forry lives

-> the legendary (yes, legendary!) creator of famous monsters of filmland passed away today. 92 yrs young! he'd been sick for quite a spell, but i thought of him akin to bradbury: a fellow old in yrs, but ever-young & amazing in imagination, therein somehow eternal... his mag changed so much about pop culture, proffering "the monster" as what we resemble & desire since we (well, me, for one) feel misfitted, misunderstood, monstrous a bit or a lot: it was a bible that way. an ex, the blazers bassist dude, had scores of FMOF up in his bedroom closet, plastiqued & coveted like i have my mad mag cache, & he'd only let me glance at them, never touch...
-> we (not blazers dude, but me & b, me & greg) went to forry's ackermansion near griffith park many times in the early 00s. the house alone was aged & fabulous, near (heck, maybe in; i dunno) the hollywood hills, where the streets are so steep, narrow, & windy, you're sure you'll crash back into yourself on ascent. i imagine the vintage near art fein's place, which is only a stone's throw away: exclusive silent era.
-> he had maria -- the REAL maria! golden, forbidding, beautiful, from metropolis, his favorite movie -- looming before the giant picture window in his sunken living rm, which overlooked hollywood. god, that alone was impressive!! he had face masks of ALL the horror greats -- karloff, lugosi, chaney jr & sr, everyone! (he knew them all, too) -- & the place, opened to the public saturdays, teemed, moaned, groaned, creaked basement to ceiling w/the most amazing collection of horror/scifi movie memorabilia & reading you could ever in your life've seen in one place. you'd wind thru that house, agape, pinching yourself at how every wondrous site from every horror/scifi film ever was there! how could it be???
-> each time we'd go, & all gathered at end of tour in the living rm for forry's fireside chat, he'd use me while telling a story of a famous actor on a drunk who chased a "pretty girl" & i'd be flattered as heck, tho know it was only convenience that let me be the model. (really wish all the pix weren't buried on a disc someplace in this old haunted house...)
-> my friends gary & darrell, who along w/but distinct from greg goodsell are bakersfield's forrest j. ackerman, 4-5 yrs ago put out a drive in-cold war-vibed horror flick, "the creep." forry introduced it! by the time of their 2nd film, "silver angel vs. the death zombie," forry was too ill to do the intro. so guess who did it??? yours truly!!! yes, a lovely costume lady altered an old halloween dress &, in that, aided by G&D's soft lighting, i looked like a million bucks!! i could scarcely believe what i saw, actually... heard was another story. i cannot act w/no piano in front of me, not even by a toenail... but back to forry: greg goodsell will write more & better about him. i say rest in peace to someone who helped us all recognize & grow to love the monster w/in. "fangs for the memories," dr. acula.