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 (today, no doubt Welles would say “Sarah Palin.”)
DAVID FROST: What, most of all, do you believe in? God?
ORSON WELLES: I suppose that anybody who does not deny the existence of God must finally admit that he does believe in him.
DAVID FROST: You once said you respected both atheists and religious people, but not agnostics.
ORSON WELLES: That’s right.
DAVID FROST: Because an agnostic says he doesn’t know and you’ve got to decide one way or the other?
ORSON WELLES: I don’t think there’s a good way of living in the world unless you are one of the two. You must make the tragic decision that we are totally alone in an indifferent universe. This true atheist belief is a noble and splendid position to take, one requiring great courage and character. Or you must be a religious man. The fellow who doesn’t do either is copping out in both directions.
DAVID FROST: Have you made the decision? To be a religious man?
ORSON WELLES: Tune in next week and you will hear Orson Welles on that subject. You know that I hate to hear people talking about God. Unless they have a vocation for talking about it.
DAVID FROST: But on the other hand, you said how important it is to make a decision.
ORSON WELLES: But I don’t have to inform my listeners and viewers about it. It’s not because I don’t want to tell you my views, but I think the minute you start on that it borders on preaching, and I’m very allergic to that. I’m also embarrassed by expressions of religion in the movies. I hate it when people pray on the screen. It’s not because I hate praying, but whenever I see an actor fold his hands and look up in the spotlight, I’m lost. There’s only one other thing in the movies I hate as much, and that’s sex. You just can’t get in bed or pray to God and convince me on the screen.
DAVID FROST: I hesitate to draw any conclusions from that, but is it an indication of the limitations of movies? Loving and praying are two of the most important things in the world. Why can’t you do them in the movies?
ORSON WELLES: Because they are both conditions of ecstasy, and I think they cannot be communicated unless it’s actually happening, in which case the act belongs in a monastery or in a bordello. Ecstasy is really not part of the scene we can do on celluloid.
DAVID FROST: Can you do your passion for politics in movies?
ORSON WELLES: Any passion, including love. I’m just talking about the act of love.
DAVID FROST: Someone said that your films are studies of men in their various conditions, but that there doesn’t seem to be enough in them about loving. Do you think that’s true?
ORSON WELLES: I think it is true, and it’s too bad that it’s true, but I don’t think it’s a fair criticism. The truth is that I’ve made so many fewer movies than I’ve wanted to in my life. If I’d made more I’m sure some of them would have included that subject, and now that you’ve told me about it we’ll try and arrange it.
DAVID FROST: What is your definition of love?
ORSON WELLES: I wish I had a good one. Probably something somebody else said.
DAVID FROST: I think Erich Segal, who wrote Love Story, said “Love means not feeling you’ve got to say sorry,” and Richard Burton said, “Love means an extraordinary degree of tolerance.”
ORSON WELLES: Oh, no. If you love somebody you love them for their faults, not in spite of them.
DAVID FROST: I think that’s what he was trying to say. That love is all-embracing. What makes a woman beautiful to you?
ORSON WELLES: Human dignity, without which nobody can be beautiful. Women are clearly a superior sex, you know. I really mean that. I’m not trying to make a funny remark or sound smart. I really do think they’re much smarter than we are.
DAVID FROST: Why?
ORSON WELLES: If there hadn’t been women we’d still be squatting in a cave eating raw meat, because we made civilization in order to impress our girl friends. And they tolerated it and let us go ahead and play with our toys. We’re on one of them now.
DAVID FROST: How are they superior?
ORSON WELLES: If you don’t know that, David, nobody will ever be able to tell you. That’s a cop out, I know, but—
DAVID FROST: I disagree with you. I think they’re wonderful and different, but not superior.
ORSON WELLES: When I was your age that was my opinion.
DAVID FROST: What changed your mind?
ORSON WELLES: The passage of the years and the evidence of my senses and of my observation.
DAVID FROST: But what did you observe that convinced you?
ORSON WELLES: No matter what the Bible says—and I’m not a fundamentalist—I just don’t think that men were the first. I don’t think that Eve was made out of Adam’s rib. I think the first sex, biologically, is the female sex, and there are many creatures in our world who are female and only become male as long as is necessary and then revert to the original and superior condition. I think we’re a kind of desperation. We’re sort of a maddening luxury. The basic and essential human is the woman, and all that we’re doing is trying to brighten up the place. That’s why all the birds who belong to our sex have prettier feathers—because males have got to try and justify their existence. Look how little we do to keep the race going.
DAVID FROST: I find that absolutely fascinating, and I don’t agree with a word of it.
ORSON WELLES: And I don’t blame you. (Applause.)
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