Wellesnet: The Orson Welles Web Resource

"Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year"

With those simple words, filmmakers the world over, were given a new "cinematic" tool, as edited by Orson Welles in what everyone seems to think is the greatest movie ever made, Citizen Kane.

Now, strange as it may seem, I can't recall this particular editing innovation being used very often in movies after Citizen Kane was released. Maybe it's because I have a New Years Eve hangover from drinking a a few too many Gimlet's with Glenn Anders and Todd Baesen at the Ha-Ra Club (by the way, I told Todd to stop his rant against the new messageboard. Although I don't much like it, either, it's better than having nothing!)

However, to return to "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," it seems to me it recalls the cut in Kubrick's 2001 where we cover many years in the story in a single cut.

Welles had discovered a very effective cinematic device that nobody else ever seems to be using these days. Maybe it's like the dissolve, and it has simply gone out of fashion, but it's a technique that you would think some hot-shot young director would have picked-up on.

But, speaking of the dissolve, why would should that have gone so out of fashion in today's movies? It's one of the most poetic and beautiful things a director or a film editor has at their disposal. That is why Citizen Kane's opening is so poetic. And just look at the beautiful dissolves in Terence Malick's films.

Maybe it's just because today's young MTV trained directors don't even know what a dissolve is. Could that be why they are so out of fashion?

If that is the case, it's a pretty pathetic indictment of film schools. It reminds me of Welles own comments on what was "cinematic" made circa 1948. He and Jean Cocteau were at the Venice film Festival, and both wondered what the formula was for creating a "cinematic" experience, if only so they could put it into effect in one of their future films. At the time, both Welles and Cocteau had made films from plays they had already directed for the stage. Welles had just done Macbeth, while Cocteau had just started work on Les Parents Terribles.

The point being, "cinematic" was really just a fake description for what critics wanted movies to be. What is really cinematic, would be, as Welles said in 1958, giving the camera to someone who could use it as "an eye in the head of a poet."

So let's have more poets who want to make movies, and less bastards who are raised on MTV and want to become rich and famous!

In any event, here is wishing everyone at Wellesnet a very Happy New Year, and as promised, here is the second part of ORSON WELLES autobiography that was published in Paris Vogue.

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A BRIEF CAREER AS A MUSICAL PRODIGY

By Orson Welles - PARIS VOGUE, December, 1982
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Violinist, pianist...child conductor...

This last was pretty much of a fake. By the time I was seven I was reading through the scores and waving my little baton in the presence of such people as Heifetz, Casals, Schnabel, Wallenstein and Mischa Ellman, when they gathered informally in chamber groups in my mother's house. Her own professional life was frustrated by long illness, but just about everybody was in love with her, so the celebrated musicians, when they came to visit and play, were kind enough to pretend that the midget Von Karajan in front of them was not (as I must truly have been) a damned nuisance.

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As a special Christmas treat, Wellesnet is presenting the beginning of the autobiography that Orson Welles abandoned after writing only the first two chapters, remarking that he found it extremely difficult to write about himself and much preferred to write about all the fascinating people he had known, beginning, as you will see, with his father and mother.

The following appeared in English, as written by Welles, in the 1983 December/January issue of Paris Vogue. An editorial footnote identifies it as "the first unedited chapter of an autobiography that Orson Welles is currently writing."

Part Two will provide us a nice entry into the Happy New Year of 2009 which will see something Welles would have loved: The first Afro-American President, from Welles adopted home town of Chicago, no less. Things certainly have changed for the better, in the sixty-odd years since Welles basically ruined his career on the radio in order to champion bringing justice to Issac Woodward!

So to all Wellesnet readers, have a very Merry Christmas...

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MY FATHER WORE BLACK SPATS

By ORSON WELLES

Vogue Magazine (Paris) 1983

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His shoes were made for him in London and his hats in Paris. When he traveled by train he carried his own bed linen and a small Persian prayer rug for his feet. His cigars, from a private selection in Havana, traveled first to England, where they were allowed to "breathe" in bond for two years before going on to join him wherever he might be. His cigarettes, of Virginia tobacco "straight cut," were beautifully made with an untreated paper so that when he was not quite sober enough to remember to keep puffing, they went quietly out like one of his cigars. Thus he lived to a great age before setting himself on fire. This happened in a mid-Western village in a small hotel which he had purchased with a view to enjoying, for a month or so each autumn, the simple pleasures of rural America. For the rest of the year he mainly commuted between his houses in Jamaica and Peking -- these being the last of the pleasant places on earth where dozens of skilled domestic servants were available and cheap.

What he liked best, I think, were the sea crossings: the long freedom from lands in which he felt himself increasingly diminished. There was no more welcoming spot for my father than the bar of a nice, old-fashioned ocean liner: the creaking of leather in the cradling seas, the cards he played so masterfully, and a captive audience for his stories.

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Early in June, 1970 Orson Welles appeared as a guest on The David Frost Show and gave the comments below to Sir David about his 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast.

Later that same month, Welles was a guest host on the Frost Show and talked to (among others) these famous luminaries: Duke ELLINGTON, Louis ARMSTRONG, Norman MAILER and Darryl F. ZANUCK.

Now, it seems to me, Ron Howard's upcoming FROST/NIXON movie should have a sequel. Michael Sheen should play David Frost and Vincent D' Onofrio could play Orson Welles. But wouldn't you think a FROST/WELLES movie would make a far better story than a FROST/NIXON film?

Meanwhile, here is a link to the excellent 1988 radio documentary with comments from both John Houseman and Howard Koch about their memories of The War of the Worlds broadcast:

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The Making of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

Featuring John Houseman and Howard Koch

http://www.prx.org/pieces/28807

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Orson Welles' Sketchbook
Episode 5: The Martian Invasion - May 21, 1955

Hear online here: Orson Welles' Sketchbook

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ORSON WELLES on DAVID FROST (1970)

DAVID FROST: What memories do you have of that radio program that had such a great impact?

ORSON WELLES: You mean the scandal?

DAVID FROST: Yes. The War of the Worlds. That was in what year?

ORSON WELLES: I know no dates. Just after the invention of the electric light, I know that. I have memories of it. The thing that confuses it in my mind is that we had our own radio show with actors and at the same time we had our own theater, the Mercury Theater. And the night after the program I had an opening on Broadway. So when the police came into the control room and traffic stopped and the world came to an end, we were all saying, "Yes, but have you got the light cue for the second act right?" It didn't quite penetrate until the play had opened that I'd replaced Benedict Arnold as an American villain, and that was because the newspapers, who'd been griping about radio taking away the advertising, finally found somebody to blame. Then they found out that everybody was laughing and thought it was a joke, so in a few days I was suddenly a great fellow, and that's how I got a sponsor.

DAVID FROST: What was the part of The War of the Worlds that really terrified people?

ORSON WELLES: I don't know. Many things, probably. We had an actor who did Roosevelt's voice terribly well, and we brought him on to assure everybody that there was no cause for alarm. I think that's when they really ran out on the streets. We also had a ham radio voice that would come in, identifying himself and trying to talk to other people while this awful thing was happening. We established him, and then we went to a CBS announcer who was describing the arrival of the Martians. And then the announcer began to cough; he couldn't go on and stopped, and then this dead silence. The real trick we did was to hold dead silence on a full network, with no sound at all, and then you'd hear the microphone drop, and then more silence, and then this one little voice, the amateur radio operator, saying, "This is so-and-so. Isn’t there anybody out there—" And that is, I guess, when they put the towels on their heads and ran out of the house. I don't know why they put towels on their heads, but they did. I don't know what they thought that was going to do. A sort of anti-Martian thing. Then there were all these traffic cops. It was Sunday night and all these guys out in Jersey on their motorcycles waiting, and the people in the cars, driving, had the radio, but the cops didn't. Suddenly everybody started driving at 125 miles an hour. "Pull over!" "No, I'm going to the hills!"

