Wellesnet: The Orson Welles Web Resource

My real interest in life is education. I want to be a teacher. All this experience I've been piling up is equipping me for that future ...I shall know how to dramatize the art of imparting knowledge.

One day I shall leave all this behind me, go back (to Todd School) and give full rein to my ideas. That's when life will really begin for me.

--Orson Welles, The Los Angeles Times, October 28, 1945

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Simon Callow has undoubtedly written more about Orson Welles and the happy times he spent at Todd School in Woodstock, Illinois, then any other Welles biographer. So I'm quite pleased to announce that Mr. Callow has sent along this message of support for all the citizens and politicians of Woodstock, who are now attempting to save Grace Hall from it's slated demolition: (more...)

September 4 The Chicago Tribune reported about "The Historic dorm for boys at the Todd school attended by Orson Welles, in Woodstock that faces demolition."

Going back nearly 75 years to the summer of 1934, we find that the Chicago Tribune was also reporting on Welles and the Todd School. They were there - to quote Mr. Bernstein - "before the beginning." Charles Collins, the Tribune's astute drama critic, wrote about the upcoming "First ever summer drama colony in Chicagoland."

Below is Charles Collins' report on the Todd Summer theater festival of 1934, followed by a long and fascinating excerpt from the noted Irish stage actor Micheal MacLiammmoir's autobiography, ALL FOR HECUBA. Mr. MacLiammoir starred in a memorable production of HAMLET on the stage of the Woodstock Opera House in 1934, directed by his longtime partner Hilton Edwards, in which Welles played King Claudius.

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Having heard from several concerned citizens in Woodstock, Illinois, who have expressed their concern about the proposed demolition of Grace Hall, I thought I'd try to bolster their case before the city council by highlighting some of the remarkable achievements Orson Welles made in Woodstock.

To begin, here is an overview of Welles relationship with the town of Woodstock, as reported in these excerpts from a profile of Welles taken from The New Yorker, from October, 1938 - just a scant four years after Welles had triumphed mightily on the stage of the historic Woodstock Opera House. (more...)

This weekend a new documentary Prodigal Sons, about Orson Welles grandson, Marc McKerrow Welles, was screened at the Telluride Film Festival. I haven't seen the film yet, but based on the synopsis from the press kit, it can probably be best described in the same terms as Orson Welles's first movie: "It's Sensational."

In fact, even if Prodigal Sons turns out to be a disappointment, I would have to say just on the basis I've what I've read and heard so far, it has to be seen by anyone remotely interested in the life and work of Orson Welles. (more...)

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...)

Joseph McBride needs no introduction to readers of Wellesnet as one of the leading international scholars on the life and work of Orson Welles. He has written three excellent books about Orson Welles, along with articles too numerous to mention.

Today, as Ray Kelly has pointed out on the Message board, Grace Hall, the last remaining building at the Todd School, in Woodstock, Illinois, where Orson Welles studied, wrote, and essentially formulated his whole future life and career, under the direction of headmaster Roger Hill, is now on the verge of being destroyed. In mid-September the city council of Woodstock, Illinois will take up the matter of whether or not to allow the demolition of Grace Hall, the dormitory where Welles lived and work to proceed.

Here's what Joseph McBride has to say about the matter: (more...)