Wellesnet: The Orson Welles Web Resource

In retrospect, one of the amazing things about Orson Welles' Almanac, was the historic times in which they were written. World War II was still being waged, and although by early 1945 things were looking much better for the Allies, it was still far from certain if the war would actually come to an end.

At the same time, no other war has ever come close to providing Hollywood with such a wealth of material, in terms of heroic stories, action packed events, and sheer cinematic possibilities. Reading Welles columns from this vital time, when WW II was still an ongoing battle, provide many possibilities for adaption. Welles's column below, about the secret plans for building Stalingrad into a "fortress city," (which Welles claims were altered after Hitler's speech at Nuremberg, so famously filmed by Leni Riefenstahl in Triumph of the Will), would seem to be a story ripe for adaptation to the screen. Certainly one just as good as Jean-Jacques Annaud's, Enemy at the Gates, with Jude Law, could be made from from this column.

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ORSON WELLES’ ALMANAC

By Orson Welles – January 31, 1945

January 31, eleven years ago, we went off the gold standard. Franz Schubert was born 148 years ago, and Talullah Bankhead was born not so many years ago today.

Some of the smart money is saying that the coming meeting between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin isn't going to solve any serious differences of opinion or move the world any closer to a decent or durable peace. But the smart money told us once that Britain wouldn't hold, and Britain held. The smart money told us again that the Germans would get to Moscow in six weeks, but now it looks as though the Russians might get to Berlin in six days. The smart money, it turns out, its betting on the wrong century.

I visited our State Department the other day—that former citadel of cynicism—and there they told me that hopes were high for this next meeting and they looked like they meant it.

They meant it at the British Embassy, too, where they told me the same things, and they meant it at the Soviet Embassy where they told me the same thing again. There's no reason for despair, they all said; there's every reason for hope.

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This column features a hilarious riposte to The New Yorker magazine’s then recent article describing Welles’s new political activities as both columnist and speaker on world affairs. According to Welles, The New Yorker sent along an attractive young Juliette Riche-like female reporter to draw Mr. Welles out about his serious new activities, who ended up inventing much of what Welles told her (or him).  At least that reporter attempted to talk with Welles before writing the article.  25 years later Pauline Kael wouldn’t even bother to check her information gleaned from John Houseman, against Welles’s own account, so she simply invented many of her supposed “facts”  in her now thoroughly discredited article, “Raising Kane.”

Here is the text of The New Yorker's 1945 report on Welles, followed by his reply in his New York Post almanac column:

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The Talk of the Town by John McCarten
The New Yorker, January 27, 1945

Dedicated Wunderkind

Until the other day, we regarded Orson Welles as simply an actor, producer, writer, costumer, magician, Shakespearean editor, and leading prodigy of our generation, and then out of our mail fluttered an announcement that he was about to become a new-day Bryan by delivering an oration called “The Nature of the Enemy” at the City Center. ”Mr. Welles’s understanding of international happenings” the announcement stated, “has been widely acknowledged. Not only has he the ability of analysis, but of prophecy, and he also has the master’s art of making his statements felt by everybody.” We decided we must call on the master, who was holed in at the St. Regis, surrounded by enough publicity operatives to put on a production of “Julius Caesar.” On our arrival, one of the lady publicity agents murmured, “He looks dedicated.” To us, however, he looked the same as he did the last time we had a talk with him--moon-faced, girthy, bland and authoritative. He was wearing a ministerial black broadcloth suit, old-fashioned boots with elastic inserts in the sides, and a pair of monogrammed gold cuff links as big as half dollars. Only the lack of a black string tie (he was wearing a sharp red bow) marred a considerable resemblance to the Boy Orator of the Platte.

