| Author | Message | ||
     John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
Here's another author my scouring of second hand shops has led me to discover. Apart from writing lots of Twilight Zone episodes and screenplays for Corman Poe movies (Masque of the Red Death) he also churned out some gems of short stories before his untimely death from strange causes at the age of 38. Anyone else read anything by him? My favourite stories in his collection 'The Edge' would have to be The New Sound (chap's hobby is collecting the noise people make as they die), The New People (what bored successful 50-somethings really get up to in suburbia), The Magic Man (very sweet and sentimental - I surprised myself by liking it so much), The Love Master (oh yes!) and The Howing Man (a classic). | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.197 |
Yes, I've read the great majority of his short fiction, John. Very enjoyable. (Though I haven't read The Howing Man - is that the one about a guy trying to become a Native American by repeatedly practising the traditional greeting?  ) | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.197 |
Beaumont also wrote a terrifying story film in a mental hospital. I think it's called Brain Dead. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.106.220.19 |
There was a collection of his stuff I read back in the 'eighties, either from Carcosa or Dark Harvest, which is worth seeking out. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Beaumont was a superb writer, prevented by his tragic early death from achieving the fame of Bradbury or Matheson. 'Black Country' is a stunning exploration of the metaphysical underpinning of jazz music. 'The Howling Man' is a bleak, disturbing fable about modern history. 'Miss Gentilbelle' is a terrifying portrait of a dysfunctional household. Beaumont died from premature Alzheimer's disease, apparently linked to a childhood illness that (it has been suggested) may have helped to colour his strange imagination. | ||
| Richard_gavin (Richard_gavin) Username: Richard_gavin Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 65.92.53.202 |
I love Charles Beaumont's work. Agreed on 'Miss Gentibelle,' Joel. A very potent story. I have a few of the Beaumont Bantam paperback collections in my library and have enjoyed almost everything I've read by him. Such a tragic story. George Clayton Johnson tells some pretty sad tales about going out to dinner with Beaumont toward the end of his life. His brain was so badly affected that he would laugh foolishly for no reason, then would suddenly burst into tears. When they went to a movie after their meal, Beaumont couldn't follow a single element of the plot. Apparently, when they left the cinema, Beaumont alluded to knowing that everything would be all downhill for him from there, that he would never be able to write again. Tragic... | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.72.14.113 |
Only read 'Miss Gentilbelle' (1957) in one of the Fontana Horror books. A brilliant psychological gothic horror that seemed to foreshadow Bloch's 'Psycho' for me. I also recall reading somewhere that he was one of Hitchcock's favourite authors - he may even have adapted a few for all I know? | ||
| Matt_cowan (Matt_cowan) Username: Matt_cowan Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 68.249.108.186 |
I know he wrote some of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes. I need to track down some of those stories suggested above. "The New SOund" in particular sounds very intriguing. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.21.233.141 |
"Miss Gentilbelle" sure packed a wallop when I first read it in the aforementioned Fontana book. A strange kind of sadness pervades this tale, even the baddie, Robert's mother, is worthy of pity. There's sensuality as well, or am I the only one who feels this? I really must seek out more of Beaumont's work. | ||
| Michael_kelly (Michael_kelly) Username: Michael_kelly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 174.88.171.215 |
Hubert, I agree. The tale still resonates with me. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.72.14.113 |
[ *** SPOILER ALERT **** ] for those who haven't read 'Miss Gentilbelle'. All the elements are there that blossomed in Bloch's more celebrated novel: the dusty cob-webbed old mansion that hides a frenzy of Freudian dysfunction, the psychopathically domineering mother as chief villain, the sensitive cross-dressing son who loves animals and is driven to violence through mother's influence and the choice of murder weapon. If Beaumont wrote scripts for 'The Twilight Zone' and was praised by Hitchcock then surely the odds are good he may have scripted for 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' as well? | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.21.23.162 |
I think Bloch is on record somewhere as saying that it was Ed Gein who stood model for Norman Bates, and certainly there are enough similarities between the two. For one thing Gein's mother kept on domineering her son long after she was dead. The locked and immaculately preserved room containing his mother's belongings in an otherwise shabby and partially dilapidated farm house is perhaps the eeriest instance. (Go to 3:00): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnbV8XhhifY&feature=PlayList&p=B2D5A4EFCB0AEEE7&i ndex=2 | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.4.20.22 |
Gein was a bogeyman who haunted the American psyche for decades after his crimes were found out and certainly had a major impact on the horror genre and 'Psycho' in particular. I'm not saying 'Miss Gentilbelle' inspired 'Psycho' and wouldn't be at all surprised if Bloch wasn't even aware of the story. But there are interesting parallels between both tales that highlight the horror zeitgeist of the time for mixing gothic atmospherics with a new found psycho-sexual frankness... 'The Haunting Of Hill House' fits the bill as well. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 62.31.153.8 |
OK gang, be a bit more specific - where can I find Miss Gentibelle? | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.118.49 |
For one, it's in Charles Beaumont: Selected Stories, published in '88 by Dark Harvest:- http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1072830515&searchurl=an%3Dcharl es%2Bbeaumont%26kn%3Dharvest%26sts%3Dt%26tn%3Dselected%2Bstories%26x%3D38%26y%3D 4 | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
It's also in "The Magic Man" (Coronet, 1965) - a book which has been on my 'to read' pile for some time since I bought a copy on eBay. I think I'm going to have to push this one right to the top of the pile, judging by the comments here. I've always loved Beaumont's "Twilight Zone" stories, but I've never read any of his other short stories. Next stop "The Magic Man" ... | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.132.170.85 |
'His brain was so badly affected that he would laugh foolishly for no reason, then would suddenly burst into tears. When they went to a movie after their meal, Beaumont couldn't follow a single element of the plot.' 'Beaumont died from premature Alzheimer's disease, apparently linked to a childhood illness that (it has been suggested) may have helped to colour his strange imagination.' Fuck. This sounds like me. Gein is my favourite psycho. A sweet, lonely man by all accounts. A bit of a Boo Radley. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.224.108 |
John, "Miss Gentilbelle" is also in The 6th Fontana book of Great Horror Stories (pp. 78-99). | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.230.4 |
I hadn't realized "Miss Gentilbelle" had been filmed, three times at that: http://www.weirdwildrealm.com/f-experiments-terror2.html http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466898/ Has anyone seen any of these? | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.118.49 |
I recall seeing the Journey to the Unknown episode, but not the others. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
I seem to remember having seen this story on TV - and from looking at that "Experiments in Terror" link, I guess it was as part of the "Journey to the Unknown" series that I saw it - unless "Experiments in Terror" was on TV at some point too? It certainly sounds very familiar and I definitely haven't read the story itself. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Whoops, I must have been posting my message at exactly the same time as you were doing yours, Mick! |