As If He Were Orson Welles' Feckless Grand Nephew . . . .

[Wellesnet]

Apparently, Glenn Beck and Mad Men aren't the only ones using Welles as inspiration. There's a new series about vampires ("The Strain") starting tomorrow night on the FX channel that models it's lead character on Welles too:

http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/the_strain_ ... er-2014-07

[GlennandersFraser]

THE STRAIN would seem to have some similarities to MAD MEN and aspects of the life of Orson Welles. The cast is excellent. I think that I shall try to tune in.

Glenn Anders

[RayKelly]

Glenn Beck fielded some (non-political) questions from Wellesnet about his admiration of Orson Welles.

His favorite Welles performance? The Shylock speech contained in One Man Band.

Read more at http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=10324

[Le Chiffre]

Good job, Ray. A curious, but big feather in our cap.

It’s a bit disappointing that Beck shied away from any political questions, since I have no doubt that at least a couple were put to him. I’d be especially curious to know why a staunch conservative like himself would idolize a liberal like Welles, who was very anti-Reagan, and earlier was very pro-Henry Wallace, and whose career was in a sense created by FDR's New Deal programs. I suppose it’s similar to those people who love old John Wayne movies even though they hated his politics.

I know some of our Facebook readers were pretty upset by the interview, even without any political stuff, but personally I have no problem with posting opinions from the far right once in awhile. God knows we've posted plenty of stuff from the far left.

[RayKelly]

Thanks. The interview with Glenn Beck http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=10324 was done via email.
There were two questions I submitted that he chose not to answer (for whatever reason). They both had to do with politics.
I wish he had reflected on their political differences, as I had asked.
Also, I wish he had given his critique of Welles' skill as a political commentator on radio in the 1940s.
However, I am very grateful he took the time to do the interview. Let's be real, wellesnet.com has 20,000 or so unique monthly visitors. His website has 25 million. It is not like he is going to increase his audience by taking the time to do an interview.
BTW, who would have guessed his favorite Welles bit was the Shylock speech from One Man Band?

[Wich2]

>There were two questions I submitted that he chose not to answer (for whatever reason). They both had to do with politics.<

Well, Ray, that's sad - and sadly predictable.

On CNN recently, "Beck called for the intensity in politics to be ratcheted down and cried as he recalled the "vicious" and "mean" things that were said to him in front of his daughter as they were walking on the street."

And what of the bile that you pumped into the public discourse for years, screaming and crying?

(But then, bullies are generally cowards as well.)

-Craig

[Le Chiffre]

BTW, who would have guessed his favorite Welles bit was the Shylock speech from One Man Band?

Maybe Beck identifies with Shylock's ruthlessly capitalistic ways.

That reminds me that critic Stanley Kaufmann, reviewing ONE MAN BAND, said that that little Shylock speech was worth all of OTHELLO and CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT put together. One of many moronic statements he made about Welles.

[Le Chiffre]

Glenn Beck: It’s Time to Drop the ‘Tea Party’ Label

Glenn Beck did not start the tea party movement, but he can be considered one of its first leaders, so to speak, back when it got its start in 2009, helping shape the movement over the past five years. Well, during his TV show today, Beck said it’s time to stop using the “tea party” label altogether.

He recalled a conversation he had with a congressman about dropping the name and explained to his studio audience, “That has been so maligned that people stop hearing you know. We’ve gotta find a new lane. It is––they’re shapeshifters.”

Beck made it clear he’s not talking about a shift in values or “the truth,” it’s about “language and names and labels.”

***

International:
"I agree, you should go back to the original name Ku Klux Klan and trade the suits back for the white sheets"

Matt:
"Interesting how there's no mention of changing or dropping the historically AWFUL and Bircher-mirroring policies that have torpedoed the reputation of said political movements and relegated them to sub-15% approval ratings - just to 'change the name'.
Don't change, Republicans."

[Wellesnet]

From The Daily Beast, Dec. 3, 2018:

Radio and television firebrand Glenn Beck’s multi-platform business empire—once celebrated as a $90 million-a-year conservative media juggernaut but more recently afflicted by plunging revenue, online traffic and paid subscribers along with mass layoffs—is no more.

According to longtime Beck associates who spoke to The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity, that is the bottom line of Monday’s announcement that his financially troubled outlet, TheBlaze, has merged with CRTV, a two-year-old spinoff of Conservative Review, a media company founded by rabidly pro-Trump talk radio star and Fox News host Mark Levin.

Although the newly formed company is being called Blaze Media, Beck is “basically turning over to control to CRTV and his empire is basically ending with a whimper,” said a former associate...

Beck’s TheBlaze and his umbrella company Mercury Radio Arts, named in homage to his hero Orson Welles and Welles’ Mercury Theater, have been hemorrhaging money and people for the past few years—ever since Beck pushed out his longtime management team and hired a little known tech entrepreneur named Jonathan Schreiber to run his business.