Hey folks, Harry here with a report from two nights of tributes at the EGYPTIAN THEATER in Hollywood! These are the types of events that film lovers and film fans hate having to miss. The opportunity to see Deitch's animation on the big screen is indeed a rare treat, but the tribute to Ackerman... well, for anyone raised on the enchanted pages of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND - it was a night honoring the man who gave us such a thirst for everything film. I find it odd that on the night they were honoring Ackerman at the Egyptian, that the very same night, I should happen to FINALLY obtain an original copy of Famous Monsters of Filmland #1!!! I have an entire room here at Geek Headquarters set up in honor of Ackerman, I find it fitting to have conversations with visiting movie fans and film geeks in that room covered - every square inch with memoribilia from the Ackermansion that I've acquired from Uncle Forry over the last several years. It's my way of continuing a tradition, had Forry not welcomed me into his home all those years ago - I never would have started Ain't It Cool News. To the highest degree he has inspired the path my life has taken. Long Live Ackerman!
Hiya Harry
Not sure if this is up your alley or not, but I
recently got my geek on for two days in a row and
thought I'd send in a report.
Night one was Tuesday, Feb. 10th. I hightailed it to
the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood to take in a tribute
to the genius old-school animator Gene Deitch. You
know Gene, right? The guy who basically gave
Terrytoons a reason to respect its own name. He's the
man behind such classic animated characters as Tom
Terrific, Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog, Crabby
Appleton, Sidney the Elephant, Gaston Le Crayon,
Nudnik, and Flebus, to name but a few. Many of them
apparently first aired on CBS in the late 1950's, but
I remember seeing them on Captain Kangaroo when I was
a kid in the 1970's. Deitch is also well known for
his collaborations with other geniuses like Jules
Feiffer, on the Oscar-winning short "Munro," and
Maurice Sendak, on "Where The Wild Things Are." The
tribute showcased some great stuff that hasn't been
shown in a theater in eons, like a segment of the
first-ever series of Tom Terrific shorts.
In the
later Q&A, Deitch mentioned that Tom Terrific was the
first animated serial on network television. Munro,
and shorts featuring Flebus, Nudnik, Gaston and others
were also shown, all in great old Cinemascope prints
(the guy who put together the show--Jerry Beck, who
runs the website CartoonResearch.Com --apologized
for the aged prints, but I didn't mind at all).
Having not seen Deitch's seven minute "Where The Wild
Things Are" since I was little, I was surprised by how
faithful to Sendak's original drawings the animation
was. You'd think that Sendak animated it himself, but
it was Deitch's work that gave motion to Sendak's
picture book genius. Deitch later explained this
faithfulness as respect for the original work, and
you've gotta give him props for not imposing his own
vision onto the screen. He also mentioned that while
he was the primary director for most of his work, he
often gave directorial credit to the lead animator as
acknowledgement of his or her work on the short. How
cool is that? Especially in an industry that's
generally rife with credit hogs.
For me, the biggest
highlight was seeing "The Juggler of Our Lady," a
Deitch short I'd heard about over the years but never
seen. It's about a juggler who feels he has no talent
in comparison to others. He enters a monastery hoping
to live a humble life and continues to struggle trying
to find his place. On Christmas night, after the
other monks (a cook, a poet, a musician, etc.) have
created gifts for their statue of Mary that make the
juggler feel even more inadequate than ever, the
sneaks into Mary's chapel and juggles for her all
night long. He makes Mary so happy that she rewards
him with a rose, proving his worthiness, and everyone
finally recognizes his innate talent. I'm not
religious by any means, but it's a touching story, and
Deitch's animation is absolutely gorgeous.
The short
is also narrated by the peerless Boris Karloff. When
Deitch was asked about Karloff at the Q&A, he told a
funny anecdote about how tall Karloff was, but that he
still wore thick-soled shoes that made him even
taller. All around it was a great night, and that
Karloff story got me hungry for what was coming the
next night.
NIGHT OF THE ACKER-MONSTER!!!
Night two was Wednesday, Feb. 11th, and another
tribute at the Egyptian Theatre. This time around it
was for none other than the Ackermonster himself,
Forrest Ackerman. It's a night you probably would
have loved, Harry. The first half of the night was a
small reception for Uncle Forry and an awesome
tribute, followed by a great 35mm print of one of
Forry's favorites, the 1945 film "Dead of Night." I'm
attaching a pic of the well-mutilated cake presented
to Forry at the catered reception. As for the tribute
we got lots of great clips, including a reel of some
of Forry's appearances in films over the years. There
was also a short film featuring Joe Moe, Forry's right
hand man, telling us about how Forry gets along
nowadays. The short followed Joe and Forry arriving
at the Egyptian Theatre (maybe to help plan this
evening's festivities?), as well as Forry presenting
some sort of award or plaque to Peter Jackson.
Another short had Forry taking Huell Howser on a tour
of the much-missed Ackermansion.
