| The 1966 interview containing that story originally appeared in a book called VOICES FROM THE SIXTIES: TWENTY-TWO VIEWS OF A REVOLUTIONARY DECADE, collected and edited by Pierre Berton, and published by Doubleday in 1967. That interview with Mr. Berton was later reprinted in the book, CONVERSATIONS WITH RAY BRADBURY, edited by Steven L. Aggelis, and published by the University Press of Mississippi in 2004. Specifically, in response to the interviewer's question, "Isn't it very hard to get a bus in Los Angeles?", Ray replied: "No, I had very good luck today. I went to a corner and there was a bus. I almost fell over! It was unbelievable! If I don't take the bus, I take my bicycle and I grab cabs. And then I'm picked up by strangers, which is a lot of fun. Several days ago I was outside the gymnasium in Beverly Hills waiting for a bus, and a Mercedes-Benz pulled up with a woman in mink, and she said: 'Would you like a ride?' I said, 'Yes,' even though I was rather amazed, and I got in and she drove me several miles to where I wanted to go, and I said: 'Why did you pick me up?' And she said: 'You looked very English and very safe.'"
Mr. Berton then commented, "I don't know whether that is flattering or not." To which Ray replied, "I know; I don't want to look safe." |
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| Loomis, as anyone who knew him could tell you, Ray Bradbury was a kind and thoughtful person, a gentle man and a gentleman. He was in fact one of the nicest persons I have ever known. There are so many writers...many of them superb writers...who have written classic crime and horror novels and stories involving murder, and none have ever had to "take a life" in order to do so. Rather, they use their excellent writing skills and imagination to invoke such dark worlds. |
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