# Dial Double Zero \[Ray Bradbury’s story\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [June 9, 2021, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dial-double-zero-ray-bradbury-s-story/943903 "2021-06-09T14:04:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dial-double-zero-ray-bradbury-s-story/943903/1 "2021-06-09T14:04:50Z")
In junior high or elementary school we watched a film dramatisation of Ray Bradbury’s story Dial Double Zero. A guy answers his phone and says, ‘Hello?’ IIRC, there was at first no answer so he hung up. The phone rings again and he says, ‘Hello?’ A mechanical-sounding voice on the other end says, ‘Hel-lo.’ He keeps receiving these calls over and over. I think the voice eventually sounded human. I don’t recall how it ended. From what I could see last night, the story was never published. I have not been able to find the film online. It does not appear in a search on IMDb. There is a film about the writing of the story. I have not watched it, but scanning it quickly I didn’t see anything I remembered. I’ll have to watch it to see if it’s actually the film I saw decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dial-double-zero-ray-bradbury-s-story/943903/2 "2021-06-09T14:18:37Z")
You can watch it here… > **[Watch Ray Bradbury: Story of a Writer, a 1963 Film That Captures the Creative...](https://www.openculture.com/2012/06/iray_bradbury_story_of_a_writeri_1963_film_captures_the_paradoxical_late_sci-fi_author.html)** > > Produced by David L. > "An original Bradbury short story, ‘Dial Double Zero,’ was dramatized as part of the NBC-TV special, _The Story of a Writer_, based on RB’s life and work. Telecast November 20, 1963 > _Story of a Writer_ interweaves with these scenes from Bradbury’s daily life a jaggedly cinematic adaptation of his short story “Dial Double Zero.” ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dial-double-zero-ray-bradbury-s-story/943903/3 "2021-06-09T19:27:41Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I don’t recall how it ended. > **Spoiler** > > The protagonist climbs the power pole and pokes around the box his phone line comes out of. He is electrocuted and falls off of the pole, dead. A narrator says he saw _something_ in the box and he knew it had won. It was never published and is mentioned only in the _Story of a Writer_ program **Pork\_Rind** mentions. I suppose that would make it a teleplay or the story on which the play was based, but it doesn’t appear in any of his bibliographies. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dial-double-zero-ray-bradbury-s-story/943903/4 "2021-06-09T22:27:30Z")
I don’t have any thing relevant to the OP, but this thread reminded of a comment the first Mod of Cafe Society, who, having met Bradbury, described him as ‘Ed Meese in horn-rimmed glasses.’ I got a chuckle out of that. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dial-double-zero-ray-bradbury-s-story/943903/5 "2021-06-09T22:28:42Z")
I used to live a couple of miles from Ray Bradbury. I never did get up the gumption to knock on his door. I understand his house was torn down long ago. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dial-double-zero-ray-bradbury-s-story/943903/6 "2021-06-09T22:54:01Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > You can watch it here… In my mind, I saw just the story. I don’t remember the documentary parts at all. So I guess this is where I saw DDZ.