out of curiosity...

[Orson&Jazz]

I have some questions that need answers. I'd appreciate any help that any one could give me. If these questions were asked already, I apologize. And if they had been answered previously on the boards, just point me in the direction of where they are, and I'll gladly look them up myself!




1. Lucy Meets Orson Welles? Is it worth trying to get a copy? What about The Dominci Affair, Return to Glennascaul, and Around The World With Orson Welles?

2. Where can I find footage that shows off Orson's magic talents really well? Any recommendations?

3. How good is the book, Les Bravades:A Portfolio Of Pictures Made For Rebecca Welles By Her Father? Is it worth buying?

4. Where can I find good examples of Orson's drawings and paintings? Is there good examples in the Les Bravades book?

5. Once Beatrice and Oja pass away, who owns Orson's estate? Is there any heirs?

6. Can just any body visit the Lilly Library and view the Orson Welles collection? Where is the Lilly Library located exactly?

7. Who owns most of Orson's unfinished and finished scripts? How many scripts are there? Is there any way that one can take a peek at them?

8. Is there any way that I could get a hold of his early films The Hearts of Age and Too Much Johnson? Is there is even a possibility?

9. Besides Orson Welles: A Bio-Bibliography by Bret Wood, what other books really cover his radio work? Any good recommendations?

10. Is there a good photo book of Orson Welles, or a collection of photos of Orson any where, possibly a pictorial record, especially of him during his work in radio? If there is even a possibility that one exists, please let me know.

11. Where is a good place to find authentic Orson memorabilia, besides eBay? Or is eBay pretty much the only alternative?

12. What is the best interview to watch of Orson Welles? I'm looking for one that really covers Orson Welles extensively, and shows him at his best. And where can I get a hold of this interview?

13. Is there any other books written by Orson, besides the books Les Bravades and Everybody's Shakespeare a.k.a The Mercury Shakespeare? Or are these the only ones?

14. Where can I get a hold of the footage taken the day after the War Of The Worlds broadcast where he was getting grilled by the reporters? Does full footage even exist of this event? Is it even available to the public?

15. Where can I find a copy of the Time magazine that showed Orson in full makeup on the cover? I think it came out around 1937 or so, I'm not exactly sure. Can any one even obtain back-issues from that long ago?

16. Is there any footage from his theatre, especially from his modern-dress Julius Caesar and his Voodoo Macbeth? Does any even exist, and are they even available to the public?




Sorry for the exhaustive list of questions. I'm fairly new in my adoration of Orson, so much of this information I don't know...yet.

and


Thank you to all that provides some help in my quest for answers.

[babus]

I can only answer a few of your questions. But i hope this helps.

1. Lucy Meets Orson Welles? Is it worth trying to get a copy?
The show was actually on TVland this past thanksgiving day and i liked it a lot. Since you seem to be a big fan, you should definitly get a copy or wait for it to play on TV. He appears in the episode a lot and is great in it.

13. Is there any other books written by Orson, besides the books Les Bravades and Everybody's Shakespeare a.k.a The Mercury Shakespeare? Or are these the only ones?
Well he appears as the author of "mr Arkadin" the book although he actually denies writing the published book. So i'm not positive whether or not it is a 100% Welles Book.

14. Where can I get a hold of the footage taken the day after the War Of The Worlds broadcast where he was getting grilled by the reporters? Does full footage even exist of this event? Is it even available to the public?
Part of the footage exists in the documentary "battle over citizen kane", the second disc on the Citizen Kane DVD. It's only 10 seconds maximum though, if that. I'm not sure if the full footage exists.

16. Is there any footage from his theatre, especially from his modern-dress Julius Caesar and his Voodoo Macbeth? Does any even exist, and are they even available to the public?
There is a 5 minute footage of Voodoo Macbeth on the website below, which also has a lot of Orson's radio shows for download.
The Mercury Theatre on the Air
The file is huge to download though.

I hope my answers helped you somewhat

[Wilson]

Some further answers for you, and you can use the search function on the board to get more opinions; several things you've asked about have been discussed before. Just make sure you search from the beginning of the board.

2) There are a couple different places where you can see Welles do magic, but they are only available via bootleg sources.

3) Les Bravades is worth getting for a few bucks. It's a child's gift, so it is what it is.

5) There is no Welles estate. Beatrice owns the rights to Othello; Oja owns the rights to the unfinished work. Who it goes to after they die depends on their wills.

6) Yes, anyone can visit the Lilly Library, but you have to register upon arrival and present ID; you tell them what you want to look at and they bring it to you. It isn't like a regular library. It is at Indiana University in Bloomington, about 40 minutes from Indianapolis.

