Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Like they said if you like 4E & the real FM you will hate this book, August 30, 2007
The only true story re: this book is the way Ray Ferry conned Forry Ackerman & stole the name of FM out from 4E. Those who know the real story recognize Ray Ferry for the sleazeball that he is. The biggest difference between the 2 of them is that 4Es love & devotion to sci-fi ( he coined the term ), monsters & fantasy was a lifelong commitment & dedication that began in 1920s whereas Ferry was in it for the quick buck. IF YOU CARED OR DO CARE ABOUT FAMOUS MONSTERS OR 4E...YOU WILL NOT BUY THIS BOOK !
|
|
|
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
When Forry Met Ferry, February 17, 2006
In the interests of full disclosure: I've met Ackerman, thrice professionally and once at a party, and never really hit it off with the man, who I found aloof and self-absorbed. I'm not a friend of his nor even an acquaintance. So why am I writing this? Because I find the whole Famous Monsters feud a fascinating object lesson in the dangers of trying to redress personal grievances using the courts.
For that reason, I've read Ferry's book "Life is But a Scream" cover to cover, dispassionately, as someone who doesn't have a dog in this fight. First off, I would say that it is massively entertaining, especially if you take it with a grain of salt as the highly partisan account of a very bitter lawsuit which it claims not to be. The fact that Ferry created such a lengthy memoir, at a time when he seemed to have lost all right, title and interest in Famous Monsters and it looked like Ferry was going to owe a bunch of money to Ackerman as well, shows how much energy the man has, which is probably why he proved such a formidable adversary in court. That he is publishing again under the Famous Monsters imprint is a remarkable development, given what the lawsuit put everyone concerned with it through, himself included. A less determined man would have walked away, but Ferry hasn't, and it seems almost like he can't.
That said, the book is unbelievably mean-spirited in its treatment of Ackerman, who, if you listen to the event structure as opposed to the "how could I have known that the green eyed devil of envy was pulsing to life in FJA?" asides, clearly took Ferry under his wing, introduced him to his friends, helped him make a couple of FM-themed videos, and then legitimized the magazine undertaking by his presence when the ever-energized Ferry reactivated Famous Monsters. Ferry's characterizations of Ackerman's motives and his willingness to publish personal correspondences where they support his desire to make Ackerman look bad in public make for juicy reading, but are also appalling in their own way; one has to wonder what, if not respect for Ackerman and his collaborators on the original 200 or so issue run of FM, drew Ferry to want to recreate their achievement? Which, by the way, he does fairly well, as you'll find if you pick up one of the recent FM issues -- they counterfeit aspects of the old mag in a pitch perfect style.
As a writer, Ferry is pretty good at cultivating a narrative voice of seeming openness, so it takes awhile before you realize just how ridiculous even his admitted treatment of FJA was at the time of their association. For example, Ferry goes on at length about his small glimpses into Ackerman's personal life, which seem pathetic rather than decadent, and then asserts that as someone who was running a mag Ackerman was associated with -- but not, it should be mentioned, really being paid regularly to write for -- Ferry felt entitled to forbid Ackerman to engage in activities that would reflect badly on a magazine read by children! It's a ludicrous argument for one sexually active grown-up to make to another, and if memory serves, at Ferry's behest Ackerman even gives in and avoids a "swinger" weekend he'd planned, which hardly makes him seem like the weird old perv Ferry tries to insinuate he is.
Despite the copious use of his name in the initial stages of their collaboration, Ackerman also had articles he prepared for the magazine rejected by Ferry toward the end of their association, which speaks volumes about the lack of respect that had developed between Ferry and the man whose work he was simulating as FM's second generation editor-publisher.
A curious sin of omission in "Life is But a Scream" is that Ferry never really gives a very clear idea of exactly how he managed to get all "right, title and interest" in the FM name and mark. Did he buy it from Jim Warren (the original publisher)? No. Warren went bust in the early 80s, and Ferry has a lot of negative comments to make about him as well (except when he wants to credit Warren with inventing FM's wisecracking style, as a way of impugning FJA). Did he buy the title from Warren's creditors? Nope. They weren't using the mark, and apparently weren't interested in using it either. So what happenned? Despite the critical nature of this point for any understanding of the legitimacy of Ferry's claim on FM, the book is vague about it, and doesn't really say.
My conjecture: for a small registration fee, Ferry simply re-registered the lapsed FM mark with the trademark office in conjunction with the video projects he and Ackerman worked on together in the early '90s, and when the registration went through at the government office, Ferry decided he could publish a mag too. I would also guess that he leaves this (or whatever else happened) out of his otherwise very detailed history because, set beside Ackerman and Warren's decades with FM, it doesn't seem like a very legitimate claim on the magazine's legacy, whether the legalities say otherwise or not. From a legal standpoint, Ferry may indeed be entitled to FM's mark, but emotionally, it seems a little unfair that he could simply fill out a form and claim ownership to something Ackerman and Warren created and worked on for decades, if indeed that's what happenned (and between the lines, that's what it seems like).
One other big beef with this book is that Ferry is a true starf__ker in the worst way, who goes on for pages and pages about the legendary status and magical personal qualities of any B-level star who was willing to sit for an interview with him at FM, or who didn't completely side with FJA when the excrement hit the fan. It is possible to appreciate the careers of people like Gary Owen or Phyllis Diller and to respect their achievements without having to buy into the hagiographic slop Ferry slathers around in his book.
That Ferry is, on the evidence presented by his book, such a shameless flatterer of the celebrated may explain the initial attraction between he and Ackerman, but if it does, it is clearly an attraction both men have lived to regret.
|
|
|
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Life is but a dream for Ferry, February 14, 2008
If this had been a rational discourse on the rebirth of Famous Monsters, it may have been well and good. What it is is a personal vendetta carried by one man who felt it was time to speak out after years of silence. Be warned! If you are a fan of the original Famous Monsters and its editor, Forry, don't read this. Ferry is dreaming. He must pull this stuff out of his deepest cesspool of a mind. The guy is a jerk. And not just because of the book. Experts in the field, many who have themselves put out very respectable monster magazines, have nothing good to say about Ray Ferry. To denigrate a man's reputation in this manner, to go overboard and make scandalous innuendos about Forry's personal life and just not Ferry's business dealings with him is unconsciousable. It is just a shame that young readers today, who are so spellbound about the new Famous Monsters, can be so taken in by one man's rantings. And he does it under the cloak of what many take to be professionalism. NOT!!!!!!!!!!
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
See all Editorial Reviews
