Please help,
I really need the exact name of the shop from the short story "Doodad" by Bradbury.
And if someone has the text, and doesn't mind sharing it, I will be extremely grateful.

Thank you very much.

How soon do you need it? I believe the only book appearance of this story was in an anthology, which I have...but WHERE is the question!

Hmm!
Well, the story appeared in 'Astounding Science Fiction' stories, September, 1943.

Anyone out there got a copy?
I am not familiar as to where else it appeared....

Well, I need it ASAP, but it's hardly a matter of life and death

It appeared in:
Astounding 1943,
Strange Signposts (1966)
Alien Earth and Other Stories (1969)
and
Wizards of Odd (the most recent one, 1997, so chances are this is the one you have)

Maybe there's more, but these are the only ones I could find.

Thank you!

"Strange Signposts" is the one I know I have which I'm NOT AT ALL sure about finding. (I know where it's NOT.) Are you sure it was in "Wizards of Odd," because I thought "The Dragon Danced at Midnight" was in that one? I have that, too, but not terribly much more sure about my chances of finding it, either.

Absolutely.

Wizards of Odd is the one where I actually read it, but the book is no longer available to me.

The other sources I just found on the net.

I just pulled out my copy of STRANGE SIGNPOSTS. In Ray's story "Doodad", the sign over the shop reads:

THINGUMABOBS DOODADS
WATCHAMACALLITS HINKIES
FORMODALDAFRAYS
HOOTINANNIES GADGETS
DOOHINGIES

In his introduction to "Doodad", the book's editor, noted fan and professional writer Sam Moskowitz, writes that "there was a time when [Ray's] greatest objective was to sell to a magazine known as ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, the field leader at the time, whose editor John W. Campbell steadfastly resisted Bradbury's literary blandishments." Ray finally sold "Doodad" to Campbell, and the story appeared in ASTOUNDING's September, 1943 issue.

I asked Ray about this event and he said, yes, he repeatedly submitted stories to Campbell for possible publication, and his stories were always being rejected until he finally sold him "Doodad." Ray also laughed and jokingly said, "I think he [Campbell] bought the story just to get rid of me!"

Incidentally, if you have the chance to pick it up, STRANGE SIGNPOSTS is a fine anthology. In addition to Ray's story, it also contains stories by writers such as Poe, Hawthorne, Wells, Verne, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Edmond Hamilton, Arthur C. Clarke, Jack Williamson and Robert Bloch.

[This message has been edited by Richard (edited 02-01-2004).]

A huge thank you! You really helped me out a lot

Rid, you're very welcome. Glad I could help!

Richard! You've no IDEA of the ORDEAL you've spared me!!

Hinkies, I thought they only said that on "Dragnet" and "Adam-12," ha-ha.

BTW, has anyone ever heard of "formodaldafrays"? Or did he make this one up (and it didn't catch on)? Because I couldn't find it in any dictionary, and I went through a lot of them. Not only that, but I couldn't find any mentions of it on the net, which definitely contains words that don't appear in dictionaries.

If it's not in the Complete Oxford English Dictionary, it doesn't exist. Sounds like a Bradburyism to me.

I recently found (in a Sydney used book store) a copy of Dec. '43 'Astounding Science Fiction' with 'Doodad' (for a cool $4.00) - I did a search and found this old thread.
What a great little story!

If you found a copy of that issue of ASTOUNDING for $4.00...and it's in decent condition...you got a real bargain. Congratulations! And I agree with you, "Doodad" is a fun story!

No kidding, you probably couldn't get one of the books for that.