"In my father's Shadow" by Chris Welles Feder

[ToddBaesen]

Here are the opening comments from Chris Welles Feder about her new book, IN MY FATHER'S SHADOW when she appeared in San Rafael on Monday:

*

There are many books that have been written on my father, biographies and critical studies and so on, but none of them have captured the Orson Welles that I knew. Also many of the people who wrote about my father either never met him, or they didn’t meet him until the last 15 years of his life. So I felt I had a story to tell from the unique perspective of being his daughter. I think I’m probably one of the few people still alive who knew him when he was in his vigorous youth and he was at the top of his game. So I really wanted to recapture the young Orson Welles before he was beaten down by disappointments, betrayals and not getting the money he needed to make his movies. I wanted that vision to be out there as part of the record.

[Glenn Anders]

Chris Welles Feder made a fine impression at the Rafael Film Center.

And when will Mr. French have completed his interview with Mrs. Feder. Have you heard?

And whatever happened to the interview that he was supposed to have had with the director of PRODIGAL SONS?

You didn't drag Mr. French off instead to . . . you know where, did you?

Glenn

[Alan Brody]

McBride weighs in on the new book:

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/66/66bookswelles.html

[Store Hadji]

No wonder Sir Michael has faced that persistent rumor.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/theatre/hogg.html

What was the Welles play he worked on in Dublin?

[ToddBaesen]

It's very interesting that Michael Lindsay-Hogg should be a childhood friend of Christopher Welles, then start his career in the Theater at Stratford, Conn. in 1957 when John Houseman was in charge, and then go to Ireland in 1960 to be a production assistant to Orson Welles on his stage production of CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT.

Although he denies being Orson Welles son, how would he know for sure? Geraldine Fitzgerald is really the only one who could have confirmed it, and she probably always told her son that the rumors were not true.

[ToddBaesen]

The Barnes & Noble event was much more successful than the L.A. event... Over 100 people showed up and Chris Welles Feder posted a picture of it on her Facebook page here:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id= ... 1180477831

[mido505]

One of the great benefits of Ms. Feder's indispensable memoir is that it serves as a sturdy means by which we can test, as it were, the relative worthiness of any recollection, anecdote, or character judgement regarding her father. Ms. Feder, with this one book, has finally detonated that grotesque edifice known as Welles the Monster, the pathological, demon-haunted, serial-killer-in-waiting sociopath first sculpted out of mephitic clay by the once-besotted and subsequently hatred-consumed John Houseman; then later polished and displayed in the vulgar arena by the likes of Charles Higham and David Thomson. For example, in his otherwise interesting and insightful review of Ms. Feder's work, linked to above by Alan Brody, Joseph McBride writes the following:

"When Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper was having dinner with Welles, Rita, and Rebecca in the mid-forties, Hopper watched Welles fuming as a burned chicken was put on his plate after a two-hour wait. "What a bore — this domesticity!" he bellowed. That seemed to be his bottom line on the subject, but for reasons of comfort and security he seemed to need to make sporadic and futile attempts at being a family man."

Does anyone really believe that the endlessly patient and scrupulously polite Welles detailed by Ms. Feder would ever say such a thing? And say it in front of the gossip columnist who nearly caused the destruction of Citizen Kane. After Ms. Feder, biographers and memoirists should think twice about quoting such piffle.

[tonyw]

This is a great photo and I'm really looking forward to reading this book.

[ToddBaesen]

Mido:

Thanks for pointing out the Hedda Hopper story in Joseph McBride's review, which I have no doubt is clearly apocryphal.

I doubt if anybody would have to wait two hours for dinner, even in the forties. And while the chicken may have been burned, I find the two hour wait is the clue that makes this story totally unbelievable.

Of course, as you point out, why would Rita Hayworth or Orson Welles even invite Hedda Hopper to their home?

As you say, this sounds like a big confabulation to me.

