13 TINY NIGHTMARES - FJA INTERVIEW

PP: You mentioned London. Were you friendly with any of the folks over at Hammer Films in England?

FJA: I was once on a television show with Peter Cushing until about 1:45 in the morning. We left the studio and outside there was the usual group of fans, and he began signing autographs. After a few minutes, Peter looked at his watch and said, "Oh my, I’m terribly sorry, but I’m due at my hotel at 2 o’clock." So by the kindness of fate, I found myself in the limousine heading to Peter Cushing's hotel room. I wondered to myself whether I would see the other side, the metamorphosis when he would begin berating the little people for wasting his time, but he never did.

PP: Cushing was always a real "class act." How about Christopher Lee?

FJA: I’m afraid Christopher Lee remains rather a sore spot in my history.

PP: Really, how so?

FJA: Well, years ago, I owned the ring that Bela Lugosi wore in "Dracula." I had several copies of it made and I gave them out to various fans I met around the world who seemed most deserving. Well, I only had one left, and I happened to be in London for a convention where Christopher Lee was appearing. I thought to myself, "Of course, here is the perfect choice to receive this ring!"

So, I went to his hotel room, expecting just to drop it off, but when he saw the ring, he became very animated and pulled me into the room, grabbed a copy of the Stoker novel and began reciting excerpts for me while swinging a sword.

After this, I thought we had begun a fine friendship. Months later, he was in Los Angeles and I sent flowers or a fruit basket to his hotel room. He said his daughter wanted to see Grisly-land, er, Disneyland, (winks) and I happily offered to drive them there. So, again, I felt I had made a real friend.

Some time later, at another convention event where he was speaking, I was up in the green room when he appeared. He said, "Forrest J. Ackerman, I have a bone to pick with you!" Well, all conversation stopped as he began what felt almost like a scripted tirade that he was bound and determined to complete. "You’ve been giving out my address to the world!" he went on. "Last week I had 600 letters from Germany saying they had gotten my address from Forrest Ackerman." Well, I was dumbfounded! I tried to explain that I would never have given out his address. Had Ray Bradbury or any of my friends and clients been there they could have backed me up. They all knew how protective I was of their addresses. Well, some time later it came out that the President of the Count Dracula Fan Club in England had actually given out the address. To this day, Mr. Lee is very cordial when we meet, but he still hasn’t apologized.

PP: That's a shame. While we're on the topic of Dracula, you have a first edition of Bram Stoker’s "Dracula" don’t you?

FJA: Yes. It's signed by Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, John Carradine, Lon Chaney, Jr., Vincent Price and many others who worked on the various Dracula films. I had Frank Langella sign it. I even took it to Transylvania and had it signed by the curator of Dracula’s castle.

PP: That's a real prize! Looking around, I also see the brontosaurus model from "King Kong". (pictured at right) Does that mean you had some contact with Willis O’Brien?

FJA: No, Willis had died before I became associated with all of this, but I knew his widow Darlene very well. We were together on numerous occasions. She let me look at a scrapbook of his personal photos and gave me some. By the way, when I was in London a couple of years ago, there was a showing of "King Kong", and as I was leaving a woman from the audience came up to me and asked, "Sir, were you the man in the suit?" (Laughs)

PP: Have you seen the restored version with the footage that was lost for so many years of the giant spiders at the bottom of the chasm?

FJA: Well, no. When I saw it originally, I had a correspondent in the Phillipine islands, and I wrote to him raving about it. He wrote back and said, "Wasn’t that great when Kong shook the men off the tree and they fell down in the chasm and the giant spider got them?" And I said, "What? What? I didn’t see any spider!"

PP: I’d heard that after it’s premier showing in the US, the director had gauged the audience’s reaction to the scene and felt it was too gruesome. Apparently, it stopped the movie cold, so he cut it out immediately.

FJA: Somehow it survived in the Phillipine islands. And now a great animator next to Ray Harryhousen, Jim Danforth, is going to animate that scene and insert it back into "Kong."

PP: I can't wait to see that! [Ed. Note: Since this interview the scene has been lovingly recreated and included as part of Peter Jackson's "King Kong."] I’ve got some other names here. How about William Castle? Did you ever talk to him?

FJA: Yes, I met William Castle. I think I was introduced to him by Robert Bloch who scripted one of his films. He was a very jovial and inventive chap.

PP: Did you see the film "Matinee" that was based loosely on his life starring John Goodman? Would you say that’s a fair characterization of Mr. Castle? Sort of the P.T. Barnum of horror films?

FJA: Oh, Yes. Mm-hmm. (wide smile)

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