By RAY KELLY
With the discovery in Italy of 40 minutes of previously lost film footage intended for the Mercury Theatre’s “Too Much Johnson,” interest is high in this failed Orson Welles’ stage production.
A two-week tryout of “Too Much Johnson” commenced at the Stony Creek Theatre in Branford, Connecticut in August 1938.
Technical problems forced Welles to abandon the silent film introduction and transitions with Joseph Cotten, Arlene Francis and other members of the Mercury. It has been widely reported that the negative response from theater-goers and critics prompted Welles not to open the William Gillette comedy in New York in the fall.
However, a search of reviews and press coverage from that period has uncovered little public fallout, leading to the conclusion that audience reaction was a deciding factor.
An article in the Branford (Conn.) Review, proclaimed that interest in the comedy was strong as the second week began.
“Because of the landslide of reservations pouring into the box office of the Stony Creek Theatre, ‘Too Much Johnson,’ produced by the famed Mercury Theatre and directed by Orson Welles, will be held over for a second week at the summer theatre.”
The prose is so laudatory, the reader has to wonder if Welles penned it himself. It continues, “It is interesting to note that everything the Mercury Theatre touches turns to gold for in their only summer theatre appearance in their history, the renown theatrical organization has been the big hit of the summer theatre season… New York is waiting eagerly to see ‘Too Much Johnson,’ the first full production of the Mercury Theatre which Stony Creek is seeing prior to it Broadway opening, September 26th.”
The New York Times would report on Sept. 14 that the Broadway opening would be delayed until Oct. 24, citing pressures on Welles and unattributed claims of casting difficulties. By mid October, the Times stated a planned Nov. 14 opening would be delayed. The Mercury production never opened on Broadway.
A search for press reviews of the two-week tryout at the Stony Creek Theatre has found no evidence that critics from the New York Times, New Haven Register or Hartford Courant reviewed “Too Much Johnson.”
In a brief review of the production – which omits any mention of the cast and focuses solely on Welles – the Branford Review wrote:
“The Mercury Theatre has done it again with ‘Too Much Johnson,’ and New Yor kwill be intrigued with this very different presentation of a great American farce. Orson Welles, who has received the top commendation by the New York critics of any director who has ever staged a play on the New York stage, directed the William Gillette play with all the flair and originality of the superb theatre technician that he is.”
He uses rhythmic motion and dialogue in spots to gain unexpected humnor, many doors in various sets for hurried comic entrances and exits, unusual costumes and trick lighting, shades and nuances of all sorts to bring out qualities in the play that very few, if any, directors would see. Watching all thse things in a Mercury Theatre play directed by Orson Welles, one realizes how well earned the superlatives are that the New York critics heaped upon the young, 24 year old director.”
What audiences thought remains a mystery.
The restored silent film footage intended for “Too Much Johnson” will have its world premiere Oct. 9 at Pordenone, Italy’s silent film fest Le Giornate del Cinema Muto. The U.S. premiere will take place a week later in Rochester, N.Y., at the George Eastman House on Oct. 16.
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