Wellesnet: The Orson Welles Web Resource

Richard Collins, a writer and producer who was blacklisted during the 1940s communist witch-hunts and later "named names" before the House Un-American Activities Committee, has died at the age of 98 in Ventura, California.

Collins was an uncredited scriptwriter on Orson Welles' 1943 film "Journey Into Fear." He was married to actress Dorothy Comingore between 1939 and 1945. She co-starred as Susan Alexander in "Citizen Kane."

Collins was one of 19 Hollywood writers and directors called by HUAC in 1947. Subpoenaed by HUAC in 1951, Collins, who was under financial pressures because of the blacklisting, identified more than 20 colleagues as communist sympathizers. (more...)

YouTube user Citizen Welles has added another rarity to his impressive online collection.

Ninety minutes of audience interview footage for the never completed "Filming The Trial" is online at youtube.com

Shot by Gary Graver at the University of Southern California after a screening of "The Trial" in 1981, "Filming The Trial" finds Welles fielding questions about his 1962 film adaptation of the Franz Kafka novel from the crowd. The footage was given to the Munich Film Museum by Oja Kodar.

Citizen Welles has posted episodes of "Orson Welles Sketchbook," "Filming Othello" and other hard-to-find Welles films on YouTube. (more...)

Orson Welles, Henry Jaglom

Filmmaker Henry Jaglom, whose recorded conversations with Orson Welles form the basis of an upcoming book, graciously agreed to field a few questions about his late, great friend.

Jaglom's relationship with Welles dates back to his freshman 1971 film "A Safe Place." In the interview, he discussed those legendary lunches with Welles and the ill-fated "The Big Brass Ring," as well as footage from the unfinished "The Other Side of the Wind," which has made the rounds on the web.

The tape recordings have been edited by Peter Biskind into "My Lunches with Orson: Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles," due out July 9 from Macmillan/ Metropolitan Books.

"It is altogether Mr. Biskind's book and has turned out to be quite terrific, I feel (in) actually capturing the real Orson, my most wonderful friend and mentor, who so few knew and who so many misunderstood and thought they knew..." (more...)

"What does 'Rosebud' mean in 'Citizen Kane'?" It is perhaps the question most often fielded by Wellesnet. The most detailed answer given by Orson Welles was contained in a press statement released by RKO Radio Pictures prior the film's release in May 1941. The complete press release, uncovered by biographer Frank Brady, has been more extensively reported here in the past, but it bears repeating.
________________

By ORSON WELLES
January 15, 1941

I wished to make a motion picture which was not a narrative of action so much as an examination of character. For this, I desired a man of many sides and many aspects. It was my idea to show that six or more people could have as many widely divergent opinions concerning the nature of a single personality. Clearly such a notion could not be worked out if it would apply to an ordinary American citizen.

I immediately decided that my character (Charles Foster Kane) should be a public man — an extremely public man — an extremely important one ...

There have been many motion pictures and novels rigorously obeying the formula of the “success story,” I wished to do something quite different. (more...)

Orson Welles at the Todd School for Boys in Woodstock, Illinois, circa 1930.

By JOANNE HILL TARBOX STYLES

Orson Welles came to the Todd School in 1926 when he was 11 and I was 9 years old. We were not that far apart in age, but his scope of knowledge of the world's literature, geography, history music, fine arts, and drama was generations ahead of mine.

This was a very unusual boy. He had need of a very unusual education. My father, especially, but also my mother was very enamored, captivated and charmed by this out-of-the-ordinary youth. He was warmly welcomed into our family apartment in Wallingford Hall.

My parents enjoyed visiting with him. His visits were a daily occurrence. Here was a boy who could have a discussion about China, Europe, Toulouse Lautrec, Renoir, Mozart, Hugo, Voltaire and Shakespeare and many, many others. I was furious! Why would my parents spend hours with Orson, when they wouldn't spend much time with me?

One day I tore into Orson, telling him just what I thought of his behavior, which was certainly very negative, He looked at me with a condescending, supercilious smile and said "Joanne, everyone has their little idiosyncrasies" and  (more...)

