Bob, Forrest J. Ackerman was at the first DS event that I attended, Shadowcon way back in 1983. He was there as an attendee, not as a celebrity guest. Unfortunately, my travel schedule did not give me enough time to visit the legendary Ackermansion.
Uncle Roger,
Yes, Mr. Ackerman was truly a legend in both the publishing and horror film worlds. I remember when Mr. Ackerman appeared on the “Tomorrow Show” with the late Tom Snyder.
Mr. Ackerman wore one of Bela Lugosi’s Dracula capes on the show. (The late Bela Lugosi wore his original Dracula cape in his own coffin.) Mr. Ackerman displayed other horror/sci-fi paraphernalia, such as James
Arness’s alien arm from Howard Hawks’ classic 1951 sci-fi thriller, “The Thing from Another World.” Tom Snyder remarked how shocking it was to see the massive Mr. Arness fling that thorny arm at fellow actor Ken Tobey (a regular in 1950s science fiction films) in that flick. In addition, Mr. Ackerman had the head of the monster from one of the Gill-man’s costumes from “The Creature from the Black Lagoon.”
A highlight of Mr. Ackerman’s appearance was his display of several of the pieces of the equipment from Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory in director James Whale’s 1931 horror film, “Frankenstein.” It’s interesting to compare Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory and equipment to the makeshift laboratory and equipment Dr. Julia Hoffman and Barnabas used in the basement of the Old House to creat Eve, the object of the lovelorn Adam’s affection. By the way, I wished we had found out just who decided to clothe Eve in that stylish, black evening dress on the show. Eve hardly “blended in,” with the other women at Collinwood or in Collinsport, walking around in that get-up.
I only wished that Dan Curtis had decided to show a scene, where the voluptuous Eve saunters into the Blue Whale on a Saturday night, decked out in
that alluring cocktail dress. Can you imagine the reactions of
bartender Bob Rooney, Sheriff George Paterson, Joe Haskell and Ezra Braithwaite when Eve strutted into the
joint?
I bet that Bob would completely chomp through that trademark cigar of his after laying eyes on the sultry Eve!
Oh, well, just another scene, I wished we all could have seen on DS and fondly reminisced about over the past 55 years!