* * *
***No copyright infringement intended***
FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND (words and distinctive lettering design) is a registered trademark of Philip Kim.
I assume no rights to Famous Monsters of Filmland or the likeness of Forrest J Ackerman, but only wish to share my experiences and memories of Mr. Ackerman and share in "Keeping the legacy and vision of Uncle Forry alive and well."
Please visit the Famous Monsters website at: http://famousmonsters.com/
"Sci-Fi is Our High!" -- Forry's Legion of Nieces and Nephews
FJA, Ray, Ray [& sometimes John Landis]
Mr. Mumy is quite a nice fellow sharing lots of great memories and I encourage anyone who is a fan to seek him out on Facebook. Even better, check out his latest music at
http://www.reverbnation.com/billmumy
He looked at me and shook my hand saying, "How are you young fella?"
-Please select the picture to enlarge
What happened to all of that footage which was cut?
With Ray here is John (Sinbad 1973) Phillip Law and Terry Moore (hidden behind microphones).
Something of that nature happened at the previous Awards Dinner [featured in the blog entry before this one] in which, possibly because I was dressed for the occasion and carrying a camera, some of the attendees seemed to think I might be from a local newspaper. I didn't mind the attention!
Why not? Mr. Lee we wish you would have been there!!!
When meeting Sara Karloff for the first time she made me feel so at ease.
I'll never forget asking if I could take her photo. To that she replied, "Why don't you have your picture taken with me?"
What a kind lady!!
Vampira! Maila Nurmi was another fun figure to meet.
Ah, the man behind it all! Uncle Forry.
...and after signing untold copies of Famous Monsters, all he could think of is.... well, what could he be thinking?
I'm sure Forry was thinking how much he loves his fans!!!
Uncle Forry as we'll always remember him.
I had such a great time at the Son of FM Con 1995. I took what pictures I thought best and forwarded them to Uncle Ack for his pleasure.
I don't really know if he actually ever got them, however..........
Inside FM #209, there was a few pages devoted to the convention.
Imagine my euphoria, though, when I saw within those few pages some of my photos!!!
In all my years, I could only have dreamed of being a part of FM history. I never thought it would be taking the last pictures of Uncle Forry to appear in FM before he had to abandon his baby, Famous Monsters of Filmland.
Here is the original photo taken by myself.
At the top left is another photo of mine, shown earlier.
Again top left is a final picture taken by myself. I am forever grateful it was included.
All of these can be selected and enlarged to be read.
Still more happy times to come.
Here our famous Bride and her Groom 'renew their vows'. Franky is portrayed by Sean Fernald, whom I would finally get to meet again many years later, but even then neither of us knew we'd had this earlier encounter until he noticed himself posted by me on Facebook.
Here comes Hubby with Brinke Stevens looking on from behind on the left.
And with those vows....
....come lots of WOWs!
Franky and Bride together again with Brinke "Maid of Horror" Stevens.
...and Forry as the "Monster of Scaremonies!"
Also included standing next to Forry is Al Astrella who along with James Greene co-authored the book "A Forbidden Look Inside the House of Ackerman" [2010] now available through Midnight Marquee Press. You can find a copy at this link: http://www.midmar.com/HISTORYACKERMAN.html
As Sean Fernald himself told me: "This event was so much fun. It was the 60th anniversary of Bride of Frankenstein and the monster finally got to wed his mate. I remember Scott Free who portrayed Frankenstein in the Universal Studios Beetlejuice Rock and Roll Revue did my Frankenstein make-up. Forry was the "Sinister Minister" and Brinke Stevens was the Maid of Horror . . . what a blast!"
I thought if anyone was curious about the complete list of guests featured in the "Son of FM" Convention they may be interested in these pages from the pamphlet visitors received.
Please select to enlarge each 'page'.
One guest I really wanted to meet who was absent this time around, Bela Lugosi Jr. was greatly missed.
So when I learned Bela G. Lugosi [which I believe is how he prefers to be known as today] would be at the 1997 Monster Bash Convention in Ligonier, PA I set out to rectify that situation.
I was able to discuss the first time I ever saw Mr. Lugosi and his mother Lillian Lugosi on the Mike Douglas Show television show in what I recall as 1972. He was enjoyably animated as he told me how thrilled they were to be on the show but that once they arrived in Philadelphia, where the show was based at the time, afterwards they found that they were basically stranded! They had to buy their own air line tickets to pay for their way home back to California.
