I recently discovered that Ray Bradbury made an appearance with Groucho Marx on the 1950s quiz show You Bet Your Life. At age thirty-five, Ray had two novels and a short story collection to his credit (The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, and The Golden Apples of the Sun), as well as the screenplay for John Huston’s motion picture Moby Dick. It’s an entertaining TV appearance from May 24, 1956. Among other things, we learn how Ray Bradbury met his wife. Ray is on-screen during the first eight minutes of the program. Enjoy.
Writing in Overdrive 
I would never have recognized Ray Bradbury here. I met him unexpectedly around 1992 and was part of a group he spontaneously invited to dinner after the funeral we had attended for a mutual friend. I had no idea the two had been acquainted. It was only after talking to him I started reading his books — beginning with his favorite — The Martian Chronicles. It was embarrassing to admit to him I’d never read his books because I wasn’t a science fiction fan. He explained he did not consider himself a science fiction writer but had been classified that way by others.
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Thanks for that memory of Ray Bradbury, Barbara! What a joy it must have been to share a meal with Ray. He’s one of the three main reasons I’m a writer today (alongside Madeleine L’Engle and C.S. Lewis). His insights on the creative process are well worth exploring (see his book at https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Writing-Essays-Creativity/dp/1877741094/).
THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES is my favorite Bradbury book as well. I posted my 2006 memory of meeting Ray Bradbury on my “Walt’s Disneyland” blog (I’m currently finishing the edits on a book called WALT’S DISNEYLAND, on discovering the parts of Walt Disney’s theme park that still bear his original imprint): https://waltsdisneyland.wordpress.com/2017/01/30/the-many-gifts-of-walt-disney/.
I appreciate your thoughts, Barbara. All the best.
—Jim Denney
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