James Warren, Empire Of Monsters

Still, between the two printings, at least 150,000 kids had snatched up copies of Famous Monsters #1, proving there was a market. Warren declared his desire to continue the title as an ongoing, quarterly magazine. Was Ackerman up for it? Warren needed him, because the whole enterprise was built around the man’s collection of movie stills. All he could offer at this time was an increase of Ackerman’s editorial fee from $400 to $725 for the second issue, and a promise that it would eventually reach four figures. He also dangled the possibility of publishing an SF magazine with the Californian as editor—Ackerman’s dream—once FM was established and solidly profitable. Ackerman agreed.18 Famous Monsters of Filmland #2 was scheduled for a fall 1958 release.

The omens continued to look good. TV stations were lining up to run Screen Gems’ “Son of Shock” package consisting of twenty more classic Universal horror films. The second issue was much like the first one. Once again, Warren posed behind a monster mask, this time by himself, holding a sign announcing “2nd Great Issue—First issue sold out!” It welcomes readers with giant headlines, stating: “Don’t look now, but a monster is reading this magazine!”

Then, in print below, “No, the Monster is not over your left shoulder. Nor it is anywhere behind you. It is, in fact, YOU!” Ackerman came up with more pun-laden, jokey articles such as “Monsters are Badder than Ever,” “Girls will be Ghouls,” and “Public Vampire #1,” accompanied by movie stills and other photographs of Lon Chaney Jr. as The Mummy and The Wolf Man, James Cagney as the Phantom of the Opera (from the movie Man of a Thousand Faces), Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s monster and Fu Manchu, Bela Lugosi as Dracula, and more. The “Monsterama Quiz” was back, and there was “Terrorvision,” a piece about the Shock Theater program and local horror hosts, with a photo of John Zacherle as Roland on WCAU Philadelphia, as well as other such hosts around the country. It also reprinted a couple of pages from Mad which, influenced by Famous Monsters #1, ran a feature called “Son of Thing” drawn by Wallace Wood. (This may have been the occasion when Warren made friends with William M. Gaines, publisher of Mad magazine.)

The letter column included a missive from Ackerman’s literary client Robert Bloch (author of the book Psycho), which reads “Congratulations on

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a terrific job . . . a real Valentine from start to finish.” The other letters were equally rhapsodic, except for one. It was from Richard A. Lupoff, a prominent member of SF fandom: “This magazine is being discussed hereabouts as ‘Ackerman’s Folly.’” It reflected the negative view that many older readers had, since the text of the magazine was clearly geared for a much younger audience, and particularly stung Ackerman because it came from a member of fandom. Warren responded to Lupoff in the magazine: “Editor Ackerman personally received over 700 letters from monster-lovers all over the world, praising him for his great piece of work on our first issue. He received only one letter (above) of the sour-grapes variety, from a reader who is obviously familiar with Ackerman’s reputation as America’s Number One Science-Fiction Fan, and who obviously disapproves of Famous Monsters of Filmland.

Oh well, as Frankenstein said to the skeleton, ‘to each his bone.’” The “700” figure for the letters was probably, like many of the figures Warren would provide in the coming years, more a symbol to make a point than an accurate number, although the response was certainly substantial and the letters were overwhelmingly positive. The bottom line is that the magazine wasn’t for the Lupoffs of the world, although plenty of adults enjoyed it. It was for kids.

New in the second issue is a section called “Monster Mail Order,” with the accompanying text: “In answer to the thousands of readers who would like to have their own monster masks and other monster items, Famous Monsters of Filmland has created a mail order department—featuring exciting items for all monster-lovers at low cost.” A shrunken head, a monster hand, a talking skull and Dracula teeth were among the initial offerings. The monster masks were the highlight, Famous Monsters #2 (October 1958). leading off with Frankenstein, and

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the Screaming Skull. Each cost a mere two dollars. Copies of the first issue were offered for thirty-five cents. Another income-producing idea was the Famous Monster Club. “Hey gang,” the full-page announcement began, “Here’s what you’ve been waiting for. Here’s how you can become a vice-president of the all-new Famous Monster Club. Monsters of the World, Unite! Join the only club in the world OF the monsters FOR the monsters BY the monsters!” For seventy-five cents, one would receive a membership card, badge and certificate, and a free five-line ad in an upcoming issue. Over time, the FM fan club would become an important ongoing aspect of the magazine, with photos of many members (nearly all eleven-to-fourteen-year-old boys), makeup contests, prizes for the best letters and so on. The club announcement was followed by an ad for subscriptions to the magazine at the rate of $2.00 for six issues, a savings of ten cents for the reader. Taken together, the subscriptions, products and fan club generated a much-needed cash infusion. Mail order sales of FM #1 would be especially profitable, since those customers paid full price directly to Warren, much more than the small per-copy price he got from newsstand sales through Kable News. (He acquired several hundred undistributed copies of each issue from an unidentified source.)

To earn still more in 1958, Warren produced, with Barton Banks, the “Rock & Shock Spooktacular,” a program in local theaters featuring live music in person from Frankie Avalon, Bobby Darin and other less recognizable names. It was emceed by John Zacherle. There were interludes with actors portraying Frankenstein’s monster and Igor. Banks recalled, “We did three shows a day in eight Stanley Warner theaters over a ten-day period, clearing the house after each show by telling the teenagers that Frankie Avalon and Bobby Darin would be signing autographs in the alley, which was just a ruse.

