In 1955, Ray Bradbury paid a visit to Groucho Marx’s iconic game show You Bet Your Life. Bradbury, then 35 years old, had already published some of his now classic works. But apparently Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles hadn’t made their way onto Groucho’s reading list. When Marx asked Bradbury what he did for a living, Bradbury had to clarify things. “I’m a writer. W-r-i-t-e-r.” Not a “rider” of motorcycles or ponies. Perhaps it was a serious exchange. Perhaps it was all part of a scripted joke. Either way, it’s a great clip from the increasingly distant past. You can watch the complete episode here.
For more Bradbury classic, spend time with:
Ray Bradbury Gives 12 Pieces of Writing Advice to Young Authors (2001)
Ray Bradbury: Literature is the Safety Valve of Civilization
Ray Bradbury Reads Moving Poem on the Eve of NASA’s 1971 Mars Mission
via i09
They liked to pretend these Groucho shows were off-the-cuff, but they were painfully obviously scripted, for the most part. That said, Groucho = genius.