Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance
Great story. Sad to see the passing of such a wonderful writer. For a man with such a brilliant mind, the stroke must have been incredibly frustrating and at 91, he lived to a ripe old age. From: Rix Posterz rixpost...@aol.com To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Thursday, June 7, 2012 12:46 PM Subject: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance In the min-1970's, I was a young, aspiring writer living in L.A., working on a Sci-Fi project with a friend named Tim Bruckner (who is now a well-known sculptor of super hero and fantasy figures). The story was about a dream-eating deity called The Enicol. To make a long story short, both Tim and I were quite excited about the strange tale we'd come up with and decided to try to contact as many well-known writers in the Sci-Fi genre as we could. Believe it or not, back in 1974 Harlan Ellison's home phone number was listed in the San Fernando Valley white pages, so...after staring at it for a day or two, I dialed the number and Harlan Ellison did indeed answer my call. I got as far as saying something to the effect of Hello, Mr. Ellison, my name's Rick Ryan and I've always been a huge admirer of your work... That's as far as I got before Harlan seemed to gototally berserk, angrily screaming at me about bothering him with my call, demanding that I promise never, EVER to call him again! Of course, I quietly did as he asked and immediately hung up the phone. Within the following month or so, someone had told me that Ray Bradbury had an office in Beverly Hills (I'm pretty sure that's where it was---if not, it was very close to Beverly Hills). Anyway, early one afternoon, I entered the building where Mr. Bradbury's office was supposed to be and. lo and behold, on the second floor at the end of the hallway was a door that had Ray Bradbury on it in some fashion or another. Unfortunately, the door also had a very large sign on it saying something like: WARNING! Please Do Not Disturb! I Am a Working Author and WILL NOT RESPOND! If you wish to contact me for any reason, call: 555-6238 (Of course the wording on the sign and the telephone number were different, but you get the idea...). So. for the next 2 or 3 days I called and called that number and no one ever answered. Back then, they didn't have answering machines and Ray Bradbury wasn't the kind of guy to have one anyway---hey, he never drove a car, so why would he want an annoying answering machine. Anyway, after dialing that number for what seemed like 100 times, on the 101st attempt, a voice answered on the other end of the line. It was Ray Bradbury. In contrast to Mr. Ellison, Mr. Bradbury talked to me for at least a half an hour about everything from the craft of writing to his experience working with John Huston on the set while they were filming Moby Dick (for which he wrote the screenplay). After all this time, I don't remember all the incidentals of the conversation. What I do remember is what a kind, warm and welcoming gentleman the legendary literary giant Ray Bradbury was when he talked on the phone to some young, naive kid who was callling him with some crazy Sci-Fi idea. I also remember his closing words in our conversation were God bless you, son. What a wonderful human being. It's one of the great honors of my life to have had that experience over 35 years ago Rick Ryan Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance
One of the first stories Ray ever told me was about his appearances in EC Comics. (I was a comics fan so it was a natural area of interest.) I no longer remember which of the stories appeared in the comics first -- adaptations of his short stories -- but EC adapted it, according to Ray, without his knowledge. He told me wrote Bill Gaines, the editor, a letter saying that he really loved the adaptation but they'd forgotten to send him his check. Soon thereafter, a contract arrived. And a check. And EC continued to adapt (by advance agreement) several more of his stories. Craig. At 07:01 PM 6/7/2012, Bruce Hershenson wrote: I never met Ray Bradbury OR Ray Harryhausen, and I doubt I would have known either one by sight. But I loved Bradbury stories after I read the EC Comic adaptations as a kid, and I went on to read his stuff and some of his stories were great and some pretty hard to follow, but he sure was unlike any other sci-fi writer and in a great way. And I was lucky enough to see Sinbad and Jason in the theater and I thought them way better than the regular sci-fi or horror stuff. The funny thing is, I STILL think they wrote and directed light years ahead of today's people who churn out crap with regularity, and good movies are fewer and fewer. Bruce On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 4:08 PM, Richard Halegua Comic Art mailto:sa...@comic-art.comsa...@comic-art.com wrote: I had met Ray many times during my life and we chatted frequently at shows. I was always quite surprised that he remembered my name. More than that however, when I was a young teen, and before I had been introduced to Raymond Chandler, Bradbury was my favorite novelist and the Martian Chronicles was my favorite book he was a great guy he loved his fans every bit as much as they loved him, which is something that can also be said of his two best friends, Harryhausen and Ackerman Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at http://www.filmfan.comwww.