Hi, guys,
Ray Ramos sent this photo from a recent book signing of me with Ray Bradbury, Norman Corwin and George Clayton Johnson. Quite remarkable; they look like aged wood, distilled wisdom.
Marc Zicree & Three Giants of Science Fiction (l-r): Ray Bradbury, Norman Corwin, and George Clayton Johnson
If you don’t know of Corwin, he was the guy both Bradbury and Serling wanted to grow up to be, and was Ray’s great mentor who suggested he keep writing Martian stories after he did his first one, “Ylla.”
Norman was directly responsible for Ray selling THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES and THE ILLUSTRATED MAN and was radio’s greatest writer (if you haven’t ever heard “On a Note of Triumph” do so as soon as humanly possible) and also was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay for LUST FOR LIFE, in which Kirk Douglas played Vincent Van Gogh.
George Clayton Johnson of course wrote TWILIGHT ZONE’s “Kick the Can,” “Nothing in the Dark,” “A Game of Pool” and “A Penny For Your Thoughts” (all of which the two of us have just recorded as audio commentaries for the blu-ray set), as well as the first episode of STAR TREK ever aired, “The Man Trap,” and co-authored LOGAN’S RUN.
George just gave me a DVD of a new short he shot (starring his 80-year-old self!) in which the ghost of Charles Beaumont pays a call on him via telephone. Appropriately, it’s called “Your Three Minutes Are Up.” I found it quite marvelous.
Should mention that I just finished up the ZONE commentaries with Richard Donner — 52 episodes, phew! (Also managed to record “I Sing the Body Electric” and give Bradbury credit for his immense contribution to the series; Ray declined being on the track but I utilized a lot of what he’d told me one on one regarding the subject.)
Finally, I wanted to put in a plug for INK, a spellbinding film available on Netflix and other places that I urge you to see. It’s truly one of a kind.
All good thoughts your way,
Marc
