"Shadow on the Sun"
Art Haupt
back in 1964:
"...[Stanley] had also acquired rights to a property with the
intriguing title 'Shadow on the Sun'; I remember nothing whatsoever
about it and have even forgotten the author's name, so presumably he
was not one of the s.f. regulars. Whoever he was, I hope he never
knows that I sabotaged his career, because Kubrick was promptly
informed that Clarke was *not* interested in developing other people's
ideas."
—from Clarke's 1991 intro
to a new edition of
his "2001" novel)
-----------
Geez. I wondered for years about what "Shadow on the Sun" really was.
(One possible suspect was "Shadows in the Sun," a 1954 novel by Chad
Oliver, who was an SF regular.)
Then, last week a simple 'Net search revealed all. The info is near
the bottom of the 2004 UK "Guardian" article about Kubrick's boxes,
which I'm sure many people have read before me. The link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2004/mar/27/features.weekend
In short: the "Shadow on the Sun" cited by Clarke wasn't a novel.
Rather, it was a BBC radio drama that Kubrick had followed in the
early '60s. The series' odd-sounding plot involved a meteor landing on
Earth.
Furthermore, the article, by Jon Ronson, says Kubrick didn't forget
"Shadow" after the '60s. In the early '90s K. played around with it
some more, getting hold of the BBC scripts. So "Shadow" is another
example of Kubrick holding on to a story idea for many years.
Cosmic Gnome
interest:
[1] It was written by Gavin Blakeney, a regular writer of radio dramas in
the 1950s and 1960s, and was broadcast in two parts in November and
December, 1961, when Kubrick was in London working on Lolita. This is
further confirmed by a letter (below) written by his niece to The Guardian
in response to Ronson's article on the Kubrick Archives:
"In 1988, my uncle Gavin Blakeney also received a most exciting telephone
call from Tony, Kubrick's assistant (Citizen Kubrick, March 27). Kubrick
wanted the rights to his radio serial Shadow On The Sun. Unlike Jon Ronson,
this call made him �1,500 richer. Gav, who was the epitome of a "bon
viveur", died in 1993, but would be thrilled to know that Kubrick saw
promise in "the dog is not well", and that Ronson thinks it cheesy.
Madeline Church"
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2004/apr/03/weekend7.weekend1
This seems to completely contradict Clarke's claim that Kubrick had acquired
the rights to the serial in the early 1960s. Perhaps Kubrick was
*considering* acquiring them at that time but didn't proceed after Clarke's
remark about rejecting the ideas of other writers.
[2] William Sylvester, who would late star as Dr Heywood Floyd in 2001,
acted in "Shadow on the Sun", alongside Sarah Lawson, William Lucas, and
Colin Gordon . Sylvester had settled in England after WWII and acted in many
science fiction and horror B-movies as well as radio and TV dramas
throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
[3] The original audio tapes of the SF drama are unlikely to have survived,
as both video and audio tape was so expensive at the time that numerous
dramas were routinely wiped for later re-use/recording of subsequent dramas.
However, Kubrick may well have recorded it off the radio on his own
equipment back in 1961, as how else would he, twenty seven years later in
1988, have recalled such details about the broadcast?
[4] Blakeney's Shadow on the Sun is very different to Chad Oliver's Shadows
in the Sun, the latter being about a village in Texas comprised entirely of
aliens.
It was written by
"Art Haupt" <ahau...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:327b293a-8198-42d8...@r36g2000vbn.googlegroups.com...
(Arthur C. Clarke, describing his early days working with Kubrick,
back in 1964:
"...[Stanley] had also acquired rights to a property with the
intriguing title 'Shadow on the Sun'; I remember nothing whatsoever
about it and have even forgotten the author's name, so presumably he
was not one of the s.f. regulars. Whoever he was, I hope he never
knows that I sabotaged his career, because Kubrick was promptly
informed that Clarke was *not* interested in developing other people's
ideas."
�from Clarke's 1991 intro
Cosmic Gnome
As this archive site indicates, Shadow on the Sun was a 13-part SF drama
serial, broadcast weekly from October 6th, 1961 to December 29th, 1961.
