Father’s Way
Posted by Earl Roesel in A Walk Through the Forrest with Earl Roesel, Books, Latest News on December 9th, 2009
I suppose fathers have been the same since time immemorial. Mine frequented pool halls and poker dives regularly, in addition to hosting card games inside his own home. Even when married to my mother, he had a roving eye and, owing to his position as a detective lieutenant on the police force, had his pick of a wide range of ladies. Surprisingly, it seems, Forry’s father wasn’t far off this template as the following anecdote reveals…
“In San Francisco, in an office building where my father worked, he was the assistant to a vice president and I realized that once a year, at night he would disappear and come back with a big smile on his face. I believe by the time I reached 18 he figured I was old enough to accompany him. What was happening is that a number of men in the office building were getting together to drive about half-hour away from the city to an old deserted barhouse which had been refinished inside. There was a platform and a number of seats coming forward to the best seat in the house. I believe all the men contributed enough money to purchase two young ladies to dance naked for them. For about a dollar they could also get near. I’m suddenly remembering that we were also shown a couple pornographic movies. They didn’t yet go as far as is usual today. They didn’t show any men inserting themselves into women, but we got a really healthy look at the beautiful naked women. I remember one of these movies showed a woman who was declared to be a young Marilyn Monroe before she was discovered and became a star. I’d be curious to know whether that barhouse is still there.”
Forry’s father was William Schilling Ackerman; by all accounts he was a practical, by-the-numbers oil company executive who was both perplexed and frustrated by his peculiar son. Although he seems not to have hindered Forry’s science fictional interests too directly and was not overtly abusive, he nevertheless held the up-and-coming Ackermonster in clearly low regard. When teaching Forry how to shave, William snapped, “Now I suppose you‘ll cut your throat!”
FJA also found himself unfavorably compared with brother Alden Lorraine Ackerman in his father’s eyes. Alden was handsomer, more athletic and, unlike Forry, evidenced an interest in females rather than fandom. When word of Alden’s death in the Battle of the Bulge reached William’s ears, he said soberly to Forry, “I wish it had been you instead”. That about sums it up.
