max s. gerber(the latest shot)

i was really sad to find out late last night that forrest ackerman died earlier this month. i was also kind of shocked that it took me almost two weeks to hear about it. forrest was the original sci-fi champion, the most prolific and enthusiastic supporter and collector of memorabilia ever. according to the quick google search i just did, his collection of sci-fi memorabilia numbered almost half a million items.

i took forrest’s picture to illustrate an article in a local alt-weekly which did an interview with him. he was auctioning off some of the items in his collection, i think. the deadline was looming really close and the editors were getting nervous. for some reason i couldn’t get forrest to call me back. it got to be the morning before the press deadline and even though i hadn’t gotten a response from forrest i decided to just try showing up at his house anyway, since i had the address. after a lot of pounding on the door he finally answered. i think he had been feeling ill and hadn’t bothered to check his messages. it was actually a really strange experience, first because the house was decked out like a horror movie museum, and second because forrest didn’t really say much. he just sort of sat in his lounge chair and smiled at my girlfriend, whose presence was probably the only reason he let me take the picture in the first place.

it was a little disappointing because the one movie item i wanted to see wasn’t kept in his house, but in an off-site storage area: the original idol from the beginning of raiders of the lost ark. i wonder if it came with an equally weighted sandbag, too? or maybe a giant styrofoam boulder?

you can see info about forrest here.