I am in the beginning stages of a documentary on Forry Ackerman and, as such had the great priviledge of interviewing Ray with Forry yesterday in Ray's TV room for a good hour or so. What wonderful stuff came from those two dear friends!

RB was very generous to open home and hearth to us for this project, and when and if this project ever sees completion, I will report it on the board FYI.

[This message has been edited by dougspaulding (edited 08-15-2006).]

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dougspaulding: GREAT!WONDERFUL!
But how about getting yourself over to the NEW Bradbury board and posting this. There's just a few of us here at the old board...

NEW Board: http://www.raybradbury.com

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[This message has been edited by Nard Kordell (edited 08-16-2006).]

Oh, but wait! Tell us about the Ackermansion again. Like a great big castle in a fantasy story, I could have found a little cubbyhole to hide. Then, at night, I'd come out and forage through Forry's wonders.

Sadly. the original Ackermansion is no more. I visited with 4E in his Mini-Mansion a couple of years ago, after calling him to request a visit. There were many others on that Saturday, and each had wonderful things to see and say about his collection and contribution to the Sci-Fi world, a term which he coined. I had him autograph a copy of the book Metropolis and studied his magnificent model of Futura the robot from Metrolpolis, which he reconstructed in 1970 from scratch, as the original was long gone by then.

Forrest J. Ackerman's 'Ultima' Robot, 1970s.


William Malone and Robert Short, 'Metropolis Robot - Ultima'. Constructed for Forest J. Ackerman, ?1970s. Work involved 600 hours over an 18 month period.

What happened to all the stuff, though? I always thought it was a trajedy that collection had to be broken up like that. These guys need some kind of a union, or retirement plan. Wasn't it sold off to help pay for medical expenses? A fundraiser, like the one we recently saw to help Charles Grant, where all his friends contribute signed editions of their books and other memorabilia for an online auction may have helped too.

[This message has been edited by grasstains (edited 08-22-2006).]

sadly, a lot of it was sold and some even stolen by those who came to visit him, as told to me by 4E himself. vestiges remain and some very prominent items among them, very dear to the Sci-Fi fan. And of course there is the coffin in the living room, which he loves to use to his advantage, with "always room for one more".

I, also, visited Ackermansion II. Forry explained his lack of funds as due to an inadequate will on the part of his wife--who, it seems, had most of the money--and a crooked stepson. I did wonder, when he had friends such as Steven Spielberg, why such friends did not step up to help him keep his home and collection, but it wasn't my place to ask such things. The personal information he gave was all voluntary on his part and not due to questioning on my part.

I also heard Andre Norton suffered serious financial problems in later years--this was a widely-known, much-printed author of a shelf full of books! It's very sad to hear about such people falling on hard times. Forry was very happy in his surroundings, which are clean and well-kept, and he seems to have good help. He loves company and talks virtually nonstop with the most fascinating stories. It's just too bad he couldn't be in less reduced circumstances after such a distinguished career.

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Similar fate with writer Avram Davidson.
See: http://www.avramdavidson.org/

In later years, he wound-up renting in Sausalito, California, where, on frequent occasions, his son Frodo stayed with him. In the last years (and which I am so sorry to say I didn't get in touch with him)...he was wheel-chair bound and asked old friends to drop him a line when they could... By what means he was living I do not know.
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Wow, I know two brothers named Thorin and Gandalf but didn't realize anyone had a son named Frodo.

Here's a message posted at the asimovs.com discussion board within the last day:

"I found some items on ebay that were being represented as being part of the Forrest J. Ackerman collection. I bid on some of them, and "won", if that's the right word, about 1/2 the lost I bid on. I didn't really care if they were really part of the famous Ackerman collection, as they all appeared to be nice items. But still.....

Someone of you out there who would know, is this likely to be legit so far as being a downsizing of the Ackerman collection. Not really trying to stir up trouble for or about anyone, but would like to know your thoughts. Especially as there's been some more stuff posted for sale in the last day or so...the idea of owning part of the collection once owned by Forrest J. Ackerman fills me with a pimply-squeey goosebumps feeling, if true."