I had become acquainted with Bill Hirschman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel when he wrote a review of Ray's collection of short stories, The Cat's Pajamas. We had dinner together and I brought along my collection of letters and post cards of 38 years of corresponding with Ray.

Later he stopped by my apartment where I further shared books that Ray has autographed for me over the years. I called Ray that evening and Bill got to speak with him. He was thrilled to say the least.

Well last week I got an email from Bill stating that he was going to be LA for a conference and was wondering if I could arrange an interview with Ray with the idea of Bill writing a piece for the newspaper.

I called Ray and told him the days that Biil would have available to see him and Ray said to give Bill his phone number. As it turned out Bill was able to spend about an hour with Ray yesterday and has material for a real nice article.

He said that Ray showed him a wooden box that held hundreds of cards with many actors and actresses' autographs. These are the ones that Ray has written about so many times.

Bill was beside himself for the opportunity to meet Ray and spend some time with him. And to be able to see his collection of autographs is awesome.

It will be a couple of weeks yet before his article is ready. Perhaps I can figure out how to post a link so that all can read it.

Biplane1,

Way to go! Can't wait to read the article. Let us know and I'm sure someone out here can help you figure out how to post a link to it.

Best,

Pete

I read your post and wanted to say thanks for
making that interview happen. I look forward to reading it.
So far, I've only exchanged correspondence twice with Ray, and that was years ago. I still treasure those letters. I had wanted to send a condolence note to him, but it was my understanding that after his stroke, he had moved to Palms Springs. Does he still live in LA? I would be very grateful for his fax number, to send him a congratulations note for his National Medal of Arts 2004 award. Thank you in advance, please email privately to exploratoria@exploratoria.com

This message has been edited. Last edited by: CaptainWilder,

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Captain Wilder, I'm not in touch with ray, but I think he still lives in L.A. At least that's what I've gathered although I'm not positive...

Biplane, That really was great of you. Is there a link to the interview?

Also if it wouldn't be too much of a bother I wanted to know if you could ask what two times ray would be at the Bradbury Fest thing on father's day? I couldn't get any real information out of the Event Organizer; she said it would be unscheduled . Thank you.

Alexander -

Bill Hirschman is working on the article and I am not sure what kind of deadline he has. But he told me he would let me know when it would be finished and when it would appear in the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He recorded (with Ray's permission) the interview on a digital recorder. He was going to try and make a copy of it for me, but I am not sure how far along he is with that. I should call him.

As to the appearance at Bradbury Fest, I will call Ray when I can and see if I can find out anything.

Thank you biplane.

I just called Ray in regard to the Bradbury Fest this coming Sunday, June 19th. He said that he was going to be in and out all day, but for sure from 7-10 PM that night. He asked me if there had been an address posted and I told him no. He was concerned that some people wouldn't know how to get there.

I just tried Google to see if there was anything listed there and there wasn't.

Does anyone know where the event will be?

The Foundry
1583 Fishburn Ave, Los Angeles, California
Sunday, June 19, 2005
11 a.m. to 11 p.m

***

Well I'm not sure when I'm going to be there, hopefully from around 1:00 onwards, I'm not sure how long. I hope that I'm able to meet him.

Thanks for the info about 7 to 10 I might be able to stay till then.

Oh yeah, the link is [URL=http://www.calarts.edu/news/pressrelease/2005/5.23.05bradbury.html]here[/URL. The address is under the picture incase you're wondering