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72-632: In 1958 the noted violinist and conductor Henri Temianka founded the Beverly Hills Concerts for Youth. Works such as ‘’Peter and the Wolf’’ and Saint-Saëns’ ‘’Carnival of the Animals’’ were performed, with celebrity participants including Ray Bradbury , Victor Borge , Hans Conreid , Peter Ustinov and Sam Jaffe donating their services as narrators. In Benjamin Britten ’s opera ‘’Noye’s Fludde’’, children from

144-1003: A Swedish immigrant , and Leonard Spaulding Bradbury (1890–1957), a power and telephone lineman of English ancestry. He was given the middle name "Douglas" after actor Douglas Fairbanks . Bradbury was surrounded by an extended family during his early childhood and formative years in Waukegan. An aunt read him short stories when he was a child. This period provided foundations for both the author and his stories. In Bradbury's fiction, 1920s Waukegan becomes Green Town, Illinois. The Bradbury family lived in Tucson, Arizona , during 1926–1927 and 1932–1933 while their father pursued employment, each time returning to Waukegan. While in Tucson, Bradbury attended Amphi Junior High School and Roskruge Junior High School. They eventually settled in Los Angeles in 1934 when Bradbury

216-636: A slush pile , which led to its publication. "Homecoming" won a place in the O. Henry Award Stories of 1947. Bradbury first published The Fireman , a short story about 25,000 words long, in Galaxy Science Fiction in February 1951. Bradbury was asked to extend it by 25,000 words so that it would be published as a novel. Bradbury got the title after the Los Angeles fire chief told him that book paper burns at 451 °F. In UCLA 's Powell Library , in

288-478: A Los Angeles bookstore with British expatriate writer Christopher Isherwood gave Bradbury the opportunity to put The Martian Chronicles into the hands of a respected critic. Isherwood's glowing review followed. Bradbury attributed his lifelong habit of writing every day to two incidents. The first, when he was three years old, was his mother's taking him to see Lon Chaney in the 1923 silent film The Hunchback of Notre Dame . The second occurred in 1932, when

360-563: A Thursday-night conclave at age 16. Bradbury cited Verne and Wells as his primary science-fiction influences. He identified with Verne, saying: "He believes the human being is in a strange situation in a very strange world, and he believes that we can triumph by behaving morally." Bradbury admitted that he stopped reading science-fiction books in his 20s and embraced a broad field of literature that included poets Alexander Pope and John Donne . He had just graduated from high school when he met Robert A. Heinlein , then 31. Bradbury recalled: "He

432-452: A carnival entertainer, one Mr. Electrico, knighted the young man with an electrified sword and intoned: "Live forever!" Bradbury remarked: "I felt that something strange and wonderful had happened to me because of my encounter with Mr. Electrico ... [he] gave me a future ... I began to write, full-time. I have written every single day of my life since that day 69 years ago." At that age, Bradbury first started to do magic , which

504-521: A dainty cone plugged into her right ear. There she was, oblivious to man and dog, listening to far winds and whispers and soap opera cries, sleep walking , helped up and down curbs by a husband who might just as well not have been there. This was not fiction. Bradbury stated that the novel worked as a critique of the later development of political correctness : How does the story of Fahrenheit 451 stand up in 1994? R.B.: It works even better because we have political correctness now. Political correctness

576-472: A formative event of his youth: I suppose the most important memory is of Mr. Electrico. On Labor Day weekend, 1932, when I was twelve years old, he came to my hometown with the Dill Brothers ... He was a performer sitting in an electric chair and a stagehand pulled a switch and he was charged with fifty thousand volts of pure electricity. Lightning flashed in his eyes and his hair stood on end. I sat below, in

648-487: A full and complete life." In high school, Bradbury was active in the poetry and drama clubs. Planning to become an actor, he became serious about writing as his high-school years progressed. He graduated from Los Angeles High School, where he took poetry classes with Snow Longley Housh and short-story writing courses taught by Jeannet Johnson. The teachers recognized his talent and furthered his interest in writing, but he did not attend college. Instead, he sold newspapers at