Woodstock Opera House

It is a poorly kept secret that Wellesnet.com is smitten with Woodstock Celebrates Inc., a non-profit Illinois group organizing major events to mark the 80th anniversary next year of the 1934 Todd Theatre Festival at the historic Woodstock Opera House, as well as the 100th anniversary in 2015 of Orson Welles' birth.

This charming community will honor a theatrical and cinematic giant, who spent in his formative years there and attended the Todd School for Boys. They are bringing respected scholars to Woodstock to mark these important anniversaries.

Celebration plans are already coming together. Here is a tentative look at what to expect:  (more...)

The Woodstock Opera House seen from one of the gazebos on February 10, 2013.                              Photographs by Mike Teal

The Illinois stage where a 19-year-old Orson Welles launched his professional theatrical career was dedicated in his honor on Sunday, February 10.

About 40 people, including members of Woodstock Celebrates Inc., attended the afternoon dedication of the Orson Welles Stage at the Woodstock Opera House in Woodstock, Illinois.

Woodstock Celebrates, which spearheaded the dedication effort, is planning events in May 2014, marking the 80th anniversary of the Todd Theatre Festival during which Welles made his directorial debut, and May 2015 to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth. (more...)

Peter Bogdanovich

Orson Welles author-confidant-filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich returns to the big-screen at the helm of a new Jennifer Aniston film.

Bogdanovich will direct Aniston, Cybill Shepherd, Brie Larson and Owen Wilson in "She's Funny That Way," from a screenplay he wrote with his ex-wife, Louise Stratten.

The comedy, earlier titled "Squirrel to the Nuts," centers on a married Broadway director (Wilson) who falls for a prostitute-turned-actress (Larson) and works to further her career. Aniston will play a therapist whose mother is in rehab for alcoholism. Earlier in pre-production, Olivia Wilde had been rumored to play the part of the therapist.

Filming begins in June in New York, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"She's Funny That Way" reunites Bogdanovich with his one-time love Shepherd, who he directed in "The Last Picture Show," "Daisy Miller" and "At Long Last Love." (more...)

By RAY KELLY

Recently, we looked at the impressive Library of Congress online collection related to the Federal Theatre Project. However, it is not the only government website that allows us to revisit Orson Welles' work in the 1930s.

The National Archives offers online visitors a glimpse into two of the more than 600 letters written to the Federal Communications Commission immediately after "The War of the Worlds" radio broadcast. The Mercury Theatre on (more...)

Orson Welles in the Federal Theater Project's production of The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus. Library of Congress collection.

The Library of Congress American Memory website contains a vast collection of scripts, internal documents and memorabilia related to the Federal Theatre Project and the works of a young Orson Welles.

The website has a treasure trove of items from Welles' 1936 production of "Voodoo" Macbeth and his 1937 staging of The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus.

As part of FDR's New Deal, the Federal Theatre Project funded theater and other live (more...)

Milan Records will release a digitally remastered edition of the score for Carol Reed's "The Third Man" starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles on February 5.

According the label, “The pioneering original musical score, composed by Viennese musician Anton Karas, was only performed on the zither. The harrowing sound perfectly complementing this dark classic.”

Karas' "The Harry Lime Theme" sold 500,000 copies upon its release in 1949, a staggering amount for that era. The tune became closely associated with Welles. (more...)

An opposition Iranian satellite channel based in London aired “Genocide,” the acclaimed Academy Award-winning documentary on the Holocaust produced by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. It was broadcast with Farsi subtitles on January 25.

The Wiesenthal Center coordinated the showing to coincide with International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27.

Welles, along with Elizabeth Taylor, narrated the film, which won the Oscar for best documentary feature in 1982.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has maintained the Holocaust – and the extermination of 6 million Jews at the hands of Nazis – never happened.

“It’s a payback for the Iranian regime,” center founder and dean Rabbi Marvin Hier told Fox News of the broadcast. “They want to lock society. They want to deny the Holocaust, and now their whole population can see the truth and there’s nothing the Ayatollahs or Ahmadinejad can do about it.”
(more...)