Monday, December 8, 2008

A day with FJA

Forrest J. Ackerman--FJA or 4SJ, as he referred to himself--died on December 5, 2008 at age 92. He was a cultural icon in the 1960s to a lot of kids my age who bought every issue of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND.

In FAMOUS MONSTERS #25 there was an article about him which turned out to be not only a step-by-step description of his daily activities, but also a rant about fans bothering him, keeping him from his work, and also showed that as far as egos went, his was bigger than most.

"There are people all over the country--the world--who will have to be satisfied to hear from me once in their life, have me answer some simple questions, send them a picture. Uncounted thousands will never be able to talk to me on the phone even once, never set foot inside my house. Is it fair, then, that so many around town should waste so much of my time?"

FJA was a true original in every sense of the word.

From FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #25, October 1963. Copyright © 1963 Warren Publishing Company.









1 comment:

Pappy said...

Forrest J. Ackerman was Famous Monsters and vice versa. He injected so much of his personality into the magazine that it became almost like we knew him personally. I'm not surprised when the fans found out where he lived or what his phone number was that they bothered him. He'd have the right to stop such intrusions into his personal time and space but he almost seemed to encourage them with stories about the "Ackermansion," and his collections. Forry was a very fascinating person and I loved reading his magazines because of that personal connection.