Sara Karloff also attended and it was great to see her again. Incidentally, the Karloff family support his legacy at this home page: http://www.karloff.com/
Lugosi and Karloff Return! What profiles! The Lugosi Legend is kept alive at this family home page: http://belalugosi.com/
Enjoy the neat introduction at this site!
In 1995 at the Son of FM Con there was a petition at Sara Karloff's table that I was able to sign directed to our U.S. Postal Service to honor Chaney, Lugosi & Karloff on a new series of postage stamps.
By 1997, this dream became reality.
Here is sheet of those Classic Movie Monsters. The artwork was fantastic, and Sara Karloff mentioned the people involved couldn't have been better to work with. What a real tribute to the legacy of Chaney's Sr & Jr, Karloff & Lugosi!
Below I included an earlier postage honor for Lon Chaney Sr. making this the second time he was honored. Boris Karloff would again appear on a stamp as the Frankenstein monster in a tribute to make-up artists in the movies which can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/7zlr289
It was through the efforts of the surviving Chaney, Lugosi & Karloff families and fans signatures which made this honor a reality!
Chaney Lives!
Christopher Lee's face made it this time. I'm certain these famous images came from the Ackermansion.
Perhaps Mr. Frederick Calvert Wiebel Jr. is best known for his work involving “Thomas Edison’s Frankenstein” film from 1910. He helped find, restore, and facilitate the production of the first DVD release of the Frankenstein film.
Absolutely anything you would ever want to know about "Edison's Frankenstein" can be found in Mr. Wiebel's updated book on amazon.com here: http://tinyurl.com/7gdha8r
Anyone that attends The Monster Bash always learns very soon that it is one of the best events you can attend. For further information on future "Bashes" please take a look at "The Monster Bash Homepage" located here: http://www.monsterbashnews.com/bash.html
Such an event even Death Itself couldn't pass up.
Death comes by auto?
Just a cool time.
I hope to see more friendly faces at future events to match these Cool Ghouls.
On the way home from the Bash at Niagara Falls we found some shameless Monster commercialism.
Burger King at the House of Frankenstein? Shameless!
Panarama time and Niagara Falls! Please select this link to enhance this photograph. http://tinyurl.com/6qf89df
Just a couple of other photos taken while on this trip in 1997.
Who can really say that when we look 'back into the past' that we aren't really a part of its future? I would have never in my most far-out dreams have known that on top of everything else that I was blessed with to be a part of, the story of my journey with "The Lost World" of 1925 had not yet come to it's conclusion.
[Shown above is a pamphlet obtained at the re-release party for "The Lost World" in 1997 at George Eastman House in Rochester, NY]
History was yet to be written concerning this motion picture. As mentioned in an earlier blog entry of mine, "The Lost World" [1925] was the grand-daddy of all dinosaur pictures. It was the forerunner of "King Kong" and animated by "Kong's" daddy himself, Willis O' Brien and based on the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novel published in 1912.
I had first learned about "The Lost World" when I was a teen and had quite the adventure in securing a copy of it for home movie viewing back in 1974. That led to an episode reported in the local paper when I'd purchased a Standard 8mm print of the film but never received it: http://tinyurl.com/8xrl8za
[The above picture giving more detailed information about the 'newly restored' "Lost World" motion picture!]
"The Lost World" as we knew it in our generation wasn't the film released in 1925. By 1930 it had been edited down to half of its original length and eventually the original negative lost.
[Shown above - George Eastman House 1997]
In 1993, a book was published by McFarland & Company, Inc. and edited by Roy Kinnard which contained the original shooting script of the 1925 "Landmark Special Effects Dinosaur Film - The Lost World". It was a fantastic insight into the classic motion picture and provided 'detailed evidence of the film's intended breadth and scope.'
I have searched the internet to locate some interesting stills from the movie "The Lost World" and never found anything like the frame shown here which was of 'a native ceremony' missing from the abridged version of the film. I reprint this from "The Lost World of Willis O'Brien" only to offer something you can't see anywhere else. I believe the book itself is out-of-print but you can still secure a copy if you are interested from Amazon.com here: http://tinyurl.com/7s3tkra
I am the only person to write a review of it at this site.
Another fascinating still from the motion picture "The Lost World" possibly not seen anywhere ever! Due to the insecurity of the studio First National Pictures, Inc which feared the dinosaurs in the film could be a failure, there was a alternate story written into the script and the extent of what was actually filmed of it is unknown. The idea was that if necessary the prehistoric beasts could be edited out of the picture and the story [and their investment] 'saved' if it was found the audience did not accept the creatures.
