Baron Dave Romm
By Baron Dave Romm
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Baron Dave Interview with 4e
Real Audio interview with Forrest J. Ackerman at Convergence, July 3, 1999. 16:25
4e Ackerman was one of the guests at the first Convergence, and I had a chance to site down and talk with him. He was a tricky interview, and his playful yet professional answers were born out of a very long career on both sides of the microphone.
He died on December 4, 2008CE at age 92 having lived out a science fiction fan's dream: He got paid to write about science fiction, to be honored for his contributions and to get paid while having fun.
As a teen in the early 30s, in the midst of the Great Depression, he was a voracious reader and correspondent. Seventy-five years on, in the internet era, the latter accomplishment needs to be put in perspective: Imagine blogging with 127 people... by snail mail, typing out every comment and physically mailing every letter, keeping track of every conversation. OMG! You don't have that many BFFs.
One of the first true BNFs
Many fans became professionals. Many former fans who became professionals liked (and still like) to hang out with fans. Bob Tucker was always a fan first and an author second. Isaac Asimov was always a professional writer but cherished his status in First Fandom. Forry Ackerman (4e) aka Forrest J. Ackerman (4sj) made a career out of being a science fiction fan.
He was such a prolific writer that he didn't have time or the space to indent a paragraph while typing: He invented non-stop paragraphing. Instead of a carriage return and a space between paragraphs, he simply rolled the platen down one line and continued. This is hard to do on a web page, and easy on a typer. Even in the world of fanzines, which looked remarkably like the blogs of today, it didn't catch on, but was distinctive enough that its association with 4e remains.
He dressed up in costume at the first Worldcon in 1939, establishing costuming (or "cosplay") as a tradition in sf fandom. He gave Ray Bradbury money to publish his first fanzine. He was friends with most of the fans of the day... continued the friendship when the fans became pros... and went on to be friends with Bela Lugosi, Fritz Lang and others in filmmaking.
As fandom grew from humble beginnings in the late 1920s, a few fen excelled in their chosen avocation for much of their life, and their legend spread to neofen and fringefen. 4e is one of a very few Big Name Fans (BNFs), recognized by almost anyone even in today's vastly larger and more splintered sci-fi world.
Oh yeah... 4sj coined (or at least popularized) the term "sci-fi".
My first Worldcon
In college, I was a science fiction fan, a silent film buff and generally interested in weird things. My first Worldcon was Discon II, held Labor Day Weekend, 1974, in Washington DC.
4e made almost every Worldcon, missing only two of the sixty-six during his lifetime, and he was at this one, talking about one of his favorite subjects: Fritz Lang's Metropolis. 4e was a friend of Lang's, and has the original robot costume in his collection. He narrated the silent film, discussing special effects, cinematography and background; doing what what we would now call a commentary if it were on DVD. This was highly unusual; The practice may not have been unique, but I've never seen it done before or since. 4e was knowledgeable and erudite, sprinkling interesting facts with personal conversations with Fritz Lang.
I don't think I said much directly to him. Perhaps just a thank you and a hand shake. Ackerman's willingness to contribute his experience to science fiction fans is still one of my prized memories of any sf con.
So I regret saying goodbye too soon, Forry. Our worlds overlapped too little. I'm sorry I never got to tour the Sci-Fi Mansion or to hang out and discuss films. Yet I will not forget how you enriched my life, and will always admire your sensawonda.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
We all go together when we go (guardian.co.uk)
The first great financial crisis of the 21st century has begun. Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman explains how it happened, and how it can be cured.
Anya Kamenetz: Breaking News -- College Is Unaffordable for Most (huffingtonpost.com)
If one year at a public university costs more than half of the income of the poorest fifth of the population, that's no meritocracy.
Froma Harrop: Big Three Auto Firms Will Need Music, Too (creators.com)
The American "love affair" with cars is close to dead, then-Ford Motor chief Bill Ford lamented six years ago. "In California, people used to write songs about T-Birds and Corvettes," said Henry Ford's great-grandson. "Today, they write regulations." Ford had earlier shocked Detroit by admitting that sport utility vehicles caused environmental problems.