720-534: A larger collaborative work that would tell the family's complete history, but it never materialized, and according to a 2001 interview, they went their separate ways. In October 2001, Bradbury published all the Family stories he had written in one book with a connecting narrative, From the Dust Returned , featuring a wraparound Addams cover of the original "Homecoming" illustration. Another of Bradbury’s close friends

792-410: A month: their friendship lasted more than 70 years. Dandelion Wine Dandelion Wine is a 1957 novel by Ray Bradbury set in the summer of 1928 in the fictional town of Green Town, Illinois, based upon Bradbury's childhood home of Waukegan, Illinois , and serving as the first novel in his Green Town Trilogy . The novel developed from the short story "Dandelion Wine", which appeared in

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864-808: A rich theatrical legacy as well as literary. He headed the Pandemonium Theatre Company in Los Angeles for many years, and had a five-year relationship with the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena. Bradbury is featured prominently in two documentaries related to his classic 1950s–1960s era: Jason V Brock 's Charles Beaumont: The Life of Twilight Zone's Magic Man , detailing his troubles with Rod Serling and his friendships with writers Charles Beaumont , George Clayton Johnson , and most especially his dear friend William F. Nolan ; and Brock's The AckerMonster Chronicles! , which delves into

936-597: A span of some three decades. In addition to the baroque and classical literature, the CCS performed major works by such famous modern composers as Aaron Copland , Darius Milhaud , Dmitri Shostakovich , Malcolm Arnold and Carlos Chavez ; many of these were West Coast premieres. In 1962 the great violinist David Oistrakh performed the Beethoven, the Brahms and the Bach E Major concertos with

1008-510: A study room with typewriters for rent for ten cents per half-hour., Bradbury wrote his classic story of a book burning future, Fahrenheit 451 , which was about 50,000 words long, costing $ 9.80 from the typewriter-rental fees. Fahrenheit 451 was also published in serial form in the March, April and May 1954 issues of Playboy Magazine . Fahrenheit 451 remains a staple in discussions about censorship and dystopian futures. A chance encounter in

1080-516: Is Bradbury’s masterpiece, his fullest, most deeply felt and lyrical expression, touching on his usual themes of youth, old age and small-town life but stripped of their usual layer of sci-fi remove." Georges D. Todds of the SF Site said that the novel's power lies in the "emotional attachment" it stirs in readers, because it is almost completely nostalgia in contrast to Bradbury's usual blend of horror/science fiction and nostalgia. He stated that this trait

1152-414: Is a depiction of the real. Fantasy is a depiction of the unreal. So Martian Chronicles is not science fiction, it's fantasy. It couldn't happen, you see? That's the reason it's going to be around a long time—because it's a Greek myth , and myths have staying power. Bradbury recounted when he came into his own as a writer, the afternoon he wrote a short story about his first encounter with death. When he

1224-488: Is a direct continuation of the plot of Dandelion Wine , Something Wicked This Way Comes , a novel with a completely different plot and characters, is often paired with the latter because of their stylistic and thematic similarities. Together, the three novels form a Green Town trilogy . A fourth volume, Summer Morning, Summer Night , published in 2008, contains twenty-seven Green Town stories and vignettes, seventeen of which had never been published before. Dandelion Wine

1296-427: Is a series of short stories loosely connected to summer occurrences, with Douglas and his family as recurring characters. Many of the chapters were first published as individual short stories, the earliest being The Night (1946), with the remainder appearing between 1950 and 1957. Douglas Spaulding : The protagonist of the novel, the entire summer is seen mostly through his eyes as a time of joys and sorrows. Douglas

1368-532: Is at his most effective when evoking a New World joy and optimism", there are times when his prose becomes overly sentimental and his "gently fantastic style becomes plain tiring". He nonetheless classifies Dandelion Wine as "an engrossing read". The noted critic and author Damon Knight was also downbeat: Childhood is Bradbury's one subject, but you will not find real childhood here, Bradbury's least of all. What he has had to say about it has always been expressed obliquely, in symbol and allusion, and always with

