A short piece today in the newspaper notes how ideas from Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 including "talking walls" (likening them to today’s big-screen TVs) have come into being.
In 1970, I was attending a community college in Whittier, California, noted for its superb theater arts program. That spring semester, our well-connected professor was able to solicit Ray Bradbury into allowing us the honor of producing three of his one-act plays. I had a small part in The Day it Rained Forever. Man I loved that title.
Bradbury lived in Los Angeles, and was a non-driver. He simply refused to drive an automobile anywhere. He could well afford to employ a professional driver, but preferred instead student transport. Several of us took turns driving into LA to pick up Mr. Bradbury to drive him back after rehearsals and performances. My ride at the time was a '64 powder-blue MGB with a leaky roof. I'd pray it wouldnít rain when the famed author was in my car, a curious throw-back to the play's title. My MG was "The Sportscar Where it Rained Continuously". Imagine being stuck in LA traffic, your car roof trickling on Ray Bradbury.
To this day, I'm captivated and enchanted by insightful ideas by word wizards like Bradbury, and so many others far too numerous to mention. Writers who select, arrange and dispatch words in ways that make our hearts and imaginations soar like an eagle on the Kennebec, or a President Obama speech on a big-screen TV.
Happily, Bradbury is still writing. But sadly, you rarely see a powder-blue MGB anymore.
2026