Welles at U Mich

[NoFake]

The Benamou-curated exhibit with its opening reception on Sept. 20 posted on the front page sounds like a must-see for Wellesians. Is the public invited? If so, how do you go about making a reservation? Thanks.

[ToddBaesen]

Looks like it will be a nice show... can anyone who goes file a report?

[Jeff Wilson]

I'll be going, and will report on the blog about it.

[DexyMan]

So do we have to reserve a spot or can we just show up?

[Jeff Wilson]

You can just show up. Who all here is planning to attend on Thursday specifically?

[Roger Ryan]

I'm going to try to be there on Thursday.

[NoFake]

Now that I know it's open to the public, I'd love to come -- but I'd have to make some pretty fast plane & hotel reservations. Does anyone know the area, and could offer me some suggestions? Thanks!

[Jeff Wilson]

Don't know much about Ann Arbor hotels, but you would fly into Detroit Metro, and Ann Arbor is about 25 minutes away on I-94. With the university, there are plenty of places to stay, given how many people come in for football weekends.

[NoFake]

Thanks, Jeff, that's helpful. Right now I'm still undecided -- it would have to be a quick, two-day stay -- but it sounds awfully tempting. If several Wellesnetters came, we might even meet for a sangria.

[DexyMan]

I'll be there.

[Jeff Wilson]

I have posted some brief thoughts about the U of M exhibit on the news blog. Saw Roger Ryan and NoFake there, and they will no doubt weigh in as well on what we all saw (as well as anyone else I didn't know). Some really excellent stuff here, and plenty more that we didn't see. It sounds like this might be the preeminent Welles collection, in terms of paper materials, in the world.

As I mention on my blog post, the order from RKO to junk the prints of Ambersons is included, and kind of heart-breaking to see. It was sent in late 1944, ordering the office in Brazil to trash both prints of Ambersons (a 10 reeler and 14 reeler) and one of Journey Into Fear. There's a nice photo of Welles and Virginia Nicholson from the Todd Summer Festival in Tsar Paul, and even color slide enlargements from the 1947 Utah Macbeth. And still more than that! Great stuff.

[ToddBaesen]

Jeff:

Many thanks for the instant report!

Any more details that you, Roger or other Wellesnetters in the Michigan area can add here will be greatly appreciated by me, Jeff Daniels, Glenn Strange and everyone else who posts here, I'm quite sure.

In fact, if Catherine B. wants to indicate what exactly the smoking gun is she found regarding the 14-reel print of AMBERSONS that was sent to Brazil by RKO, I'm sure we'd all love to read about it!

[Roger Ryan]

In fact, if Catherine B. wants to indicate what exactly the smoking gun is she found regarding the 14-reel print of AMBERSONS that was sent to Brazil by RKO, I'm sure we'd all love to read about it!

I'm sure Catherine will go into more detail about this later, but I believe the "smoking gun" is, in fact, the memo that Jeff mentioned in his post and blog entry. What surprised me about the memo was the fact that it was dated "Dec. 1944" which would have been a full two years after the alternate "Ambersons" edits and footage were reportedly destroyed in Los Angeles. I was under the impression the prints sent to Brazil were destroyed much earlier.

[Jeff Wilson]

As Roger has said, that memo is the "smoking gun," so far as we know. Naturally, as I mentioned to Roger last night, if you want to play devil's advocate, you can say that the presence of an order to junk the films doesn't mean it was actually carried out, but it's unlikely the films escaped destruction.

[Jeff Wilson]

If you visit the exhibit, you can access the following audio materials, which feature superior sound quality, coming from Richard Wilson's personal copies:

ORSON WELLES AND THE ART OF ADAPTATION
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARY, September 20th-December 1st
AUDIO PROGRAM

DISK 1: 1) “War of the Worlds,” CBS Radio (sustained program), Sunday, October 30, 1938; adapted by Howard Koch; cast: William Alland, Ray Collins, Kenneth Delmar, Carl Frank, William Herz, Frank Readick, Stefan Schnabel, Howard Smith, Paul Stewart, Orson Welles; Richard Wilson; musical score: Bernard Herrmann [54min.53 secs.]

2) “Orson Welles Commentaries,” ABC Radio, KECA-Los Angeles, Lear Radio Series, Sunday, November 4, 1945 [“War of the Worlds” commentary begins at 10min.55secs.]

DISK 2: 1) “Heart of Darkness,” CBS Radio (sustained program), Sunday, November 6, 1938; adapted by Orson Welles; cast: William Alland, Edgar Barrier, Ray Collins (as Marlow), George Colouris, Virginia Nicholson (as Kurtz’ fiancée), Frank Readick, Alfred Shirley, Everett Sloane, Orson Welles (as narrator and Kurtz) [35min 5 secs.]

2) “This Is My Best,” CBS radio, WJZ-New York, Cresta Blanca series, Tuesday, March 13, 1945 – Dramatization of “Heart of Darkness” [27 min. 35 secs.]

DISK 3: “The Magnificent Ambersons,” CBS radio, Campbell Playhouse series, Sunday, October 29, 1939; adapted by Orson Welles; cast: William Alland (as neighbor), Bea Benaderet (Mrs. Foster), Eric Burtis (as young George Amberson), Marion Barnes (as Lucy Morgan), Ray Collins (as Uncle Fred Amberson), Walter Huston (as Eugene Morgan), Elliott (Ted) Reid, Everett Sloane (as Archie Smith), Nan Sunderland (as Isabel Amberson Minafer), Orson Welles (as narrator and George Amberson Minafer), Richard Wilson (as Reverend Smith); musical score: Bernard Herrmann [51 min.]
Interview with Walter Huston and Nan Sunderland [4 min.]

DISK 4: “The Follies of Macbeth,” unbroadcast parody of Shakespeare’s play and self-parody of Mercury Theatre, recorded Friday, April 26 and Saturday, April 27, 1940; Paul Stewart, Orson Welles, Richard Wilson, and ? [version one, 12min. 37 secs.; version two, 13 min. 45 secs.]

All recordings are from the Richard Wilson-Orson Welles Collection.