By RAY KELLY
Orson Welles was the consummate talk show guest, whether he was bantering with Johnny Carson, telling stories to Dinah Shore or performing sleight of hand before Merv Griffin.
In the late 1970s — after routinely be called in to guest host for Merv or Johnny — Welles considered hosting his own series. He shot a pilot, The Orson Welles Show, which went unsold and has been seen only in poor quality bootlegs. Now, his estate has secured the rights to that pilot in hopes of making it commercially available.
For years, the pilot had been safeguarded against online piracy by Stanley Sheff, who worked on the editing of The Orson Welles Show and says he also directed some scenes. (The credited director is G.O. Spelvin, a sly reference to the long-standing theatrical credit used to conceal an identity.)
“Clips were appearing on YouTube with alterations that portrayed Orson in a bad light,” Sheff told Wellesnet. “As editor and co-director, I was able to register the copyright and have YouTube take down the clips. The registration is now held by the Orson Welles estate and I’ve heard the show may be available to view in the near future.”
Beatrice Welles, who manages her father’s estate through Orson Welles, LLC, is working with Reeder Brand Management to secure the rights to other fabled Welles projects as well for possible release on either home video or streaming platforms.
“Welles embraced all mediums in the true renaissance-style,” said David Reeder, whose RBM also represents such iconic names as Alfred Hitchcock, Evel Knievel, Chris Farley, Charles Bronson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. “My focus in trying to re-acquire rights to some of the many diverse projects he was involved with is to protect both the asset and his considerable legacy.”
Beatrice Welles, who accompanied her father on some of his talk show appearances, recalled his fascination with television as a means to connect with a much larger and diverse audience.
“He found it to be an extraordinary medium, because it came into your home versus you paying money to go see something in a theater,” she said. “He loved the interaction, the spontaneity of TV — none of which could be done on celluloid or theater.”
Given Welles’ amazing achievements in radio, stage and film, his television work is often overlooked. In the 1950s, he directed the Peabody Award winning The Fountain of Youth for Desilu and Viva Italia / Portrait of Gina for ABC, as well as the British television series Orson Welles’ Sketch Book and Around the World with Orson Welles.
Shot two decades after those efforts, The Orson Welles Show pilot ran 75 minutes and was intended for a 90-minute commercial time slot. Guests included Burt Reynolds, then the world’s top box office draw; and Muppet wizards Jim Henson and Frank Oz. (Welles also worked in a bit of magic with an assist from Police Woman star Angie Dickinson.)
The celebrity guest roster reflected Orson Welles’ tastes, according to Beatrice Welles. He enjoyed a close friendship with Reynolds and had brought him to Sedonza, Arizona, during the 1970s to meet with wife, Paola, and youngest daughter. As for the Muppets, she said, the legendary filmmaker was “completely taken by them” from the start and likely included them in an attempt to better connect with family viewers.
Orson Welles, cinematographer Gary Graver, assistant cameraman Michael Little, key grip Michael Stringer and Sheff began shooting the pilot in September 1978. It was completed the following year.
“The Burt Reynolds segment was (videotaped using) three cameras. The Jim Henson / Frank Oz was two cameras,” Sheff recalled. “We used a film camera for re-shoots. I explained to Orson that video was 30 fps and film 24 fps. If you intercut the two formats it would be noticeable. He said nobody would notice, but I think it looks strange. Some of the inserted footage was used to provide an editing transition where Orson would ask a question to provide a bridge into an unrelated topic. We used a stand-in for a few Burt Reynolds over-the-shoulder shots. All of the magic tricks were single camera film.”
Shot at KCOP-TV in Hollywood and 1041 Production Studios, the audience included movie director Joe Dante, editor Mark Goldblatt, film historian Joseph McBride and critic Todd McCarthy. (McBride tells Wellesnet he has seen hours of Reynolds outtakes from the pilot in the Munich Film Museum collection.)
Sheff, who went on to direct the documentaries Amos ‘n’ Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy and Vincent Price: The Sinister Image, as well as the acclaimed B-movies sendup Lobster Man From Mars, has warm memories of working with Welles.
“One of the most interesting experiences happened when Roger Hill, Orson’s school teacher, came to visit. Orson suddenly became the pupil and Roger the teacher. Orson truly loved that man. We ended up putting Roger in the show,” Sheff recalled. “Another great memory was when Peter Bergman of the Firesign Theater entered the editing room to get his briefcase. He had used the room before we began our work for the day. He tried not to bother us, but Orson could not work if someone was standing behind him. He turned to Peter and in his most dramatic Shakespearean bellow told Peter to ‘Shoo! Get out!’ Peter dashed out in shock. Orson turned to me, chuckled, and then said, ‘I love doing that’.”
Considerable effort went into getting the pilot ready for sale with Sheff working on a first edit while Welles was out of town.
“When he saw it, he said it was great — if we were doing the Tonight Show, but it’s not what he wanted,” Sheff said. “We started over and a little under a year later we finished it… The opening 90 seconds of The Orson Welles Show had over 20 different versions. The seven-minute Muppets segment took over a month — eight hour days, six days a week — to edit with numerous re-shoots.”
Although Welles was an occasional guest host on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and the Merv Griffin Show, he was unable to find a network or syndicator interested in his proposed talk show.
“Orson told me he heard back from CBS about the show. He said, ‘CBS said our show is too weird for the May sweeps, whatever that means.’ I explained to him that sweeps were a rating period for network pilots. He got a good laugh out of it,” Sheff recalled. “I don’t think it was weird, but it was not your typical talk show. It’s more like a cinematic portrayal of a talk show directed by Orson Welles.”
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