Hearts of Age, yes. Too Much Johnson, no.

15) eBay

16) Caesar, no. Macbeth, you can see the footage shot in a boxset called Treasures from the American Film Archive.

[babus]

I've thought of one more answer for you.

10. The few books i have about him have a good collection of pictures but are not just photo books (Road to Xanadu, This is Orson Welles, and Rosebud (this book sucks though)). Otherwise, if you want to check out pictures online you can go to Getty Images, and conduct a search for Orson Welles. You'll get about 200+ pics, a lot of them from his magic shows. If you click on them you'll get the "gettys" watermark in the middle of the picture though but they are not too annoying for online viewing.

[Glenn Anders]

Orson & Jazz: You ask a lot of questions, too many for me, but that's good because asking question is the only way to learn. Here are a few more answers to go with those provided by the more experienced heads above, mostly off the top of my own head:

1. Lucy Meets Orson Welles? Is it worth trying to get a copy? What about The Dominci Affair, Return to Glennascaul, and Around The World With Orson Welles?

Certainly Welles' appearances on the Lucy shows are the man at his comic best, a quality not often identified with him. Of the other material, it seems to me, the most impressive is AROUND THE WORLD WITH ORSON WELLES because those shows demonstrate his easy mastery of the medium of TV. Clive James took over his ideas in Great Britain and made a career of them. It might be argued that his TV ideas may have helped Edward R. Murrow go in a different direction, in See It Now, when he ran into political troubles during the McCarthy period.

3. How good is the book, Les Bravades:A Portfolio Of Pictures Made For Rebecca Welles By Her Father? Is it worth buying?

For anyone interested in the man and his scope as an artist, Les Bravedes is a good buy. It's a little story for children, specifically for his daughter Rebecca, full of his own illustrations. Like his friend and collaborator, John Huston, his original ambitions seem to have been those of a painter.

4. Where can I find good examples of Orson's drawings and paintings? Is there good examples in the Les Bravades book?

Yes, of course, thre are good examples in Les Bravedes. You will also find a lot of material of his sketching in various theatrical collections.

5. Once Beatrice and Oja pass away, who owns Orson's estate? Is there any heirs?

A good question. I have always been intrigued by the little boy who appears a couple of times in F. For Fake. He is identifed by the name Palinkas, which was Olga's real name. I know nothing else of her other family, nor that of Beatrice Welles. Both have been fiercely protective of what each, respectively, believes to be the Estate of Orson Welles. The matter is often discussed here. Rebecca Welles, who recently died, has offspring, too. If past is prologue, litigation will ensue some time in the future.

7. Who owns most of Orson's unfinished and finished scripts? How many scripts are there? Is there any way that one can take a peek at them?

Most of them will be found at the Lilly, in private collections, or in public domain.

8. Is there any way that I could get a hold of his early films The Hearts of Age and Too Much Johnson? Is there is even a possibility?

His student film is available on several recent DVD's of Welles' work, as an extra goodie. It is my understanding that most of the footage for "Too Much Johnson" was destroyed in a fire which swept his home in Spain, in the early 1970's. It was never intended to be a complete film but just a series of sequences to act as transitions for the late 1930's Mercury Theater Production of William Gillette's play of the same name. The footage was never used, and there are stories of Welles sitting around in his New York apartment, surrounded by miles of snarled motion picture film.

9. Besides Orson Welles: A Bio-Bibliography by Bret Wood, what other books really cover his radio work? Any good recommendations?

John Dunning's Encyclopedia of Radio contains several long entries on Welles Radio work, and on various figures connected with the Mercury Theater on the Air.

12. What is the best interview to watch of Orson Welles? I'm looking for one that really covers Orson Welles extensively, and shows him at his best. And where can I get a hold of this interview?

Aside from the audio review attached to This Is Orson Welles, the best long review is one he did with the BBC, near the end of his life. The complete version runs several hours and covers almost every aspect of his life an career. I know it has been shown a number of times on PBS, and it is likely available at least on tape.

I hope these observation are of some help.

Glenn

[jbrooks]

Glenn,

I don't think the 1982 BBC Interview has ever aired on PBS, or if it has, it has done so under my radar. It aired on TNT cable in 1990 in a somewhat edited form. As far as I can tell, it has never played since in the U.S.

JBrooks

[Elmyr]

1) I agree with Glenn Anders in what concerns I Love Lucy and Around the World with OW. I also like The Fountain of Youth, a pilot shot in 1958, which is very hard to find.

