Indiana University website goes live today!

[Wellesnet]

‘Orson Welles on the Air’ website launched at Indiana University:
http://www.wellesnet.com/orson-welles-a ... niversity/

[Le Chiffre]

Wow, it's up and amazing!!
https://orsonwelles.indiana.edu/

This seems like a real treasure trove so far, with a multitude of things I've never heard before. Check out this courtroom speech from NATIVE SON:
https://orsonwelles.indiana.edu/items/show/2196

[Terry]

Jesus God. Merry Christmas, gentlesouls.

Jeff will finally get to hear Eddie G in Anti-Submarine Patrol (the first I've seen it anywhere since Napster two decades ago.)

[Wich2]

Thanks the stars, indeed.

When I was out there years ago, and even spent too much on some poor cassettes, I longed for this respectful treatment of some of a real artist's best work.

-Craig

[Le Chiffre]

I agree, Craig, radio does feature some of Welles's finest work, and it's what turned him into a big star. If most of the films are the crown jewels in Welles's oeuvre, the radio career features a much larger collection of smaller gemstones, and that collection has just been polished and expanded greatly. Bravo, IU & Lilly!

Store Hadji, I think that's great that they've included Edward G. subbing for Welles on Ceiling Unlimited. They've also got the subs that filled in during the Commentaries series, which they have in it's entirety!! I never saw those listed in Lilly's collection in the three times that I've been there, and I've always considered most of the 52 episodes to be lost. But here they are. Incredible!
https://orsonwelles.indiana.edu/collections/show/9

[Terry]

The 90 minutes of Rita Hayworth recording ADR for Lady from Shanghai must be a bizarre listen. The first few minutes remind me of Steve Reich's early tape loop experiments, like "Come Out." I never knew Rita dubbed the old lady in the courtroom... is that her in the release version?

In sampling the Macbeth Follies it occurs to me that the master recording of the play had perfect fidelity. The release discs we've heard were far less so, to the point where someone surmised that the play had actually been recorded on film, though maybe instead it was a case of bad mastering. What was that Welles quote? Something like "I don't know what happened to the sound, it was fine as we did it." I think that was on Arena, with Leslie Megahey asking about Othello. Any guesses as to who is 'hosting' Macbeth Follies? Sounds like Everett Sloane, though it's hard for me to tell through the burr.

[Terry]

This is an old argument, but it intrigues me that Lilly split off the first nine Mercury Theatre episodes as "First Person Singular."

From "Packaging Welles" on the Lilly website, a quote from a CBS press release for the series:

"Welles has been given carte blanche to choose his own medium and his own subjects, and stated he will reveal the precise nature of the presentations within the near future. The programs are to have the general title of "First Person Singular" and, besides being their star actor, Welles will write, cast, direct and produce the series. The entire Mercury Theater company will be at Welles' disposal and he will have a free hand in the selection of material and technique."

That's fine, but for the fact that every episode begins with the profound intoning of "The Mercury Theatre on the Air," and the 'original' title only appears in the prologue, the bit about the plays being presented in the first person singular. That just still fails to sing out as a possible title for me, but whatever. The issue of Radio Guide I bought which talked about the new series premiering that week referred to it only as 'The Mercury Theatre.' My feeling is "First Person Singular" was dropped as the title by the time the show made it to the air.

[Terry]

The copy of Treasure Island they have posted is a different performance from the one we've been hearing forever (released by Radiola on LP in 1978.)

That's a bizarre find. The separate East and West coast broadcasts began later, on Campbell Playhouse, so what's going on here? Does Lilly have the dress rehearsal recording?

[Terry]

Both Pan American Day and President Vargas's Birthday feature (suffer) fading distortion, a characteristic of AM broadcasts over shortwave... live relays via shortwave, decades before Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite.

Interviews at the Mercury Wonder Show features Welles speaking as Joseph Cotten (?) and we get to hear Shorty speak one brief sentence.

[Le Chiffre]

Thanks Hadji, nice observations. I agree about First Person Singular. What the heck is Rita saying at the beginning of the sound loops? Sounds like "Soroba let seat". Love her doing the old lady, wouldn't have guessed in a million years.

[Terry]

I'm interpreting it as "there's a robe on that seat," but I'll defer to anyone who actually knows the film and its screenplay (I still, and always have, found LFS to be rather unwatchable; the constant intrusion of fuzzy studio closeups cutting into the wonderful location shots is more than I can tolerate.)

[Terry]

Listening to Hell on Ice... God, Lilly's website is wonderful. These live master recordings are such a substantial sonic upgrade over the hissy and muddy Nth-generation bootlegs which previously were all that was available. The Campbell's episodes are full-length, not the truncated 'syndicated' versions which I refused to listen to. There are scads of broadcasts I expected never to hear. Wondrous. They do all require normalizing the volume and some editing at the disc breaks, but that's fun to do.

Will the cineasts who always lifted their nose be able to appreciate these productions/performances now?

[Terry]

War of the Worlds contains at least one bit of dialogue I don't recall hearing before, yet lacks at least one extra bit available on the Paul Stewart acetate. I'll restore it when I remake/expand my mod for that silly video game I still love to play.

[Le Chiffre]

You're right, "There's a robe on that seat". You've got better ears than I do.

Listening to Hell on Ice... God, Lilly's website is wonderful. These live master recordings are such a substantial sonic upgrade over the hissy and muddy Nth-generation bootlegs which previously were all that was available.

In some cases, it's almost like hearing them for the first time. Some Campbell shows, like "Private Lives" and "Counselor at Law", which were practically unlistenable before, sound very good now. A few programs, though, do sound like they're using more than one source, like the '38 "Heart of Darkness", so the quality does still vary, but they're definitely more listenable than they've ever been before.

[Wich2]

The copy of Treasure Island they have posted is a different performance from the one we've been hearing forever ... The separate East and West coast broadcasts began later, on Campbell Playhouse, so what's going on here? Does Lilly have the dress rehearsal recording?

Hadji and gang-

There was a little kerfuffle a few years back, when some radio collectors noticed some minor differences in circulating WOTW recordings, and posited another, separate show. Even before the obvious answer was proven to be the correct one - edits through the years - Arthur Anderson had basically said to me, "No way - it was hard enough then to get Orson there for the REQUIRED airing!" (Bill Herz later confirmed much the same.)

I'm away from my audio files right now, but as far as TREASURE: I seem to recall that Dave Goldin's actually may have been the rehearsal (doesn't it run a little long?) Which means, maybe this Lilly one is in fact the broadcast.

-Craig