Yesterday I was making yet another effort to catalog my VCR tapes, on which I have recorded many various things through the years (yes, I know--it's about time, now that the VCR is obsolete!). What should I find but an "American Masters" about Lon Chaney, Sr! (What an understatement.) And on that tape is a brief few moments of Ray talking about LC,S. I remember reading in "Tricks! Treats! Gangway!" that Ray Bradbury said his future was decided when he was taken to see "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in the early '20s. How exciting it was to see brief glimpses of Lon Chaney, in company with his director, in front of the cathedral. He jumped onto the wall and clung there for a moment, then dropped down, hunched over and slumping along. The genius working out his masterpiece right before our eyes. And then the screen switched to him in character as Quasimodo in the movie, moving exactly as he had in mufti just a second before. One person mentioned in the documentary that Chaney "danced" through his films. I don't know how many of you know anything about ballet, but I have studied it since I was 16 (too old to actually become a dancer, but not to learn everything I could about the art), and the reason for Lon Chaney's extraordinary physical grace was the same reason that dancers are so graceful--his constant stretching and contorting his body made his muscles cat-like. You can see it in his films. That is two things I share with Mr. Bradbury--his love of October, and his admiration for Lon Chaney, Sr. Geniuses both!

I have these memories of Ray- one: when he was at a news desk with some famous anchorman like Walter Cronkite (I can't remember) when we landed a man on the moon's surface- two: When Spielberg's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS became a sensation Ray was on TV again speaking with enthusiam and optimism about humankind (he is always optimistic in my memory). It saddened me when the general media was so negative about President Bush's proposal to send humans to Mars- but guess who was optimistic- Ray.
Thank you for your post Viktoria!