1440-401: Is his father's middle name. Tom Spaulding : Douglas' younger brother, Tom is the more logical and skeptical one, often questioning his brother's seemingly inexplicable actions. Tom is also somewhat more childish and naïve than Douglas, often failing to understand the seriousness of Douglas' thoughts about his life; nonetheless, he often acts as the voice of reason when Douglas' imagination gets

1512-439: Is imaginative, fanciful, and occasionally meditative on the state of the world. Most of the time, he aims to have fun as a 12-year-old kid, but sometimes he lapses into philosophical brooding on topics, including life and death, more mature topics than what would be expected of his age. Bradbury has stated that Douglas is based on the childhood version of him, and in fact, "Douglas" is Bradbury's actual middle name, while "Spaulding"

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1584-505: Is the real enemy these days. The black groups want to control our thinking and you can't say certain things. The homosexual groups don't want you to criticize them. It's thought control and freedom of speech control. In a 1982 essay, he wrote: "People ask me to predict the Future, when all I want to do is prevent it." This intent had been expressed earlier by other authors, most of whom attributed it to him. On May 24, 1956, Bradbury appeared on

1656-541: The New York Herald Tribune , Will Cuppy proclaimed Bradbury "suitable for general consumption" and predicted that he would become a writer of the caliber of British fantasist John Collier . After a rejection notice from the pulp Weird Tales , Bradbury submitted "Homecoming" to Mademoiselle , where it was spotted by a young editorial assistant named Truman Capote . Capote picked the Bradbury manuscript from

1728-469: The 1964 New York World's Fair and wrote the narration script for The American Journey attraction there. He also worked on the original exhibit in Epcot 's Spaceship Earth geosphere at Walt Disney World . He focused on detective fiction in the 1980s. In the latter half of the 1980s and early 1990s, he hosted The Ray Bradbury Theater , a televised anthology series based on his short stories. Bradbury

1800-567: The Brown Derby to watch the stars who came and went for meals. He recounted seeing Cary Grant , Marlene Dietrich and Mae West , who, he learned, made a regular appearance every Friday night, bodyguard in tow. Bradbury was free to start a career in writing when, owing to his bad eyesight, he was rejected for induction into the military during World War II . Inspired by science-fiction heroes such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers , he began publishing science-fiction stories in fanzines in 1938. He

1872-503: The coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space . Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen

1944-469: The CCS, and as an encore joined Temianka to play the Bach ‘’Double Concerto’’. Other soloists who appeared with the CCS under Temianka’s direction included Jean-Pierre Rampal , Henryk Szeryng , Leonard Pennario and Benny Goodman . Temianka once joined violist William Primrose to perform Mozart’s ‘’Sinfonia Concertante’’, and on another occasion played viola in that piece with Isaac Stern . Temianka broke with tradition by speaking to his audiences from

2016-852: The California Chamber Virtuosi, an offshoot of the CCS in 1976, gave concerts at the J. Paul Getty museum in Malibu, at Pepperdine University, and at the Taper Forum in Los Angeles. The City and County of Los Angeles repeatedly issued proclamations honoring the CCS. Its last performance was given on Sunday, December 9, 1990. In 2022 a graduating student from Chapman University, Mitchell Tanaka, placed Temianka's pioneering contributions in historical perspective in his production "Temianka Talks Music." [1] . Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury ( US : / ˈ b r æ d b ɛr i / BRAD -berr-ee ; August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012)

2088-448: The June 1953 issue of Gourmet magazine . The title refers to a wine made with dandelion petals and other ingredients, commonly citrus fruit. In the story, dandelion wine, as made by the protagonist's grandfather, serves as a metaphor for distilling all of the joys of summer. The main character of the story is Douglas Spaulding, a 12-year-old boy loosely patterned after Bradbury. Most of

2160-507: The Stars (2001). The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream". Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois , to Esther (née Moberg) Bradbury (1888–1966),

2232-504: The alienation of people by media: In writing the short novel Fahrenheit 451 I thought I was describing a world that might evolve in four or five decades. But only a few weeks ago, in Beverly Hills one night, a husband and wife passed me, walking their dog. I stood staring after them, absolutely stunned. The woman held in one hand a small cigarette-package-sized radio, its antenna quivering. From this sprang tiny copper wires which ended in

