LIFE mag archive

[Terry]

Welles search results:

http://books.google.com/books?as_pt=MAG ... 0024-3019+

[Glenn Anders]

Hours of fun here, Terry!

Todd Baesen is already in Mr. French's photo archive deep within the cellar of the Ha-Ra Club, attempting to print out and cut up the treasures you have brought them.

From now on, when I approach the massive, clammy door to that stairwell, I shall think that a brass plaque in your honor should be added to its surface.

Thank you so very much.

Glenn

[ToddBaesen]

--

Terry... what a fabulous find!

Thanks for this link. We can now find every mention of Orson Welles in LIFE magazine, including movie ads for films like KANE, AMBERSONS, THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, BLACK MAGIC and PRINCE OF FOXES!

What really struck me the most, so far, in looking at the archive, is the LIFE piece on CITIZEN KANE. It appeared in the March 12, 1941 issue, and probably did far more harm then help in getting CITIZEN KANE shown to the public, since it may have solidified W. R. Hearst's opposition to the film.

LIFE's publisher, Henry Luce, was of course, an enemy of Hearst, so you can see why LIFE so gleefully notes that CITIZEN KANE is a "Portrait of an Egomaniac," but obviously, that kind of talk, when the film was still unseen and still in danger of being destroyed or censored, couldn't have helped calm the fears of Mr. Hearst or his minions!

The LIFE piece goes on to attack Charles Foster Kane, always specifically noting they are talking about Kane, but always bringing up the juicy bits that clearly relate to W. R. Heast's own career as a yellow journalist.

For Luce, this was obviously a great way to indirectly attack the real Hearst, saying things (at the time) they wouldn't have dared to say about him in print, directly.

Some of the key quotes from the LIFE piece that must have driven Mr. Hearst into a state of hysteria, if he did really think the film was about him, include these quotes from the article:

"A newspaper tycoon rejected by his nation"

"An embittered old man."

"A slap in the face is Kane's reply to his wife's complaint that he never did anything out of love for anybody but himself. When she leaves him, he smashes everything in her room, dies in solitude."

[Terry]

I like the photo spreads from Rio and the plays Native Son and Around the World. I'd certainly not seen so many snaps before. Almost enough to get a real sense of the staging. We're lucky such a collection was digitized, coupled with a search engine and offered online for free.

[Alfred Willmore]

In "Orson's Shadow" http://www.bigcontact.com/latw/orsons-shadow-hour-two

Orson Welles says to Laurence Olivier

" You ruined me in Hollywood in 1948"
and
'I made a movie of the Scottish Play and they told me that is NOT how you make a movie out of Shakespeare. No, you do what Larry does. and I said "You mean the way he shot Hamlet like a bad Joan Crawford Picture" '

This conflict is highlighted in the October 11, 1948 Life Magazine article Murder! Orson Welles' Macbeth‎ - Page 106

Olivier as Hamlet was portrayed as an adoring cover story in the same magazine the same year.

[Terry]

Wow, thanks so much for that link! I'd never heard this play before. I'm sure it will smack somewhat of that characterization I was complaining about, but this also sounds as impressive as Victorville and Put Money in Thy Purse... maybe Welles as fictional character isn't such a bad thing after all. And checking that site further, there are lots o' interesting-looking LATW productions currently archived. Bravo.

[Alan Brody]

Great stuff, thanks much.

[Alan Brody]

Looks like the radio show of Orson's Shadow is gone already. I had only listened to part 1 and was saving part 2 for a rainy day. I wish some of these Welles things wouldn't come and go so fast.

[Alfred Willmore]

Orson's Shadow is available as an audio CD here:

www.latw.org/Audio/detail.aspx?title=Orson's%20Shadow
It's Terrific !
I've worn out two copies already.
You can also get the LATW reading of it, un-discounted, from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Orsons-Shadow-The ... 1580812694
It's also available as an audio download here:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookse ... 0003452439

I'd be interested in writing a background briefing on it, as it spurred my interest in Kenneth Tynan and, to a lesser extent, Olivier.