Bob Cesca: No Attacks Since When?
In her column for the Wall Street Journal, the insufferably pompous Charles Emerson Winchester of the D.C. punditocracy, Peggy Noonan contributed to a massive hoax which I've nicknamed the 'No Attacks' Mythology: ...
Nat Hentoff: Obama's First 100 Days (villagevoice.com)
After ending American torture, will we prosecute those who ordered other war crimes?
Susan Estrich: The "A Team" (creators.com)
You can tell a lot about a person by the people who surround them. In theory, the "bigger" you are, the bigger and better the people around you should be. What makes a great leader is a great team. All that. Except that very often, it just ain't so.
'If I'm killed, let that bullet destroy every closet door' (guardian.co.uk)
Liberal hero, political pioneer, assassination target - Harvey Milk was the Barack Obama of his day. In 1977, he was the first openly gay man elected to US public office. A year later, he was shot dead. As a new film documents his life, John Patterson tells his story.
Karin Badt: "'Let the Right One In': New Vampire Film with a 'Beat'" (huffingtonpost.com)
Several people excitedly told me I had to go see Tomas Alfredson's new film, Let the Right One In, a Swedish film which is also currently playing at the Angelika in New York.
Sarah Seltzer: "Love Bites: What Sexy Vampires Tell Us About Our Culture" (RH Reality Check. Posted on AlterNet.org)
Pop culture vampires have always reflected cultural anxieties about sex. "Twilight", the new teen box office blockbuster, is no exception.
Roger Ebert: Win Ben Stein's mind
I've been accused of refusing to review Ben Stein's documentary "Expelled," a defense of Creationism, because of my belief in the theory of evolution. Here is my response.
Roger Ebert: The best films of 2008 ... and there were a lot of them
In these hard times, you deserve two "best films" lists for the price of one. It is therefore with joy that I list the 20 best films of 2008, in alphabetical order. I am violating the age-old custom that film critics announce the year's 10 best films, but after years of such lists, I've had it. A best films list should be a celebration of wonderful films, not a chopping process. And 2008 was a great year for movies, even if many of them didn't receive wide distribution.
David Bruce: "William Sleator's 'Oddballs': A Discussion Guide (lulu.com)
Free Download.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The Holiday Movie Season Edition
Are you planning to go to the cinema and see one of the new 'Holiday Season' movies?
A. Yes! I avidly want to go see___________ with___________ (unless I go alone, that is, cuz I need some space or my partner hates what I want to see)...
B. No! I'd rather stay home and watch holiday classic movies and/or college football bowl games on TV. Besides, I'd rather wait until the movies come out on DVD than sit in a jammed packed theater listening to people's stupid cell phone ring tones and their inane conversations (or something like that, haha)...
C. Maybe... It depends on whether the whole 'holiday season' thing starts driving me crazy and I need to escape for a few hours, dagnabbit!... I might go see__________...(but, then again, I might just go to the bar)
'Fess up now, Poll-fans! The truth shall set you free!
Send your response, and a (short) reason why, to BadToTheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Varnell Devers and the Power of A Word
A retiring English professor retiree bests a salacious and powerful purveyor of macho crudeness and dishonesty!
was first, and correct, with:
Charlie responded:
Joe S ("The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough."
~ Rabindranath Tagore) replied:
~ Tony In Philly said:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still trying to get caught up. Should have everything back to full smurfiness shortly.
Man With An Opinion
Jeff Beck
Rocker Jeff Beck has slammed Led Zeppelin's comeback plans - insisting it will be pointless without former lead singer Robert Plant.
The 64-year-old legend - who played in cult act The Yardbirds with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page - praised the band's huge one-off concert at London's O2 Arena last December.
But Beck argues plans for a full-blown tour should be shelved without Plant, who has repeatedly refused to join his old band mates full-time.
He says, "I really don't think it's a good idea, not if Robert doesn't want to. I was there at the one-off show at the O2 Arena and it was fantastic. But I think they should just leave it there.
