Crestwood House and Famous Monsters Retrospective
When dealing with the topic of exposure to monster movies, I’ve covered video games, and I’ve covered television, so what’s left? Well, it’s quite apparent, the written word. When I was growing up, two publications had a lasting impression on me; they were the Crestwood House Monsters series and the mighty Famous Monsters of Filmland.
The Crestwood House Monsters series (the orange monster books as I called them) had fifteen books. Ian Thorne (a pseudonym used by author Julian May) wrote the first twelve, William R. Sanford and Carl R. Green wrote the last three. The books were published between 1977 to 1987 and served as “Monsters 101,” for any young child who found the subject matter interesting. The monsters or movies covered were Dracula, Frankenstein, Godzilla, King Kong, and others.
I discovered these books at the library during a kindergarten trip, the two my library had were Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Deadly Mantis. The Godzilla one was always checked out, but I did get the chance to read it. I remember explicitly reading the Creature multiple times, due to me being home with the chickenpox in first grade. The day before I started to show signs of chickenpox, my grandmother took me to the library, and I checked out Creature, so I spent the entire time watching The Creature from the Black Lagoon and reading about it as well. However, there were some factual errors in the books; most fans know of the King Kong vs. Godzilla dual ending myth partially because of this book. Factual inaccuracies aside, the books were filled with excellent images and had plenty for the young reader to enjoy.
Like TNT’s MonsterVision, the Crestwood House Monsters books will always hold a dear place in my heart as one of the fonder memories of my childhood. I should note that Crestwood House also came out with a different series of purple monster books. They were more like single movie adaptations instead of monster facts. I never read these books as a kid, so I will not go into detail about them here.
Unlike the topics discussed in this post and my previous articles where I can remember or have a general idea of how I came across the games, movies, or books for which I have such an affinity. Famous Monsters of Filmland is unique in that; I have no idea how I crossed paths with the first of horror movie culture magazines. It’s as if it was just there and manifested itself when the right conditions were met, like fire.
Famous Monsters of Filmland was brought to fruition by publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J. Ackerman; the publication was in response to the syndication of old horror movies on television in 1957. Initially, Warren and Ackerman intended on Famous Monsters to be a one-shot publication, but the first issue sold out so quickly; a second printing was ordered to meet the demand of the monster-crazy public, and thus the first monster magazine was born.
I possibly became aware of Famous Monsters in 1997, after seeing several classic horror documentaries on tv (this was in conjunction with the series of Universal Monsters stamps released by the U.S. post office) noticing this kind-looking man named Forrest Ackerman showing up in all of them. Forrest Ackerman or “Uncle Forry” as he was known, was the most vocal champion of horror and science fiction; and, at one point, had the most extensive collection of monster movie memorabilia in the world. Sadly, Uncle Forry left us in December of 2008; I wish I had the chance to meet him.
Famous Monsters of Filmland influenced many many people, including Steven Speilberg, John Landis, Billy Bob Thorton, Stephen King, Guillermo del Toro, and countless others working in books, television, film, or even music. The Misfits use the same font style as the magazine, and The Misfits also released an album in 1999 called Famous Monsters.
It’s incredible how one magazine can connect and bring so many people together and from so many different walks of life. I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Famous Monsters Convention in Dallas in May 2017. It was a blast; everyone was like family, staff, and attendees alike; we all shared the same love of horror and sci-fi that has stuck with us all since we were children. All brought together by Uncle Forry and Famous Monsters of Filmland. I did not have a chance to read Famous Monsters personally until I was a teenager, but the feeling is the same I get from reading an old Crestwood House Monsters book. That feeling of being younger and discovering monsters for the first time. That feeling of wonder when setting eyes on Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, or Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein Monster for the first time. That sense of excitement as you would turn on the television, highly anticipating that nights showing of Shock Theater, Creature Features, or MonsterVision on TV. That feeling of being young, when everything was new and extraordinary.
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