[Serge]

Thanks for the link, Susan. Their traditional yearly montages are beautiful. If you go to YouTube and enter "TCM remembers" followed by a year, you'll find most and maybe all of them.