(Editor’s note: Helene Reed, a lifelong friend of Betty Hill, daughter of Todd School for Boys headmaster Roger “Skipper” Hill, published her recollections of young Orson Welles in January 1939, just months after the War of Worlds radio broadcast.
Orson Welles As I Knew Him was published in the inaugural issue of The Towers, a literary supplement by Nu Iota Pi and Sigma Tau Delta at the Northern Illinois State Teachers College. Very special thanks to Todd Tarbox, who unearthed a copy of Orson Welles As I Knew Him. He is the author of the essential Orson Welles and Roger Hill: A Friendship in Three Acts and editor of Marching Song: A Play by Orson Welles with Roger Hill.)
By HELENE REED, ’41
Recently in our newspapers we read of the radio sketch that had our nation nearly panic-stricken in an hour. The next day we all enjoyed laughing at the farce, some of us rather sheepishly, perhaps, but I imagine the producer got the biggest laugh. Nor should we begrudge him the biggest laugh, for he well deserved it. I find it convenient to set down a short tale of Orson Welles, the perpetrator of that program, as I have known him.
I live in Woodstock, Illinois, which is also the home of Todd boarding school for boys. Orson Welles was sent there about thirteen years ago by his guardian at the death of his parents. It was there I first remember seeing him in 1929 at my first dancing party at Todd. Betty Hill, my closest friend, whose father owned Todd, was standing next to me as the boys moved bashfully towards us to ask for the first dance. I remember distinctly Betty’s nudging me and whispering, ‘Don’t dance with the pudgy one. He stands on your feet.” That was Orson Welles. He stood on my feet many times after that.
My next distinct impression of Orson, other than soul imprints, occurred during the running of the World’s Fair in Chicago. After much use of the persuasive method, Betty and I had obtained our parents’ permission to go to the fair without them, providing a Todd boy accompanied us. But Mrs. Hill concluded that she would send Orson with us as he knew the “worth-while” things. We griped as only thirteen-year olds can, and Betty presented our final decision on the matter. “That won’t be any fun. Mother and Dad think he’s a genius; I think he’s nuts.” And that was our opinion of Orson Welles.
By the time of Orson’s graduation from Todd, the Hills had virtually adopted the orphaned boy. As a graduation present, he was given a trip abroad. Mr. Hill advised him to shop around, as it were, before deciding upon his future career, for his talents and interests in dramatics, writing, and painting were equal.
He went straight to Dublin, Ireland, and the Abbey Theatre, where he presented himself as a veteran actor from Broadway. For some reason, perhaps after seeing him in a try-out, the manager took him at his word and he acquired leading roles.
After a year of success Orson returned to conquer New York. Mr. Hill and Orson’s offical guardian made some connections for him, and in two weeks Katherine Cornell had seen Orson act and was interested enough to ask him to join her company. He stayed with her till the summer of 1934 when he brought a company of his own to Woodstock to open a summer theatre for Chicago audiences.
It was during this summer that my personal opinion of Orson Welles suffered a radical change. I saw Welles and his drama in various phases. Often Betty and I sat in on rehearsals, and one week we were able even to participate in the mob scenes. We watched Orson gather his company at eleven in the morning and march them down main street, practising as they went along, till they reached the old town square and the old “opery” house. Their eccentric appearances, uncut hair, sandaled-feet, extraordinary clothes, called for raucous laughs from the perennial loafers around the square, but to me it was only a setting for his genius. I had acquired a definition of “genius” since the day during the World’s Fair, and that definition was “Orson Welles.” I became his lasting admirer from the time of that first rehearsal to his last performance of the king in Hamlet. And all Woodstock half awoke to his genius the night they saw Katherine Cornell rise from the audience as a tribute to his acting after he had answered dozens of curtain calls.
It was during this summer that Orson Welles met his wife-to-be, Virginia Nicolson, whom he married the following fall. The couple spent their honeymoon on the Todd farm on the outskirts of Woodstock. For two months I again saw Orson at informal gatherings and gained still more admiration for him.
February of 1935 saw the beginning of his brilliant climb to top-ranking Broadway producer-actor-director. He is the originator of the Mercury Theater, noted for its “Julius Caesar” in modern dress. It is the radio view of Mercury Theater that succeeded in startling its public three weeks ago.
This, perhaps, has been a very vague biographical sketch of Orson Welles; for a complete biography would be a volume of vivid and interesting impressions that almost everyone would appreciate and enjoy. The reading of such a volume has been an actual experience for me. To Orson Welles, I owe a fuller appreciation of good drama and acting. And during vacation I have a fresh enjoyment in store in meeting the comparatively new addition to the Welles family. I hope she can be half the genius her father is.
Related stories
• Todd Tarbox on ‘Orson Welles and Roger Hill: A Friendship in Three Acts’
• Roger Hill’s daughter recalls Orson Welles at the Todd School for Boys
• ‘Marching Song’ was first flowering of Orson Welles’ liberal social consciousness