By RAY KELLY The Library of Congress American Memory website contains a vast collection of scripts, internal documents and memorabilia related to the Federal Theatre Project and the works of a young Orson Welles. The website has a treasure trove of items from Welles’ 1936 production of “Voodoo” Macbeth and his 1937 staging of The […]
Milan Records will release a digitally remastered edition of the score for Carol Reed’s “The Third Man” starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles on February 5. According the label, “The pioneering original musical score, composed by Viennese musician Anton Karas, was only performed on the zither. The harrowing sound perfectly complementing this dark classic.” Karas’ […]
By RAY KELLY Nearly 75 years later, the “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast continues to inspire. Last year, the faux documentary “War of the Worlds: The True Story” was released to movie theaters. Now, a one-act play based on the 1938 broadcast has won an Oregon competition for playwrights. “We Interrupt This Program,” by […]
An opposition Iranian satellite channel based in London aired “Genocide,” the acclaimed Academy Award-winning documentary on the Holocaust produced by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. It was broadcast with Farsi subtitles on January 25. The Wiesenthal Center coordinated the showing to coincide with International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. Welles, along with Elizabeth Taylor, narrated […]
By RAY KELLY The book “My Lunches with Orson: Conversations between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles,” which Wellesnet reported on back in October, will also be released as an unabridged audio book on July 9. Presumably the audio book will utilize the recordings made by Jaglom during Welles’ final years. While the hardcover book will […]
By RAY KELLY Interviews with Orson Welles’ longtime love and collaborator Oja Kodar are rare to come by, but the Hungarian website mozinet.hu recently spoke with the Croatian actress-writer. Sadly, none of the six questions asked of Kodar delved into the status of “The Other Side of the Wind” or any of Welles’ unfinished film […]
In response to a reader question, Playbill.com recently offered a condensed history of The Mercury Theatre on Broadway. Worth checking out for those unfamiliar with young Orson Welles’ pre-Hollywood career, the article chronicles his partnership with John Houseman from their days with the Federal Theatre Project, as well as the fate of the Manhattan building […]
By RAY KELLY The stage of the Woodstock Opera House will be dedicated in honor of Orson Welles next month. The ceremony will take place on February 10 at 2 p.m., according to Woodstock Celebrates, Inc., which is planning events to honor Welles in 2014 and 2015. The nonprofit group spearheaded the dedication effort. The […]
“War of the Worlds: The True Story,” filmmaker Timothy Hines’ ambitious faux documentary about a Martian invasion, has drawn opposing views from two prominent West Coast critics. The film opened in select theaters on October 30, but has only recently gained notices from the Hollywood press as the Pendragon Pictures release now plays in Los […]
The East Village’s latest bar is the kind of watering hole where would-be Holly Martins can order up a Harry Lime while zither music plays in their head. Located at 116 Avenue C near 7th Street in the Big Apple, The Third Man takes its name from the classic 1949 Carol Reed thriller starring Orson […]
“An Adventure Shared By Desperate Men (That Finally Came to Nothing)” will be published in winter 2013 by St. Martin’s Press.
By RAY KELLY Newstalk 106-108 FM, Ireland’s independent national radio station, will feature an hour-long look at the life and career of Orson Welles on Sunday, December 9. Included on the award-winning “Talking History” broadcast will be Welles’ oldest daughter, Chris Welles Feder. “Talking History,” hosted by Trinity College Dublin’s Patrick Geogheagan, airs at 7 […]