Thursday, June 13, 2013

MY FAMOUS MONSTERS 2


Famous Monsters of Filmland #27


Here's FAMOUS MONSTERS #27 with a terrific cover image of the Cyclops from the Ray Harryhausen masterpiece THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD. Articles include New Fears (a preview of upcoming horror films), Hidden Horrors, The Voice of Fiendom (an outlet for horror film fandom), the ever-popular Mystery Photo, the conclusion of the KING KONG filmbook and something entitled "Hall of Flame". This is another issue that I never had as a kid. I purchased it years later and I'm glad to have it.

 Forry would often run articles like New Fears, in which he would list allegedly upcoming horror, science fiction and fantasy films. Many of those films he listed in those articles were eventually produced and released. Many more never saw the light of day. What I figured out years later was that Forry listed both confirmed projects and properties that had only been optioned, which meant the film may or may not be produced. I didn't know anything about options at the time and I don't think Forry ever went into details about the option process. But I do know that Forry, in addition to being editor of FM was also a literary agent for a number of science fiction and horror authors. As such, I'm sure he negotiated many film options for his clients' works. As soon as such a deal was finalized, he would report it in the pages of FM without telling that the odds were 50/50 on the film actually ever being made. I always wondered whatever happened to some of the "upcoming" films I read about in the pages of FAMOUS MONSTERS that never saw the light of day. I believe the Forry as agent/option scenario is the answer to that question.

And now you know the rest of the story.

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