Dear Readers and Fellow Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Horror Fans,
I have a big update to the article "Monsters, Inc." http://mariedoucette.blogspot.com/2011/10/monsters-inc.html.
My birthday is this week, and as such, I received a gift from my Irish twin in the mail: a framed portrait and a copy of the Famous Monsters article that spurred our trip, along with a few photos our parents took of us visiting Forrest J Ackerman, all those years ago.
Framed photo with Monster article
It's right there in the photos: the Forrest face pins we got, and the souvenir pencils. What a great memory of a loving, kind generous fan, like Mr. Ackerman. Thanks, bro! Best. Gift. Ever. Henceforth, it will hang proudly in my office.
The Doucette Kids at The Ackermansion in Hollyweird, Karloffornia.
In addition to Fangoria, as kids we also flipped over Monsters magazine. And why wouldn't we? There were articles about the special effects creators, rubber masks for sale, and toy models of our favorite (or most horrifying) monsters. The biggest actors from the genre were in there, too: Lon Chaney, Jr., Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee. Goldmine!
We concocted recipes for fake blood, and ordered King Kong models from clip out coupons out of the back of the mag, to make Super8 movies of our own. We wrote scripts, and solicited the help of adults to paint backdrops for our mini movie sets. It was so much fun. To this day, horror and fantasy remain prized genres for me to watch on a rainy night. I pored over the works of Edgar Allen Poe, and the creepier aspects to Shakespeare's Macbeth, particularly the graveyard soliloquy to his dead courtier, Yorick.
To say that we had a taste for the macabre would be an understatement, because children recognize high camp and ghoulish fun when they encounter it. The thrill from a good scare is unbeatable. We want to be surprised, and also amused, with a dose of fear for all the unknowns that go bump in the night. After all, the world is a very scary place for children, isn't it? We were so vulnerable and dependent upon others for our care, and if those needs were not met, we would not survive—life vs. death.
Enter into this environment a family trip to California. My oldest brother must have been the driving force behind this gem of an idea, because our parents lined up a visit to the home of the editor to Famous Monsters of Filmland, Forrest J Ackerman. We suffered through banal tours to the desert, The Chinese Theater, the San Diego Zoo, and the Gene Autry museum, to see several stuffed versions of Trigger and Rin Tin Tin. Kinda creepy in it's own way, though all were dulled by the harsh glare of the SoCal sun. I remember constantly squinting and in dire need of sunglasses, which came in the form of these embarrassing animal kiddie frames, bought in haste from the zoo's gift shop.
Finally, we got to see the real stop on our tour, the Ackermansion! We drove through the Hollywood Hills, looking for a street sign for "Karloffornia", and we got so excited to find it! Mr. Ackerman was a wonderful man, a true fan with a giving and generous nature. He gave tours through his home, which is a museum to the artifacts and models from the films we loved so much. I was delighted to find video clips from other visitors, who shared this once-in-a-lifetime Ackerman experience. He's exactly as I recalled: passionate, enthusiastic, full of facts, trivia and information. We adored him. What a kind, sweet man. Thanks to the fellow fan for posting this video clip. It brought back lots of wonderful memories :)