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/suttonelms/lost9.html
"Cosmic Gnome" <hundredmill...@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
news:h4ko16$sak$1...@news.doubleSlash.org...
kelpzoidzl
tantalizing. And is the script around?
dc
Cosmic Gnome
tantalizing. And is the script around? "
It is extremely likely that all the tapes were wiped long ago, meaning that
there are no remaining recordings. The script, however, is at The Stanley
Kubrick Archive located at The University of the Arts London, here:
http://www.arts.ac.uk/kubrick-archive.htm
"Cosmic Gnome" <hundredmill...@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
news:h4ko16$sak$1...@news.doubleSlash.org...
kelpzoidzl
<hundredmillionlifeti...@fastmail.fm> wrote:
> "So...ok where is this radio drama on tape/cd etc? i want it. Very
> tantalizing. And is the script around? "
>
> It is extremely likely that all the tapes were wiped long ago, meaning that
> there are no remaining recordings. The script, however, is at The Stanley
> Kubrick Archive located at The University of the Arts London, here:http://www.arts.ac.uk/kubrick-archive.htm
>
>
> news:h4ko16$sak$1...@news.doubleSlash.org...
>
>
>
> > Yes, Art, and a few more details about the BBC Radio drama are also of
> > interest:
>
> > [1] It was written by Gavin Blakeney, a regular writer of radio dramas in
> > the 1950s and 1960s, and was broadcast in two parts in November and
> > December, 1961, when Kubrick was in London working on Lolita. This is
> > further confirmed by a letter (below) written by his niece to The Guardian
> > in response to Ronson's article on the Kubrick Archives:
>
> > "In 1988, my uncle Gavin Blakeney also received a most exciting telephone
> > call from Tony, Kubrick's assistant (Citizen Kubrick, March 27). Kubrick
> > wanted the rights to his radio serial Shadow On The Sun. Unlike Jon
> > "bon viveur", died in 1993, but would be thrilled to know that Kubrick saw
> > promise in "the dog is not well", and that Ronson thinks it cheesy.
>
> > Madeline Church"
>
> > Source:
> >http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2004/apr/03/weekend7.weekend1
>
> > This seems to completely contradict Clarke's claim that Kubrick had
> > acquired the rights to the serial in the early 1960s. Perhaps Kubrick was
> > *considering* acquiring them at that time but didn't proceed after
> > Clarke's remark about rejecting the ideas of other writers.
>
> > [2] William Sylvester, who would late star as Dr Heywood Floyd in 2001,
> > acted in "Shadow on the Sun", alongside Sarah Lawson, William Lucas, and
> > Colin Gordon . Sylvester had settled in England after WWII and acted in
> > many science fiction and horror B-movies as well as radio and TV dramas
> > throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
>
> > [3] The original audio tapes of the SF drama are unlikely to have
> > survived, as both video and audio tape was so expensive at the time that
> > numerous dramas were routinely wiped for later re-use/recording of
> > subsequent dramas. However, Kubrick may well have recorded it off the
> > radio on his own equipment back in 1961, as how else would he, twenty
> > seven years later in 1988, have recalled such details about the broadcast?
>
> > [4] Blakeney's Shadow on the Sun is very different to Chad Oliver's
> > Shadows in the Sun, the latter being about a village in Texas comprised
> > entirely of aliens.
>
> > It was written by
> >news:327b293a-8198-42d8...@r36g2000vbn.googlegroups.com...
> > (Arthur C. Clarke, describing his early days working with Kubrick,
> > back in 1964:
>
> > "...[Stanley] had also acquired rights to a property with the
> > intriguing title 'Shadow on the Sun'; I remember nothing whatsoever
> > about it and have even forgotten the author's name, so presumably he
> > was not one of the s.f. regulars. Whoever he was, I hope he never
> > knows that I sabotaged his career, because Kubrick was promptly
> > informed that Clarke was *not* interested in developing other people's
> > ideas."
>
> > to a new edition of
> > his "2001" novel)
>
> > -----------
> > Geez. I wondered for years about what "Shadow on the Sun" really was.
> > (One possible suspect was "Shadows in the Sun," a 1954 novel by Chad
> > Oliver, who was an SF regular.)
>
> > Then, last week a simple 'Net search revealed all. The info is near
> > the bottom of the 2004 UK "Guardian" article about Kubrick's boxes,
> > which I'm sure many people have read before me. The link:
>
> >http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2004/mar/27/features.weekend
>
> > In short: the "Shadow on the Sun" cited by Clarke wasn't a novel.
> > Rather, it was a BBC radio drama that Kubrick had followed in the
> > early '60s. The series' odd-sounding plot involved a meteor landing on
> > Earth.
>
> > Furthermore, the article, by Jon Ronson, says Kubrick didn't forget
> > "Shadow" after the '60s. In the early '90s K. played around with it
> > some more, getting hold of the BBC scripts. So "Shadow" is another
>
> - Show quoted text -
Hopefully we might be able to see it without a trip to the archives.
dc
Art Haupt
after nearly 50 years. Thanks!
Also interesting that William Sylvester drifted (accidentally?) into
Kubrick-world early on (in Shadows). Shades of "Universe" narrator
Douglas Rain's drift-in.