2) Actually, you can find a few excerpts from The Magic Show in the One Man Band documentary, which will be included in the forthcoming F for Fake dvd from Criterion. There’s a couple of magic sequences in F for Fake itself.
Also check this feature about Orson The Magician on Senses of Cinema

[Knowles Noel Shane]

Welcome to the board and to the obsession. Good luck and keep plugging. Everything you want is out there. Hope these pointers are of help to you:

2. Where can I find footage that shows off Orson's magic talents really well? Any recommendations?

Orson does a pretty amazing card trick on the Merv Griffin show from the day before he died. That one is worth checking out. You can sometimes find a bootleg of it on ebay or you can probably get it from someone on this site - it's pretty special and widely traded. If you can find the film Follow the Boys you can see some of The Mercury Wonder Show - though Orson cutting Marlene Dietrich in half was faked. Look also for The Orson Welles Show from 1979, Orson does a few tricks in that too. That one shows up on ebay or can be obtained by trading with fellow collectors.

4. Where can I find good examples of Orson's drawings and paintings? Is there good examples in the Les Bravades book?

The best collection of drawings can be found in Everybody's Shakespeare, profusely illustrated by Welles when he was 19. Lots of stage settings, costumes and character studies. There were three plays in that book, but they were later reprinted as separate volumes (along with a fourth play) under the title The Mercury Shakespeare. Check your local library network or ebay.

7. Who owns most of Orson's unfinished and finished scripts? How many scripts are there? Is there any way that one can take a peek at them?

Two of the unfilmed ones were published posthumously: The Big Brass Ring and The Cradle Will Rock. Well, someone did film Brass Ring, but let's not go into that. His play Moby Dick Rehearsed was published in the early 60s. Robert Carringer did a reconstruction of the original Magnificent Ambersons script. Pauline Kael's dreadful Citizen Kane book contains a late revision of the script. There have been cutting continuities published for Touch of Evil, The Trial, and Chimes at Midnight. They're all worth getting. Check ebay or used book sellers. Sometimes a fellow collector can provide you with a loose leaf copy.

8. Is there any way that I could get a hold of his early films The Hearts of Age and Too Much Johnson? Is there is even a possibility?

Hearts of Age was included a few years ago in a two disc set entitled Citizen Welles which contained newly restored versions of The Stranger and The Trial along with surround sound and commentaries. They must have started with inferior prints, because TCM plays a better print of The Stranger and the Milestone DVD of The Trial looks better.

9. Besides Orson Welles: A Bio-Bibliography by Bret Wood, what other books really cover his radio work? Any good recommendations?

Simon Callow's Road to Xanadu gives a wonderfully detailed and deeply researched account of The Golden Age of Radio and Orson's influential role in it.

10. Is there a good photo book of Orson Welles, or a collection of photos of Orson any where, possibly a pictorial record, especially of him during his work in radio? If there is even a possibility that one exists, please let me know.

Look for the book The Complete Films of Orson Welles. That has photos from most of Welles' film appearances. (This is NOT the first Higham book - though that one lots of great photos too.) A recent book of The War of the Worlds (which included the H. G. Welles novella and a CD of the broadcast plus extras) had a lot of great, huge photos from the radio days.

13. Is there any other books written by Orson, besides the books Les Bravades and Everybody's Shakespeare a.k.a The Mercury Shakespeare? Or are these the only ones?

Welles illustrated and provided stage directions for Everybody's Shakespeare, his teacher at the Todd School, mentor, and friend Roger Hill edited the plays. Welles wrote Moby Dick Rehearsed, The Big Brass Ring, The Cradle Will Rock, and rewrote most of the interviews to be found in This Is Orson Welles. Also, look for the recent Orson Welles Interviews book, which transcribes a number of rare interviews.

15. Where can I find a copy of the Time magazine that showed Orson in full makeup on the cover? I think it came out around 1937 or so, I'm not exactly sure. Can any one even obtain back-issues from that long ago?

I found one on ebay a few years ago. I've seen several other copies of it for sale there since.

[Eve_h]

some further possibilities ...

2. Where can I find footage that shows off Orson's magic talents really well? Any recommendations?
In 'This is Orson Welles' Jonathan Rosenbaum mentions that in 1952 Dick Himber presented a live card trick that he performed with Orson Welles in a film segment. The same film segment was later used by other magicians - including David Copperfield in a 1978 CBS-TV Special.
Also you can see brief shots of the 'Mercury Wonder Show' in 'The Battle over Citizen Kane'.

10. Is there a good photo book of Orson Welles, or a collection of photos of Orson any where, possibly a pictorial record, especially of him during his work in radio? If there is even a possibility that one exists, please let me know.
John Russel Taylors' 'Orson Welles - A celebration' (the hard-cover ed.) contains several pictures as well as the 1980s edition of Maurice Bessys' 'Orson Welles'.


To Glenn Anders,

5. Once Beatrice and Oja pass away, who owns Orson's estate? Is there any heirs?
A good question. I have always been intrigued by the little boy who appears a couple of times in F. For Fake. He is identifed by the name Palinkas, which was Olga's real name. I know nothing else of her other family, nor that of Beatrice Welles.

In the interview ('Oja as a Gift' in 'The Unknown Orson Welles') Stefan Droessler conducted with Oja Kodar she told Droessler that the little boy was Sasha, the son of her sister Nina (p. 34).

Eve

[RayKelly]

14. I have nearly nine minutes of the War of the Worlds press conference footage in excellent condition.
About 15 years ago, some guy whjo said he was working on a Welles documentary swapped Welles videos with me. He gave me the press conference and a very, very brief snippet of silent footage used in the stage show The Unthinking Lobster. There was an ID for UCLA burned on the image of the press conference. It was the raw footage for the newsreel. At one point Welles is stopped by the newsreel cameraman so they can move the camera and shoot footage from another angle. There is also 15 seconds or so of silent footage of newspaper front pages following the panic. I sent a dub to a noted Welles author who was surprised by its existence.

[Glenn Anders]

J Brooks: If the BBC interview with Welles was not broadcast on PBS, then it must have been A & E. I have a very long tape, which I recorded off cable.

And thank you, Eve, for clearing up that mystery for me about the origins of Sasha Palinkas. Darling little boy.

Glenn

[Glenn Anders]

Orson & Jazz: The Turner 50th Aniversary Limited Collectors Edition of CITIZEN KANE (VHS) includes a printed facsimile of a revised shooting script for the picture, dated June 18, 1940, in the names of Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles. Within it, there are several scenes said to have been shot but cut from the final picture. The most intriguing of them to me is the one I describe below in my Epinions review of . . . KANE:

-------------------

Buried within the "final," much-to-be-changed, shooting script for CITIZEN KANE is another scene, shot but later deleted, set just before the final sequence of the finished movie. I have never seen it quoted in any discussion of CITIZEN KANE.

Kane stands with Raymond the Butler (Paul Stewart) in the family tomb. His only son, Charles Foster Kane II, is dead at the age of 31. The year is 1938, and workmen are setting a slab on the grave. After they leave, Kane looks at the simple inscriptions on the crypts of his father, mother and son; then, above the blank where he will soon lie, he stares at the inscription on an ornate, ancient wall imported from Persia.

He translates for Raymond (who couldn't care less):


The drunkenness of youth has passed
like a fever,
And yet I saw many things,
Seeing my glory in the days of my
glory.
I thought my power eternal
And the days of my life
fixed surely in the years,
but a whisper came to me
from Him who dies not.
I called my tributary kings together
And those who were proud rulers under me,
I opened the boxes of my treasure
to them, saying:
"Take hills of gold, mountains of silver,
And give me one more day upon the earth."
But they stood silent,
Looking upon the ground;
So that I died
And Death came to sit upon my throne.

O sons of men
You see a stranger upon the road,
You call to him and he does not stop.
He is your life
Walking towards time,
Hurrying to meet the kings of India
and China.

O sons of men
You are caught in the web of the world
And the spider Nothing waits behind it.
Where are the men with towering hopes?
They have changed places with owls,
Owls who lived in tombs
And now inhabit a palace.

Nothing can better sum up our affluent lives, or the meaning of CITIZEN KANE.

------------------

The URL of the full review is as follows:

http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-4874-81FD18C-38741497-bd4

------------------

Glenn

[babus]

Glenn Anders:

His only son, Charles Foster Kane II, is dead at the age of 31. The year is 1938, and workmen are setting a slab on the grave.

I'm confused with the dates mentioned here. In the news reel at the beginning of Kane, it mentions that Kane marries Susan in 1917 (or 18) and that the next year his first wife and son die in a car accident. Also, it seems to me that at that point in time his son is still a kid, but i might be wrong. So how could the event you mention have happened in 1938?

[Orson&Jazz]

Thanks to all that have helped so far. I am very greatful.


1. I am convinced that I have to own the Lucy Meets Orson Welles, Around The World With Orson Welles, and The Dominci Affair now. Orson doing comedy, and journalistic work is too hard to pass up!

