voiceover outtakes - orson audio on the web

[maxrael]

Apologies if you've all seen this before:

it's some outtakes from Orson doing a voice over for Findus Frozen Foods... it's heartbreaking in a way...

http://www.reelradio.com/philpott/index.html#owvo

atb,
max!

[Le Chiffre]

In reaction to Citizen Kane's recent Sight and Sound victory, someone posted this same link on the Kubrick newsgroup, along with the cute little quip "The ego has landed". Maybe they were jealous that 2001 didn't finish at #1.

I have mixed feelings about Welles' infamous radio-commercial tirade. Like many, I find it funny (although not quite as funny as Casey Kasem's profanity-laced outburst) and agree that Welles had a sizeable ego. But yes, it's a little hearbreaking to think that Welles made the greatest film of all time at the age of 25, and then by the age of 65 was doing green bean commercials to scrounge a living. Kubrick and Welles were both among the great filmmakers of all time, but the difference is - and it is a huge difference indeed - is that Welles never had a box office hit of any significance. I think he must have been very frustrated by the time he did those commercial spots.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

i haven't even heard it all the way through yet, and your right.

it is heartbreaking. in a way.

[Terry]

What is it you want, in the depths of your ignorance... This whole recording is hilarious. I find it uplifting. Had Welles been so desperate that he HAD to stay and finish the session, HAD to suck up to the bad copy, and COULDN'T walk out, as he did, THEN I would have been heartbroken. Right on, Orson, stick it to the man and then have your evil poodle go bite him.

This recording was also the basis for a hilarious episode of Pinky and The Brain, with Brain, of course, delivering all of Welles' withering tones. I keep pushing copies of it at people, but no one seems to care.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

sorry for tempered face. was playing with the buttons and forgot to check before posting

store hadji:

i'm not ignorant of my obssession. i haven't gotten all the facts yet.

don't get me wrong here. remember, i haven't finished listening yet.

i do have the article describing it in harper's magazine. but hearing him, and picturing him there, i know he wasn't going to do it unless it sounded right to him.

just made his work harder and harder for him.

and i wish he did have "Kiki", a.k.a. his evil poodle, bite him.

he was the kind of guy that kept trying and trying different things. but then people got frustrated with him, he got frustrated with them and like he said, "it isn't worth it."

i have been a bit skeptic about comparing orson to brain. i thought it was another way that people were making fun of him.

and about pushing those copies, man, you missed somebody.

i haven't seen that episode yet myself!

push one over here!

[Terry]

"Depths of your ignorance" is a quote from the tape, which Orson said to the two directors who were having him read the bad copy - I WASNT saying it to anyone here, it's just a great quote. If you'd like to trade from some Welles video, just shoot me a message back. I'm as obsessed with Orson as anyone here. "Show me a jury to tell me how to emphasize 'In' before 'July' and I'll make cheese for you."

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

thanks for clearing up the quote for me.

i didn't know much about it. and especially not it's meaning.

bye now!

[ToddBaesen]

-

ORSON WELLES RECORDING SESSION TRANSCRIPT

Here's a transcript of the above commercial voiceovers. As can be seen, Orson Welles wasn't being difficult or an egomaniac, but was simply unwilling to read just any lines that were handed to him. He insisted on trying to improve even the most inane script - usually without success. That hack ad agency directors would treat Welles suggestions - which could only improve their work - with such condescension, was clearly their own loss. But I find it interesting that these kinds of examples of Welles "being difficult" are invariably chalked up to another reason why Welles didn't get work in Hollywood...

Morale: If you can improve crap, don't bother... you'll just be called difficult or an egomanic...


ORSON WELLES (Reading copy): "We know a remote farm in Lincolnshire where Mrs. Buckley lives. Every July, peas grow there." Do you really mean that?

DIRECTOR: Uh, yeah.

WELLES: Don't you think you really want to say "July" over the pictures of snow? Isn't that the fun of it?

DIRECTOR: Try "in July."

WELLES: I don't understand you.

DIRECTOR: And can you emphasize a bit the "in" -- in July?

WELLES: Why? That doesn't make any sense. Sorry. There's no known way of saying an English sentence in which you begin a sentence with "in" and emphasize it. Get me a jury and show me how you can say "in July" and I'll go down on you. That's just idiotic, if you'll forgive me for saying so. It's just stupid. "In July!" Impossible. Meaningless.



SECOND COMMERCIAL


WELLES (Reading copy): "We know a certain fjord in Norway near where the cod gather in great shoals. There, Yonster, Stenglin ..." Shit.

