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Remember? Remember?
Dust jacket art by Leo Manso. A nostalgic backward glance at some of yesteryear's most beloved features of our national profile. A collection of articles, most of which first appeared in Playboy magazine.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1963
16 people want to read
About the author
Charles Beaumont
208 books171 followersCharles Beaumont was born Charles Leroy Nutt in Chicago in 1929. He dropped out of high school in the tenth grade and worked at a number of jobs before selling his first story to Amazing Stories in 1950. His story “Black Country” (1954) was the first work of short fiction to appear in Playboy, and his classic tale “The Crooked Man” appeared in the same magazine the following year. Beaumont published numerous other short stories in the 1950s, both in mainstream periodicals like Playboy and Esquire and in science fiction and fantasy magazines.
His first story collection, The Hunger and Other Stories, was published in 1957 to immediate acclaim, and was followed by two further collections, Yonder (1958) and Night Ride and Other Journeys (1960). He also published two novels, Run from the Hunter (1957, pseudonymously, with John E. Tomerlin), and The Intruder (1959).
Beaumont is perhaps best remembered for his work in television, particularly his screenplays for The Twilight Zone, for which he wrote several of the most famous episodes. His other screenwriting credits include the scripts for films such as The Premature Burial (1962), Burn, Witch, Burn (1962), The Haunted Palace (1963), and The Masque of the Red Death (1964).
When Beaumont was 34, he began to suffer from ill health and developed a baffling and still unexplained condition that caused him to age at a greatly increased rate, such that at the time of his death at age 38 in 1967, he had the physical appearance of a 95-year-old man. Beaumont was survived by his wife Helen, two daughters, and two sons, one of whom, Christopher, is also a writer.
Beaumont’s work was much respected by his colleagues, and he counted Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, and Roger Corman among his friends and admirers.
-Valancourt Books
His first story collection, The Hunger and Other Stories, was published in 1957 to immediate acclaim, and was followed by two further collections, Yonder (1958) and Night Ride and Other Journeys (1960). He also published two novels, Run from the Hunter (1957, pseudonymously, with John E. Tomerlin), and The Intruder (1959).
Beaumont is perhaps best remembered for his work in television, particularly his screenplays for The Twilight Zone, for which he wrote several of the most famous episodes. His other screenwriting credits include the scripts for films such as The Premature Burial (1962), Burn, Witch, Burn (1962), The Haunted Palace (1963), and The Masque of the Red Death (1964).
When Beaumont was 34, he began to suffer from ill health and developed a baffling and still unexplained condition that caused him to age at a greatly increased rate, such that at the time of his death at age 38 in 1967, he had the physical appearance of a 95-year-old man. Beaumont was survived by his wife Helen, two daughters, and two sons, one of whom, Christopher, is also a writer.
Beaumont’s work was much respected by his colleagues, and he counted Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, and Roger Corman among his friends and admirers.
-Valancourt Books
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 22, 2019
Described as 'mini obituaries for times gone past', Remember? Remember? by Charles Beaumont was exactly what I wanted it to be: Lots of fun. What I hadn't counted on was the excellent history lesson that I got as a bonus. This book is partly a history of life in America circa the early 20th century (nostalgic reminiscence being the preferred narrative lens) and partly a condemnation of letting this superior past be taken over by the clearly inferior pursuits of the present (1960s). His main concern seems to be that the adults of today's (1960s) generation have ruined the future of their children by doing away with the pleasures of yesteryear.
Examples of ruination include but are not limited to:
1. Charlie Chaplin's exile from America after being a prolific entertainer that created art in a time when the world was gray.
2. The spectacle of silent movies taken over by the sterility of 'blockbusters' in cookie cutter movie theaters.
3. Steam trains being replaced by diesel engines which were then supplanted by airplane travel. (Beaumont is all about the romance.)
4. Halloween no longer being a night of mischief but a highly sanitized and supervised few hours of getting candy from pre-approved houses before calling it quits before the sun has even sunk below the horizon.
Conclusion: This was a fun (and surprisingly educational) book which has me looking forward to ferreting out more work of his in the (not too distant) future. 10/10
Examples of ruination include but are not limited to:
1. Charlie Chaplin's exile from America after being a prolific entertainer that created art in a time when the world was gray.
2. The spectacle of silent movies taken over by the sterility of 'blockbusters' in cookie cutter movie theaters.
3. Steam trains being replaced by diesel engines which were then supplanted by airplane travel. (Beaumont is all about the romance.)
4. Halloween no longer being a night of mischief but a highly sanitized and supervised few hours of getting candy from pre-approved houses before calling it quits before the sun has even sunk below the horizon.
Conclusion: This was a fun (and surprisingly educational) book which has me looking forward to ferreting out more work of his in the (not too distant) future. 10/10
October 21, 2012
1963, growing up in the USA between the World Wars; semi-biographical, sociological, humor - generally good.
Short articles, many originally published in Playboy, concerning childhood memories from before WW2. Smoothly written, often wryly funny, these cover a number of fascinating topics, including Holidays; Charlie Chaplin (a pean, written when CC was otherwise in very bad odor in the US); radio drama; Drugstores and their (lost) capabilities; movie serials; comics; a loving survey of pulps; horror movies and the essence of fear; amusement parks and movie palaces; early film comedians; Bela Lugosi; steam trains.
Frequently has a sad tone, as befits an adult looking back on lost joys; interesting to read now, although his knocks at the youth of the 1950s become boring after a while. Although I believe much of it was meant to be satirical, in several of the edgier articles the reference points aren’t clear fifty years hence. No pix, and would have benefitted from them, although as he was writing for and about contemporaries he probably felt they weren’t needed. Rather “precious” niche book that was probably very popular at the time.
Short articles, many originally published in Playboy, concerning childhood memories from before WW2. Smoothly written, often wryly funny, these cover a number of fascinating topics, including Holidays; Charlie Chaplin (a pean, written when CC was otherwise in very bad odor in the US); radio drama; Drugstores and their (lost) capabilities; movie serials; comics; a loving survey of pulps; horror movies and the essence of fear; amusement parks and movie palaces; early film comedians; Bela Lugosi; steam trains.
Frequently has a sad tone, as befits an adult looking back on lost joys; interesting to read now, although his knocks at the youth of the 1950s become boring after a while. Although I believe much of it was meant to be satirical, in several of the edgier articles the reference points aren’t clear fifty years hence. No pix, and would have benefitted from them, although as he was writing for and about contemporaries he probably felt they weren’t needed. Rather “precious” niche book that was probably very popular at the time.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews