Orson Welles scholar Richard France criticizes Glenn Beck

Richard France, who Wellesnet readers will know as the author of two excellent books on Welles, The Theater of Orson Welles and Orson Welles on Shakespeare (that contains the text for Welles’s playscripts of Macbeth, Julius Caesar and Five Kings), has sent along this letter he recently wrote in response to the Time Magazine cover […]

The Orson Welles Library now available on Blackstone audio CD

**************************** THE ORSON WELLES LIBRARY 1. Wakefield by Nathaniel Hawthorne 2. The Red Room by H. G. Wells (with intro by OW) 3. The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad 4. The Secret Sharer (part two) Sredni Vashtar by Saki (with intro by OW) 5. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe The Way Through the […]

The ORSON WELLES MUSEUM (on the air) is now open

When you ask me if there is a movie I want to make, I have to answer in a very general way; I want to make movies —Orson Welles From a rare 1979 Yugoslavian TV Interview at The Orson Welles Museum ____________________ The Wellesnet Media audio page has now been transferred to it’s own site, […]

The aftermath: Orson Welles “The War of the Worlds” Halloween press conference, 1938

There are pictures of me made about three hours after the broadcast looking as much as I could like an early Christian saint. As if I didn’t know what I was doing… but I’m afraid it was about as hypocritical as anyone could possibly get! —Orson Welles (to Tom Snyder – 1975) ************************************************* Press conference […]

The N. Y. Daily News on Orson Welles’s “Fake Radio War”

The N. Y. Daily News has posted their complete original coverage from 1938 on the panic caused by the broadcast of The War of the Worlds. There is also a wonderful gallery of pictures featuring Welles in the studio, along with a Martian’s eye viewpoint of Grovers Mill, New Jersey. Here are some excerpts and […]

Frost/Welles – Houseman & Koch – talking about THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

Early in June, 1970 Orson Welles appeared as a guest on The David Frost Show and gave the comments below to Sir David about his 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast. Later that same month, Welles was a guest host on the Frost Show and talked to (among others) these famous luminaries: Duke ELLINGTON, Louis […]

70 years ago Orson Welles’s THE WAR OF THE WORLDS radio show panicked America – By Ray Kelly

Here is Wellesnet member Ray Kelly’s article recalling The War of the Worlds radio broadcast, from the Springfield, Mass. Republican. There are additional pictures and sound clips at this link: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/70_years_ago_war_of_the_worlds.html To introduce Ray’s piece, here is Welles’s famous closing speech from the broadcast: _______________________________________ ORSON WELLES: This is Orson Welles, ladies and gentlemen, out […]

“War of the Worlds” Investigated

Public radio station KQED in California is presenting a radio show looking at the history of the infamous “War of the Worlds” episode of The Mercury Theater on the Air. The show will be presented twice, once tomorrow (2/16) at 1 PM, and on 2/20 at 8 PM (these are Pacific times, by the way). […]