Leaning thoughtfully against the fireplace in his living room, Welles told us that he has had a compulsion to awaken his fellow-men to the dangers of Fascism for years and is now delighted to be doing something about it. He plans to make one-night stands in Chicago, Washington, Baltimore, and elsewhere. “Naturally,” he remarked, “a lot of people are going to ask, ‘what’s a ham actor think he’s doing as an expert on international affairs?’ But that will help prove that international matters are not as mysterious as Rosicrucianism or something. We’ve got to outgrow our Tinker Toy stage of anti-Fascism and use a sophisticated approach.” At this point two photographers appeared and began shooting off flash bulbs. When Welles hesitated under the barrage, both of them muttered, “Keep talking.” He obediently carried on. “I’ve been reading up on Fascism,” he said, “and what I learned will help supplement what I actually saw of it in the year and a half I spent down in Latin America. I’ve got all kinds of friends subscribing to Fascist papers here, so I keep pretty well posted about local Fascist activities.” Rambling along in his impressive baritone, he told us that the William Morris Agency had arranged for the lectures, which will command a $2.40 top and will probably make money. “This lecture in the City Center,” said Welles, “reminds me of the days when I did the Wonder Radio Show there for the Wonder Bakers. The audience used to make airplanes out of the programs and throw them at us. They might even be rougher this time.”

Welles is so intense about fighting Fascism that he's not only going to orate against it but also will give it hell in the newspaper column he's launching this week in the Post. “The column is so important,” he said, “that I plan to devote all of my time to it as soon as I can. I’ve given up all my Hollywood work except to act in one picture each year.” As we talked with Welles, all kinds of people kept drifting in—a lady who wanted to know if actors should participate in politics (“Yes”), a correspondent from Tass, who chuckled amiably as he took notes in Russian, several local newspapermen, and three Latin Americans in bright yellow shoes. While the crowd was growing, Orson outlined his program for the next few months. As a sturdy supporter of the President, he was to appear at the inauguration. Then off to the Pan-American Conference in Mexico City, perhaps a short spin around Central America, and presently to work on a picture about Latin American he almost finished some years ago and which he brought the other day from R.K.O. After that, he figures he’ll be in the clear for his column. He’s been invited to so many Democratic gatherings in Washington during the coming weeks that he’s begun to regard himself, he says, as the Lucius Beebe of the Democratic Party. As we left, we heard a publicity man advise him to keep such cracks off the record.

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In this column, Welles writes from Washington D. C., where he has flown to assess the seemingly slim chance former Vice-President Henry Wallace has for becoming President Roosevelt's new Secretary of Commerce, after 14 conservative Senators have voted against Wallace's confirmation.

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ORSON WELLES' ALMANAC

By Orson Welles – January 29, 1945

A number of great men were born on January 29th, and you can do them honor in different ways. For William McKinley you should wear a carnation today, for Tom Paine you should buy a bond, and for W. C. Fields you can have a drink.

I flew to Washington to try to find out if Henry Wallace has a Hottentot’s chance of getting the important job F. D. R. tried to give him.

The President has written two letters in Henry Wallace’s behalf. Liberals who figure their big vote won F. D. R. the election are beginning to mutter that these two documents spell out a gigantic double cross. The truth, I’m sure, isn’t nearly so melodramatic.

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In this column, Welles reports on a French collaborationist who had an office in the Pentagon, prefiguring one of the ideas behind the next movie he would soon be directing, The Stranger.
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ORSON WELLES' ALMANAC

By Orson Welles - January 26, 1945

This is St. Paula’s and St. Polycarp’s Day, and is auspicious for those born under all signs. This is the anniversary of the surrender of Barcelona to France, and also of Webster’s famous reply to Hayne, “Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable.” (We could use a speech like that about the United Nations.)

“The Gestapo has an office right here in the Pentagon Building!”

This startling report, rendered to a multi-starred official in the War Department by a breathless subordinate turned the great government building into an uproar.

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Since several of Welles' s upcoming Almanac columns feature detailed comments about the (at the time) departing progressive Vice-President, Henry A. Wallace, here is some brief background information about the highly charged political atmosphere in  January of 1945:

Henry Wallace was Roosevelt's Vice-President, but had been dumped from the ticket at the party convention in July, 1944, mostly because his very liberal political ideas conflicted with the more conservative members of the Democratic party leadership. In his place, Harry Truman was selected.

