Royal Dano, an actor who lived from 1922 – 1994, has been involved with Ray Bradbury a number of times and I’m only now becoming aware of it. In “Downwind From Gettysburg” Ray says, “…given voice by an unknown actor…” In the real life situation that the story could be associated with, the voice is that of Dano. In “Moby Dick”, Elijah is played by Dano and he plays “the seller of lightning rods”, Tom Fury, in “Something Wicked This Way Comes”.

Dano aside, I find it funny how we create images of what we read that might be a little different than someone else’s. In “Downwind From Gettysburg” where the father is holding up the boy, I am standing just to the right and behind the father’s right shoulder -- thank you, Ray for taking me there -- but in The Ray Bradbury Theater presentation the characters are shown facing you so you see their faces. My view was like that of one I remember from the first time I went to Disneyland. I was an adult, it was night, a crowd had gathered, the father and son were in the same position and Tinkerbell had just flown from the Materhorn to the rooftops of Main Street USA. And then, when the father and son turned around, I saw that there were braces on the boys’ legs and I hid my face and wept. Not so much because of the braces but because Walt and the brave girl on the wire had made the boy smile. Nuts!

What a great story!

Royal Dano appeared in some of my favorite shows, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0200455/ including my all-time favorite, "Emergency!" a couple of times. As Season One is now out on DVD, I will look forward to viewing his performances.