A "Hello" as well as a request for book information

[Glenn Anders]

Joshua, Hadji is right (as usual), it was a boxed set of cassettes I referred to. They are quite fine listening.

Glenn

[Joshua]

Thanks again to everyone that suggested books, I finished "Whatever happened..." and have begun "Citizen Welles" after taking a little break to read a few other things on my reading list this summer. I am still planning on buying "This is Orson Welles" and I was wondering if anyone has read or owns a book called "Orson Welles: A Bio-Bibliography" By Bret Wood(Amazon link below) and if you found it useful. Is the appendix in "This is Orson Welles" similar? (only much shorter I assume) Thanks.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0313265380/

[jbrooks]

I have and have read "Orson Welles: A Bio-Bibliography." It's a great resource. It's got lots of details of all of Welles' projects in theater, film, tv, and radio. It lists every project (or most every) and includes a few paragraphs (or more) describing or analyzing it. As I recall, it is one of the better sources for insight into individual radio shows. It's not as fun to read as "This is Orson Welles," but it is well worth checking out -- particularly if you are interested in Welles' work beyond film.

[tonyw]

Bret Wood's work is a must. He wrote two articles for VIDEO WATCHDOG on "The Stranger" and "Lady from Shanghai" about the same time mentioning the changes. This is now pricey so try to get it from inter-library loans.

[Joshua]

Bret Wood's work is a must. He wrote two articles for VIDEO WATCHDOG on "The Stranger" and "Lady from Shanghai" about the same time mentioning the changes. This is now pricey so try to get it from inter-library loans.

Yeah, there is no way I can afford it right now, maybe down the line. Looks like my library does have it though--so I'll give it a look for sure. It's always tough to give something like that back though haha.

[mido505]

Hi Joshua!

I am going to put in a big plug for ORSON WELLES REMEMBERED, by Peter Prescott Tonguette. All this book is is interviews with people who worked with Welles, in a variety of capacities, broken down chronologically by film. It is my current favorite Welles resource because it has no axe to grind, either pro Welles or con, just the unvarnished reflections of people who worked with the man over the years. Amazing insight into Welles' personality, working methods, and the impact that this incredible, overwhelming, multifaceted man had on those who were lucky enough to have entered his orbit. A must read.

[RayKelly]

Ditto on ORSON WELLES REMEMBERED by Peter Prescott Tonguette.
I received a copy several months ago and just got around to reading it a few weeks ago. There is SO much in this book to recommend.
I loved the interview with Rich Little -- the original Brooks Otterlake in OSOTW. His version of departing the film differs from other accounts. The recollections of magicians who were friendly with Welles and other colleagues makes this a must read.
Tonguette has a nice style of interviewing folks and I am partial to the lengthy Q&A formats.
Not enough good things can be said about this book.

[garycurtis]

What are the opinions (or concensus, if there is one) on Barabara Leamings biography of OW?

(this is my first post here)

Gary Curtis

Northern California

[Joshua]

What are the opinions (or concensus, if there is one) on Barabara Leamings biography of OW?

(this is my first post here)

Gary Curtis

Northern California

Hey Gary--Welcome! Actually when I started this thread I had just finished that biography. I enjoyed it, but I think that Leaming tried really hard to make sure Welles approved of the book--thus you find VERY little criticism of Welles in it. I think I would safely call it a sort of fluff piece-- But, all in all I'd say it was well worth the read, still some very interesting stuff in it, and of course Welles did approve of the book--so there are some good quotes in it from him that he said durning interviews for it.

[tonyw]

I don't think it's all fluff since there are some good things in it but it was the first biography to go against the Kael condemnation continued by David Thomson and THE ROAD TO XANADU. As we know on this group, discoveries and new evidence are being made all the time.

[garycurtis]

While I worked only briefly in the film industry and can't claim comprehensive knowledge, my wife just retired after 25 years as a costume designer. Mostly at Warner Brothers, but all over Hollywood.

It is apparent to me that Orson Welles came from a legitimate theater background. Movie Studios are a whole different ballgame. And to someone who both wrote and directed his films, as Welles did, the cooperative nature of a movie production was new and difficult for him. Many layers of authority overlap. In the eyes of the suits in the head office, tried formulas and stories were much safer than avant garde methods, so he wasn't trusted. He didn't have ownership of the film, even though he gave birth to the story and pictorial concept.

It's a shame, but that's the way the system works. Pauline Kael, for all her time in Hollywood, didn't get it right either. Her credentials as a dramatist don't give her license to critize Welles.

Gary Curtis

[Joshua]

I don't think it's all fluff since there are some good things in

That's why I said "sort of" fluff--and said it was worth a read for sure.

I have yet to read any of the overly critical biographies, they just don't appeal to me. Besides, it's easy enough to know without reading the books what thier points are.

[tonyw]

I'm absolutely amazed at this statement in the last sentence especially from somebody working in a library. Does that mean that one should not make the effort to readin close detail everything about a subject one issupposedly interested in due to an impression concerning "what their points are"! Bret Wood engaged in detailed research when he wrote his bio-bibliography.

Research into the significance of Orson Welles can not be confined to a "Cliff Notes" approach.

[mido505]

Garycurtis:

I give a big "thumbs up" to the Leaming biography. It was the first Welles biography (as opposed to interviews) to come down the pike to actually have Welles in it, and by that I mean his voice, his opinion, his point of view. Previous biographers went out of their way to avoid talking to Welles, as if he would somehow spoil all their good work. As if Welles shouldn't be allowed a perspective on his own life! As if he were the liar, the self-mythologizer, not to be trusted, and everyone who played a role in the vast Welles life drama was holier than thou truthful. But others can be liars, too. Somebody close to Welles, I can't remember who, once said that, despite his reputation for making things up, you'd often find with Welles that the elaborate fabulous story that he just told you turned out to be the truth, but when he told you something simple, like he had just eaten a tuna fish sandwich for lunch, that that would be the lie. So why not listen to the man?

And listen Leaming does, beautifully. Her book gives a real sense Welles, in all his incredible complexity, which a lot of bigger, denser, more factually inclusive biographies fail to do. You also get Welles' opinions on a lot of the people, like Houseman, MacLiammoir, and numerous others, who have given their opinion of HIM so freely and critically over the years. How nice to finally hear Welles' version of the famous fight with Houseman that ended their productive collaboration. How nice to hear that perhaps Houseman deserved to have that can of sterno launched at him for being a jealous, catty, nitpicking pain in the *ss.

Leaming contributes some good research, as well. Her stuff on Welles' years at the Todd school is priceless, and she managed to track down Welles' assistant, Shifra Harran, to Welles's genuine shock and delight, whose recollections provide real insight into what it was like working for the man.

Most importantly, far from being a fluff piece, Leaming's book is critical, but critical where Welles himself is self-critical, which is often. The reader gets a vitally important sense of where Welles felt he did good, and where he did bad.

The missing part of Citizen Kane is Kane's perspective on his own life. His is the only voice we do not hear. That, I think, is what the central mystery, Rosebud, really is. Barbara Leaming's biography of Welles supplies that missing piece of the puzzle. No Trespassing, indeed...

[mido505]

I have just read Christopher's posts of excerpts from the autobiography that Welles abandonned. Here is the link, for anyone who has not read them: http://wellesnet.com/phpbb/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

In all the millions of words spilled on Welles over the years, nothing is as poignant as this.