[Magentarose67]

One of the great benefits of Ms. Feder's indispensable memoir is that it serves as a sturdy means by which we can test, as it were, the relative worthiness of any recollection, anecdote, or character judgement regarding her father. Ms. Feder, with this one book, has finally detonated that grotesque edifice known as Welles the Monster, the pathological, demon-haunted, serial-killer-in-waiting sociopath first sculpted out of mephitic clay by the once-besotted and subsequently hatred-consumed John Houseman; then later polished and displayed in the vulgar arena by the likes of Charles Higham and David Thomson. For example, in his otherwise interesting and insightful review of Ms. Feder's work, linked to above by Alan Brody, Joseph McBride writes the following:

"When Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper was having dinner with Welles, Rita, and Rebecca in the mid-forties, Hopper watched Welles fuming as a burned chicken was put on his plate after a two-hour wait. "What a bore — this domesticity!" he bellowed. That seemed to be his bottom line on the subject, but for reasons of comfort and security he seemed to need to make sporadic and futile attempts at being a family man."

Does anyone really believe that the endlessly patient and scrupulously polite Welles detailed by Ms. Feder would ever say such a thing? And say it in front of the gossip columnist who nearly caused the destruction of Citizen Kane. After Ms. Feder, biographers and memoirists should think twice about quoting such piffle.

Ugh. That Thomson book was terrible, and like Chris Feder Welles, I didn't finish it. It was such a terrible attack on Orson to and it came to the point where I couldn't take it seriously. I didn't care much for the first volume of Callow's book, either. The second one was an improvement and seemed as if were written by a totally different person, considering the sudden change of heart. I am glad Chris wrote the book, and I look forward to reading it .

BW...I think I might want to add that fiend Mary Pacios to your list of Orson haters, because she also spread a horrible lie about him, and probably the worst one, too...

[mido505]

Todd:

As your analysis of the Hopper fable clearly shows, a few minutes of logical thought would expose the absurdity, idiocy, and downright malicious intent of three quarters of the garbage printed about Welles. Why a serious, sympathetic guy like McBride would even bother with such swill is beyond me.

Magentarose67:

I have alluded to that, yes, fiend Mary Pacios a few times in the past, although I have a hard time mentioning her name as she is so beyond the pale. She is the worst one, but a Mary Pacios and her loathsome theory would not have been possible without the abhorrent image of Welles promulgated by the likes of Houseman, Thomson, and Higham. The smiler with the knife of Ms. Pacios' fevered imagination is the logical result of the monster Welles created by those other three horsemen of the Wellesian biographical apocalypse.

[Magentarose67]

Magentarose67:

I have alluded to that, yes, fiend Mary Pacios a few times in the past, although I have a hard time mentioning her name as she is so beyond the pale. She is the worst one, but a Mary Pacios and her loathsome theory would not have been possible without the abhorrent image of Welles promulgated by the likes of Houseman, Thomson, and Higham. The smiler with the knife of Ms. Pacios' fevered imagination is the logical result of the monster Welles created by those other three horsemen of the Wellesian biographical apocalypse.

Yes, you're right, Mido, and it's pretty heartbreaking to me...poor Orson ...

[ToddBaesen]

I hear that The New York premiere of ME AND ORSON WELLES November 23rd will include a ceremony at the building at 110 West 41st street in New York City where they will place a plaque in honor of Orson Welles Mercury Theater, which once occupied that site.

They are apparently hoping to get Chris Welles Feder to attend the event, and presumably the main cast and crew of ME AND ORSON WELLES will be on hand for the unveiling, as well.

[RayKelly]

Todd,

I hope that is true. It's long overdue. The theater was torn down in 1942. I am not sure what is there now.

Welles has a star on Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame honoring his film career. Grovers Mill, NJ has a great plaque at the "Martian landing site" depicting The War of the Worlds radio broadcast.

It would be wonderful if there was something on Broadway to mark his achievements on stage.

[Magentarose67]

I hear that The New York premiere of ME AND ORSON WELLES November 23rd will include a ceremony at the building at 110 West 41st street in New York City where they will place a plaque in honor of Orson Welles Mercury Theater, which once occupied that site.

They are apparently hoping to get Chris Welles Feder to attend the event, and presumably the main cast and crew of ME AND ORSON WELLES will be on hand for the unveiling, as well.

That would be awesome ! I hope it's true! Where did you hear about this, Todd? Is it, in your opinion, a reliable source?