This was before Bobby had a huge hit with Mack the Knife. After that, we never would have been able to afford him. We paid him $250 for a total of twenty-four performances. Jim and I had to split a mere $800 for our effort, although he was also able to sell copies of Famous Monsters in the lobby between shows.”

Banks added, “One day, when I was working in my father’s law firm, his receptionist came in and blurted that she’d gotten a phone call—the actor

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James Warren and Barton Banks partnered to produce the Rock & Shock Spooktacular show in 1958.

playing Igor had been arrested for exposing himself to an audience member!

My father turned to me and gasped, ‘What the hell are you guys doing?’”

Warren eagerly awaited sales reports on Famous Monsters of Filmland #2, which went on sale shortly before Halloween. Kable had printed 200,000 (again using the Neo Gravure company, and who assured printing problems would not occur again). Everyone was optimistic, but when the reports began to arrive, they were disappointing. Of the print run, only 94,000 copies were sold, for a percentage of 47 percent.19 This meant the issue would, at best, barely break even. Once again, another issue failed to provide the profits

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from newsstand sales.20 Fortunately, monies began coming in for the fan club, subscriptions and merchandise.

Warren attributed the low sell-through to the appearance of a couple of FM copycats. One was Monster Parade (cover-dated September); the other was World Famous Creatures (dated October). He was upset that anyone would try to cash in on a successful magazine that he had invented. What was even worse, World Famous Creatures, the most egregiously imitative of the two, was distributed by Kable News! Warren stormed into the Kable News office shouting that he had an exclusive contract. They informed him otherwise.

The distributor couldn’t have been happy with Warren when he filed a lawsuit against the publishers of World Famous Creatures, but they wanted to hold onto Famous Monsters of Filmland. According to Ackerman, “Warren sued World Famous Creatures for what was outrageously, demonstrably plagiarism, but a myopic judge couldn’t see the facts before his face.”21 Due to the delay in getting the sales figures on FM #2, work on the third issue was well along when news of the poor sales hit. Warren pushed ahead.

He continued his practice of producing the cover on his own, eliminating the cost of a photographer by personally painting the cover (based on a file photo): a portrait of Lon Chaney as the original Phantom of the Opera, who, probably more than any other monster, became the “signature” face of the magazine. He insisted on a change of printer on FM #3 to save money.

The third issue was the first to list Phyllis Farkas as the tongue-in-cheek “Man Aging Editor” on the masthead, which was almost certainly more than merely a title. Someone had to go through the mail, keep the subscription lists and do the other clerical work involved. Warren did much of it, and recruited family members and friends to pitch in. If you were going to spend time with him at this point in his life, he put you to work.

His fertile imagination hatched gimmick after gimmick to promote reader loyalty and raise cash: contests, special offers and pages devoted to the fan club which required a tremendous amount of work. He tried to interest advertisers to bring in further revenue. It didn’t work. “Advertisers laughed at me when I told them I had a magazine that would appeal to a young audience. They thought it was weird. Awful. Decadent! Frankenstein, Dracula,

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the Mummy, The Wolf Man—that’s awful for young minds! After the third or fourth humiliation, I stopped trying to convince them they were wrong.”22 Therefore, he concentrated on expanding his line of mail order merchandise. Before it was Captain Company, the business was conducted under the name General Promotions Co., which was a wholly owned subsidiary with a post office box address in Philadelphia. Warren: “The mail order business was first run out of my parents’ house in Philadelphia. Every evening after dinner, my mother, my father and I would sit at the dining room table and open envelopes with orders from our readers for . . . monster merchandise.

We often worked past midnight. I would then personally wrap and mail the orders the next day. Between editing and publishing the magazine, and running [General Promotions], I worked fifteen-hour days, seven days a week.”23 There were items he produced himself, such as “Monster stationery,” and some were items that fit the magazine but were obtainable from overstock houses for pennies on the dollar, like copies of the 3-D comic book The House of Terror which had been published in 1954 after the 3-D comic book bubble had burst. Over the next several issues, the number of pages devoted to ads for mail order products increased.

Banks recalled, “My first wife, Carol, would go over to pick up the receipts.

We would get envelopes in with coins scotch-taped. She would come to the door at 2 or 3 o’clock in the afternoon at his home, 1054 E. Upsal, and ring the bell. Jim would come down in his jockey shorts, open the door, and say ‘Hi, Carol, come on in,” and he’d hand her the overnight bag that she would take to the bank.”

Soon, he could no longer operate out of his family’s home. In late 1959, Warren rented space at 1426 E. Washington Ln. for his office and merchandise. “Office space and warehouse space in New York was too expensive. I couldn’t afford it. So, I had this inexpensive real estate space in Philadelphia, which we paid about $200 a month for, for a total warehouse and office.”24 As soon as possible, he wanted to move his editorial offices to Manhattan, but the merchandise operation would stay in Philadelphia. “Had we had that in New York, it would have cost $2,000. That was the reason for keeping it divided. It was tough on me because I did a lot of traveling back and forth.”25

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