All Hail the Ackermonster!
Online Efforts to Organize a Monstrous Tribute

Pam Keesey

I, like so many others, am a child of Famous Monsters of Filmland. I owe much of my childhood, and certainly much of my childhood movie viewing, to the one and only Forrest J Ackerman. Forry Ackerman is a fan’s fan. Born in 1917, he is nearly as old as cinema itself, and certainly is as much a national treasure. His home, nestled deep within the Hollywood Hills, is a shrine of monster movie memorabilia. Every Saturday, fans from all over the world lose themselves in the bowels of Horrorwood, Karloffornia, thrilled at the opportunity to meet the man who meant so much to them growing up.

Forry’s fans are now using the web to organize two tributes to the man who made it all possible. Mark Wilhelm, via Creepy Classics’ MonsterMovies list at Egroups.com, is encouraging Forry Fans to sign a petition urging the Side Show Toys company to honor Forry with his own Little Big Head. If you’re not familiar with Little Big Heads, they’re delightful little figurines with over-sized heads immortalizing characters from classic horror films. Surely, the Ackermonster himself deserves such an homage! If you’re interested in signing the on-line petition, you may do so at Petition Online

The folks at Cult Movies magazine are putting together a tribute of their own. Forry, who has lived is entire life in L.A. (give or take a year or two), has yet to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Forry deserves to be honored along with the best of them. Cult Movies magazine has submitted a nomination to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in the hopes that Forry will be one of the twelve chosen for the year 2001 to receive a star. The committee makes their decision in May.

In the meantime, Cult Movies magazine has set out to raise the $15,000 fee required by the Chamber of Commerce for the installation of the star. If you’re interested in contributing, you can send a check earmarked for the Forrest J Ackerman Fund to Cameo Distributions. The folks at Cult Movies say that if Forry’s not elected to the Walk of Fame, the funds will go to shore up Forry’s legal defense in the case involving Ray Ferry. For more information, you can check out http://www.cult-movies.com/newnews.htm or e-mail Cult Movies at info@cult-movies.com. Who knows? Maybe 2001 will go down in history as the year 4EK1.

Pam Keesey is well known for her writing on women in horror, including her books Daughters of Darkness, Dark Angels, Women Who Run with the Werewolves, and Vamps: An Illustrated History of the Femme Fatale. She is the editor and publisher of MonsterZine, an online horror movie magazine that, in the words of Dr. Frank C. Baxter of The Mole People (1956), explores the meaning and significance of horror movies in the 21st century. In addition to editing horror fiction and non-fiction about horror, Pam has also worked as a technical editor, a news editor, and as an editor of occult books in Spanish.