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: mailto:lists...@listserv.american.edulists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. -- Bruce Hershenson and the other 26 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. Box 874 West Plains, MO 65775 Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take lunch) http://www.emovieposter.com/our site http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.htmlour auctions [] Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. ~ Craig MillerWolfmill Entertainment cr...@wolfmill.com ~ Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance
Bill Gaines told me the same story years ago. Actually, they combined TWO of Ray's stories into one, and Ray wrote Bill, and said that he felt they improved on them by combining them together, but that he must have forgotten to send a check. Bill told me he wrote back and asked Ray if he would take $25 per adapted story, and Ray graciously accepted, and many of the rest of their issues had adapted stories with a large credit to Ray on the cover of each, and Bill sent him a check each time.. Of course, soon after EC was shut down by the Senate hearings (supposedly to save the world's youth, but actually because tiny EC and Lev Gleason were massively outselling DC and Timely, the giants of the business). On 6/8/12, Craig Miller cr...@wolfmill.com wrote: One of the first stories Ray ever told me was about his appearances in EC Comics. (I was a comics fan so it was a natural area of interest.) I no longer remember which of the stories appeared in the comics first -- adaptations of his short stories -- but EC adapted it, according to Ray, without his knowledge. He told me wrote Bill Gaines, the editor, a letter saying that he really loved the adaptation but they'd forgotten to send him his check. Soon thereafter, a contract arrived. And a check. And EC continued to adapt (by advance agreement) several more of his stories. Craig. At 07:01 PM 6/7/2012, Bruce Hershenson wrote: I never met Ray Bradbury OR Ray Harryhausen, and I doubt I would have known either one by sight. But I loved Bradbury stories after I read the EC Comic adaptations as a kid, and I went on to read his stuff and some of his stories were great and some pretty hard to follow, but he sure was unlike any other sci-fi writer and in a great way. And I was lucky enough to see Sinbad and Jason in the theater and I thought them way better than the regular sci-fi or horror stuff. The funny thing is, I STILL think they wrote and directed light years ahead of today's people who churn out crap with regularity, and good movies are fewer and fewer. Bruce On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 4:08 PM, Richard Halegua Comic Art mailto:sa...@comic-art.comsa...@comic-art.com wrote: I had met Ray many times during my life and we chatted frequently at shows. I was always quite surprised that he remembered my name. More than that however, when I was a young teen, and before I had been introduced to Raymond Chandler, Bradbury was my favorite novelist and the Martian Chronicles was my favorite book he was a great guy he loved his fans every bit as much as they loved him, which is something that can also be said of his two best friends, Harryhausen and Ackerman Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at http://www.filmfan.comwww.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: mailto:lists...@listserv.american.edulists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. -- Bruce Hershenson and the other 26 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. Box 874 West Plains, MO 65775 Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take lunch) http://www.emovieposter.com/our site http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.htmlour auctions [] Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. ~ Craig MillerWolfmill Entertainment cr...@wolfmill.com ~ -- Bruce Hershenson and the other 26 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. Box 874 West Plains, MO 65775 Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take lunch) our site http://www.emovieposter.com/ our auctions http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance
Rick, It is great to hear your story. Ray Bradbury was just the best!!! I met him several times as a kid at birthday parties that Forrest J. Ackerman used to hold at his house on Sherbourne Drive in the West L.A. area in the 60's. He was the nicest of people. No matter who you were, you were part of humanity and that is what seemed to matter to him. I can't imagine how stupid I sounded as a 10 year old talking about The Martian Chronicles or King Kong. He was so nice. There was no sense of How important are you? or A bigger name just walked into the room, so bye. I shed a tear yesterday. Don't do that often and I'm tearing-up as I write this. Two of Sci-Fi's Three Musketeers are gone now. Ray Harryhausen will be 92 on June 29. All of us who love films and fantasy have been blessed to live during this time. - Original Message - From: Rix Posterz To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2012 9:46 AM Subject: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance In the min-1970's, I was a young, aspiring writer living in L.A., working on a Sci-Fi project with a friend named Tim Bruckner (who is now a well-known sculptor of super hero and fantasy figures). The story was about a dream-eating deity called The Enicol. To make a long story short, both Tim and I were quite excited about the strange tale we'd come up with and decided to try to contact as many well-known writers in the Sci-Fi genre as we could. Believe it or not, back in 1974 Harlan Ellison's home phone number was listed in the San Fernando Valley white pages, so...after staring at it for a day or two, I dialed the number and Harlan Ellison did indeed answer my call. I got as far as saying something to the effect of Hello, Mr. Ellison, my name's Rick Ryan and I've always been a huge admirer of your work... That's as far as I got before Harlan seemed to go totally berserk, angrily screaming at me about bothering him with my call, demanding that I promise never, EVER to call him again! Of course, I quietly did as he asked and immediately hung up the phone. Within the following month or so, someone had told me that Ray Bradbury had an office in Beverly Hills (I'm pretty sure that's where it was---if not, it was very close to Beverly Hills). Anyway, early one afternoon, I entered the building where Mr. Bradbury's office was supposed to be and. lo and behold, on the second floor at the end of the hallway was a door that had Ray Bradbury on it in some fashion or another. Unfortunately, the door also had a very large sign on it saying something like: WARNING! Please Do Not Disturb! I Am a Working Author and WILL NOT RESPOND! If you wish to contact me for any reason, call: 555-6238 (Of course the wording on the sign and the telephone number were different, but you get the idea...). So. for the next 2 or 3 days I called and called that number and no one ever answered. Back then, they didn't have answering machines and Ray Bradbury wasn't the kind of guy to have one anyway---hey, he never drove a car, so why would he want an annoying answering machine. Anyway, after dialing that number for what seemed like 100 times, on the 101st attempt, a voice answered on the other end of the line. It was Ray Bradbury. In contrast to Mr. Ellison, Mr. Bradbury talked to me for at least a half an hour about everything from the craft of writing to his experience working with John Huston on the set while they were filming Moby Dick (for which he wrote the screenplay). After all this time, I don't remember all the incidentals of the conversation. What I do remember is what a kind, warm and welcoming gentleman the legendary literary giant Ray Bradbury was when he talked on the phone to some young, naive kid who was callling him with some crazy Sci-Fi idea. I also remember his closing words in our conversation were God bless you, son. What a wonderful human being. It's one of the great honors of my life to have had that experience over 35 years ago Rick Ryan Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance
Wow. You are so lucky Rick! Sent from my iPhone On Jun 7, 2012, at 9:46 AM, Rix Posterz rixpost...@aol.com wrote: In the min-1970's, I was a young, aspiring writer living in L.A., working on a Sci-Fi project with a friend named Tim Bruckner (who is now a well-known sculptor of super hero and fantasy figures). The story was about a dream-eating deity called The Enicol. To make a long story short, both Tim and I were quite excited about the strange tale we'd come up with and decided to try to contact as many well-known writers in the Sci-Fi genre as we could. Believe it or not, back in 1974 Harlan Ellison's home phone number was listed in the San Fernando Valley white pages, so...after staring at it for a day or two, I dialed the number and Harlan Ellison did indeed answer my call. I got as far as saying something to the effect of Hello, Mr. Ellison, my name's Rick Ryan and I've always been a huge admirer of your work... That's as far as I got before Harlan seemed to go totally berserk, angrily screaming at me about bothering him with my call, demanding that I promise never, EVER to call him again! Of course, I quietly did as he asked and immediately hung up the phone. Within the following month or so, someone had told me that Ray Bradbury had an office in Beverly Hills (I'm pretty sure that's where it was---if not, it was very close to Beverly Hills). Anyway, early one afternoon, I entered the building where Mr. Bradbury's office was supposed to be and. lo and behold, on the second floor at the end of the hallway was a door that had Ray Bradbury on it in some fashion or another. Unfortunately, the door also had a very large sign on it saying something like: WARNING! Please Do Not Disturb! I Am a Working Author and WILL NOT RESPOND! If you wish to contact me for any reason, call: 555-6238 (Of course the wording on the sign and the telephone number were different, but you get the idea...). So. for the next 2 or 3 days I called