WELLESNET MESSAGE BOARD

Jeff Wilson:

The fire apparently never happened.

JBrooks:

the record seems clear now that there was a significant fire at Welles' house in Spain in the 1970s. And a number of significant Welles works were lost.

¿

And Now, Brooks, I will tell you a true story of a Welles Materials Fire that has never been told before . . .

. . . In the '60's or early '70's the man who was in charge of the RKO assets was presented a bill.

"What's this for?" he asked

"Items from Citizen Kane, we've been storing all these years."

"Logic!", he shouted. "Where's the Logic in this"
(for he is a logical man)
"I can't be paying money to store stuff from a 25 year old movie. - GET RID OF IT!"

- and so they arranged for thousands of items from Kane to be burned. . . .

. . . About a week later, he happened to visit a memoribilia store and saw a single item from Kane for sale at a handsome price.

"What's with this?" he asked the proprietor.

"Why don't you know" said the proprietor, "Anything from Citizen Kane is worth big money."

In a panic he ran to a phone and called his office.
"STOP THE ORDER to dispose of the Citizen Kane items!" he hollered.

...But he was too late.
Workmen had already tossed the Kane items into the incinerator.

What does this have to do with Moby Dic Rehearsed? Nothing. Oscar Christie/Johhny Dale/etc, pick an identity and stick with it. The others will be shut down if their use continues. That goes for anyone else posting here under more than one name., of whom there is at least one.

The story I've always heard is that when Welles moved back to America in 1970, he rented his house to Robert Shaw, who got drunk and burned down a wing, unfortunately where Welles had kept a lot of his stuff; why would Welles lie about this?

I had a chance to see the last matinee performance of the American Century Theater production of "Moby Dick Rehearsed," and it was every bit as good as the Falls Church critic said it was. The theater, though small, was packed with enthusiastic and appreciative observers, and the program included the director's informed and perceptive exegesis of the play, in which he analyzed (hypothesized?) Welles' identification with both the captain and Melville (not to mention the whale...).

I saw that production back in 1997. I thought it was very well done. Very well staged -- and with a great cast. I read that much of the same cast was back this time -- so I'm sure it was good.

Christopher Lee wasn't in the play version of MOBY DICK REHEARSED, only the film version, replacing actor Peter Sallis (in the roles of the Stage Manager & Mr. Flask).

Lee had some further comments in his autiobiography about the filming of the play:

Welles had taken a place near me in Belgravia and since he drove everywhere and would have taken a taxi to Land's End, I was deputed to drive him to and fro in a minuscule vehicle with my head touching the roof and his vast bulk under a heap of scripts theatening to burst the whole machine asunder.

He called us, as he'd probably called every other company he'd worked with, "the most talented company I ever worked with."

It was a great challenge, but when I made an extra special effort his booming voice would reach out to me in chuckling irony, "There you go again, with that fi-i-i-ne brush!" And when all went well, it was "Print - with enthusiasm!"

As always, Lawrence, a nice post. Someone should interview Lee specifically about Welles, and put out a book of interviews about Welles, or alternately put out an "oral history" of welles, such as Plimpton's book on sedgewick.

What about you, Monseur French?

Yes, I enthusiastically agree with Tony!!


Some one must, that's an absolute must, put out a book of interviews, or a collection of stories from people that had worked with Welles.


It would be fascinating to read people's recollections of the man. I would be able to see Welles through different eyes. It would be great.

Orson and Jazz:

You've nailed it: why read a whole book on Orson, say Thompson's or Leaming's, which pretend to be the objective truth of the man, when we could read a whole book of many people's opinions of the man and what it was like to work with him, or to know him, and then we have to form our own impression of him: the latter process is much more productive, I'd say- and honest.

Orson & Jazz, Tony: I would like to read such a symposium, too, but aside from a few alive who actually worked on Welles' projects like Christopher Lee, there are not many of those personalities still alive. The book would have to be made up transcripts of film biography docs (like Huston's memory of why and how Welles gave his Father Mapple performance in MOBY DICK), or collected and uncollected bits from interviews in already published books and magazines.

It may not be much of a movie, but the best fairly recent collection of such memories is Graver's WORKING WITH ORSON WELLES (1993). Besides the Boswellian Peter Bogdanovich, there are lots of anecdotes from the likes of Stacy Keach, Peter Jason, Susan Strasberg, and director Curtis Harrington. Not exactly on the same level of Joseph Cotton or Agnes Moorehead, perhaps, but very interesting, and sometimes amusing.

Glenn

Yes, that's what crossed my mind too. Many of the people who have worked with Welles have passed on.

So, I agree that the book would have to be from transcripts or whatnot.

I still would like to read their stories with Welles, whether they be good or bad recollections.


There is an infinite amount of people's accounts with Welles I would like to read in one single collection....

Start clipping and transcribing, O&J. One day will come the Year of Welles [again?], and a publisher will be willing to finance the book.

Glenn

Hey now, when did I become the delegated individual to attempt such a daunting task?


But, it does sound like a great idea.



hmmmm...............on second thought...........maybe I should embrace the challenge.

Dear Glenn:

Would you be so kind as to share your memories of "Moby Dick Rehearsed" which you saw in Leicester Square in 1955? I've just reread your memories of seeing the original version of "Arkadin", and they are very evocative; I know everyone would enjoy your recollecting "Moby" as well, as I'm sure you are the only board member to se this legendary production.

thanks,
Tony

PS: Did you happen to see "Time Runs" by any chance?