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2304-628: The audience participated. The orchestra also gave special concerts at Juvenile Hall and for the disabled. Initially called “The Temianka Little Symphony,” in 1960 the orchestra became the California Chamber Symphony. It was the first true chamber orchestra in Los Angeles. While based at Royce Hall, UCLA, the group toured the United States and Canada extensively, as well as Hong Kong, and was featured in special television programs on KCET and KNBC. The orchestra gave over 100 concerts during

2376-519: The authors of EC Comics 's line of horror and science-fiction comics. Initially, the writers plagiarized his stories, but a diplomatic letter from Bradbury led to the company's paying him and negotiating properly licensed adaptations of his work. The comics featuring Bradbury's stories included Tales from the Crypt , Weird Science , Weird Fantasy , Crime Suspenstories , and Haunt of Fear . Bradbury remained an enthusiastic playwright all his life, leaving

2448-429: The better of him. Charlie : A friend of Douglas and Tom, Charlie often hangs around with them. Charlie sometimes comments on a situation or on the behavior of other characters. Other than that, he gets little character development and acts as more of a side character for Douglas and Tom's adventures. Some critics consider Dandelion Wine to be Bradbury's most personal work. According to Electric Literature , "The book

2520-497: The book is focused upon the routines of small-town America, and the simple joys of yesterday. Bradbury noted in "Just This Side of Byzantium", a 1974 essay used as an introduction to the book, that Dandelion Wine is a recreation of a boy's childhood, based upon an intertwining of Bradbury's own experiences and imagination. Farewell Summer , the official sequel to Dandelion Wine , was published in October 2006. While Farewell Summer

2592-479: The corner of South Norton Avenue and Olympic Boulevard. In regard to his education, Bradbury said: Libraries raised me. I don't believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don't have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn't go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years. So I graduated from

2664-456: The creative people he met were special-effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen and radio star George Burns . Bradbury's first pay as a writer, at age 14, was for a joke he sold to George Burns to use on the Burns and Allen radio show. Bradbury was fascinated with carnivals from a young age, and they would feature in such works as The Illustrated Man and Something Wicked This Way Comes . He related

2736-546: The day that I leave this earth. This production is simply incredible." Phil Nichols of www.Bradburymedia.co.uk said of this recording, "The audio production is extravagant, and benefits from some strong performances and an extensive musical score...one of the most lively and energetic Bradbury productions for many years." The production won the Ogle Award for best Fantasy Production of 2006. In August 2011, Hollywood producers Mike Medavoy and Doug McKay of Phoenix Pictures announced

2808-658: The definitive use of Green Town is in Summer Morning, Summer Night , a collection of short stories and vignettes exclusively set in the town. Bradbury returns to the signature locale as a look back at the rapidly disappearing small-town world of the American heartland, which was the foundation of his roots. Bradbury wrote many short essays on culture and the arts, attracting the attention of critics in this field, using his fiction to explore and criticize his culture and society. He observed, for example, that Fahrenheit 451 touched on

2880-477: The flagship theater for MGM and Fox . There, Bradbury learned how to sneak in and watched previews almost every week. He roller skated there, as well as all over town, as he put it, "hell-bent on getting autographs from glamorous stars. It was glorious." Among stars the young Bradbury was thrilled to encounter were Norma Shearer , Laurel and Hardy , and Ronald Colman . Sometimes he spent all day in front of Paramount Pictures or Columbia Pictures , then skated to

2952-640: The front row, and he reached down with a flaming sword full of electricity and he tapped me on both shoulders and then the tip of my nose and he cried, "Live, forever!" And I thought, "God, that's wonderful. How do you do that?" ... So when I left the carnival that day I stood by the carousel and I watched the horses running around and around to the music of " Beautiful Ohio " and I cried. Tears streamed down my cheeks because I knew something important had happened to me that day because of Mr. Electrico. I felt changed. And so I went home and within days I started to write. And I've never stopped. Throughout his youth, Bradbury

