How could I have forgotten? Forry told me last August that he even got
himself invited to
the monthly parties that Gloria Swanson was holding back in the 1950s
after she did
her most famous film, _Sunset Boulevard_.
Dear Gloria, just like her character Norma Desmond, would imperiously
pick a guest at each party and instruct that person to define "becoming
a success."
Forry was tagged one night, but he, being quick with come-backs,
quipped, "Success?
Oh, that's just getting --- (Swanson's groupie who made the invitation
lists) to invite
me to some of these parties!"
So, meet Forry and be one number from Gloria Swanson, too! And now I'll
shut up.
-Glo
Anyone--and they are legion--who has met Forry Ackerman ("Mr. Sci-Fi")
in Hollywood is
just one number from Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Ray Bradbury, H. G.
Wells, Katharine Hepburn,
Peter Lorre, and Vincent Price, to name just his actor chums and couple
writers.
I also met Ray Bradbury at a Forry A. birthday party at which Ray gave a
great, totally embarrassing
speech about the virtues of 4E Ackerman.
Unrelatedly, I also met Isaac Asimov many times and corresponded with
him for years.
But I never met H. P. Lovecraft--but--Ah! one degree away, I did an
independent study of
August Derleth HPL's closest friend then living at Derleth's remote
home in Sauk City,
Wisconsin, called Place of Hawks!
-Glo McMillan