In between the
shorts, some impressive friends of Uncle Forry stood
up to offer their memories. John Landis and Joe Dante
were up first. Joe recalled how much he was inspired
by Famous Monsters of Filmland, most especially
because it featured just about everyone involved with
the fantasy filmmaking world--the directors, the
make-up artists, the writers, etc., not just the
actors--and treated them with the same level of
respect and admiration. John told a funny story about
how he was a Famous Monsters fanboy by proxy. After
seeing a picture of a woman with an axe in her head in
one issue, John's mom forbade her son from letting
Famous Monsters in their house, so he had to read a
cousin's issues when he visited. John also egged Joe
on to tell a story about being published in Famous
Monsters at age 13. Joe basically said that he just
wanted to see his name published in the magazine, so
he sent numerous letters in, citing his favorite
movies, etc. When none of them were printed, he sent a
list of his 50 worst horror films, most of which he
hadn't actually seen (and which he now admires), and
instead of publishing it as a letter, Forry added
pictures, graphics and a byline for Joe and published
it as a feature (Joe laughed at how much his article
pissed off the muckety-mucks at AIP). He also read an
e-mail from Frank Darabont, who was scheduled to be a
guest as well, but who was laid up with the flu (get
well, Frank!).
Next up, Curtis Harrington took the
mic and told a few amusing stories about Forry. One
of them recounted his flick "Queen of Blood," which he
admitted was his only sci-fi feature (he preferred
fantasy and horror to sci-fi). Apparently, Forry
insisted that he should be in Harrington's movie, so
Harrington gave him the role of the doctor in final
scene, who carries out a tray of the alien queen's
quivering eggs. Harrington also amusingly had a loss
of his train of thought and referred to the previous
two speakers and "Joe Dante...[long pause]...and so
on."
The next guest, William Schallert (Dr. Mears
from "The Man From Planet X" and a gazillion other
credits), took the mic and pounced on Harrington's
unintended gaffe by repeatedly referring to John
Landis as "so on." Schallert was a fucking scream,
pretending to be older and more feeble than his age
might lead you to believe, and griping about Forry's
many film cameos ("those are roles I could have
played!").
In addition to these guests, there were
video messages from Peter Jackson and Ray Bradbury.
Peter recalled how Famous Monsters really helped him
get in touch with the world of horror and fantasy
films, which he didn't have much of a chance to
indulge in living in New Zealand. He recounted the
story of how he filmed Forry in a cameo for "Dead
Alive."
Apparently the film was only in
pre-production at that point, not scheduled to film
for several months. But a sci-fi convention brought
Forry to New Zealand for three days, and Jackson knew
he had to figure something out. So he borrowed a 50's
era trenchcoat and hat from his father, dressed Forry
in the costume and took him to the zoo seen in the
opening of the film when the crazy mum is bitten by
the rat monkey. Jackson shot the scenes of Forry on
the fly, and had to talk his way out of trouble when
zoo security jumped on him for filming without a
permit. He later inserted as much of the Forry
footage as he could into the completed film.
On his
tape, Bradbury recalled how as a teenager he met Forry
after spotting a flyer in a bookstore for the Los
Angeles Sci Fi Fan Club, and how significantly Forry
impacted his career. After all of these greetings, a
few letters and e-mails were read from the likes of
Ray Harryhausen and Tim Burton. Then, finally, Forry
got up and was his usual brilliant, loveable and funny
old self. He talked about his pacemaker, and recently
hearing that the oldest living Los Angeleno with a
pacemaker was 107, so he wanted to beat them by making
it to 108.
He talked about Ray Bradbury coming to
court to stand up for him as a witness when he was
sued for $25M for being a stalker (I'm assuming this
must have been that scoundrel Ray Ferry). He also
mentioned a painting that Bradbury had done when they
were young, that Forry had bought from Ray for $5.
Ray made Forry promise that if he ever became
important enough for Forry to sell the painting that
Forry should give him half of the proceeds, and Forry
admitted that he later sold it for $25,000, but Ray
told him to keep the whole thing.
Forry also had
people try to look for four nameplates on the back of
the seats in the theater (which no one could find very
well in the darkened theater). Apparently, Forry
donated a large sum to the theater for renovations,
and bought seats to be named in honor of his late wife
Wendayne, Simone Simon (the leading lady of "Cat
People"), and his maternal grandparents, who first
brought him to the Egyptian when he was a young boy in
1926 to see "The Lost World." Forry modestly
dedicated the evening's tribute to them.
I guess I'll
close with another of Forry's deliciously silly puns.
He said that he was trying to lobby Peter Jackson to
make a remake of "The Phantom of the Opera." There
was a bit of an "ooh" buzz floating in the theater, as
if the idea might be real, then Forry said that he
wanted to play the Lon Chaney part and he wanted Oprah
Winfrey to play the character of Christine, so that
when she pulled away the mask, it'd be the Phantom of
the Oprah.
You gotta love that man! And finally
here's a pic of Forry in the front row of the tribute,
flashing us photogs a wave. It was truly a great
night. Wish you could have been there, Harry!
Moonshine
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