Of course it was the dinosaurs and Willis O' Brien's expert execution in bringing these artistic creations of Marcel Delgado to life which made the picture! "The Lost World" was a commercial and critical success. Yet as recent as 1993 as stated in the book The Lost World of Willis O'Brien we knew "With the original negative and all release prints of The Lost World seemingly destroyed, it is highly unlikely that the complete film will ever be recovered for restoration and preservation."
[Another shot of George Eastman House, Rochester NY]
My mother Marjorie Stoscup, whom trekked with me to Rochester, New York to see the World Re-Premiere of "The Lost World" in 1997 at the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House.
Outside of the Dryden Theatre, George Eastman House
As I understand it, back in film history in many cases more than one print was made of a motion picture film from original negatives edited separately from different camera shots made during the shooting of the movie so that a foreign version of the film could be sent overseas and printed for the foreign market. This would save the cost of striking all movie prints from one camera negative alone and shipping these prints all over the world from one location.
Such was the case for "The Lost World" and amazingly a beat up yet almost complete print was located in Czechoslovakia from the Czech National Film Archive in Prague in the 1990s. By 1997, George Eastman House had reconstructed the film to a state where it was as close to the original 1925 'road show' version of the film as possible. It was a wonderful evening to see the film as if for the first time and gasp at each moment of footage gazed upon by these eyes for the first time! I am forever grateful to have been a witness to the event.
The Dryden Theatre where "The Lost World" was found again in 1997.
[Again I wish to show a couple of stills from the book "The Lost World of Willis O'Brien" which I haven't seen anywhere else.]
Yet our story still is not finished. While waiting in line to see the film, there was a eccentric looking fellow nearby who talked very much about his relationship with the widow of Willis O'Brien, Darlyne Prenett O'Brien. I had no reason to doubt his stories of correspondence with her over the years and in fact they only added to the excitement of what we were about to be a part of.
[Another paste-up still for "The Lost World" (1925). Notice the actors in the lower left-hand of the frame.]
I give full credit to George Eastman House for this performance. The piano-accompaniment by Philip C. Carli was astounding. When it was all over, however, this man we'd been talking to stood up and after complimenting the presenters with 'quite a show' he proceeded to remind them that even though it was a revelation for all of us to see "The Lost World" as it hasn't been shown in over 70 years, certain sequences which we know still existed were now missing from this reconstruction.
He was talking about scenes that are currently found in George Eastman's own print of the abridged American version of the film and he was right. Having viewed this version a countless number of times in my basement at home since 1974, I immediately noticed these glaring ommissons. Nonetheless, the George Eastman staff disagreed and even after I sent them many emails to support this man's revelations, they never admitted to a 'botched' reconstruction of the film.
[After all of the excitement of witnessing the World Re-Premiere of "The Lost World" this little fellow had to take a rest!]
When "The Lost World" finally made it to DVD in the year 2000 under the guidance of Serge Bromberg and David Shepard it contained elements from this Czech source and other elements from private collectors and archives around the world. During this time I continued to berate George Eastman House over the internet for not participating in Mr. Bromerg and Mr. Shepard's efforts. I never got a reply back.
What we have with the DVD is the closest we can get to the original "Lost World" but without any of the pristine materials which George Eastman House has stored in their vaults from the American abridged version. To date that's all they offer, their abridged version and not their reconstruction.
I am still deeply grateful we have what is out there today, with one glaring exception. I disagree very much with what I call the 'white-washing' of some of the title cards.
The character of Zambo played by Jules Cowles who was a white man obviously in 'black face' also talked with what one may call an "Uncle Tom" speech pattern. His title cards, along with others were re-written to become 'politically correct' for this present age. While one may find the original film racist and offensive, I still contend that it is education about such things that is needed and not the 'sweeping-it-under-the-rug' attitude that was used here. Too often something like this happens and it presents us instead with a complete misrepresentation of history. Unfortunately this is what we are and where we came from and highlighting and exposing it, not covering up, is what is needed in my opinion to make certain we never return to such times.
Ah well, in the end I applaud the efforts of all that brought us back "The Lost World"!
In June of 2010, I finally returned to The Monster Bash in Pennsylvania after my many years of absence. Shown here are Arlene Domkowski & Harry Long (Associate Publicher and Managing Editor of "Scarlet The Film Magazine").
Join in on the Scarlet fun at http://scarletstreet.yuku.com/, the original forum for and tribute to Richard Valley's Scarlet Street Magazine. [There will be more on our beloved Richard Valley in my next blog entry!]