Jeff Beck
Cambodia's First Rock Concert
Placebo
Had there been a roof, Placebo would have raised it as they headlined the first rock concert in history at Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple.
Some 1,200 fans of all ages, mostly Cambodian, watched the London-based alternative rockers top a bill Sunday backed by musicians from Cambodia and across the world in aid of a campaign against human trafficking.
Organiser MTV Exit -- an anti-trafficking campaign group which operates under the aegis of music channel MTV -- transformed the ancient Khmer ruins into an open-air rock venue with 15 tonnes of lighting and sound equipment flown in from as far away as Singapore.
The concert was part of a series of free music shows in Cambodia organised by MTV Exit with funding from the US Agency for International Development to raise awareness in young people about human trafficking in the region.
Placebo
The New Russert
David Gregory
NBC News chief White House correspondent David Gregory has been named the moderator of "Meet the Press," replacing the late Tim Russert in one of TV's top jobs.
Gregory, 38, had been long been rumored to be taking over the coveted post at the highest-rated Sunday public affairs program, the place for politicians to make their name, try to rebuild their reputations or undergo a trial by fire.
But NBC continued to deny it until Sunday morning, when interim moderator Tom Brokaw could hand over the reins after his high-profile interview with President-elect Barack Obama.
Financial terms of the deal weren't announced. But it locks up Gregory for the long term, and gives the longest-running program on television continued stability after what had been the trauma of Russert's passing in June.
David Gregory
Extends Online Reach
CBS Radio
While other Internet radio providers are frantically trying to stay afloat in the wake of higher music royalty fees, CBS Radio is using the situation to solidify its standing within the format.
After essentially taking over AOL's Web radio operations earlier this year, CBS Radio has struck a similar deal to power Yahoo Music's Launchcast Internet radio service starting in early 2009. CBS Radio will handle advertising sales for Launchcast's 150 stations, as it already does for AOL's 200 stations. The company has 150 online simulcast and Web-only stations of its own and is a CBS Corp. sibling of streaming music site Last.fm
Driving CBS Radio's momentum in Internet radio is the growing pressure on webcasters to monetize their traffic more effectively. In particular, the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board's decision last year to sharply increase the performance royalties paid by Internet radio operators has forced such services to ease their resistance to audio ads, which are likelier to reach listeners than display ads.
But portal sites like Yahoo and AOL are geared more toward national ad sales than the local focus typical of radio ads, another factor pushing them toward partnerships with CBS Radio, one of the largest U.S. terrestrial radio broadcasters.
CBS Radio
Annual LA Tradition
Gifts for Guns
A program to exchange guns for gifts brought in a record number of weapons this year as residents hit hard by the economy look under the bed and in closets to find items to trade for groceries.
The annual Gifts for Guns program ended Sunday in Compton, a working class city south of Los Angeles that has long struggled with gun and gang violence. In a program similar to ones in New York and San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department allows residents to anonymously relinquish firearms in return for $100 gift cards for Ralphs supermarkets, Target department stores or Best Buy electronics stores.
Turning in assault rifles yields double that amount.
In years past, Target and Best Buy were the cards of choice, with residents wanting presents for the holidays.
This year, most asked for the supermarket cards, said sheriff's Sgt. Byron Woods.
Gifts for Guns
New Parking Lots
Port of Long Beach
From pricey luxury sedans to popular hybrid cars, automobiles made overseas are stacking up at ports and parking lots around the United States as supplies far outstrip demand amid the nation's worst auto market in more than 25 years.
At the Long Beach port near Los Angeles, Toyota Motor Corp vehicles including Prius hybrids, FJ Cruiser sport utility vehicles and Lexus IS 250 luxury sedans are being stored on a vast construction site that will one day be a new container terminal.
The site became a gigantic parking lot when Toyota and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz asked the port for space to store thousands of vehicles that dealerships have not been able to take on due to sluggish sales.
"It's unusual that they would be here longer than a few days, but that's the situation now," said Art Wong, a spokesman for the Port of Long Beach. "They can't move it through their pipeline fast enough so they are asking for additional space while they keep their vehicles here more than a few days, and in some cases more than a few weeks."
