A Night of Ray Bradbury

by Kevin Adair

The value of life's encounters comes down to two things: meeting unique interesting people, and paying attention. Earlier this month, I managed to put myself in a place where I met a true living legend- Mr. Ray Bradbury, author of such books as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles and Something Wicked This Way Comes. Although it seems I'm always listening to WBEZ, somehow I missed the announcement regarding an upcoming event that the station co-sponsored. Fortunately, my friend John had heard and asked me if I was interested. Ray Bradbury was to speak after the screening of his new film, The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, and did I want to go. No doubt on that one.

The film was based on Mr. Bradbury's short story and play of the same name. The basic plot of the movie is that five poor guys from east L.A., each put in twenty dollars so that they can get a suit that is pure 'ice cream' white and actually glows. They buy the suit together, and each gets to wear it for one hour the first night they own it. The movie follows the different experiences they each has during their hour wearing the suit. The film explores the hopes, dreams and desires of each of the five characters. Wearing the suit empowers each one of them in their own one-hour pursuit of what they think glory might be. Along the way they confront issues including honesty, personal drive, and abuse of power. In only 75 minutes the movie's collaborators create an excellent and complete experience.

The director, Stuart Gordon, who is a prominent force in Chicago theatre and one of the founders of The Organic Theatre, also spoke following the screening. The moderator was Steve Edwards, host of WBEZ's program 848. Steve opened by asking Stewart Gordon how he began the process of making this film. Mr. Gordon explained that forty years ago the play version of this story debuted at the Organic. Ray Bradbury had written the stage script from his story and, and he based the current film on that script and the original text. Recently Mr. Gordon and Mr. Bradbury had chanced to meet literally in the crosswalk of a street, and they agreed then and there that it was time for a movie version. Disney eventually agreed. The two speakers had collaborated on the film project from the start, and we had witnessed the result.

The moderator then opened the discussion up to the audience. My friend John, asked Mr. Bradbury, "What was difference between your experience with this film and the creative process of the movie, Something Wicked This Way Comes?

Mr. Bradbury responded that the two projects were like night and day. In Something Wicked This Way Comes, he submitted the story and it was bought and paid for, but the studio chose another writer's screenplay rather than Mr. Bradbury's. When he read the screenplay, it had nothing to do with the story. He couldn't believe that the other writer had changed the story so much as to destroy it. He realized it and told the studio, but they didn't listen. Then they filmed it to completion, and they hated it, so they were going to shelve it. But, Ray Bradbury said, "No. Wait. Tell you what, let me re-write it." He used what scenes he could from the original shooting, he re-shot other scenes from his own screenplay. (So the actors got hired twice for the same project.) They re-released the movie in it's current state, and now he's proud of it. So he said the difference between the two projects was huge because this one he was a collaborator throughout. Coming back to save Wicked was very traumatic. In contrast, Ice Cream Suit was all positive.

Ray Bradbury is in his eighties. I first read several of his stories when I was in school in the seventies. So, I asked him, "Mr. Bradbury, you're one of the generation of authors that, sadly, very few are left from. Most have passed away, including people like Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov, and I'm wondering if you ever had the opportunity to meet them, or associate with either of them?"

He said that Robert Heinlein was his mentor and his teacher. Robert Heinlein was thirty-one when Ray Bradbury was nineteen. Robert Heinlein had influenced a publisher to print Ray Bradbury first published story. Ray wasn't paid for it, but it was the start of his professional career. Mr. Bradbury looked very deeply at each person who asked a question, speaking directly to each one of us. He was very excited to talk about Robert Heinlein.

Mr. Bradbury was asked if he had ever owned a white suit like the one in the movie. He responded that over the years he had owned three white suits, and he can no longer fit into any of them. "When you get older, it will happen to you too," he said. Another audience member asked what other stories had been made into movies. Mr. Bradbury mentioned that there had been several including Fahrenheit 451, (Which would soon be remade starring Mel Gibson) and also The Martian Chronicles, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and The Illustrated Man, which was made into a very disappointing movie in the sixties. He told us, "Always write your own screenplays. They might not be the version that is finally selected, but always submit your version so your views will at least be considered."

I read The Illustrated Man years ago and it has always been one of my favorites. The book is actually a collection of short stories sewn together within a larger story of a man who is magically tattooed with vibrant images that come to life and tell complete stories on various parts of his body. His tattoos are his gift and his curse. I asked Mr. Bradbury, "How do you take a story as complicated as The Illustrated Man and turn it into a screenplay? The Wonderful Ice-Cream Suit is a much more simple story in structure. How do you condense a very complex story down to a two hour movie?"