Famous Monsters of Filmland publisher Philip Kim. Mr. Kim was a joy to talk to and may the re-birth of FM be long lived! As mentioned at the top of this blog entry, join the FM Gang fun at http://famousmonsters.com/
Mr. Tony Dale. It was great meeting so many from the original Scarlet Gang for the first time in person.
John-Paul Checkett and Mom. By the way, Moms still rule down on Scarlet Street!
Ann (War of the Worlds) Robinson. She seemed to be having a real good time this Bash. Great to see her again. As mentioned previously Ms. Robinson can be found on-line at: http://www.annrobinson.com/
Jimmy Hunt quite nicely told me he had long since settled into a 'normal' life when his son began to get him interested in opening up about his past in movies. The son created a web-site (which I can't seem to find however) and things took off from there.
When I asked to take a picture, Billy Gray replied, "Snap away," holding up a program. Mr. Gray is on Facebook and also has a website at: http://www.billygray.com/
I had missed the Julie Adams talk the evening before mainly because we were short of time and needed to get ready for dinner with the gang. The next morning, however, while getting coffee she popped up behind me in line and I got my chance to shake her hand and converse a bit. Ms. Adams can be found on-line at: http://www.julieadams.biz/
I didn't get to talk to Bert I. Gordon but he and daughter Susan were with us for dinner and I did get a few words with her. I see she mentions her good friend Richard Valley on her website.
[Note: Sadly we lost Susan Gordon last year and miss her very much.]
Mr. B.I.G can be located on-line at: http://bertigordon.com/
As George "The Animal" Steele told me, "We bonded!" It was one of those things. He caught me looking over someone and from then on every time I ran into him we laughed. Of course I was reminded by he and his wife that they are from Michigan themselves. We ran into each other a lot over the weekend.
There is a lot going on at: http://www.georgetheanimalsteele.com/
My dog Pal. This was a photo taken by his Aunt Maleva (Arlene Domkowski) during his stay at the conference. He is becoming a well traveled dog!
Another photo taken by Arlene Domkowski of myself. Thanks folks, for having me!
Friend and co-author of the book "A Forbidden Look Inside the House of Ackerman" [2010] Jim Greene was able to take an 'appearance' of mine back in Texas at a local Houston gathering (circa 1982) and make my dreams come true. (See next photo.)
I'm now a "Famous Monster"! ...Thanks to Mr. Jim Greene!!
As mentioned earlier in this blog entry Jim worked with Al Astrella in creating the book "House of Ackerman"
As with my previous blog entry, I'd like to close this section with a few more photographs from the trip up the West Coast [starting with one from Yosemite National Park] of the USA after the "Son of FM Con" in 1995.
I'll never forget asking if I could take her photo. To that she replied, "Why don't you have your picture taken with me?"
What a kind lady!!
Uncle Forry as we'll always remember him.
I don't really know if he actually ever got them, however..........
Imagine my euphoria, though, when I saw within those few pages some of my photos!!!
Here is the original photo taken by myself.
Here our famous Bride and her Groom 'renew their vows'. Franky is portrayed by Sean Fernald, whom I would finally get to meet again many years later, but even then neither of us knew we'd had this earlier encounter until he noticed himself posted by me on Facebook.
Also included standing next to Forry is Al Astrella who along with James Greene co-authored the book "A Forbidden Look Inside the House of Ackerman" [2010] now available through Midnight Marquee Press. You can find a copy at this link: http://www.midmar.com/HISTORYACKERMAN.html
As Sean Fernald himself told me: "This event was so much fun. It was the 60th anniversary of Bride of Frankenstein and the monster finally got to wed his mate. I remember Scott Free who portrayed Frankenstein in the Universal Studios Beetlejuice Rock and Roll Revue did my Frankenstein make-up. Forry was the "Sinister Minister" and Brinke Stevens was the Maid of Horror . . . what a blast!"
I was able to discuss the first time I ever saw Mr. Lugosi and his mother Lillian Lugosi on the Mike Douglas Show television show in what I recall as 1972. He was enjoyably animated as he told me how thrilled they were to be on the show but that once they arrived in Philadelphia, where the show was based at the time, afterwards they found that they were basically stranded! They had to buy their own air line tickets to pay for their way home back to California.
Enjoy the neat introduction at this site!
By 1997, this dream became reality.
Below I included an earlier postage honor for Lon Chaney Sr. making this the second time he was honored. Boris Karloff would again appear on a stamp as the Frankenstein monster in a tribute to make-up artists in the movies which can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/7zlr289
It was through the efforts of the surviving Chaney, Lugosi & Karloff families and fans signatures which made this honor a reality!
