Ib Melchior:
Man of Imagination
by Robert Skotak
6x9 paperback, 320 pages, $25
If you are only interested in reading about old science
fiction movies, then this book is not for you. For this book contains
a lot of dull stuff about a man who touched the beating heart of another;
stepped into the cold of outer space; witnessed the horrors of Dachau;
directed some of the first TV shows; called one of the most famous opera
singers of the century “father”; became a war hero; was knighted;
had himself arrested for drunk driving; worked with laser beams; jumped
out of airplanes; “infiltrated” an American city; broke a
400 year-old cipher; wrestled lions; had the fangs of a leopard at his
throat; picked up a prostitute; learned how to kill with a pencil; rode
an African elephant; sorted 50,000 beetles; stage-managed ice shows;
worked with rockets and the Rockettes. A man who was a spy and counterspy,
an actor, stage manager, singer, set designer. He speaks six languages;
is a novelist and has been a gourmet chef; helped sail a tall ship and...
and—incidentally—wrote or directed a bunch of science fiction
movies that many of us have enjoyed! Several of which have become both
cult movies and earned a respectable place among mainstream viewers.
So perhaps you’ll want to read this book after all.