DAVID FROST: And if you wanted to terrify people today, how would you do it?

ORSON WELLES: I don't. I didn't want to then.

DAVID FROST: No, of course. But if somebody wanted to terrify people today, how should they do it?

ORSON WELLES: Well, I would say unlimited air-time to Spiro Agnew.

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One of the highlight's of Gary Graver's memoir, Making Movies with ORSON WELLES is the inside view it gives us on the making of The Other Side of the Wind. Perhaps the book may finally help to sweep aside the last remaining obstacles and get the Showtime deal to finish the movie back on track.

Here's how Gary Graver sums up The Other Side of the Wind in his book:

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Orson viewed The Other Side of the Wind as a bookend to Citizen Kane. It's an interesting film that needs to be completed so it can be viewed alongside Orson's classic films. I think it will shed new light on Orson's artistic legacy. It's quite different from anything else he ever did. It's a marvelous film. Its structure--the movie-within-a-movie--and all of Orson's ideas were so fresh. The dialogue and the visuals are terrific.

I think it's Orson's finest film since Touch of Evil, and I think the public deserves the opportunity to see the film and decide for themselves where it ranks in the canon of Welles films. I think it will enjoy a long shelf life and make millions for whoever ends up finishing it. Today Orson is bigger than ever. He has fans in countries all around the world. What bigger market could you want for such a film?

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The book also offers us a true insider's portrait of Orson Welles, which could only be written by somebody who worked with Welles intimately over a period of 15 years. We even get a sense of the despair Welles must have felt when, by 1977, it became apparent that The Other Side of the Wind was doomed to join the ranks of Welles other unfinished projects.

In a poignant hand-written note reproduced in the book, dated Aug. 24, 1977, Welles writes the following plea to Graver:

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Gary:

This is a real cry for help -- Please, please call me!

Orson

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That same year, Welles stopped active work on The Other Side of the Wind, for reasons that are explained in this excerpt from an 11-page letter Welles wrote in 1977 to Mehdi Boushehri, the primary Iranian backer of The Other Side of the Wind:

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To celebrate Gary Graver's wonderful new memoir, Making Movies with ORSON WELLES, I thought I'd offer a sample of the delights it has to offer.

To start, here is the text for an incredibly detailed memo Welles wrote to Gary Graver which appears to have been written around 1972, when Welles was in the midst of editing F For Fake at the Antigor studios in Paris. As Graver explains it below, Welles sent him to Seville to shoot some second-unit scenes for Don Quixote during the holy week processions, similar to those we see in Mr. Arkadin. At this point Graver had only been working with Welles for two or three years, but it appears that Welles already had total confidence in Gary's abilities. Of course, Welles also gave him extremely detailed instructions, which seemingly take every possibility into account. Even more amazingly, this memo concerns only Gary's travel plans from Paris to Seville! One only wonders what kind of instructions Welles wrote for what he actually wanted him to photograph during the holy week festivities!

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GARY GRAVER: I first read about Orson making Don Quixote when I was in High School, and I ended up doing second-unit on it. It was quite a time span. But as time went on, Orson kept getting new ideas on how he could finish Don Quixote. I shot some material for the film, but it was never actually put into the picture, because it was stolen. I shot a holy week procession in Seville and some inserts of windmills, second-unit things like that. Orson's idea was to shoot wraparound color segments to finish the picture, because he always intended to finish it, its just that he kept coming up with new angles on how to wrap it all up.

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Q: Where is home for you?

ORSON WELLES: I have lots of homes ...I suppose its Woodstock, Illinois, if it’s anywhere. I went to school there for four years, and if I think of home, it’s there.

It may be a tedious cliché to say that school days are the happiest days of your life, but Roger Hill and his staff were so unique, and the school so imbued with real happiness, that one could hardly fail to enjoy oneself within its boundaries.

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Besides Orson Welles connection to The Todd School, the place he considered his "home" the unsung hero and possibly the biggest influence on Welles, was his headmaster and teacher at Todd, Roger Hill. (more...)

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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