The port has not counted how many additional cars were being stored, but Wong said Toyota has leased an additional 23 acres of space while Mercedes-Benz has leased about 20 more acres.
Port of Long Beach
Weekend Box Office
'Four Christmases'
Movie crowds kept up their holiday spirit as Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn's comedy "Four Christmases" rang up $18.2 million to lead the box office for a second-straight weekend.
Despite the economic downturn, Hollywood continued to outperform last year's holiday season, with revenues up for the fifth weekend in a row.
Ron Howard's drama "Frost/Nixon" had a huge debut in limited release, taking in $180,147 in just three theaters, averaging a whopping $60,049 a cinema. That compares to a $5,451 average in 3,335 theaters for "Four Christmases."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Four Christmases," $18.2 million.
2. "Twilight," $13.2 million.
3. "Bolt," $9.7 million.
4. "Australia," $7 million.
5. "Quantum of Solace," $6.6 million.
6. "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," $5.1 million.
7. "Transporter 3," $4.5 million.
8. "Punisher: War Zone," $4 million.
9. "Cadillac Records," $3.5 million.
10. "Role Models," $2.6 million.
'Four Christmases'
In Memory
Nina Foch
Nina Foch, the Dutch-born actress who often played cool, calculating women in films, theater and television and was a respected coach of aspiring actors and directors, has died. She was 84.
Foch died Friday at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center of complications from the blood disorder myelodysplasia, her son, Dr. Dirk De Brito, told the Los Angeles Times. She became ill last week while teaching at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts.
Foch had taught at the school for 40 years. In her youth, she was a concert pianist and painter before taking up acting studies at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
After appearing in summer theater productions and touring companies, she moved to Hollywood and signed a contract with Columbia Pictures, where she made her movie debut in 1943's "Wagon Wheels West."
Although she never achieved star status, Foch became a distinguished supporting player, often as "the other woman" or figures of wealth and connivance. She was nominated for an Academy Award for supporting actress for "Executive Suite" in 1955.
Other film credits included "The Ten Commandments," "Spartacus," "Rich and Famous" and "Sliver."
On Broadway, she performed in "Tonight at 8:30," "A Second String," "Twelfth Night" and "King Lear," and on television she appeared in "Murder, She Wrote," "The Outer Limits," "Hawaii Five-0," "L.A. Law" and "Just Shoot Me." She appeared last year in an episode of "The Closer."
Foch was born on April 20, 1924, in Leyden, Netherlands, as Nina Consuelo Maud Fock. She was the daughter of conductor-composer Dirk Fock, who moved the family to New York when she was a child. Her mother, Consuelo Flowerton, became a well-known actress in New York, and Nina followed her into the theater world.
Foch's son is from her second marriage, to Dennis Brite. She married and divorced three times.
Nina Foch
In Memory
Beverly Garland
Beverly Garland, the B-movie actress who starred in 1950s' cult hits like "Swamp Women" and "Not of This Earth" and who went on to play Fred MacMurray's TV wife on "My Three Sons," has died. She was 82.
Garland made her film debut in the 1950 noir classic "D.O.A.," launching a 50-year career that included 40 movies and dozens of television shows.
She gained cult status for playing gutsy women in low-budget exploitation films such as "The Alligator People" and a number of Roger Corman movies including "Gunslinger," "It Conquered the World" and "Naked Paradise."
Her television credits also include "Remington Steele," "Scarecrow and Mrs. King," "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" and "7th Heaven."
Garland was born Beverly Fessenden in Santa Cruz, Calif., in 1926, and grew up in Glendale. She became Beverly Garland when she married actor Richard Garland. They were divorced in 1953 after less than four years of marriage.
In 1960, she married real estate developer Fillmore Crank, and the couple built a mission-style hotel in North Hollywood, now called Beverly Garland's Holiday Inn. Garland, whose husband died in 1999, remained involved in running the North Hollywood hotel.
She was the honorary mayor of North Hollywood and served on the boards of the California Tourism Corp. and the Greater Los Angeles Visitors and Convention Bureau.
Beverly Garland
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