FORREST J ACKERMAN, Continued.

"It wasn't until the 1950s," writes John Brosnan in Future Tense. The Cinema Of Science Fiction (1978), "when the first big science fiction boom was underway and the general public was beginning to assimilate the idea that space travel was a real possibility, that science fiction writers began to discard their spaceships and futuristic hardware in favour of mining the softer sciences for their story ideas." Recognized as having nurtured the careers of Charles Beaumont, Ray Bradbury, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Ray Harryhausen, and others, Forry Ackerman is also the source of the term 'sci-fi.' However, it was as editor of the James Warren publication Famous Monsters of Filmland that a firestorm of interest in science fiction, fantasy, and horror grew to...monstrous proportions.

Left: First issue of FM, 1958. Right: Uncle Forry, and Uncle Boris (the great Boris Karloff).

The first issue, published in February 1958, required a second printing to satisfy the demands of readers. Les Daniels writes of "this mood of monster madness" in Living In Fear. A History of Horror In The Mass Media (1975). "Famous Monsters outlasted the dismay of social critics and the dissent of serious cinema scholars." A profusion of products, from books, games and puzzles, to costumes, records and toys followed. Uncle Forry (as his many fans knew him) was a direct inspiration to many artists, including: Stephen King, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, and Gene Simmons. Calvin Beck, writing about science fiction and fantasy in his 1975 Heroes Of The Horrors: "Appreciating its total spectrum and unlimited range is to be aware that mankind's entire culture has its genesis in the myths and occult sensibility on which civilization was founded."

Previous Page Next Page

Home Museum About Us Events Contact Us Introduction Contents Community Arts Corner Links