2. I desperately want to see Orson do magic. I am curious of his abilities, and I have heard of the Follow The Boys film, but I wasn't entirely sure how much of his magic was shown in the film. I want extensive footage. (If that is even possible!) I will try to get a copy of the One Man Band documentary when it comes out on F for Fake. Both should be very entertaining!

3. Being that Les Bravades is a children's book is of no consequence. I'm still curious, and I will definitely get it now that I know it is illustrated entirely by Orson himself.

6. I am glad the Lilly Library allows visits. I will have to make the pilgrammage some day. The only thing is I don't know what it is exactly I'd would want to see? I don't know what Orson contents the library actually holds. I swear I saw a website, but I wasn't sure. I'll check again.

7. I am glad that most of his scripts are in the Lilly Library. Maybe these will be the items I will want to view when I get a chance to visit. I want to actually see Orson's typing or handwriting on the paper. It would be a thrilling experience!

8. I am glad I can get a hold of Hearts of Age, and that it is floating around some where out there. Too bad about Too Much Johnson. I thought that this was his first experience with the medium of film, and that is why I wanted to view it.

9. I have read the Bret Wood book, and I did like the way it was mapped out for Orson's radio work. I wanted more indepth coverage of his radio work, and all the radio shows he had done through out his life. I will definitely check out the recommendations.

10. The Getty's site is incredible! They have some beautiful pictures of Orson. I have seen some of the same radio photos of Orson over and over again on the internet, so I was looking for more obscure photos; ones I have never seen before. Getty's offers some great ones. I will definitely check out the other recommendations though.

12. I wanted to watch some interviews of him. I have never seen any, besides the snippets that was in the Battle Over Citizen Kane documentary. I just wanted suggestions as to what were the best ones to watch, and that were entirely devoted to Orson himself. I will try to look for the ones that have been suggested.

13. I have seen the Everybody's Shakespeare book. It was in pretty pathetic condition, so I wasn't entirely sure if Orson actually did all the illustrations. I am glad he did, they were incredible. I am very interested in his artistic abilities, and that is why I am determined to find art work done by him. Be it paintings, drawings, sketches, what ever. I also liked his input in the book, and his writing. That is why I wanted to read more of his own writings. He was definitely a writer. Why Kael and her cronies thought Orson never had input on the Citzen Kane script, I'll never know. I'll just chalk it up to their own STUPIDITY! Any way, I will definitely look into the recommendations of his writings that were offered.

14. I have the Battle Over Citizen Kane documentary. And I did see little snippets of the press conference. I was hoping that there was full footage of the event that could be viewed by 'commoners' like me. I noticed all the media there, and I was hoping that some where out there there is full footage of the event. I am sure that there is film of it out there. There obviously were cameras there filming it. Whether the entirety of it still exists, I'll never know I guess. I was just curious as to all the questions that Orson was asked, and what his general attitude was through out the whole conference.

16. I have visited the Mecury Theatre on the air web site. But, I was more interested in finding full footage of the entire plays Caesar and VooDoo Macbeth. I am disappointed to know that no full footage exists. These would have been incredible to watch in their entirety. To watch Orson's theatre directorial debut would be awesome.


I have one more question. Sorry!

This may sound stupid, but I was curious as to how many pipes Orson owned. I see pictures of Orson, and in most I see him with a pipe; if it wasn't a pipe, it was a cigar. Did he have an extensive collection of pipes? Has there ever been incidents where they have come up for auction? How can one authenticate that the pipe actually belonged to Welles? Is there some in the Lilly Library?




Well, thanks again to those who helped. It is greatly appreciated.

[Orson&Jazz]

Glenn Anders:

The post you included with the cut footage of Citizen Kane does sound intriguing. I almost wish that they did include it in the film. It almost seems Shakespearian, and it does sum up Kane's life well.


babus:
I am in agreement with you about the dates. I thought that Kane's son died early in life. Maybe that is why they never included the footage Glenn Anders mentioned. It messed up the continuity of the film.


But, it would have been great for the movie if they fixed the continuity problem. It would have been fitting for Kane to have a long life, and his son and first wife as well, but them dying before him. And to show this cut footage, and Kane reciting the poem. It would definitely show his increasing loneliness. And to show of all the wealth he accumulated, it can not stop the fate of death overcoming his family.


I am not saying that the Citizen Kane now is terrible. No way! I find it interesting that Orson had other shots he never included, and other ideas for Kane. Oh! to have a Citizen Kane Special Edition with Extra Footage and Deleted Scenes would be cool. But, that is highly unlikely.