Mr. Bradbury answered, again looking right into me, "What you do is just write from your heart. The things that are important will come out and the things that are less important you will leave behind. So even though the book is longer than the screenplay, write from your heart; also, be very aware of screenplays. If you are going to write screenplays see movies; if you are going to write stories, read books. Whatever medium you are choosing to write, familiarize yourself with well written and well produced examples of that type of work. Then when you sit down to write your screenplay, and you know your story, it will come out in the correct form and style. And, most important: finish your project. Finish it first, then go back and re-write it. Whatever the project is, first get it down straight through. So many writers get caught up and distracted by editing themselves as they go that they never get the thing done. Finish it first, and then go back and edit it. And always, -- write from your heart.

My friend John asked him if he thought it was easier or more difficult for writers to get started today. He said there are many more places for writers to be published. "When I started out, there were only two magazines that published science fiction. No universities taught it. It was not an established art form. Now it is; it is taught in universities. There are countless magazines, and even entire publishers who are devoted to the genre. We had very few options, there are many more today.

A woman in front of me asked how Mr. Bradbury had become involved with The Twilight Zone TV show. Mr. Bradbury explained that he was one of the founders of that show. In fact, Rod Serling was a TV commentator and did not know much about science fiction. Rod Serling had hardly read any of it! Serling just knew that he wanted to make a series based on alternative versions of life, so that he could use the show to confront social issues. When Rod Serling mentioned this to Mr. Bradbury, Ray said, "Well, come down to my basement, I have dozens of stories for you to read." Mr. Bradbury had a wide collection of great science fiction from many contemporary writers. Rod Serling looked through his books and chose many stories for the show from Mr. Bradbury's own stories and other authors in Mr. Bradbury's collection.

Steve Edwards asked Mr. Bradbury if he writes everyday. Mr. Bradbury said, "Yes, definitely. Every single day, I write. In fact, I wrote a short story today at the hotel while I was waiting to come over to the discussion. I had a few spare minutes, so I wrote a story."

Another audience member asked if he only wrote Science Fiction. "No!" said Mr. Bradbury, "I write what ever comes to mind. If I feel like writing a story of any type, that's what I write. One of my best books is Dandelion Wine..." Many in the crowd applauded at the mention of that title. He nodded and continued, "That was a story of my life. Memoir stories are often at least as interesting as stories that are thought up, and stranger things happen in life than could ever be put into fiction. Whatever it is, write it down."

Then, Steve Edwards asked when and why Mr. Bradbury had started writing. Mr. Bradbury answered with a story. He said, "When I was twelve years old I went to a carnival in Waukegan where I grew up. It's a suburb north of Chicago, straight up the lake shore. I saw a show that a magician was performing, and he called me up on stage. The magician had a sword that he said was magical and when he touched it to my chest, my entire body shook with an electrical charge. He touched it to me and said, 'Now you will live forever.' It was a moment that I have always remembered. Well, I wanted to know more about this 'living forever', so I came back the next day and asked, 'OK, what do I do? How do I go about living forever?' The magician looked at me and said, 'Welcome. Welcome back to the world, my friend.' Of course, I didn't know what he was talking about. The magician said, 'Let me explain. You were a friend of mine in World War One. I saw you die in my arms on the battlefield. I can tell by your eyes that you're the same person. You are the same soul. Even though I know you're in a young person's body, I know you are my old friend. It's really good to see you again. I know that you have amazing potential. So get to work and use that potential.' And from that moment when I was twelve, I have written every single day of my life."

Someone asked him if there were any of his stories that he hoped to see made into movies or movies that had been made that he hoped would be made again. Mr. Bradbury said, "Fahrenheit 451 was going to be re-made soon and star Mel Gibson. But they are trying to figure out a screenplay for it." He said that he had written a screenplay, and they have seven other screenplays for the same movie. Now they are trying to decide which one they are going to choose, or if they are going to have yet another writer take some elements from several of those they have and create yet another that they will use. Again he emphasized, "Always write your own screenplay because even if they don't choose your screenplay, you have had the experience of writing it. When I had to go back after the film had been shot to fix it, at least I already had the screenplay written so I knew what improvements I wanted to make. So, whenever someone uses your story in a movie, always, always write the screenplay, even if they don't take it, you'll have it. And then you'll know what your movie could have been if they had let you do it."

