Editing Ray Bradbury (section)

==Early life==
Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920, in [[Waukegan, Illinois]], to Esther (née Moberg) Bradbury (1888–1966), a [[Swedish American|Swedish immigrant]], and Leonard Spaulding Bradbury (1890–1957), a power and telephone [[lineman (technician)|lineman]] of English ancestry.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Greasley |editor-first=Philip A. |author=Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature |title=Dictionary of Midwestern Literature |volume=1, The Authors |year=2001 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0253336095 |page=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZnuYKJSoHCMC&pg=PA77| access-date=March 5, 2014}}</ref><ref>Bloom, Harold ''Ray Bradbury'' 2010 Infobase Publishing., p. 141</ref><ref>Touponce, William F. "Ray (Douglas) Bradbury". ''American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies, Supplement 4''. Ed. A Walton Litz and Molly Weigel. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1996. Literature Resources from Gale. November 16, 2010.</ref><ref>Certificate of Birth, Ray Douglas Bradbury, August 22, 1920, Lake County Clerk's Record #4750. Although he was named after Rae Williams, a cousin on his father's side, Ray Bradbury's birth certificate spells his first name as "Ray".</ref> He was given the middle name "Douglas" after actor [[Douglas Fairbanks]].

Bradbury was surrounded by an extended family during his early childhood and formative years in Waukegan. His grandparents lived next door, and an aunt read him short stories when he was a child.<ref>Paradowski, Robert J. "Ray Bradbury". Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Second Revised Edition" 2001:1–5. EBSCO. November 8, 2010.</ref> This period provided foundations for both the author and his stories. In Bradbury's fiction, 1920s Waukegan becomes Green Town, Illinois.

[[File:Ray Bradbury HS Yearbook.jpeg|thumb|upright|Bradbury as a senior in high school, 1938]]

The Bradbury family lived in [[Tucson, Arizona]], during 1926–1927 and 1932–1933 while their father pursued employment, each time returning to Waukegan. While in Tucson, Bradbury attended Amphi Junior High School and Roskruge Junior High School. They eventually settled in Los Angeles in 1934 when Bradbury was 14. The family arrived with only US$40 ({{Inflation|US|40|1934|fmt=eq}}), which paid for rent and food until his father finally found a job making wire at a cable company for $14 a week ({{Inflation|US|14|1934|fmt=eq}}), allowing them to stay in Hollywood.

Bradbury attended [[Los Angeles High School]] and was active in the drama club. He often roller-skated through Hollywood in hopes of meeting celebrities. Among the creative people he met were special-effects pioneer [[Ray Harryhausen]] and radio star [[George Burns]]. Bradbury's first pay as a writer, at age 14, was for a joke he sold to George Burns to use on the '' [[Burns and Allen]]'' radio show.<ref>[http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2010/08/18/ray-bradbury-has-the-most-amazing-dreams-i-write-screenplays-he-says-with-a-wink-in-the-middle-of-the-night-when-he-wa/ Ray Bradbury's close encounters with W.C. Fields, George Burns...] by Susan King; ''Los Angeles Times'', August 18, 2010 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130205075018/http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2010/08/18/ray-bradbury-has-the-most-amazing-dreams-i-write-screenplays-he-says-with-a-wink-in-the-middle-of-the-night-when-he-wa/ |date=February 5, 2013 }}</ref>

Bradbury was fascinated with carnivals from a young age, and they would feature in such works as ''[[The Illustrated Man]]'' and ''[[Something Wicked This Way Comes (novel)|Something Wicked This Way Comes]]''. He related a formative event of his youth:

<blockquote>I suppose the most important memory is of Mr. Electrico. On Labor Day weekend, 1932, when I was twelve years old, he came to my hometown with the Dill Brothers ... He was a performer sitting in an electric chair and a stagehand pulled a switch and he was charged with fifty thousand volts of pure electricity. Lightning flashed in his eyes and his hair stood on end. I sat below, in the front row, and he reached down with a flaming sword full of electricity and he tapped me on both shoulders and then the tip of my nose and he cried, "Live, forever!" And I thought, "God, that's wonderful. How do you do that?" ... So when I left the carnival that day I stood by the carousel and I watched the horses running around and around to the music of "[[Beautiful Ohio]]" and I cried. Tears streamed down my cheeks because I knew something important had happened to me that day because of Mr. Electrico. I felt changed. And so I went home and within days I started to write. And I've never stopped.<ref>{{cite news| last=Weller| first=Sam| date=June 6, 2012| title=Ray Bradbury: The author of Fahrenheit 451 recalls the visit to the circus that changed his life.| work= Slate| url=https://slate.com/culture/2012/06/ray-bradbury-the-author-of-fahrenheit-451-recalls-the-visit-to-the-circus-that-changed-his-life.html}}</ref></blockquote>