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3024-523: The insights without too much extra comment." He studied Eudora Welty for her "remarkable ability to give you atmosphere, character, and motion in a single line." Bradbury was once described as a " Midwest surrealist " and is often labeled a science-fiction writer. He resisted that categorization, however, defining science fiction as "the art of the possible." First of all, I don't write science fiction. I've only done one science fiction book and that's Fahrenheit 451 , based on reality. Science fiction

3096-643: The leg—I respond by writing them down—everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off". An imagined version of Waukegan, Green Town is a symbol of safety and home, which is often the setting for tales of the macabre and the dark fantastic. It serves as the setting of his semiautobiographical classics Dandelion Wine , Something Wicked This Way Comes , and Farewell Summer , as well as many of his short stories. In Green Town, Bradbury's favorite uncle sprouts wings, traveling carnivals conceal supernatural powers, and his grandparents provide room and board to Charles Dickens . Perhaps

3168-503: The library when I was twenty-eight years old. He told The Paris Review : "You can't learn to write in college. It's a very bad place for writers because the teachers always think they know more than you do—and they don't." He considered science to be 'incidental' to his writing. He claimed not to be interested in the development of science, but hoped to use it as a form of social commentary and as an allegorical technique. He described his inspiration: "My stories run up and bite me in

3240-481: The life of former Bradbury agent, close friend, mega-fan and Famous Monsters of Filmland editor Forrest J Ackerman. Bradbury's legacy was celebrated by the bookstore Fahrenheit 451 Books in Laguna Beach, California, in the 1970s and 1980s. He and his favorite illustrator, Joseph Mugnaini , attended the opening of an addition to the store in the mid-1980s. It closed its doors in 1987, but in 1990, another shop of

3312-771: The money to head to New York for the First World Science Fiction Convention in New York City, and funded Bradbury's fanzine, Futuria Fantasia . Bradbury wrote most of its four issues, each volume printed in limited number due to publishing costs. Between 1940 and 1947, he was a contributor to Rob Wagner 's film magazine, Script . In 1939, Bradbury joined Laraine Day 's Wilshire Players Guild, where for two years he wrote and acted in several plays. They were, as Bradbury later described, "so incredibly bad" that he gave up play-writing for two decades. His first paid piece, "Pendulum", written with Henry Hasse ,

3384-584: The novel's greatest strengths because the tone matches the spirit of Bradbury's memories and optimistic outlook. John Zuck classified it as "spiritual fiction," paying particular attention to the religious theme of holding on to ephemeral beauty, i.e. , the short-lived summer. Floyd C. Gale wrote that "Admirers of Bradbury will welcome this tender volume and even his decriers will find passages of pure evocative magic to soften their flinty hearts". Other critics, however, label this style as overwrought and too "feel-good". Alan David Price stated that while "Bradbury

3456-616: The popular quiz show You Bet Your Life hosted by Groucho Marx . During his introductory comments and on-air banter with Marx, Bradbury briefly discussed some of his books and other works, including giving an overview of " The Veldt ", his short story published six years earlier in The Saturday Evening Post under the title "The World the Children Made". Bradbury was a consultant for the United States Pavilion at

3528-527: The publishing rights for Fahrenheit 451 came up for renewal in December 2011, Bradbury permitted its publication in electronic form provided that the publisher, Simon & Schuster , allowed the e-book to be digitally downloaded by any library patron. The title remains the only book in the Simon & Schuster catalog for which this is possible. Several comic-book writers have adapted Bradbury's stories, particularly

3600-718: The radio show Chandu the Magician , and every night when the show went off the air, he wrote out the entire script from memory. As a teen in Beverly Hills , he often visited his mentor and friend, science-fiction writer Bob Olsen , sharing ideas and maintaining contact. In 1936, at a secondhand bookstore in Hollywood, Bradbury discovered a handbill promoting meetings of the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society . Excited to find others who shared his interest, he joined

3672-529: The same name (with different owners) opened in Carlsbad, California. In the 1980s and 1990s, Bradbury served on the advisory board of the Los Angeles Student Film Institute . Bradbury lived in his parents' home until, in 1947, at age 27, he married Marguerite McClure (January 16, 1922 – November 24, 2003). They remained married until her death. Maggie, as she was affectionately called,

