Print the Legend - Will the new biographies diminish image?

[Johnny Dale]

With the news that Vol II of Callows iconoclastic biography is due out at the end of this year, I can't help wondering if I liked it better when we didn't quite know which aspects of Welles's life story were the creation of the Fabulist O.W., and which were really true.

[Christopher]

Simon Callow's second volume may surprise us. When I met him a few years ago, I told him I hoped he wasn't going to perpetrate the myth that Orson Welles turned into a "failed genius" in his middle and late years. A genius may be misunderstood, even reviled during his lifetime, but the qualities that make him a genius don't suddenly depart one morning like the common cold. Callow agreed with me and said, on the contrary, he wanted to show that Orson Welles lost none of his powers after he left Hollywood -- that he continued to produce work that was highly original and years, if not decades, ahead of his time. So I am curious to see if Callow carried out his intentions, especially since he had access to many people who knew the mature Welles. While Callow never met Welles himself, that may actually be an advantage in writing his biography.

[Jay Bushman]

Where did you hear that Volume 2 is going to be out this year? Do you have a link? If so, could you please post it. I can't find info about it anywhere.

Thanks,
Jay

[Jeff Wilson]

The latest I've seen is from this interview with Callow from last month, which only says he will "deliver" it by the end of the year, which could mean he simply is turning it in to the publisher, or that it could indeed see publication by then.

Callow Interview

[blunted by community]

changed my mind. i'll post it some other time.

[Glenn Anders]

In the first volume, I thought Callow was quite good on Welles' youth, but by the time he brought Our Man to CITIZEN KANE, Callow had become a terrible prate. Someone else, or some series of circumstances, were responible for all Welles' accomplishments, but all his failures were loaded relentlessly upon Welles.

If he was really a drag to CITIZEN KANE, I have to wonder what Callow would say about the rest of Welles' career.

Perhaps, Callow is waiting for the release of THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, like the rest of us.

Glenn

[jaime marzol]

a welles bio by clinton heylin coming out feb 2005 won't diminish the image.

march last year clinton spent a week at my home looking over my welles collection, and we compared notes on our research. when i would get into a reverberation about welles being difficult, loony, gobbling diet pills, etc, etc. clinton didn't want to hear any of that. clinton is a great guy, we had a great time the week we spent BSing about welles and watching welles tapes, and it was clear to me that he has the proper reverence for his subject, the type of reverence that does not diminish the image.

my personal taste, i would put that stuff in a book, but i look at it a bit different than a thomson, or higham would look at it. i look at those things with amazed amusement rather than using it to beat the subject with. the outrageous stuff houseman reported in his book, i loved. made welles an incredibly interesting, colorful creature, and made the book a blast to read.

[Glenn Anders]

I have great hopes for the Heylin book, also, Jaime.

My take on the extreme Welles' critics is that most of them (Thomson, Higham, certainly Callow) would liked to have been Welles, and they have to assuage their disappointment that they are not.

Glenn

[Johnny Dale]

"Despite the System, Orson Welles vs. the Hollywood Studios"
by Clinton Heylin

Based on shooting scripts and schedules, internal memos, interviews with protagonists, correspondence with and by Welles, and his own conversations, articles, and lectures, Heylin fills in the gaps and steers the reader toward an understanding of how Welles was undone not by his demons, but by real people, with real motives, and by the concrete circumstances of Hollywood at the end of its golden era.