DIRECTOR: A fraction more on that shoals thing, 'cause you rolled it around very nicely.

WELLES: Yeah, roll it around. And I have no more time. You don't know what I'm up against. This is a very wearying one; it's unpleasant to read. Unrewarding. "Because Finders freeze the cod at sea and then add a crumb-crisp co-- crumb-crisp coating." Ah. That's tough. "Crumb-crisp coating"-- No. You need to break it up. It's not written conversationally.

DIRECTOR: Take "crumb" out.

WELLES: What?

DIRECTOR: Take "crumb" out.

WELLES: Take "crumb" out. Good...




THIRD COMMERCIAL


WELLES: Here, under protest, is "beef burgers." "We know a little place in the American far west where Charlie Briggs chops up the finest prairie-fed beef and tastes..." This is a lot of shit, you know that? You want one more? More beef?

DIRECTOR: You missed the first "beef," actually.

WELLES: What do you mean, missed it?

DIRECTOR: You were emphasizing "prairie-fed."

WELLES: But you can't emphasize "beef." That's like you wanting me to emphasize "in" before "July." Come on, fellas, you're losing your heads. I wouldn't direct any living actor like this in Shakespeare, the way you do this. It's impossible.

DIRECTOR: Orson, you did six of these last year, and they were far and away the best, and I know the reason.

WELLES: The right reading for this is the one I'm giving it. I've spent twenty times longer reading for you people than for any other commercial I've ever made. You are such pests. What is it you want? In the depths of your ignorance, what is it you want?

DIRECTOR: That was absolutely fine. It really was.

WELLES: You know, you're, you… No amount of money is worth this.


...Welles walks out of the studio.

[Earth Calling Orson]

I have the aforementioned recording.

I agree with everyone's take on the situation. I don't think Welles was being overly difficult (at least at first). In fact, he was trying to make something out of nothing.

Anyone heard a similar outtake featuring Jack Palance? That too is a classic.

[mido505]

This should amuse, if not appall you, Keats - that clip actually has its own Wikipedia entry!
Here it is: http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:miu ... clnk&gl=us

According to the entry, the recording was made in the 80's.

According to Barbara Leaming, Paul Masson hired Welles in 1978, and he remained their spokesman for three years, after which he was replaced by John Gielgud. Funny how no one reproaches Gielgud for shilling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhZv8aIr55k

I remember watching, and enjoying those commercials. The seventies were a great decade for commercials; they were little works of art, a lot of clever, creative people worked on them, and the best of the lot linger in my memory.

My favorite Welles commercials were for an early cable station called Preview. I swear to this day that Welles actually said in one of them, "If variety is the spice of life, then Preview would surely be the paprika"!

I was happy to find this on YouTube, another favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxrY7MWEkwE

[mido505]

As a reference source it has limited utility and the range "the late 1960s" to "sometime in the 1980s" covers a lot of ground.

You do enjoy pointing out the obvious, Keats. Unfortunately, I suspect that is about as good as it gets right now.

The only two books in my somewhat extensive library that reference the clip are Leaming's ORSON WELLES and McBride's WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO ORSON WELLES. Both are mum on the date.

[Alfred Willmore]

Yes, Always

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2nf-EQQXUs&feature=related

[mido505]

Just a clarification for the record. I did not misquote Wikipedia. I quoted what I thought was the more likely of two answers. The exact Wikipedia quote is as follows:

It is uncertain exactly when the clip was recorded, though anecdotal evidence places the recording session in Toronto, Ontario, sometime in the 1980s. Many believe it was after the late 1960s.

Given the nature of Wikipedia, the sentence "Many believe..." is likely an afterthought, or interpolation, interjected by someone who did not write the original piece, or thrown in by the author for completeness My web search for the information came up with only one reference for the "60's" date, but many for the anecdotal "80's" date. Given that the bulk of Welles's commercial work occurred in the late 70's-ealy 80's (although, as you correctly point out, Welles's commercial work goes back to the 40's); and given that Welles was still a busy actor and intermittent director in the late 60's, I favor the 80's date.

Perhaps I should have detailed all this earlier...

[Alan Brody]

Welles's commercial work goes back to the 40's)

Actually, Welles's commercial work goes back to the 1930's, when he became the voice of chocolate pudding in the (well known at the time) commercials for "My-T-Fine" chocolate pudding. I've never heard any of them, and as far as I know, none of them are known to still exist. Too bad. I guess we've got another Wellesian Holy Grail to search for, the missing link in his magnificent commercial oeuvre.

[mido505]

Thanks, Alan!

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