Charles Beaumont

[BAYLOR]

I just picked up a book of his stories Perchance to Dream . Three I recognize right of the bat. The Howling Man, The Jungle and In His Image . All of which were adapt by the Twilight Zone.

 

[j d worthington]

Beaumont was one of the best of his generation, in my opinion. He was good both with prose fiction and screenplays (in general; his adaptation of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward for The Haunted Palace was... lacklustre to say the least; but then, he never made any bones about not being a fan of Lovecraft), and even when he took liberties (as with The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao), he somehow managed to make it into very memorable material.

Ellison, by the way, was good friends with him, and a great admirer of his work. He has credited Beaumont with the two most valuable pieces of advice he ever received about working in Hollywood: Don't give up your other writing. As long as you continue to write other things, they don't own you, and will see you as a prince from a far-off land. And: Working in this town is like climbing enormous mountain of cow-flop to reach the one perfect rose at the top: Once you have made that hideous ascent, you find you've lost the sense of smell.

 

[Randy M.]

That's one I'll be looking into on my next bookstore trip. I've read a chunk of his short fiction in The Howling Man, a retrospective collection, so I'll be interested in seeing how much the contents differ.


Randy M.

 

[BAYLOR]

He also wrote the screenplay for the classic 1964 adaptation of Masque of the Red Death staring Vincent Price.

 

[Guttersnipe]

He also adapted Finney's The Circus of Dr. Lao as The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, a movie. My favorite story in that collection is "The Vanishing American." I can see it as an Amazing Stories or Twilight Zone episode. "Miss Gentibelle" is based on his experience with his mother; she made him dress like a girl and possibly killed his pet bird. Too bad he suffered from early onset Alzheimer's. Who knows what he could've accomplished had he more time.

 

[BAYLOR]

That's one I'll be looking into on my next bookstore trip. I've read a chunk of his short fiction in The Howling Man, a retrospective collection, so I'll be interested in seeing how much the contents differ.


Randy M.

Brilliant story .