Wellesnet: The Orson Welles Web Resource

Shortly before his 18th birthday, in the spring of 1933, Orson Welles booked second class passage on a tramp steamer, The Exermont  bound for Morocco, where Welles would stay as the guest of the Arab Sheik, Thami el-Glaoui in the Atlas mountains surrounding Tangier.

While onboard ship, Welles worked on his introduction for the books on Shakespeare he was preparing with Roger Hill for the Todd Press.  One of the letters Welles wrote to Roger Hill  contains a rare example of  Welles poetry. 

It's also interesting to imagine Welles long sea voyage by comparing it, as Welles does, to Eugene O' Neill, as well as to an early RKO movie featuring a sea voyage on a tramp steamer that had just opened in New York,  King Kong.  

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    Greetings all, as noted below, the University of Michigan opened an exhibition based on their recently acquired Welles collections tonight. The displayed items will eventually change, but the display itself will continue through December, and the collection is available for research purposes now, though not all of it has yet been cataloged. Catherine Benamou presented the collection, explaining some the thinking behind the organization of the display items and their meaning in the larger career of Welles. Many of the items have never been seen by the public before, and included the following:

- photos (including two color slide enlargements) of Welles' 1947 Utah stage production of Macbeth, believed to be the only surviving images of that production;
- frame enlargements from Magnificent Ambersons, including shots from the lost scenes;
- the order to destroy the prints (one a 10 reel print, the other a 14 reel print) of Ambersons that had been sent to Welles in Rio, which was itself sent to RKO's Brazilian office in 1944, more than two years after Welles had left them behind;
- fan mail sent to Welles after the War of the Worlds broadcast, which had been sitting unopened, in a box, for more than sixty years;
- materials from the aborted Heart of Darkness film project; one of the jewels of this collection is Welles' annotated, illustrated script to that film;

And there's still much more in the rest of the collection. Much of the material on display now comes from Richard Wilson's papers; also acquired by U of M are Welles' papers that went to Oja Kodar, and hold their own numerous treasures. All in all, it was a treat to see all of these materials, as well as see a couple other Wellesnetters there. If you live near enough, you'll want to take a look at this exhibit, not to mention looking into the materials themselves.

Jeff W.

The Special Collections of The Hatcher Graduate Library presents

ORSON WELLES AND THE ART OF ADAPTATION IN RADIO, THEATRE AND FILM

An exhibit highlighting ORSON WELLES extraordinary vision and artistry in interpreting the works of others.  On display at the Special Collections Library at the Univ. of Michigan will be material from the Orson Welles collection.

Professor Catherine Benamou, author of the recent book on It's All True is curator of the exhibit, which will be on view from September 20 until December 1, 2007.

An opening reception (free and open to the public) will be held Thursday, September 20, from 5 to 7 p.m.  Professor Benamou will be on hand to discuss some of the rare items on display, such as original scripts, correspondence, and photographs spanning Welles career from the 1930's up until the late 1950's.

The exhibit will feature many rare treasures from the Orson Welles collection at the University of Michigan that were acquired from the many papers Welles entrusted to his close associates Oja Kodar and Richard Wilson.

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