and called that number and no one ever answered. Back then, they didn't have answering machines and Ray Bradbury wasn't the kind of guy to have one anyway---hey, he never drove a car, so why would he want an annoying answering machine. Anyway, after dialing that number for what seemed like 100 times, on the 101st attempt, a voice answered on the other end of the line. It was Ray Bradbury. In contrast to Mr. Ellison, Mr. Bradbury talked to me for at least a half an hour about everything from the craft of writing to his experience working with John Huston on the set while they were filming Moby Dick (for which he wrote the screenplay). After all this time, I don't remember all the incidentals of the conversation. What I do remember is what a kind, warm and welcoming gentleman the legendary literary giant Ray Bradbury was when he talked on the phone to some young, naive kid who was callling him with some crazy Sci-Fi idea. I also remember his closing words in our conversation were God bless you, son. What a wonderful human being. It's one of the great honors of my life to have had that experience over 35 years ago Rick Ryan Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance
We are lucky that we share an appreciation for these great human beings. Sent from my iPhone On Jun 7, 2012, at 10:21 AM, Phillip W. Ayling mro...@earthlink.net wrote: Rick, It is great to hear your story. Ray Bradbury was just the best!!! I met him several times as a kid at birthday parties that Forrest J. Ackerman used to hold at his house on Sherbourne Drive in the West L.A. area in the 60's. He was the nicest of people. No matter who you were, you were part of humanity and that is what seemed to matter to him. I can't imagine how stupid I sounded as a 10 year old talking about The Martian Chronicles or King Kong. He was so nice. There was no sense of How important are you? or A bigger name just walked into the room, so bye. I shed a tear yesterday. Don't do that often and I'm tearing-up as I write this. Two of Sci-Fi's Three Musketeers are gone now. Ray Harryhausen will be 92 on June 29. All of us who love films and fantasy have been blessed to live during this time. - Original Message - From: Rix Posterz To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2012 9:46 AM Subject: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance In the min-1970's, I was a young, aspiring writer living in L.A., working on a Sci-Fi project with a friend named Tim Bruckner (who is now a well-known sculptor of super hero and fantasy figures). The story was about a dream-eating deity called The Enicol. To make a long story short, both Tim and I were quite excited about the strange tale we'd come up with and decided to try to contact as many well-known writers in the Sci-Fi genre as we could. Believe it or not, back in 1974 Harlan Ellison's home phone number was listed in the San Fernando Valley white pages, so...after staring at it for a day or two, I dialed the number and Harlan Ellison did indeed answer my call. I got as far as saying something to the effect of Hello, Mr. Ellison, my name's Rick Ryan and I've always been a huge admirer of your work... That's as far as I got before Harlan seemed to go totally berserk, angrily screaming at me about bothering him with my call, demanding that I promise never, EVER to call him again! Of course, I quietly did as he asked and immediately hung up the phone. Within the following month or so, someone had told me that Ray Bradbury had an office in Beverly Hills (I'm pretty sure that's where it was---if not, it was very close to Beverly Hills). Anyway, early one afternoon, I entered the building where Mr. Bradbury's office was supposed to be and. lo and behold, on the second floor at the end of the hallway was a door that had Ray Bradbury on it in some fashion or another. Unfortunately, the door also had a very large sign on it saying something like: WARNING! Please Do Not Disturb! I Am a Working Author and WILL NOT RESPOND! If you wish to contact me for any reason, call: 555-6238 (Of course the wording on the sign and the telephone number were different, but you get the idea...). So. for the next 2 or 3 days I called and called that number and no one ever answered. Back then, they didn't have answering machines and Ray Bradbury wasn't the kind of guy to have one anyway---hey, he never drove a car, so why would he want an annoying answering machine. Anyway, after dialing that number for what seemed like 100 times, on the 101st attempt, a voice answered on the other end of the line. It was Ray Bradbury. In contrast to Mr. Ellison, Mr. Bradbury talked to me for at least a half an hour about everything from the craft of writing to his experience working with John Huston on the set while they were filming Moby Dick (for which he wrote the screenplay). After all this time, I don't remember all the incidentals of the conversation. What I do remember is what a kind, warm and welcoming gentleman the legendary literary giant Ray Bradbury was when he talked on the phone to some young, naive kid who was callling him with some crazy Sci-Fi idea. I also remember his closing words in our conversation were God bless you, son. What a wonderful human being. It's one of the great honors of my life to have had that experience over 35 years ago Rick Ryan Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The
Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance
A great story. Harlan had and still has a listed phone number. His response to calls from people he doesn't know -- I've known him since the late '60s -- varies but it's frequently in the direction of what you received. Of course, no one knows what the person they're calling is doing before they call but when he's interrupted, it's a more vociferous response. He was apparently busy when you called. Ray Bradbury was an altogether different case. I've known Ray for a couple years longer than I've known Harlan. (This all makes me sound like I'm a million years old. I'm not a kid anymore but I met these guys when I was. 13 when I met Ray, 14 or 15 when I met Harlan.) Ray's always been kind and friendly to kids and writers and people who admire his work. Really to people in general. In his later years -- he died at 91 -- he got a lot pricklier and more defensive but, underneath, he was still the same good-hearted, talented guy. I posted this to my Facebook page the morning Ray died: Just heard that Ray Bradbury has died. I'm stunned. Shocked. Ray's been ill for ages but it seemed like he'd go on forever. I first met Ray when I was 13 years old. I was a fan of his work and he invited me (and my two cousins) to his office in Beverly Hills to talk about his career (always one of Ray's favorite subjects). Among other things, he told me about Leigh Brackett and how much her professional advice helped him. He also told me about science fiction fandom and the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS). I soon attended a meeting then another then another. Without question my involvement there led to my career as a publicist for Star Wars then a consultant to multiple studios and now as a writer. Throughout all the years, I've stayed in touch with Ray. As a fan. As a friend. As someone who's meant a great deal to me as a professional mentor. And now, as someone I'll greatly miss. Craig. At 09:46 AM 6/7/2012, Rix Posterz wrote: In the min-1970's, I was a young, aspiring writer living in L.A., working on a Sci-Fi project with a friend named Tim Bruckner (who is now a well-known sculptor of super hero and fantasy figures). The story was about a dream-eating deity called The Enicol. To make a long story short, both Tim and I were quite excited about the strange tale we'd come up with and decided to try to contact as many well-known writers in the Sci-Fi genre as we could. Believe it or not, back in 1974 Harlan Ellison's home phone number was listed in the San Fernando Valley white pages, so...after staring at it for a day or two, I dialed the number and Harlan Ellison did indeed answer my call. I got as far as saying something to the effect of Hello, Mr. Ellison, my name's Rick Ryan and I've always been a huge admirer of your work... That's as far as I got before Harlan seemed to go totally berserk, angrily screaming at me about bothering him with my call, demanding that I promise never, EVER to call him again! Of course, I quietly did as he asked and immediately hung up the phone. Within the following month or so, someone had told me that Ray Bradbury had an office in Beverly Hills (I'm pretty sure that's where it was---if not, it was very close to Beverly Hills). Anyway, early one afternoon, I entered the building where Mr. Bradbury's office was supposed to be and. lo and behold, on the second floor at the end of the hallway was a door that had Ray Bradbury on it in some fashion or another. Unfortunately, the door also had a very large sign on it saying something like: WARNING! Please Do Not Disturb! I Am a Working Author and WILL NOT RESPOND! If you wish to contact me for any reason, call: 555-6238 (Of course the wording on the sign and the telephone number were different, but you get the idea...). So. for the next 2 or 3 days I called and called that number and no one ever answered. Back then, they didn't have answering machines and Ray Bradbury wasn't the kind of guy to have one anyway---hey, he never drove a car, so why would he want an annoying answering machine. Anyway, after dialing that number for what seemed like 100 times, on the 101st attempt, a voice answered on the other end of the line. It was Ray Bradbury. In contrast to Mr. Ellison, Mr. Bradbury talked to me for at least a half an hour about everything from the craft of writing to his experience working with John Huston on the set while they were filming Moby Dick (for which he wrote the screenplay). After all this time, I don't remember all the incidentals of the conversation. What I do remember is what a kind, warm and welcoming gentleman the legendary literary giant Ray Bradbury was when he talked on the phone to some young, naive kid who was callling him with some crazy Sci-Fi idea. I also remember his closing words in our conversation were God bless you, son. What a wonderful human being. It's one of the great honors of my life to have had that
Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance
What a great story Rick.When I was a freshman in college at UC San Diego in 1972, I was part of a college council that organized events for the school. We had a meeting one night and it was suggested that we have some speakers come to the school. Most of the people that were suggested were either locals or college admiinistrators or professors known for some invention or theory. Being 18 and not knowing any better, I suggested Ray Bradbuy, to which everyone chuckled at me. Basically the message was good luck with that. So, I talked to everyone that I could think of about how to get to him and somehow made my way to his manager or a friend of his manager or a secretary or someone. Anyway, I told my story and wondered if Mr. Bradbury ever attended colleges to speak. They said they would get back to me. One night, late, as I was fretting over some test the next day, the phone rang in my dorm and it was him, Mr. Bradbury himself and said he would love to come down to San Diego and chat with us. When I went to tell all the other people on the council, most of them all older than me, they didn't believe me at first until I provided his phone number for them to check. SoI made the flight arrangements and picked him up at the airport and we had a great talk all the way back. In fact, I probably didn't shut up the whole half hour from the airport to the college. He was so wonderful and it was one of the highlights of my life meeting him. About 10 years ago I was at LAX taking my in-laws to the airport for a flight back to Floriday and there he sat, all alone. He was, of course, so much older and had a cane now, but I knew it was him. I hesitated to go up and say hello, but I just had to. I reminded him of how nice he had been to accept my invitation to school to speak and he said he remembered that event. I didn't know if he was just saying that to be nice, but then when he said that he remembered I had an awful lot to say in those days and how had all my things worked out, I knew he truly did remember. I told him not much had changed, I still have alot to say all the time!! I have a customer that has been very close friends with him since childhood and she use to send me movie posters to have restored and sent to him as gifts. It was such a treat framing them up knowing that they were going to be his. When I saw the news come across yesterday, I was so saddened, but what a great life he had and all the gifts he left us. Sue www.hollywoodposterframes.com Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2012 10:52:42 -0700 From: fly...@pacbell.net Subject: Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU We are lucky that we share an appreciation for these great human beings. Sent from my iPhone On Jun 7, 2012, at 10:21 AM, Phillip W. Ayling mro...@earthlink.net wrote: Rick, It is great to hear your story. Ray Bradbury was just the best!!! I met him several times as a kid at birthday parties that Forrest J. Ackerman used to hold at his house on Sherbourne Drive in the West L.A. area in the 60's. He was the nicest of people. No matter who you were, you were part of humanity and that is what seemed to matter to him. I can't imagine how stupid I sounded as a 10 year old talking about The Martian Chronicles or King Kong. He was so nice. There was no sense of How important are you? or A bigger name just walked into the room, so bye. I shed a tear yesterday. Don't do that often and I'm tearing-up as I write this. Two of Sci-Fi's Three Musketeers are gone now. Ray Harryhausen will be 92 on June 29. All of us who love films and fantasy have been blessed to live during this time. - Original Message - From: Rix Posterz To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2012 9:46 AM Subject: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance In the min-1970's, I was a young, aspiring writer living in L.A., working on a Sci-Fi project with a friend named Tim Bruckner (who is now a well-known sculptor of super hero and fantasy figures). The story was about a dream-eating deity called The Enicol. To make a long story short, both Tim and I were quite excited about the strange tale we'd come up with and decided to try to contact as many well-known writers in the Sci-Fi genre as we could. Believe it or not, back in 1974 Harlan Ellison's home phone number was listed in the San Fernando Valley white pages, so...after staring at it for a day or two, I dialed the number and Harlan Ellison did indeed answer my call. I got as far as saying something to the effect of Hello, Mr. Ellison, my name's Rick Ryan and I've always been a huge admirer of your work... That's as far as I got before Harlan seemed to go totally berserk, angrily screaming at me about bothering him with my call, demanding that I promise never, EVER to call him again! Of course, I quietly did as he asked and immediately hung up the phone
Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance
a cool story indeed, and sounds about right, knowing the likes of Ray and Harlan! Snapped a couple of pix of Ray at Forry Ackerman's 92nd b-day (I hope these photobucket liks work). Ray was in such kind spirits that day, I got the feeling he was always like that. http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo156/frankenwick/rayb1753x800.jpg http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo156/frankenwick/rayb2800x708.jpg -Original Message- From: Rix Posterz rixpost...@aol.com To: MoPo-L MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Thu, Jun 7, 2012 11:46 am Subject: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance In the min-1970's, I was a young, aspiring writer living in L.A., working on a Sci-Fi project with a friend named Tim Bruckner (who is now a well-known sculptor of super hero and fantasy figures). The story was about a dream-eating deity called The Enicol. To make a long story short, both Tim and I were quite excited about the strange tale we'd come up with and decided to try to contact as many well-known writers in the Sci-Fi genre as we could. Believe it or not, back in 1974 Harlan Ellison's home phone number was listed in the San Fernando Valley white pages, so...after staring at it for a day or two, I dialed the number and Harlan Ellison did indeed answer my call. I got as far as saying something to the effect of Hello, Mr. Ellison, my name's Rick Ryan and I've always been a huge admirer of your work... That's as far as I got before Harlan seemed to go totally berserk, angrily screaming at me about bothering him with my call, demanding that I promise never, EVER to call him again! Of course, I quietly did as he asked and immediately hung up the phone. Within the following month or so, someone had told me that Ray Bradbury had an office in Beverly Hills (I'm pretty sure that's where it was---if not, it was very close to Beverly Hills). Anyway, early one afternoon, I entered the building where Mr. Bradbury's office was supposed to be and. lo and behold, on the second floor at the end of the hallway was a door that had Ray Bradbury on it in some fashion or another. Unfortunately, the door also had a very large sign on it saying something like: WARNING! Please Do Not Disturb! I Am a Working Author and WILL NOT RESPOND! If you wish to contact me for any reason, call: 555-6238 (Of course the wording on the sign and the telephone number were different, but you get the idea...). So. for the next 2 or 3 days I called and called that number and no one ever answered. Back then, they didn't have answering machines and Ray Bradbury wasn't the kind of guy to have one anyway---hey, he never drove a car, so why would he want an annoying answering machine. Anyway, after dialing that number for what seemed like 100 times, on the 101st attempt, a voice answered on the other end of the line. It was Ray Bradbury. In contrast to Mr. Ellison, Mr. Bradbury talked to me for at least a half an hour about everything from the craft of writing to his experience working with John Huston on the set while they were filming Moby Dick (for which he wrote the screenplay). After all this time, I don't remember all the incidentals of the conversation. What I do remember is what a kind, warm and welcoming gentleman the legendary literary giant Ray Bradbury was when he talked on the phone to some young, naive kid who was callling him with some crazy Sci-Fi idea. I also remember his closing words in our conversation were God bless you, son. What a wonderful human being. It's one of the great honors of my life to have had that experience over 35 years ago Rick Ryan Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance
Ray Bradbury was a great author. I enjoyed his books very much. One thing for sure, we have some very interesting people as members on MOPO. JW From: Susan Heim filmfantast...@msn.com To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Thursday, June 7, 2012 3:09 PM Subject: Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance What a great story Rick.When I was a freshman in college at UC San Diego in 1972, I was part of a college council that organized events for the school. We had a meeting one night and it was suggested that we have some speakers come to the school. Most of the people that were suggested were either locals or college admiinistrators or professors known for some invention or theory. Being 18 and not knowing any better, I suggested Ray Bradbuy, to which everyone chuckled at me. Basically the message was good luck with that. So, I talked to everyone that I could think of about how to get to him and somehow made my way to his manager or a friend of his manager or a secretary or someone. Anyway, I told my story and wondered if Mr. Bradbury ever attended colleges to speak. They said they would get back to me. One night, late, as I was fretting over some test the next day, the phone rang in my dorm and it was him, Mr. Bradbury himself and said he would love to come down to San Diego and chat with us. When I went to tell all the other people on the council, most of them all older than me, they didn't believe me at first until I provided his phone number for them to check. SoI made the flight arrangements and picked him up at the airport and we had a great talk all the way back. In fact, I probably didn't shut up the whole half hour from the airport to the college. He was so wonderful and it was one of the highlights of my life meeting him. About 10 years ago I was at LAX taking my in-laws to the airport for a