Mister Electrico Proved Wrong (but it took a very long time)

[beamjockey]

Ray Bradbury's own words:

During the Labor Day week of 1932 a favorite uncle of mine died; his funeral was held on the Labor Day Saturday. If he hadn't died that week, my life might not have changed because, returning from his funeral at noon on that Saturday, I saw carnival tent down by Lake Michigan. I knew that down there, by the lake, in his special tent, was a magician named Mr. Electrico.

Mr. Electrico was a fantastic creator of marvels. He sat in his electric chair every night and was electrocuted in front of all the people, young and old, of Waukegan, Illinois. When the electricity surged through his body he raised a sword and knighted all the kids sitting in the front row below his platform. I had been to see Mr. Electrico the night before. When he reached me, he pointed his sword at my head and touched my brow. The electricity rushed down the sword, inside my skull, made my hair stand up and sparks fly out of my ears. He then shouted at me, "Live forever!"

I thought that was a wonderful idea, but how did you do it?

The rest is worth reading.

Today's headline, eighty years later:
Ray Bradbury, Author of 'Fahrenheit 451,' Dies

By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press – 9 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ray Bradbury, the science fiction-fantasy master who transformed his childhood dreams and Cold War fears into telepathic Martians, lovesick sea monsters, and, in uncanny detail, the high-tech, book-burning future of "Fahrenheit 451," has died. He was 91.

Farewell, Ray.

Comments

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

He didn't live forever, but his footprints will be around for a long time.

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

Bill, I had never seen the Mr.Electro story. I cried for a bit after I read it, then thinking about it cheered me up again.


While I was most ill in the hospital, I kept having the feeling that Rusty Hevelin and Bob Tucker, and others, were somewhere nearby, telling me it was not my time to join them, to keep my chin up and get better! Now Ray is there, too, Ir was not heaven, they seemed to be at a nice bar or something,

Ray was a writer I encountered in childhood whose stories never paled or disintegrated as I grew up and became an adult. Farewell, indeed.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

This Stan Freberg production may also help cheer you up.



It's a shame that he never mentioned prunes in any of his stories.

[tlunquist.livejournal.com]

Heaven will have a Tucker Hotel. I'm sure of it.

[acmespaceship.livejournal.com]

"Mister Electrico Proved Correct (by a clever boy who figured out how to live forever)"

There, I fixed the headline for you.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Correction gratefully noted.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

For all we know, he's now meeting with Gene Kelly and they'll *finally* get to film "Dark Carnival".

[apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite sure why Fahrenheit 451 is the title getting all the obeisances, but has another very local connection -- it was serialized in PLAYBOY, in the magazine's first year.

Ray Bradbury & Hugh Hefner on the origins of Fahrenheit 451