Although officially off the ticket, Wallace was still Vice-President and worked hard to unite liberal Democrats behind Roosevelt's re-election. Of course, Welles also worked hard for FDR's re-election and he and Wallace occasionally shared a stage during the fall campaign, most famously when Welles introduced Wallace at a Roosevelt campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, on September 21, 1944.

In this column, Welles comments about the letter President Roosevelt had just written to his conservative Secretary of Commerce from Texas, Jesse Jones. The President had asked Jones for his resignation, so he could appoint Henry Wallace to the position. Roosevelt pointed out to Jones how hard Wallace had worked to help re-elect him, and offered Jones his choice of ambassadorships to several different countries, including England. Jones un-statesman like response was to release the President's letter to the press, and then testify against Wallace at his Senate confirmation hearings!

As Welles notes in his column, it appeared that the Wallace nomination was doomed, since conservative Democrats had united to block the confirmation. The final committee vote was 14 to 5 against Wallace's nomination, so it was rather astonishing when the full Senate eventually approved Wallace as Secretary of Commerce — but only by the slimmest of margins: One vote! Ironically, the tie-breaking vote had to be cast by the new President of the Senate, Harry Truman, who had replaced Wallace as Vice-President. Wallace went on to serve as the head of the Commerce Dept. until Sept. 1946, when his frequent clashes with the new President, Harry Truman, finally led to his dismissal.

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ORSON WELLES' ALMANAC

By Orson Welles - January 25, 1945

January 25th is the anniversary of Shay’s rebellion and the conversion of St. Paul. Also, the birthdays of Robert Burns and William Bullitt.

Plant things that grow above the ground today and call up the man who runs your neighborhood movie house. Ask him to show a B minus picture called When Strangers Marry. It's a “plus” entertainment. But because it's a quickie without any names in it, When Strangers Marry hasn't had much of a play, even in the smaller theatres, so you’ve probably missed it. Making allowances for its bargain-price budget, I think you'll agree with me that it's one of the most gripping and effective pictures of the year. It isn't as slick as Double Indemnity or as glossy as Laura, but it's better acted and better directed than either.

The gist of the Jones’ beef is that Henry Wallace is an unsuccessful, or at least, an inexperienced businessman. The myth of Wallace’s inefficiency has been carefully nurtured by all who fear his program for full production and employment. Actually, Wallace makes something like $80.000. a year as president of the Hybrid Corn Company (Hybrid Corn, incidentally, has quite a lot to do with the new prosperity of the corn farmer).

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In his third column Welles really hits his stride, producing an absolute gem! Here he pontificates for the first time on two of the great actors and directors of the time: John Barrymore, who was a great friend to Welles when he first came to Hollywood, and C. B. DeMille, who was more of a nemesis. So there is little surprise in seeing how Welles stands up for the memory of John Barrymore, while noting that Mr. DeMille was little more than a Fascist. Welles, as it turns out, was quite correct about DeMille, as we now know from the famous directors guild meeting where Mr. DeMille attempted to force a loyalty pledge from film directors during the McCarthy era witch hunts. Ironically, it was Welles own favorite Hollywood director, John Ford who stood up to DeMille and basically called C. B's proposal "Un-American" since they attempted to suppress the right to the individuals freedom of speech, as well as the artist's right to freedom of expression.

What is even more interesting is how Welles's takes such an interest in the progress of the war in Italy. This in especially important because at the time, Welles had already made his own neo-realist style documentary in Brazil, while in Italy, in 1945, Roberto Rossellini and Vittoria De Sica were shooting their first Neo-realist masterpieces, after the yoke of Mussolini's Fascist rule had been overturned. Later, when Welles actually saw the first Italian neo-realist films, he was especially taken by the simple poetry of DeSica's SHOESHINE.

