THE MAN WHO LOST HIS FACE-BOOK

We have seen that Forrest J Ackerman, editor-in-chief of the King Kong of monster 'zines, FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND, was quick to become a celebrity in the few short years following its debut. One could even say he became the de facto spokesperson for the monstercraze of the 1960s. And why not? His home was crammed with the stuff that us Monser Kids craved. He even let a batch of us in on specially-scheduled weekends.

FJA was no stranger to self-promotion, either. One of his "side jobs" was as a literary agent. If you're a shrinking violet in that business you might as well fold up your tent and go home. As a result of his unabashed marketing, readers of FM were treated to the occasional insight in the way of interview or Arckermansion photo tour. This grew into one of the many gimmicks that were used throughout FM's history that made the magazine feel like as much a social network as a reading experience. One might even go so far as to say that this was an early, low tech version of Facebook.

One of these early biographical articles appeared in FAMOUS MONSTERS #25 from October, 1963.