TMA memos - 70th anniversary Wellesnet blog series

[mteal]

Here's a pdf containing two interesting memos to Herbert Drake from Tom Petty, head of RKO's publicity department in South America. The memos are dated March 27th and May 5th:

http://web.me.com/mteal1/Site_33/Tom_Pe ... mos%20.pdf

[ToddBaesen]

MIKE:

What great letters from Tom Pettey to Herb Drake! The fullest account I had seen before this was in Simon Callow's book, but even there, the excerpts could be seen as meaning something quite different, when taken out of context, as they were.

Of course, Pettey was the unit publicist for IT'S ALL TRUE, so you have to take his first glowing reports with a certain grain of salt, but I'm still much more inclined to believe him than Lynn Shores, or any of Welles other biographers, for that matter, who all wrote their stories at least 30 years later, starting of course with the late Charles Higham, who got most of his facts totally wrong. Yet, as we know from even the very sad obituary by Higham's "so-called friend" that appeared in the LA READER, nobody really took Higham's writing very seriously, excerpt for readers of tabloid newspapers.

However, what I find especially interesting about Tom Pettey's letter's is his very candid description of the progress being made on IT'S ALL TRUE, after Welles had told him he was to go back to the US on the first seat that came up. Obviously, Pettey was angry with Welles for being sent home, and it seems to show in his "Confidential Report" to his boss, Herb Drake, but Pettey's report still seems to be a much more accurate report than the rubbish Lynn Shores was sending back to the studio. It basically echoes what Welles said later. There was no script, so they were shooting scenes off the cuff. Three weeks of shooting "jigiboos" and also the highly charged "Macambo and Voodoo stuff," which Pettey notes is "dynamite."

One has to wonder if Herb Drake passed this letter on to George Schaefer, or not... If he did, there is certainly an added reason why Schaefer would have wanted to close down the production of IT'S ALL TRUE.

[mteal]

Quite possible, with all the backstabbing and double dealing going on. Even reading the memos one cannot be sure who is being sincere and who isn't. The whole studio was rapidly falling into a political free for all. I also wonder if Schaefer wasn't referring to Petty's March 27 synopsis when he wrote that scathing April 27 letter to Welles:

"I was astonished… that even you would have the audacity to turn over such a disgraceful synopsis to Lynn Shores. How in the world with such an outline you expect Shores or even your own men to carry on and give any loyalty to this company and yourself is beyond me to comprehend."

[mteal]

TMA Memos Part 9:
http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=1573

I don't necessarily agree with the following excerts, but they're interesting:

FROM CHARLES HIGHAM'S RISE AND FALL OF AN AMERICAN GENIUS:

(After Welles' father's death) Dr. Bernstein was appointed Orson's guardian (and) continually nibbled at the (Richard Welles) estate, seeking recompense for every cent he laid out on Orson's education at Todd and giving Richard nothing, not even clothing...Years later, when Orson was established in Hollywood, Dr. Bernstein nagged and niggled for the very funds that he claimed he had not been repaid: the same spirit that drove him to marry Mina Elman and Edith Mason for their money animated him now.

(He) continued to pester Welles with pleas for money, claiming every cent he had paid out for his upbringing and needling Welles to use his influence to obtain openings for him in the medical profession in Los Angeles. Dr. Bernstein behaved as though he were a struggling young physician who had to fight for every patient; his sour and charmless letters, laced with excessive romantic praise for Orson's every action, make very disagreeable reading.

[Roger Ryan]

While the accuracy of Bernstein's statements may be questionable, I find it interesting that he refers specifically to Jack Moss as the guy who did the "editing" of AMBERSONS and that he did a "masterful job of it"!

[mteal]

That definitely looks to me like sarcasm on Bernstien's part, and there may have been a special contempt for Moss, especially if Bernstein regarded Welles as a "Golden Goose" who's earning power was now being jeopardized by Moss's incompetent bungling of Welles's finances. It's hard to tell from the letters available if Bernstein was a genuine father figure or a cold, calculating Svengali figure, or just a pathetic hanger-on, or some combination of the three. He and Welles's feelings for each appear to be quite ambivalent. It's clear though, that Bernstein saw that Moss was a woefully inadequate replacement for John Houseman, whether through selfish motives or not.

It's doubtful that Welles and Chaplin could have formed much of an alliance though, a piece of wishful thinking on Bernstein's part. One only has to look at the beginning of their one collaboration together, MONSIER VERDOUX - where the gaudy credit to Welles for "story idea" is another blatant piece of sarcasm - to know that the two really didn't like each other much.

[mteal]

TMA Memos Pt 10:

http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=1585

[Glenn Anders]

Mike: I would say, Congratulations to Larry French and Todd Baesen for their excellent, balanced rundown of this controversy!

[I tried to record the same sentiment on the Wellesnet Facebook page, but for some reason, I'm not recognized as ever having been a member over there.]

Glenn

[mteal]

Mike: I would say, Congratulations to Larry French and Todd Baesen for their excellent, balanced rundown of this controversy!

Quite right, Glenn.

[mteal]

The 88-minute recut of Ambersons gets released by RKO:

TMA memos Part 11:

http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=1591

When I look at the whole story, or as much of it as is available, I don't blame RKO terribly for recutting the film. They were within their legal right to do so, and obviously felt that Welles's original cut was not a good bet at the box office. But as I mentioned on Wellesnet Facebook, The real crime was in destroying the cut footage (and especially Welles's original ending), especially when David Selznick reportedly pleaded with RKO for it to be preserved at the Museum of Modern Art. What's so incomprehensible is that no one, not even Welles, did anything to try and save any of it, even as it sat on a Brazilian film studio shelf for two years. So as a result, we'll never really know whether RKO made the right decision from an artistic standpoint or not.

As Larry says, concerning his posted memo from the "X" group, the man who ordered AMBERSONS cut, George Schaefer, did actually try to to save the trims and out takes. But it's too bad that Schaefer waited until he was practically out the door to make that suggestion. He should have ordered the trims saved when he was actually still in charge. Furthermore, he made that suggestion to Reg Armour, a company man in charge of RKO's foreign sales, who was likely to be anything but sympathetic to Welles and his artistic vision.