In this column we also get Welles's feeling about hack biographies, such as Gene Fowler's tome on John Barrymore.  Welles writes, " I suggest that a collection be taken up among (Barrymore) enthusiasts, the money to be used to buy the rights to Mr. Fowler’s book and keep it off the screen." Ironically, this advice could apply today to hack biographies about Orson Welles, such as those produced by David Thomson and Charles Higham, but luckily, Hollywood producers have been wise enough to not even bother optioning such "disgraceful" biographies.

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ORSON WELLES' ALMANAC

By Orson Welles - January 24, 1945

January 24th is St. Timothy’s Day and St Babylas’ Day.

Recipe Department: A teaspoonful of chocolate will improve the taste of your coffee …An almanac is supposed to provide this type of useful information, but readers should be warned now that this almanac is got out by a very short order cook.

Little Known Fact Department: The fascist salute was invented by the Hollywood film director, Mr. C. B. DeMille. There is no record that any of the Caesars were hailed by the now famous stiff-armed gesture. It first appeared in a silent movie, “the Eternal City.” As a matter of fact, a great part of the pomp and pageantry of Fascist spectacles is just so much Cecil B. DeMillinery.

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In Welles's second column, he follows up his quote of President Woodrow Wilson's call for peace, by reporting on the current progress of the Dumbarton Oaks proposals. These proposals refer to the name of the mansion in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. where representatives from China, the Soviet Union, the United States and the UK met, in the fall of 1944, to hammer out the outline for proposals for the establishment of a General International Organization that eventually would become known as The United Nations.

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ORSON WELLES' ALMANAC

By Orson Welles - January 23, 1945

January 23 is the feast of St. Ildephonsus and a good day for fishing. It is also a good day to ask your minister to prepare a sermon of the following text:

And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? And He said, what hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

An almanac is supposed to provide a number of services, including a certain amount of news. Okay—

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Thanks to the efforts of writer and researcher Peter Giordano, Wellesnet will be able to offer up an ongoing series of Orson Welles rare Almanac columns that appeared in the pages of The New York Post, beginning in January of 1945.

As noted recently, Welles was a great friend of The New York Post's regular entertainment columnist, Leonard Lyons, and Welles first column at the Post was actually written by Welles when he was subbing for the vacationing Lyons.

In that debut column, Welles rhetorically asked his readers: "What is it that makes a man want to write for the newspapers? ...All too often my public appearances have had more to thank presumption than equipment, so don't ask me why I think I can write a column. Compare me, if you will, to my foolish and finny cousin the salmon, who toils and labors upstream against the most fearful odds, only to lay his little eggs."

Of course, this was a favorite device of Welles, pretending he had no special talent or reason to be doing something that he was actually eminently qualified to tackle.

In his first column, Welles talks about the fourth inauguration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and uses it as a springboard to recall past Presidential inaugurations, giving them movie like-descriptions, almost as if he were writing scenes for a script, even to the point of providing the soundtrack for George Washington's voice!

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ORSON WELLES ALMANAC

By Orson Welles - January 22, 1945

Our Astrology Department says that this is a good day for those born under all signs, and for planting all things that grow above ground.

Byron was born today, and so was D. W. Griffith, the greatest of all motion picture directors. Twenty-eight years ago today Woodrow Wilson told the Senate that it was necessary for the American government “in the days to come to lay afresh and upon a new plan the foundations of peace among the nations. It is inconceivable,” said he, “that the people of the United States should play no part in that great enterprise. Is the present war,” he asked, “a struggle for a just and secure peace, or only for a new balance of power? There must be not only a balance of power, but a community of power; not organized rivalries, but an organized common peace …These are American principles, American policies, and they are also the principles of mankind and must prevail.”

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The Free Company presents   

HIS HONOR THE MAYOR

A radio play by

ORSON WELLES

http://www.box.net/shared/xky7hn4uxk

As originally broadcast on April 6, 1941 on CBS

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For what avail the plow or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson   

JAMES BOYD: Today our theme is an ancient and fundamental democratic right, which will become clear to you as you listen to the play. This week's author is Orson Welles.

