House of Dr. Acula

By Brad Linaweaver

(There was an old Universal horror film in the 1940s called House of Dracula. Forrest J Ackerman is the only performer to play Count Dracula as well as his own creation of Dr. Acula in Hollywood films.)

My previous article in Prometheus was about the importance of Forrest J. Ackerman to the development of science fiction and horror in the entertainment industry. We were friends. He had a remarkable life that ended in November, 2008 at the age of 92. His influence will never end.

As promised last issue, this piece will be about my professional involvement with Forry. Over the years he not only helped my career but I watched him do a lot to help the careers of friends and associates. I specifically promoted writers, artists and actresses to Forry. He helped them all and I hope in time they will tell their stories. There can never be too many articles and books about this man.

My story begins as one of the many fans he taught to have a Sense of Wonder. We learned the battle cry: “Gosh Wow!” As a teenager I sent a letter to Famous Monsters of Filmland and was thrilled when he published it in 1970, issue #64.

Little did I know that a year later Forry would be introducing me to Robert Bloch at the first science fiction convention I ever attended on the alien planet of Dallas, Texas. That ultimately led to my favorite of eighty short story sales, “Clutter,” appearing in Bloch's 1991 anthology, Psycho-Paths (Tor Books) about a fan who represents all of us who grew up as sci-fi children of the Ackermonster.

Over the years, Forry influenced other stories that I wrote. “The Lon Chaney Factory” was dedicated to him and appeared in the anthology, When the Black Lotus Blooms (Unnameable Press). Forry reprinted it in his magazine, Monsterama as the cover feature.

When I wrote a story about H. G. Wells for E. J. Gold's Galaxy, I couldn't think of a good title. Forry came up with, “Wells of Wisdom,” and promoted the story that not only was published but also made it on to the Nebula Preliminary Ballot although it wasn't a Finalist like “Moon of Ice” and also received a dramatic audio reading by actress Catherine Oxenberg.

But wait, there's more! I sold two stories to the FJA anthology, Rainbow Fantasia, published by Sense of Wonder Press (also the publisher of Prometheus Award-nominated Anarquia that I co-wrote with J. Kent Hastings). I made Forry the monster expert in the third Doom novel, Infernal Sky, part of the best-selling series I did with Dafydd ab Hugh for Pocket Books. Why, that's the one where the heroic spacemen and spacewomen are passing around a book by Ludwig von Mises.

Right after I finished working on the manuscript, Forry invited me to his house to be part of a BBC documentary on Frankenstein, “Building the Perfect Beast.” That's almost as unbelievable as the fact Forry also appears in the novel version of Moon of Ice that won an award.

When J. Neil Schulman created Pulpless.Com he brought out books in the Forrest J. Ackerman series. Those were great days when Samuel Edward Konkin III, Kent Hastings, John DeChancie and Yours Truly burned the midnight oil to publish cool stuff that New York didn't want. There was a bit of libertarianism here and there.

Of course, none of this fulfilled my childhood dream of writing for Famous Monsters of Filmland. That came true in the mid-90s when I contributed to the Dynacomm FM. I did a feature on Fred Olen Ray and Jim Wynorski's Dinosaur Island and memorial pieces on Vincent Price and Robert Bloch. I even persuaded William F. Buckley, Jr. to make a contribution!

But I only contributed to the magazine when Forry was editor. After his falling out with publisher Ray Ferry, I testified in court on Forry's behalf when he was defending his intellectual property rights. As a result, the Dynacomm publisher attacked me in his book Life Is But A Scream! Forry won his case and his attorney said that I helped. That is one of the proudest moments of my life. Since then I have learned that you only know your true friends when your back is to the wall.

After the FM debacle, the good guys at the magazine Cult Movies agreed we should do something on behalf of Forry. Buddy Barnett, Mike Copner and I (as Rocket Engineer on the editorial credits) brought back Spacemen as part of a number of special Cult Movies/Spacemen double issues. Forry loved the rebirth of his science fiction movie magazine.

I did a piece for Spacemen on my favorite film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which I answered criticisms of the seminal pic from my friends Forry and Ray Bradbury. Both of them respected my critique. Later I received a letter from Arthur C. Clarke himself in which he wrote, “Your article brilliant!” He also asked me to pass on his regards to 4E. That was a fan wet dream come true.

In the end, Forry taught all of us to trust the creative geniuses who inspired us to enter the world of science fiction in the first place. Ah, nostalgia.

The greatest honor Forry ever gave me was an invitation to co-author Worlds of Tomorrow: The Amazing Universe of Science Fiction Art for Collectors Press. Gosh Wow, indeed! We did a signing at the San Diego Comicon in 2004 and signed our names so many times that we needed Asimovian positronic hand replacements.

My final magazine work with Forry was in collaboration with Jessie Lilley. She and I do a pop culture magazine called Mondo Cult and Forry contributed a really nice piece on the lost spider sequence from the original King Kong. He also appears as Dr. Acula in photographs provided by Irena Belle Films. Which brings us to the subject of Dr. Acula!

Long before Famous Monsters, FJA developed this idea, combining the mad scientist with the vampire. He came up with this notion before World War II, during which this kind of horror movie plot started bearing a resemblance to a dread reality.

In the Fifties, Forry was the agent of oddball film director Ed Wood who spawned those final Bela Lugosi movies we love so much. There was a possibility of a TV series of Bela doing the Dr. Acula character, but it never came off. Forry is the only person to have played this particular role. One of the times he appeared as Dr. Acula was on NPR as the host of Berl Boykin's Horror House series in which I adapted two Edgar Allan Poe stories as one of the episodes.

His last speaking role in a film is as Dr. Acula, the host of The Boneyard Collection, a film anthology by Ed Plumb and L. J. Dopp. The longest episode he introduces is my story, “Her Morbid Desires,” available in the Clownface collection at Pulpless.Com!

The reader will not be surprised that these weird credits never end. Earlier I appeared as a werewolf in a Plumb production where Forry is the enemy of Dracula in the Vampire Hunters Club.

What is really perfect is that Forry also played Count Dracula, wearing Lugosi's cape and ring in Fred Olen Ray's Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold in which your humble correspondent appears as Running Guy.

Amazing!

On March 8, 2009, I was privileged to be one of the speakers honoring Forry's memory at a memorial event at the Egyptian in Hollywood, attended by over 500 invaders from the infinite. FJA's long time friend, Ray Bradbury, was the first speaker of many. In the company of film directors such as John Landis, Joe Dante, Guillermo del Toro and other luminaries, the Tingler in my spinal cord started to grow, warning me not to screw up. I relied heavily on the piece I had just done for Prometheus, “The Freedom To Remember.” The line about Forry Ackerman being the Walt Disney of science fiction was greatly appreciated.

We were influenced in our childhoods more than we will ever know.

(NOTE: In 2003, Brad and Ed Kramer created a Dragoncon award inspired by Forry to honor science fiction and fantasy, the Futura award, a pewter sculpture made by L. J. Dopp based on Maria, the female robot from Forry's all time favorite movie, Metropolis. Maybe Dr. Frankenstein can bring this award back to life in the future.)

This is the second part of a two-part essay in memory of Forrest J. Ackerman, by Prometheus Award-winning author Brad Linaweaver. Part one appeared in the Volume 27, Number 2, Winter 2009 issue of Prometheus.