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3744-433: The scene, people were saying, 'Oh my God, I'm so afraid.' I hate people like that—I call them the neo- Luddites " and: "In a sense, [computers] are simply books. Books are all over the place, and computers will be, too." He resisted the conversion of his work into e-books , saying in 2010: "We have too many cellphones. We've got too many internets. We have got to get rid of those machines. We have too many machines now." When

3816-542: The stage about the music and composers. At one of the orchestra's first concerts, music critics in the audience walked out. For this reason the concert series was titled “Let’s Talk Music” for some years. He was responsible for the first appearances of many rising musicians such as Christopher Parkening , Jeffrey Kahane , Nathaniel Rosen , Timothy Landauer and Daniel Heifetz , and sponsored the Romero family of four guitarists from Spain ( The Romero Guitar Quartet ). In later years

3888-404: The tension of the outsider—the ex-child, the lonely one. In giving up this tension, in diving with arms spread into the glutinous pool of sentimentality that has always been waiting for him, Bradbury has renounced the one thing that made him worth reading. Knight remarks further that "The period is as vague as the place; Bradbury calls it 1928, but it has no feeling of genuine recollection; most of

3960-467: The time it is like second-hand 1910." Farewell Summer , published in 2006, is Bradbury's sequel to Dandelion Wine . The first stage adaptation of Dandelion Wine was a 1975 production in New York City arranged and adapted by Peter John Bailey, directed by William Woodman, and starring Matthew Anton and Doug McKeon . It was produced by The New Phoenix Repertory Company, under the artistic direction of Stephen Porter and Harold Prince . The production

4032-508: Was "a God-given thing, and I'm so grateful, so, so grateful. The best description of my career as a writer is 'At play in the fields of the Lord'." Bradbury was a close friend of Charles Addams , and Addams illustrated 1946's "Homecoming", the first of Bradbury's stories about the Elliotts, a family that resembled Addams's own Addams Family , transplanted to rural Illinois. Addams and Bradbury planned

4104-418: Was 14. The family arrived with only US$ 40 (equivalent to $ 911 in 2023), which paid for rent and food until his father finally found a job making wire at a cable company for $ 14 a week (equivalent to $ 319 in 2023), allowing them to stay in Hollywood. Bradbury attended Los Angeles High School and was active in the drama club. He often roller-skated through Hollywood in hopes of meeting celebrities. Among

4176-540: Was a boy, he met a young girl at a lake edge and she went out into the water and never came back. Years later, as he wrote about it in " The Lake ", tears flowed from him. He recognized he had taken the leap from emulating the many writers he admired to connecting with his voice as a writer. When later asked about source of the lyrical power of his prose, he replied: "From reading so much poetry every day of my life. My favorite writers have been those who've said things well." He said: "If you're reluctant to weep, you won't live

4248-542: Was a strong supporter of public libraries, raising money to prevent the closure of several libraries in California facing budgetary cuts. He said "libraries raised me", and shunned colleges and universities, comparing his own lack of funds during the Depression with poor contemporary students. His opinion varied on modern technology. In 1985 Bradbury wrote: "I see nothing but good coming from computers. When they first appeared on

4320-440: Was about 18. Bradbury's favorite writers growing up included Katherine Anne Porter , Edith Wharton and Jessamyn West . He loved the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs , especially his John Carter of Mars series; The Warlord of Mars impressed him so much that at age 12, he wrote his own sequel. The young Bradbury was also a cartoonist and loved to illustrate. He wrote about Tarzan and drew his own Sunday panels. He listened to

4392-645: Was also made into a 1997 Russian film adaptation, titled Vino iz oduvanchikov . Currently, there is no English film adaptation available for the book. Dandelion Wine was produced as a full-cast radio play by the Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air, in 2006. Ray Bradbury wrote the script from his stage play, and the production was released by Blackstone Audio. The cast included Jerry Robbins as Bill Forrester, William Humphrey as Douglas Spaulding, Rik Pierce as Grandpa, and James McLean as Tom Spaulding. The production

