I understand that "Something Wicked..." has its origins in the short story "Black Ferris", which Bradbury turned into a screen treatment for Gene Kelly, and subsequently turned into a novel (and then back into a screenplay!)

However, there is a cryptic copyright note in some editions of "Wicked" which suggest that a small part of it had been previously published in Mademoiselle magazine. Does anyone know which part, and when?

- Phil

I don't know for sure, but here's some related information (see bottom for Mademoiselle entries):

My Bantam paperback edition of SWTWC, on the copyright page, states:

"A small portion of this novel has appeared previously in MADEMOISELLE."

In the Gauntlet Publications edition of DARK CARNIVAL, Ray Bradbury's original afterward is reproduced. In it, it states:

"I grew up to write a book DARK CARNIVAL, to have vampire stories in the staid magazines of MADEMOISELLE and HARPERS . . ."

In the afterword of the recent Avon hardcover edition of SWTWC, Bradbury writes:

"She [Maggie] was right. I found a story, 'The Black Ferris,' that I had planned to use under the name 'Dark Carnival' in my first book. The story was never finished and the book DARK CARNIVAL was published minus its title fantasy."

In this same afterword, he also writes that he, ". . . wrote an eighty-page screenplay based on that unpublished tale and my far-traveling long-after-midnight carnival truly arrived."

In the RAY BRADBURY COMPANION (William Nolan, there is the following:

"Invisible Boy" was published in Mademoiselle in Nov 1945.

"Homecoming" was published in Mademoiselle in Oct 1946.

"Nightmare Carousel" was published in Mademoiselle in Jan 1962.

"Paris by Stopwatch" was published in Mademoiselle in Mar 1960.

Perhaps "Nightmare Carousel"?


[This message has been edited by Mr. Dark (edited 03-13-2004).]

Thanks, Mr Dark, for a very detailed response. I know of one other story which is allegedly from Mademoiselle: "The Cistern". However, I'm not of my source for this one.

"Nightmare Carousel" and "Paris by Stopwatch" are new ones on me. I wonder if these should be added to dandelion's list of uncollected stories.

I can imagine "Nightmare Carousel" being a part of Something Wicked. Anyone have any more detail on this?

- Phil

I think I have an answer to my own question: William Contento's Homeville website (http://users.ev1.net/~homeville/fictionmag/s126.htm#TOP) gives the following citation for "Nightmare Carousel":

Nightmare Carousel [from Something Wicked This Way Comes], (ex) New York: Simon & Schuster 1962; Argosy (UK) Oct 1962

So it would seem that it is an EXCERPT from the novel. However, note that Contento gives its only appearance as Argosy.

This now prompts me to think about chronology. Nightmare Carousel appears in Mademoiselle in January 1962; Something Wicked is published (I believe) in September 1962; Argosy publishes Nightmare Carousel in the UK in October 1962; the UK edition of Something Wicked appears in 1963.

I think that settles the question about Something Wicked. The only mystery now is over "Paris by Stopwatch". Whatever happened to this story?

- Phil

[This message has been edited by philnic (edited 03-13-2004).]

About the use of the phrase, "Something Wicked This Way Comes"

Well, this topic has been bounced around various posts, so I'll use this post right here for this info:::

We've been discussing if Rowlings, ultimately using "Something Wicked This Way Comes," in the movie, 'Harry Potter', may have been influenced by reading Bradbury. Well, here's one:

"By the Pricking of My Thumbs", by Agatha Christie. Published by Dodd, Mead and Company, in New York � Published 1968.

So, that's 'AFTER' Ray wrote "Something Wicked..."

The inside page, reads thusly:::

'''By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.'''
� Macbeth.

My! Perhaps Agatha, who is English, would have used "Something Wicked etc." as a book title for her mystery if Ray hadn't used it, eh?

"Nightmare Carousel" was not listed as uncollected for the reason given--it is an excerpt of the published novel "Something Wicked This Way Comes."

"Paris by Stopwatch" is non-fiction and so not listed as a short story.

Thought I'd revive this topic to correct and clarify my earlier guess at the chronology of Something Wicked/Nightmare Carousel.

According to Eller & Touponce, Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction, the chronology is as follows:

Jan 62: Nightmare Carousel (extract from the unpublished novel Something Wicked This Way Comes) published in Mademoiselle.

Sept 62: SWTWC published (US)

Oct 62: Nightmare Carousel published in Argosy (UK)

March 63: SWTWC published (UK)

Because Bradbury continued revising the SWTWC manuscript right up until publication, the Nightmare Carousel episode in the novel is a revised version of what appeared in Mademoiselle.

- Phil
www.bradburymedia.co.uk

[This message has been edited by philnic (edited 08-31-2004).]

RB-A Life of Fiction is a consumate piece of work. I just received it, along with Wendy's young adult book. I was surpirsed as to the number of stories that Ray started and did not finish. I always got the impression that when his "muses" were at work, they provided a complete rendering of whatever thoughts were swirling around in Ray's imagination. But apparently not.

But what a ready reference.

Phil, you will want to add a link to this article to your site: http://www.rodserling.com/msloan.htm

Good idea, I'll do that.

Since you've brought up the "why does Ray have a problem with Rod Serling" thing again, as I was reading A Life Of Fiction it began to dawn on me that the "Walking Distance" episode of Twilight Zone would feel uncomfortable to Ray. I had always assumed that Ray's switch from magical ferris wheel (in the short story "Black Ferris") to magical carousel (in the novel SWTWC) was something that would have happened around 1962-ish as the novel was coming to fruition.

It is clear from A Life Of Fiction, however, that Ray's development of SWTWC occupied his mind for much of the 1950s, and included a little known 1956 TV production called "Merry-Go-Round" in which the ferris had already given way to a carousel. So before Bradbury has time to put his idea into definitive form in SWTWC, Serling appears to steal it.

I hope Sam Weller has some insight into this in his biography of Ray.

Phil
www.bradburymedia.co.uk

Man, Phil, SO DO I! I think it's clear from all my posts regarding this subject how troubling and fascinating it is to me.