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THE CAST 

Orson Welles (Narrator)
Ray Collins (Mayor Bill Knaggs)
Agnes Moorehead (Mrs. Knaggs/Mrs.Carter/Pearl Dewey)
Everett Sloane (Jerry, gas station owner/Joe E. Knocking, anarchist)
Erskine Sanford (Colonel Englehorn)
Paul Stewart (Father Hatton)  

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Listening to the Orson Welles radio broadcast of His Honor the Mayor  in 2007, over sixty years after it's debut, it seems beyond belief that anyone could possibly attack it as the work of a "subversive" anti-American agitator.   

Then again, maybe not.  It's quite probable that the current Attorney General, would easily find Welles radio broadcast just as disturbing as J. Edgar Hoover did, way back in April of 1941.  It was apparently Welles's broadcast of  His Honor The Mayor that led Hoover to send a report about Welles to his bosses at the Justice Dept. and then order a full report on the political activities of Welles, and the other members of The Free Company.  Welles FBI files would remain active throughout Hoover's long tenure as director of the FBI.    

Apparently the passages that most incensed the right wing commentators of the time (The Hearst Newspapers and The American Legion) were these  proclaimations Welles gave to Mayor Knaggs:

"There’s nothing illegal about being a communist.  There’s no law in this country about having an opinion."

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I’m not very hot about being nationalistically inclined.  ...I hate that in anybody. I do truly believe that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.  

—Orson Welles. 1974   

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I don't think a policeman should work like a dogcatcher, putting criminals behind bars. In any free country a policeman is supposed to enforce the law, and the law protects the guilty as well as the innocent.   ...It has to be tough. The policeman's job is only easy in a police state. That's the whole point, Captain. Who is the boss, the cop or the law?

—Miguel Vargas to Hank Quinlan in Touch of Evil

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Orson Welles above comments certainly seem to be worth re-visiting in light of the current state of civil liberties in America,  where some of our highest elected officials seem to be acting like Hank Quinlan, feeling it's no longer necessary to obey "the fine print in the rule books" in order to catch criminals.     

In any case, after reading the text of the  26-page SLEEPY LAGOON pamphlet that was published in June, 1943, it seems rather likely that the racist statements made by Mr. Ed Duran Ayres of the Los Angeles County Sherriff's office during the trial might well have contributed to the genesis of Hank Quinlan in Welles' Touch of Evil.  

Below is the complete text of the SLEEPY LAGOON pamphlet, with a short Foreword by Welles, who relates a story told to him by Pete Vasquez, while he was waiting to be examined at the draft induction center in Los Angeles.   

However, to set the scene, let's start with this paragraph taken from Welles FBI file, which states that The Citizen's Committe to Defend Mexican-American Youths was "known to be controlled by the Communist Party."   

ORSON WELLES - FBI REPORT - April 15, 1943   

On November 30, 1942, a group of figures in the Hollywood motion picture industry staged an invitational forum at the Beverly Hills Hotel, which was actually sponsored by the "Pan-African Security Council."  The purpose of the forum was to discuss the trial of the twenty-two Mexican defendants in the Sleepy Lagoon murder case, which was pending at the time in the Los Angeles courts, and to raise money for their defense. Orson Welles acted as chairnan of this forum. Welles as chairman, opened the forum by stating that the most important minority question in the country today is the Negro question, but that almost of equal importance is the question of the Mexican minorities, which is of particular interest in Los Angeles and Southern California. The above-mentioned murder case was the reason for the creation of the Citizens Committee to Defend the Mexican Youth in the Sleepy Lagoon Murder Case, which organization is known to be controlled by the Communist Party. Many of the individuals who composed the Pan-American Security Council were also members of the Communist-inspired Citizen’s Committee to Defend the Mexican Youths.
 

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