Books about Welles' radio work?

[colwood]

I got to thinking, there are dozens of books about Welles. There are many books about his films. There are many books that cover his theater work, though Richard France's The Theatre of Orson Welles seems to be the only book that solely covers his theater work.

Is there any book that solely covers Welles' radio career?

[Tony]

There is, but not mass-published; I saw it on e-Bay a couple of weeks ago, and it was for some special presentation of his radio programs at, I think the Museum of Broadcasting or something like that. In other words, it was a hardcover program book for a special show.It apparently listed all of his shows ever, etc.

[Jeff Wilson]

The Museum of Television and Radio book is a brief but nice piece of work that is far from in depth. I've heard of people working on books from time to time, and I myself am currently working on a book about Welles' radio work. It's a huge topic, and I hope to do it justice. We'll see what happens. I'd like to approach the radio work more in the context of Welles' career than in that of radio in general, which I find of less interest. Also, I'm looking at how radio shaped public perceptions of Welles (and by the same token, how he and others used it to shape them) and why radio is so ignored in assessments of his career.

[71-1045893605]

Bret Wood's excellent resource book, ORSON WELLES: A BIBLIOGRAPHY, has one of the most comprehensive listings of Welles films, stage productions and radio broadcasts. Unfortunately, it's out of print, so you might have to look around for it.
GA

[mteal]

Jeff, you're project on Welles' radio work sounds very exciting and worthwhile. It's sort of a Catch-22 situation that the radio works are not well known, so there's not much interest in them, so there's not much scholarship on them, so there not well known, etc. But there's no question that radio and theatre are what made Orson Welles a star. Film, on the other hand, is what ruined him, despite the fact that film was where his genius reached it's full potential. You're right to tie your book into Welles' career in general rather then radio in general, since many of the main political themes of his artistic ouevre are spelled out clearly in his radio works. And on the technical side too: radio sound was perhaps the most distinctive innovation Welles brought with him when he went to Hollywood.

I second the recommendation on Brett Wood's bio-bibliography, which is one of my most valued Welles books, especially for the section on radio and theatre. When I went to the Lilly library last year, the librarians still remembered him as having practically lived there for several weeks. Too bad it's not more readily available. There is a lot of good radio stuff in the new O.W. encyclopedia too, however, as well as in Rosenbaum's O.W. chronology in the back of THIS IS ORSON WELLES.

[Jeff Wilson]

Yeah, if nothing else, I'd like to really demonstrate the true importance of radio to Welles' career. It's a rich field for study, and hopefully I can do it some justice. It's been fascinating to dig into all the various threads that have cropped up along the way.

The Wood book has a lot of great stuff, but in addition to being long out of print, it's 13 years old or so, and a lot has happened in that time in terms of what we know about Welles. Still an essential book, though.

[mteal]

A similar thing could probably be said about Richard France's THEATRE OF ORSON WELLES, which I finally managed to find a copy of yesterday at one of the local universities. I've only browsed it for an hour or so, but it looks like there is a lot of good discussion about the ideological aspects of each of the Mercury's theatre productions of the late 30's. However, France's book was written in 1977, so I'm sure it could use a newer edition, which I'm surprised he has never done. Also, it's a short book - only about 200 pages - and covers only up to the "Five Kings" production of 1940. All of Welles' subsequent theatre adventures, including "Around The World", the Salt Lake City "Macbeth", "The Blessed and the Damned", "Moby Dick Rehearsed", "King Lear", the Welles/Olivier "Rhinocerous", and others, are left out. This is another area of Welles' career that, like the radio works, could use some more in-depth illumination. As Rosenbaum points out in the interview, Simon Callow would be the man to do it, since he knows everyone in the English theatre. Maybe we will get some of this material from his next Welles book - if it ever comes out, that is.

[Jeff Wilson]

Perhaps the best available source on Welles' post-1940 theater work available now is a dissertation by Aleksandra Jovicevic. I believe the title is The Theatre of Orson Welles, 1946-60. It can be ordered from University Microfilms Intl for $30 or so plus shipping. You'll basically get a photocopy, but at 900-plus pages it covers everything in some detail. The only drawback is that the many photos are not included (due to copyright issues, one assumes). Still, for detailed discussions of obscure shows like Unthinking Lobster and so on, it can't be beat right now.

[71-1045893605]

On a whim, I just picked up Berg & Erskine's Encyclopedia Of Orson Welles. Surprisingly, after all the criticism I've heard about it, it contains some resourceful info and I recommend it to any Welles fan or scholar.

[mteal]

That dissertation sounds tempting. 900 pages?! Man, that's massive. I wonder what the chances of it ever being published commercially are. Interesting that a dissertation can use copyrighted photographs. Which university is the original dissertation (with photos) located at?

I like browsing the OW encyclopedia whenever I go to Borders, but because of a limited budget, and since I've got so many Welles books already, I think I'll have to pass on it, unless I can pick it up for cheap sometime. I did manage to get Callow's book for $3, a few years after it first came out. The encyclopedia is a good book, tho. I was especially intrigued by the entry for "Citizen Welles, Inc.", apparently a Beatrice-related organization. I should write them and find out more info on it.

[Jeff Wilson]

The original dissertation is at NYU, if I recall. I don't imagine it'll get published, given it was done in the mid-90s, but one never knows. It's not a "sexy" topic for the publishers. I'm curious if that Citizen Welles thing is still functioning; they let their web URL lapse and it got snapped up by a squatter at least a couple years ago.

[colwood]

Thanks everyone for the info, both radio and theater. The "Theatre" dissertation is something I haven't heard of before. And though I'm more interested in his pre-1940 work, the dissertation is something I'm definately going to have to look into getting.

Jeff, good luck with the radio book. Its something I hope I'll be able to read in the near future.

[colwood]

On one of my recent random searches through Ebay and Half, I was able to snatch up a very reasonably priced copy of the Magnificent Ambersons Reconstruction book by Robert Carringer. (Great book of course, but that's a different subject.)

In skimming the infamous "Oedipus in Indianapolis" intro, it caught my eye on page 31, in the footnotes, Carringer thanks Professor Michael Ogden, an "author of a forthcoming book on Welles's career in radio." Now the Reconstruction was published in '93 and not having heard anything about it here at Wellesnet (that I recall anyway), is it safe to assume that this book was not completed/finished?

[Jeff Wilson]

I've seen at least three mentions of different people writing books on Welles' radio career, but none have ever surfaced. I would assume they either didn't finish them, moved on to other things, or couldn't get it published. The one Carringer mentions was never published.

[colwood]

While skimming through amazon last night, I came across a book on Welles' radio days. Could be wrong, but I don't think it has been mentioned here before. Titled "Medium And The Magician: Orson Welles, The Radio Years, 1934-1952." I guess it is part of a series titled Critical Media Studies. It is by Paul Heyer, 256 pages, and is supposed to come out at the end of January.

Surprisingly though, amazon lists both the hardcover and paperback editions coming out the same day. So does anybody know if this is a new book or simply a new edition?


Also, finally came across the Theatre of Orson Welles by Richard France. Great little book, though I wish it would go back into print. In the mean time, I now have a 175 page photocopy. also found the dissertation on the post 1940 theater work, now just have to save up for it.