To celebrate Gary Graver’s wonderful new memoir, Making Movies with ORSON WELLES, I thought I’d offer a sample of the delights it has to offer.
To start, here is the text for an incredibly detailed memo Welles wrote to Gary Graver which appears to have been written around 1972, when Welles was in the midst of editing F For Fake at the Antigor studios in Paris. As Graver explains it below, Welles sent him to Seville to shoot some second-unit scenes for Don Quixote during the holy week processions, similar to those we see in Mr. Arkadin. At this point Graver had only been working with Welles for two or three years, but it appears that Welles already had total confidence in Gary’s abilities. Of course, Welles also gave him extremely detailed instructions, which seemingly take every possibility into account. Even more amazingly, this memo concerns only Gary’s travel plans from Paris to Seville! One only wonders what kind of instructions Welles wrote for what he actually wanted him to photograph during the holy week festivities!
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GARY GRAVER: I first read about Orson making Don Quixote when I was in High School, and I ended up doing second-unit on it. It was quite a time span. But as time went on, Orson kept getting new ideas on how he could finish Don Quixote. I shot some material for the film, but it was never actually put into the picture, because it was stolen. I shot a holy week procession in Seville and some inserts of windmills, second-unit things like that. Orson’s idea was to shoot wraparound color segments to finish the picture, because he always intended to finish it, its just that he kept coming up with new angles on how to wrap it all up.
Here is the text of Welles memo. As actually reproduced in the book, it contains drawings, flourishes and many other touches that show Welles creative spirit, even when he was writing something as pedestrian as a travel memo!
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TRAVEL NEWS
“Camera Holidays with Sun and Fun”
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GARY: YOUR ROUND-TRIP TICKETS (PARIS to SEVILLE AND BACK… via MADRID) ARE SUPPOSED TO BE AT THE AIRPORT (AT THE IBERIA DESK)… IF THERE HAS BEEN A MIX-UP, AND THEY ARE NOT – THEN DO NOT GO TO SPAIN… (I have an account with the travel agency, and we are too short on cash to lay out for two round trip tickets… we have to charge them or give up the caper)…
WHEN YOU GET TO LE BOURGET TELEPHONE ME AT ANTIGOR BEFORE YOU GO THROUGH CONTROL
IN FACT—
BEFORE YOU ALLOW THEM TO CHECK IN YOUR BAGGAGE. (But put this off as long as you can without losing the plane)… I WANT TO HAVE ALREADY MADE SURE ABOUT YOUR HOTEL ARRANGEMENTS BEFORE YOU LEAVE.
HEY GUYS! (Don’t Forget to put your names down for the shuffle -board tournnament!)
IN MADRID YOU ARE WAIT-LISTED FOR SEVILLE (but they are sure you will get on the plane)… IF YOU DON’T—THEN OF COURSE, YOU SPEND THE NIGHT IN MADRID AT THE HOTEL MELLIA—the one further out from the center of town—NOT the one near the center. YOU SHOULD STAY IN THE NEW ONE WHICH IS LUXURIOUS AND WHERE I KNOW THE MANAGER WHO WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU PROPERLY…
NATURALLY YOU WILL THEN TAKE THE EARLIEST AVAILABLE PLANE TO SEVILLE THE NEXT MORNING – FROM THE AIRPORT YOU TAKE A CAB TO THE HOTEL ALFONSO THIRTEEN (“ALFONSO TRAYCEE”)
YOU KEEP THE CAB WAITING WITH THE LUGGAGE INSIDE—GO IN AND TALK TO THE CONCIERGE (THE OLDEST ONE, BEHIND THE DESK) AND THEN, BUT ONLY IF NECESSARY, WITH THE HOTEL MANAGER, IDENTIFYING YOURSELF AS MY FRIEND. (THEY SPEAK ENGLISH).
THEY WILL HAVE FOUND SOME PLACE FOR YOU AND CONNIE TO STAY. YOU TIP THE CONCIERGE FIVE DOLLARS (NOT THE MANAGER!) GO IN YOUR CAB TO THE PLACE WHERE THEY DIRECT YOU. RETURN LATER TO THE CONCIERGE TO GET FULL AND CORRECT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROCESSIONS (best places to photograph, etc.)
DON’T TRUST OTHER INFORMATION.
REMEMBER— IF THERE IS TROUBLE WITH THE MADRID CUSTOMS ARRANGE TO KEEP THE EQUIPMENT IN BOND, AND COME BACK TO PARIS ON FRIDAY MORNING.
BE SURE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO GET THE STUFF OUT ON FRIDAY… IF THERE IS THE SLIGHTEST DOUBT ABOUT THIS, TURN RIGHT AROUND AND RETURN TO PARIS AT ONCE.
Orson
Don’t forget… OBEY ORDERS!!!
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LAWRENCE FRENCH: Did Welles get offers to make films from Hollywood studios and turn them down?
GARY GRAVER: Yes, he did, but Orson was a very strong guy. He was his own producer and most moneymen in Hollywood want to be in control, and they want to control the director. So Orson was offered scripts and jobs, but they weren’t the kinds of things he wanted to make. For instance, he was offered Popeye, which Robert Altman directed, but that wasn’t something Orson wanted to do. He was also offered a mini-series called The Robber Barons. It was going to be about the financial magnates at the turn of the century, like John D. Rockefeller and J. P. Morgan. Orson preferred doing his own projects, but people didn’t want to finance them. Besides The Big Brass Ring and The Cradle Will Rock, Orson wrote a script based on Isak Dinesen’s The Dreamers that got rejection slips from studios all over town. They’d say, “Too literary,” or “not suitable for the screen,”—about an Orson Welles script! He was a tough guy, who did things the way he wanted to do them, or not at all.