The Weekly Welles Radio Show Discussion - Week 1: Dracula (July 11, 1938)

[mteal]

Well, he actually did do a couple of horror films late in his career, around 1972: NECROMANCY, which as I said is pretty bad, and the Belgian film MALPERTUIS, which I think is pretty good, although Welles is only in it for 10 minutes or so. The pop-Shakespearean elegance of the Hammer films, however, is something I think Welles would've fit quite nicely in too, and it's too bad he didn't do at least one, or at least an AIP picture with Vincent Price. Of course, Welles' film versions of MACBETH and OTHELLO are both often described as having some qualities of the classic horror films of the 30's. I know Jonathon Rosenbaum compared OTHELLO to FW Murnau's NOSFARATU.

BTW, MALPERTUIS is now available on a European DVD, if anyone has any further info on it. Also, on DVD now in Europe is Welles' only appearance in a western, TEPEPA (which is also a pretty good movie). Has anyone seen either of these?

[Knowles Noel Shane]

I got a 1938 issue of Radio Guide off ebay (I assume its direct antecedent was TV Guide.) It features a page on the premiere of The Mercury Theatre on the Air, with photos of and interviews with Welles. Interestingly, it does not list the title of the show as First Person Singular. The actual program listing in the guide is as "Mercury Theatre." The show intros to the original series all announced "The Mercury Theatre on the Air." They then mentioned that the shows were to be presented in "the first person singular," but that wasn't the name of the show.

How is it that First Person Singular has erroneously come down as the title of the show, when it absolutely wasn't? Was that title given in the CBS contract at the time? Kind of a self-perpetuating error, I guess, thanks to poor research done by the biographers, kind of like the fact that they always credit the Arkadin film as being based on a Harry Lime episode entitled "Greek Meets Greek" (which it wasn't, it was based on two other episodes, "Man of Mystery" and "Blackmail Is a Nasty Word.")

[Glenn Anders]

Knowles: I believe the confusion may come about in your various readings because the Mercury Theater was big news in the New York theater World of 1938, truly revolutionary. The newspapers were full of it. And whereas, today, theater has become more regional (and alas, marginal), many, many people all across America back then looked to New York theater with admiration, as the Mecca of our Internationally famous theatrical emergence. So when CBS put the Mercury Theater on Radio, it was Something!

It was the announcer who told the audience that the the summer series would be known as "First Person Singular." Later, that intro was dropped, but it was always Welles' idea that these shows should be about narration, story telling. And he was to be the storyteller.

I also think that M. Arkadin was wandering around in Welles' mind for some time, since the 1930's, when he played Sir Basil Zaharoff for "The March of Time on the Air." Arkadin may have wandered from there into a couple of the Harry Lime shows.

Glenn

[Knowles Noel Shane]

I'll relisten to the intros from the first nine episodes tonight. I may well be mistaken. Memory is a terrible thing to rely upon.

[Store Hadji]

- the opening, with its piling on of praise for Welles, has always been rather off-putting to me. They would have been better off having a couple lines of praise and leave off at that. As broadcast, it comes off as trying to hard to show just how magnificent Welles' career had been to that point.

I've always loved that opening - I found the press clips exciting and amazing. Too bad the Name of Welles didn't continue to garner such praise.

I'm still convinced the series was titled "Mercury Theatre on the Air," and not FPS.

[Orson&Jazz]

I adore the way the show relies heavily upon sound in this show. The numerous narratives is also very interesting. I would have loved to have been one of the people hearing this show for the very first time when it first premiered. I can just imagine how overwhelming the show must've been to the listeners; overwhelming and perhaps even a bit exhausting.

I loved Welles as Dracula. It is too bad that he never did play the count on stage or screen. He would have been an excellent Dracula, and for some reason I see him playing Dracula similar to the way Gary Oldman had done. Welles oozes the charm, sensuality, and wickedness. I know he would have portrayed Dracula different in some way to stand out from the other portrayls.