In the early sixties, The Illustrated Man was made into a movie. Mr. Bradbury said that he was not allowed to write the screenplay, somebody else did, and, sadly, they just totally trashed his story. He went to the first public screening of the movie and that was the first time he had seen the movie. He was devastated, and it was clear that the audience was not impressed. He said that afterwards, a nine year old boy came up to him and said, "Mr. Bradbury, I've read your story. What happened?" Then he said that he and the nine year old cried together. He also said they were talking about re-doing another story of his called, "The Martian Chronicles".

I had another question for Mr. Bradbury. I said, "Robert Heinlein is credited with inventing the waterbed because the waterbed was used in one of his stories as a means to allow someone from another planet to be comfortable in our gravity. Mr. Bradbury, what predictions from your stories have you seen come into reality since you wrote about them?" He said that there had been many. Much of the scientific advances from Fahrenheit 451 have come to be. Forty years ago he had the concept of being able to rent a movie and take it home to watch. Also, it is more possible than ever before for people to make their own near-professional movies. That has been a long time coming.

However, he never worried about keeping track of what had come to be. He said, "Too often science fiction writers spend all their time worrying about which predictions they could accurately make. That's not what I care about. What really matters is making a good, interesting and intriguing story. If the story isn't worth reading then your accuracy at predicting the future doesn't matter. Also, I have used my stories to warn the world what not to do. That is a great purpose of much of my writing. Let the readers know what type of future they should avoid. But it all has to come together and be a good story. That is first and foremost."

Mr. Bradbury used that question as a springboard into more of his personal philosophy. And since I had asked it, much of his words were directed right into me. He said he believes his writing relates directly to what it means to live. He said, "Our purpose here on Earth is to witness all that God has made and to celebrate it. I have spent my life writing down what I have witnessed and celebrating it. Whether it's an interesting story with a warning of what we shouldn't do, or whether it's a reflection on things I have actually experienced, it all comes down to those same two things: to witness and celebrate. I do it through my writing, but there are so many ways to do it. It is the meaning of life. That's what we're here for. So what ever you do in life it should be for those two purposes. Witness all you can, and in your own way, celebrate it. That is the essence."

Someone asked when The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit would be released. Mr. Gordon said that it had always been intended as a straight-to-video release, and that Disney would be putting it on store shelves soon. Disney had coordinated a number of screenings around the country for people to attend. I found that amazingly sad and aggravating. Here is Ray Bradbury, a living legend, and not even he can get a full budget motion picture made from one of his best stories. It shows how far the rest of us have to go.

It was there that the discussion drew to a close. Steve Edwards thanked Mr. Bradbury and Mr. Gordon, and the crowd started to disperse. My friend John had brought a book for Mr. Bradbury to sign, and I wrote, "To Witness and Celebrate" on a piece of paper. We lined up to meet him for pictures and autographs along with most of the crowd. I told Mr. Bradbury my full name, Kevin Adair Hineline and he asked if I was any relation to Robert Heinlein. "Only very distantly," I said. I gave him my card that reads, Kevin Adair "I Do Things." (my abbreviated name that I use for performances, followed by my slogan.) I thanked him for all his words of advice. Then he signed my paper and John's book. He was happy to stay to speak with everyone waiting in line.

On our way out, John and I had a chance to talk with Steve Edwards from 848 on WBEZ. It happens that several months ago he played a song by my partner, Chicago Rose, on his show. I mentioned that to him. He said, "Oh, yeah, I remember her. She has sort of a jazz/pop sound, and we played a cut from her new CD." He said "Definitely keep us informed of what's going on with that." I said we definitely will. John mentioned that I also do things, such as I performing and writing. I said, "I might run into you at Navy Pier because sometimes I do stilt-walking there." And he said, "OK, I'll keep my eyes looking up to see if I can see you." "Sounds good." I said I also write things from time to time in essay form, and he said, "Well, you should send us some." And he gave me the name of the editor of 848, and I said, "Yeah, you're right, I should. I often write about things that happen in my life." And he said, "You mean things like this?" And I said, "Well my conversation right here with you was rather brief, but an evening like this is exactly what I like to write about." He said, "Sounds pretty interesting. You asked a lot of good questions when we opened it up the discussion with our guests." I said, "Well, yes, I was absolutely fascinated by them." I gave him my card saying, "I Do Things". He said, "Good slogan!" and we said that we would keep in touch.

As I walked away I realized that I did want to write about the entire evening. On the way back to the car, I repeated again and again, "To witness and celebrate." John chided me for babbling, but I couldn't help it. I felt like I had just been touched by an electric sword.