flight back to Floriday and there he sat, all alone. He was, of course, so much older and had a cane now, but I knew it was him. I hesitated to go up and say hello, but I just had to. I reminded him of how nice he had been to accept my invitation to school to speak and he said he remembered that event. I didn't know if he was just saying that to be nice, but then when he said that he remembered I had an awful lot to say in those days and how had all my things worked out, I knew he truly did remember. I told him not much had changed, I still have alot to say all the time!! I have a customer that has been very close friends with him since childhood and she use to send me movie posters to have restored and sent to him as gifts. It was such a treat framing them up knowing that they were going to be his. When I saw the news come across yesterday, I was so saddened, but what a great life he had and all the gifts he left us. Sue www.hollywoodposterframes.com Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2012 10:52:42 -0700 From: fly...@pacbell.net Subject: Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU We are lucky that we share an appreciation for these great human beings. Sent from my iPhone On Jun 7, 2012, at 10:21 AM, Phillip W. Ayling mro...@earthlink.net wrote: Rick, It is great to hear your story. Ray Bradbury was just the best!!! I met him several times as a kid at birthday parties that Forrest J. Ackerman used to hold at his house on Sherbourne Drive in the West L.A. area in the 60's. He was the nicest of people. No matter who you were, you were part of humanity and that is what seemed to matter to him. I can't imagine how stupid I sounded as a 10 year old talking about The Martian Chronicles or King Kong. He was so nice. There was no sense of How important are you? or A bigger name just walked into the room, so bye. I shed a tear yesterday. Don't do that often and I'm tearing-up as I write this. Two of Sci-Fi's Three Musketeers are gone now. Ray Harryhausen will be 92 on June 29. All of us who love films and fantasy have been blessed to live during this time. - Original Message - From: Rix Posterz To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2012 9:46 AM Subject: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance In the min-1970's, I was a young, aspiring writer living in L.A., working on a Sci-Fi project with a friend named Tim Bruckner (who is now a well-known sculptor of super hero and fantasy figures). The story was about a dream-eating deity called The Enicol. To make a long story short, both Tim and I were quite excited about the strange tale we'd come up with and decided to try to contact as many well-known writers in the Sci-Fi genre as we could. Believe it or not, back in 1974 Harlan Ellison's home phone number was listed in the San Fernando Valley white pages, so...after staring at it for a day or two, I dialed the number and Harlan Ellison did indeed answer my call. I got as far as saying something
Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance
I had met Ray many times during my life and we chatted frequently at shows. I was always quite surprised that he remembered my name. More than that however, when I was a young teen, and before I had been introduced to Raymond Chandler, Bradbury was my favorite novelist and the Martian Chronicles was my favorite book he was a great guy he loved his fans every bit as much as they loved him, which is something that can also be said of his two best friends, Harryhausen and Ackerman Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Re: [MOPO] Ray Bradbury, A Remembrance
I never met Ray Bradbury *OR *Ray Harryhausen, and I doubt I would have known either one by sight. But I loved Bradbury stories after I read the EC Comic adaptations as a kid, and I went on to read his stuff and some of his stories were great and some pretty hard to follow, but he sure was unlike any other sci-fi writer and in a great way. And I was lucky enough to see Sinbad and Jason in the theater and I thought them way better than the regular sci-fi or horror stuff. The funny thing is, I *STILL *think they wrote and directed light years ahead of today's people who churn out crap with regularity, and good movies are fewer and fewer. Bruce On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 4:08 PM, Richard Halegua Comic Art sa...@comic-art.com wrote: I had met Ray many times during my life and we chatted frequently at shows. I was always quite surprised that he remembered my name. More than that however, when I was a young teen, and before I had been introduced to Raymond Chandler, Bradbury was my favorite novelist and the Martian Chronicles was my favorite book he was a great guy he loved his fans every bit as much as they loved him, which is something that can also be said of his two best friends, Harryhausen and Ackerman Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. -- Bruce Hershenson and the other 26 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. Box 874 West Plains, MO 65775 Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take lunch) our site http://www.emovieposter.com/ our auctions http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
