merv griffin interview

[tgold]

Welles gave an interview on the Merv Griffin Show (not his last one in 1985) discussing his unrealized plan to make a film about the history of the Jewish people. Welles talked about raisng money from Howard Hughes but no one in hollywood wanted to do the project. Anyone know how I can find the interview?

[Le Chiffre]

No, but if you find out let us know. Welles's appearances on talk shows in the 70's and early 80's (especially Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson) are probably an untapped treasure trove of Wellesian thoughts and discussion. I've never heard of the project you mentioned, but if anyone gets the Movieplex channel - MPLEX for short - they're showing the Oscar-winning 1981 documentary GENOCIDE, about the Holocaust, featuring strong narration by Welles and Elizabeth Taylor. It's on real early tomorrow at 2:20 am est, and is highly recommended.

[tgold]

Yes, in many of these interviews you can really get a sense of the man. I remember seeing this particular interview and will continue to search for it. After the untimely death of his parents Welles lived for a time with a Jewish family and there began his lifelong interest in Jewish history. The Holocost was one of several films about Jewish culture and persecution that Welles narrated or performed in. Others included Almonds and Raisins, The BIble, The Merchant of Venice and The Stranger.

[RayKelly]

I have been looking for years for the Welles-Houseman reunion on the Merv Griffin Show.
Several years before his death, Merv told a columnist that he wanted put out a video collection of Orson Welles appearances on his show.
Nothing ever came of that (or any other Merv collection that I know of).

[tgold]

There is a DVD collection of Merv Griffin interviews released in 2006 entitled "40 of the most interesting people of our time." It was released in 2006 and I beleive can be purchased on line from Barnes and Noble or Amazon. The October 12, 1985 Welles interview is on line. Griffin said that Welles died two hours after the interview. I am writing a theatrical script about famous people I knew as a young man in New York in the late 1960's. Welles and Houseman were among them. The Welles interviews that I have seen are indeed a "treasure trove." Please let me know if you come across any of those magic moments.

[Glenn Anders]

Ray: That interview in which Griffin claimed to have taped Orson Welles in conversation was with Tom Snyder. It was one of the last of Snyder's programs before he retired. [Incidentally, interviews by Snyder with Welles exist, too.] Griffin said, if I remember rightly, that he had extensive tapes of his chats with Welles, 600 hours worth, made both on his show, and at his home La Quinta where Welles sometimes paid visits. It is said that the Griffin Estate controls a vast horde of recorded material, but that the recent financial downturn has given the Estate Trustees hesitation about putting them on the market. So far, as discussed in earlier Wellesnet discussions, only a "Best of . . ." album has appeared.

An interesting sidelight is that about a year ago, Griffin's son, Tony, went into court in an attempt to break the Trust. From an estate estimated in the billions, Griffin had left him living expenses of two million dollars a year, and 60% of the proceeds of the Estate, should it be liquidated. Not enough, maintained the son. He wants to control it all. I have not heard what the decision was.

Sounds like a situation, in part, we are familiar with.

Glenn

[ToddBaesen]

Quite fascinating that the many hours of talks Orson Welles did with Merv Griffin over the year, that Mr. Griffin himself said before he died was going to be a deluxe DVD release, will probably never happen now, because of the demands of the estate of Mr. Griffin and also that of Mr. Welles.

[Le Chiffre]

One website I visit sometimes is the "At the Movies" site, where all the old Siskel and Ebert reviews (and other critics) are available to watch from an online database. It would be nice if the Merv Griffin estate did a similar thing to the Griffin shows. Of course the Welles estate might want a cut from that too. Maybe a lot of other estates as well.

Watched GENOCIDE on Sunday. This broadcast was much more powerful then the GENOCIDE DVD, because it was 2.35 widescreen, whereas the DVD was pan-and-scan. Hopefully this widescreen version will make it to DVD sometime. Tgold mentioned ALMONDS AND RAISONS, which is another fine documentary that deserves to be seen more often. One could also add THE TRIAL to that list of Jewish-themed Welles works.