Absolutely anything you would ever want to know about "Edison's Frankenstein" can be found in Mr. Wiebel's updated book on amazon.com here: http://tinyurl.com/7gdha8r
[Shown above is a pamphlet obtained at the re-release party for "The Lost World" in 1997 at George Eastman House in Rochester, NY]
I had first learned about "The Lost World" when I was a teen and had quite the adventure in securing a copy of it for home movie viewing back in 1974. That led to an episode reported in the local paper when I'd purchased a Standard 8mm print of the film but never received it: http://tinyurl.com/8xrl8za
[The above picture giving more detailed information about the 'newly restored' "Lost World" motion picture!]
[Shown above - George Eastman House 1997]
I am the only person to write a review of it at this site.
[Another shot of George Eastman House, Rochester NY]
As I understand it, back in film history in many cases more than one print was made of a motion picture film from original negatives edited separately from different camera shots made during the shooting of the movie so that a foreign version of the film could be sent overseas and printed for the foreign market. This would save the cost of striking all movie prints from one camera negative alone and shipping these prints all over the world from one location.
Such was the case for "The Lost World" and amazingly a beat up yet almost complete print was located in Czechoslovakia from the Czech National Film Archive in Prague in the 1990s. By 1997, George Eastman House had reconstructed the film to a state where it was as close to the original 1925 'road show' version of the film as possible. It was a wonderful evening to see the film as if for the first time and gasp at each moment of footage gazed upon by these eyes for the first time! I am forever grateful to have been a witness to the event.
Yet our story still is not finished. While waiting in line to see the film, there was a eccentric looking fellow nearby who talked very much about his relationship with the widow of Willis O'Brien, Darlyne Prenett O'Brien. I had no reason to doubt his stories of correspondence with her over the years and in fact they only added to the excitement of what we were about to be a part of.
I give full credit to George Eastman House for this performance. The piano-accompaniment by Philip C. Carli was astounding. When it was all over, however, this man we'd been talking to stood up and after complimenting the presenters with 'quite a show' he proceeded to remind them that even though it was a revelation for all of us to see "The Lost World" as it hasn't been shown in over 70 years, certain sequences which we know still existed were now missing from this reconstruction.
He was talking about scenes that are currently found in George Eastman's own print of the abridged American version of the film and he was right. Having viewed this version a countless number of times in my basement at home since 1974, I immediately noticed these glaring ommissons. Nonetheless, the George Eastman staff disagreed and even after I sent them many emails to support this man's revelations, they never admitted to a 'botched' reconstruction of the film.
When "The Lost World" finally made it to DVD in the year 2000 under the guidance of Serge Bromberg and David Shepard it contained elements from this Czech source and other elements from private collectors and archives around the world. During this time I continued to berate George Eastman House over the internet for not participating in Mr. Bromerg and Mr. Shepard's efforts. I never got a reply back.
What we have with the DVD is the closest we can get to the original "Lost World" but without any of the pristine materials which George Eastman House has stored in their vaults from the American abridged version. To date that's all they offer, their abridged version and not their reconstruction.
I am still deeply grateful we have what is out there today, with one glaring exception. I disagree very much with what I call the 'white-washing' of some of the title cards.
The character of Zambo played by Jules Cowles who was a white man obviously in 'black face' also talked with what one may call an "Uncle Tom" speech pattern. His title cards, along with others were re-written to become 'politically correct' for this present age. While one may find the original film racist and offensive, I still contend that it is education about such things that is needed and not the 'sweeping-it-under-the-rug' attitude that was used here. Too often something like this happens and it presents us instead with a complete misrepresentation of history. Unfortunately this is what we are and where we came from and highlighting and exposing it, not covering up, is what is needed in my opinion to make certain we never return to such times.
Ah well, in the end I applaud the efforts of all that brought us back "The Lost World"!
Join in on the Scarlet fun at http://scarletstreet.yuku.com/, the original forum for and tribute to Richard Valley's Scarlet Street Magazine. [There will be more on our beloved Richard Valley in my next blog entry!]
[Note: Sadly we lost Susan Gordon last year and miss her very much.]
Mr. B.I.G can be located on-line at: http://bertigordon.com/
There is a lot going on at: http://www.georgetheanimalsteele.com/
As mentioned earlier in this blog entry Jim worked with Al Astrella in creating the book "House of Ackerman"
Most photographs originally published January 30 & 31, 2009; February 3, 2009; May 21, 2009; June 18, 2009 & June 29, 2010; July 1 & 15, 2010 on my Facebook account along with some new ones!
......
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