Orson Welles recorded message for Oscar '71

[joseerre]

Hi everyone in the forum, I'm in Spain and have been an Orson Welles fan for a while.

I'm writting an essay on Orson's relatioship with Spain and found out that when he was given an honorary Oscar in 71 he did not attend the ceremony and sent a recorded message (in film, I think) saying he was in Spain, but actually wasn't.

I'm looking for that recording or transcript of it. I'm also looking for John Huston remarks when receiving the Oscar on behalf of Orson Welles.

Can anyone help with that? I've been searching the web for the last two weeks but have not been able to find the videos or transcripts of them.

Thanks.

[Le Chiffre]

Very interesting question, Jose. Welles snubbing of the Oscars in 1971 is seldom discussed, but it would interesting to see it, or as you say, at least see the transcript of what was said at the ceremony. There's very little about it online. If you find out any more info on it, please let us know.

[Jeff Wilson]

Your best option (if possibly expensive) is probably to contact the Academy themselves and have it transcribed. Their research web page says this:

Acceptance speeches are transcribed from video and audio recordings of the Awards ceremonies. The Academy's holdings for full ceremony coverage begin with the 1946 (19th) Annual Awards, and while there is fairly good audio coverage for the radio broadcast portion of the ceremony during the 1940s, there is only scattered newsreel footage or audio coverage for earlier years. Transcripts are edited to the best of our ability to represent correct name spellings. If you have information that may help improve the quality of our transcripts, please contact the Academy Awards transcript editor at (310) 247-3000, ext. 2208 or through the Margaret Herrick Library's email reference service.
Can't Find What You Want...

The work of creating transcripts for all acceptance speeches given during an Academy Awards ceremony is ongoing and continues in reverse chronological order. Additional transcripts will be added to the database as they become available. However, if a transcript for a particular speech is not currently in the database, there are several options you can choose from.

Watch a video: It may be possible to view a videotaped segment of the Awards telecast at the Academy Film Archive in Hollywood. To inquire about their holdings or to set up a viewing appointment, contact the public access coordinator for the archive at (310) 247-3000, ext. 2332 or filmarchive@oscars.org. Other institutions with video coverage of the Awards ceremonies include the UCLA Film & Television Archive in Los Angeles and the Paley Center for Media, with locations in New York and Los Angeles.

Listen to audio: Audio recordings of the ceremonies, which include some of the Academy's earliest holdings, are a part of the Music and Recorded Sound Collection in the Department of Special Collections at the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills. To inquire about their holdings or to set up an appointment, contact the library's music and recorded sound specialist at (310) 247-3000, ext. 2265 or specialcollections@oscars.org.

Contact the National Film Information Service: NFIS, a fee-based research service of the Margaret Herrick Library, can transcribe a specific speech for you. Contact information and a description of services may be found on the library's website.

[joseerre]

Your best option (if possibly expensive) is probably to contact the Academy themselves and have it transcribed. Their research web page says this:

Thanks Jeff, complete transcripts in the site begin exactly the year after Orson's honorary award :S

What you can read below is the best I could find online and it will have to do for now.
It's from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/o ... lin-294820

THR: What about Orson Welles? Of course he won for co-writing Citizen Kane but not for directing.
Bogdanovich: Yeah. I once said, "You won the screenplay." He said, "I don't really like you pointing that out. I try to forget that." He preferred to see it like he had never won.
Funny story about the Oscars with Orson: When he got the special Oscar in 1971, I said, "That's terrific, Orson, they're going to give you a special Oscar. Are you going to go pick it up?" He said, "No." I said, "Why not?" He said, "I'm not gonna do that for them. They're not gonna get me that way." So he didn't go; he asked John Huston to go. And we were sitting, literally, in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, watching the Oscars, Orson and his girlfriend Oja Kodar and Cybill and I. And when Orson won, John got up and got the award and said, "I'm gonna take this to Orson, who is in Spain, shooting. Sorry he couldn't be here." And Orson yells at the TV, "Yeah, bring it right over, John!"

[Le Chiffre]

Here are a couple of other related excerpts:

Frank Brady's CITIZEN WELLES:

Shortly after Welles returned to the United States and established his home in Arizona...Members of the film establishment began to recognize the contributions of Welles to cinema.

During the 1970 Academy Awards ceremony, he was presented with a special award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures. Welles accepted the honor, but did not appear in person to receive it. Instead, he sent a short, videotaped acceptance speech and informed the Academy that he would be out of the country during the time of the awards. Actually, he was staying in a house in Laurel Canyon, not far from the Chandler pavilion where the festivities were being conducted. He said on the tape that in order to make good films one must love his work, that you're crazy if you do but without such dedication there would be no art in motion pictures. Still somewhat alienated from the Hollywood establishment, he just couldn't bring himself to appear that night. But he watched the entire ceremony on television.

Barbra Leaming's ORSON WELLES:

Most years or so (Orson) tended to seclude himself on the night of the Academy Awards show. Wisely he would try to avoid looking at the awards on television - "I watch old Doris Day movies rather than that" - lest they provoke too much reflection, too much resentment. Even in 1970, when he was given the honorary award by the Academy, he steered clear of the ceremony by pretending to be abroad. "I didn't go because I feel like a damn fool at those things. I feel foolish, really foolish. I didn't go not because I didn't have respect for it - after all, all the people in the industry vote you something you should show your appreciation - so I did I made a piece of film and said that I was in Spain and I thanked them. John Houston introduced me and said at the end, Goodnite Orson, wherever you are. I was in Laurel Canyon." Orson was weary of being garlanded with useless awards when it was cash he needed to make movies. 'Now I'm an old Christmas tree' he told himself 'the roots of which have died. They just come along and while the little needles fall off me replace them with medallions."

He could not bear the hypocrisy of pretending to be terribly grateful: "To come out in the middle of all that, with all the lights shining, and try to get a little glistened in the eye, and so on. I just thought I'd be crooked to do it... My feelings about Hollywood are at their lowest around Academy Awards time - probably from sour grapes, but there it is. I suddenly think "Where am I living? Why am I in this business?"

[joseerre]

Oh, thank you very much mteal and the previous ones; you've been very helpful
I'll do me best to honor Orson and you guys when I write my material.
It'll be in Spanish but I'll see if I can get arount to translating it.

Thanks again, from Spain... oh, that rhymes

[Le Chiffre]

Your welcome, Jose. Good luck on your essay.

[Le Chiffre]

Here's the video of Huston's remarks and Welles's filmed speech. Unfortunately, this video is missing the clips from Welles's films that provide some of the "evidence", so to speak, of why he was being honored, but it's still interesting to see:

http://www.oscars.org/video/watch/43rd_welles.html

Also, here is another 2-minute excerpt from WHAT WENT WRONG, with Peter Bogdanovich telling about that night:

https://vimeo.com/71971609