“We are all interested in the future for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives, whether we want to or not!”
Jeron Charles Criswell King, better known simply as Criswell, can rightfully be described as one of the first pop celebrity psychics. His bizarre predications — 87 per cent of which came true, he claimed — appeared from the 1950s through the 1970s in newspapers and magazines, while the flamboyant showman hosted his own Los Angeles television show, guested on national TV and in Ed Wood movies, including Plan 9 from Outer Space, alongside Vampira and Bela Lugosi. Unsuccessful attempts to find fame on Broadway and Tin Pan Alley did not prevent him from co-authoring three books on how to succeed in these fields.
A member of the hidden Hollywood gay community, the story of Criswell, his triumphs and defeats, is one of fame and hope.
FACT, FICTIONS, AND THE FORBIDDEN PREDICTIONS OF THE AMAZING CRISWELL is the first full-length biography of Criswell. It is the result of 20 years of research by number one fan, Edwin Canfield, and includes interviews, new information, and many startling predictions.
“The world as we know it will cease to exist on August 18, 1999!”
- Book cover art by Mitch O’Connell, “the world’s best artist”;
- Criswell’s career touches many bases, from the occult, outsider artists, cult filmmaker Ed Wood and ‘camp’ stars Vampira, Mae West, Bela Lugosi;
- LGBT interest — Criswell was a married, closeted bisexual, and member of the hidden Hollywood gay community;
- Includes many of Criswell’s own predictions, from bed bugs in Boston, through global nudism and the end of the world in 1999;
- Television has created an army of celebrities who are “famous for being famous” — Criswell has the dubious honour of being one of the first;
- Criswell was fearless in putting himself in the line of ridicule;
- Sheds light on the American dream and aspirations that most people share;
- Criswell’s story asks, explores, but cannot answer the eternal question: What is the true measure of success?
- A willingness to “make things up”, pass them off as the truth and proclaim himself a success, is ‘fun’ but may be considered the origins of harmful, unrestrained fake news and conspiracy theories;
- Criswell is the antidote to the blurring of news and entertainment fiction in the late-twentieth century.
Title: FACT, FICTIONS, AND THE FORBIDDEN PREDICTIONS OF THE AMAZING CRISWELL
Author: Edwin Lee Canfield
ISBN: 978-1-915316-00-4
Street Date: February 2, 2023
Category: Celebrity, Film & TV
Retail Price: UK £22.99 / US $27.95
Binding: Paperback
Size: 216mm x 140mm
Pages: 396
Illos: 84 B&W photos and ads
As the trade paperback, except the special hardback edition comes with an additional 12 colour plates and is printed on heavier paper.
This special NO-ISBN hardback is exclusive to this website. Because it carries No ISBN number, this edition of the book is off the grid in as much as it doesn’t appear on any database, in any library, cannot be ordered through mainstream bookshops or online retailers.
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