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4464-448: Was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy , science fiction , horror , mystery , and realistic fiction . Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include

4536-492: Was an avid reader and writer and knew at a young age that he was "going into one of the arts". Bradbury began writing his own stories at age 12 (1931), sometimes writing on butcher paper. In his youth, he spent much time in the Carnegie Library in Waukegan, reading such authors as H. G. Wells , Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe . At 12, he began writing traditional horror stories and said he tried to imitate Poe until he

4608-409: Was directed by Nancy Curran Willis, with music by Jeffrey Gage, and was produced by Jerry Robbins. After hearing the production, Ray Bradbury sent a letter to producer Jerry Robbins: "I've just played for the second time your production of Dandelion Wine and it's fabulous. I'm so very proud of it. In fact, it made me weep. In your own way you've told me that I have a chance of part of me living beyond

4680-403: Was his first great love. He said that had he not discovered writing, he would have become a magician. Bradbury claimed a wide variety of influences, and described discussions he might have had with his favorite writers, among them Robert Frost , William Shakespeare , John Steinbeck , Aldous Huxley , and Thomas Wolfe . From Steinbeck, he learned "how to write objectively and yet insert all of

4752-622: Was invited by Forrest J. Ackerman to attend the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society, which at the time met at Clifton's Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles. There he met Robert A. Heinlein , Emil Petaja , Fredric Brown , Henry Kuttner , Leigh Brackett and Jack Williamson . Bradbury's first published story was " Hollerbochen's Dilemma ", in the January 1938 number of Ackerman's fanzine Imagination! . In July 1939, Ackerman and his girlfriend Morojo gave 19-year-old Bradbury

4824-506: Was published in the pulp magazine Super Science Stories in November 1941, for which he earned $ 15. Bradbury sold his first solo story, "The Lake", for $ 13.75 at 22 and became a full-time writer by 24. His first collection of short stories, Dark Carnival , was published in 1947 by Arkham House , a small press in Sauk City, Wisconsin , owned by August Derleth . Reviewing Dark Carnival for

4896-646: Was reviewed by Mel Gussow of the New York Times on February 8, 1975. Bradbury co-wrote a musical of Dandelion Wine in 1988 with Jimmy Webb . It was workshopped at the University of Tulsa and directed by Dr. Nancy Vunovich in 1989. Webb and Bradbury were in attendance. A stage production was done in 1992 in Manistee Michigan. Ray Bradbury was present at the Ramsdell theater for the opening night. The novel

4968-469: Was the only woman he ever dated. They had four daughters: Susan, Ramona, Bettina and Alexandra. Bradbury never obtained a driver's license, but used public transportation or his bicycle. He was raised Baptist by his parents, who were infrequent churchgoers. As an adult, Bradbury said he considered himself a "delicatessen religionist" who resisted categorization of his beliefs and took guidance from both Eastern and Western faiths. He felt that his career

5040-544: Was the special-effects expert Ray Harryhausen , who was best man at Bradbury's wedding. During a BAFTA 2010 awards tribute honoring Harryhausen's 90th birthday, Bradbury spoke about having first met him at Forrest J Ackerman's house when they were both 18. Their shared love for science fiction, King Kong , and The Fountainhead was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. These early influences inspired them to believe in themselves and to affirm their career choices. After their first meeting, they kept in touch at least once

5112-577: Was well known, and he wrote humanistic science fiction, which influenced me to dare to be human instead of mechanical." During his young adulthood, Bradbury read stories published in Astounding Science Fiction , and read everything by Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke , as well as the early writings of Theodore Sturgeon and A. E. van Vogt . The family lived about four blocks from the Fox Uptown Theatre on Western Avenue in Los Angeles,

5184-415: Was what set it apart from his other works: Certainly I would tell anyone wanting to know what makes Ray Bradbury the human being he is to read Dandelion Wine , and anyone wanting to know what makes Ray Bradbury the renowned writer he is to read The October Country or The Martian Chronicles . The novel's heavy reliance on poetical imagery has produced mixed criticism. Many critics say that these are

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