By RAY KELLY
Scrolling through eBay, I stumbled across an unassigned stock certificate for a 1950s television production company — Orson Welles Enterprises.
With the online auction ending within a few hours — and no offers posted — I decided to make a bid.
I was quite familiar with Orson Welles Enterprises, which was credited with two unsold TV pilots directed by Welles in 1956: the Peabody Award winning Fountain of Youth, and Orson Welles and People, also known as the Alexandre Dumas portrait Camille, the Naked Lady and the Musketeers. The rights to Fountain of Youth are now held by Welles’ youngest daughter, Beatrice, but the print of Orson Welles and People is believed lost.
Desilu funded Fountain of Youth at a cost of $54,896, while Welles reportedly self-financed Orson Welles and People using the $5,000 guest appearance fee he earned from appearing on I Love Lucy.
The unassigned stock certificate, undated but listed as circa 1957, features a central eagle illustration with scroll border. The certificate lists share values as, “10,000 Class A Shares par value $10.00, Capitol Stock $200,000.00, 10,000 Class B Shares $10.00.” According to the certificate, Orson Welles Enterprises was incorporated under the laws of the state of California.
On the surface, it appears selling stock was considered as a means of raising money for future Wellesian television projects. However, very little business information on Orson Welles Enterprises Inc. apparently exists.
A review of California records of corporations created during Welles’ lifetime provides details on only the similarly named Orson Welles Productions Inc., formed on August 4, 1943 and inactive as of March 1, 1948. And a cursory check of various archives has turned up very little pertinent information.
Pure speculation, but Beatrice Welles and biographer Simon Callow suggested to me that forming a corporation and selling stock might have been the brainchild of L. Arnold Weissberger, Welles’ longtime and trusted attorney.
Given that 1957 was a busy year for Welles — he spent the first half of it writing and shooting Touch of Evil — developing Orson Welles Enterprises may have just fallen by the wayside.
A deep dive into newspaper clippings reveals a mention of the Dallas-based Heritage Auctions selling off a similar unassigned Orson Welles Enterprises stock certificate for $240 back in 2015.
Fortunately, I paid just $40 for this odd and mysterious, bit of Welles’ television history.
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