"A group of unpublished manuscripts including Crazy Weather, The Honorary Consul, Somebody Else, Arizona Story and Blind Window and an unfinished script by Oja Kodar with Welles edits and annotations went for just $625."
Does anyone know if these are original manuscripts with Welles annotations in ink- or if they are copies, or if they have been copied and copies exist in Welles collections in libraries?
I would hate for these to be the only copies and they're disappearing into various private collections never to be seen again!
And at $625 dollars- if they are originals- even I could have bought them and donated them to Indiana Library!
CRAZY WEATHER is at the UM Welles archive at Ann Arbor, although not in a complete state. THE HONORARY CONSUL is the 1973 novel by Graham Greene, renamed THE OTHER MAN by Welles when he wrote a screenplay for it, also at UM. SOMEBODY ELSE and ARIZONA STORY I know nothing about. BLIND WINDOW is a short story by Oja Kodar, and I don't believe the actual story as written by Kodar is in any archive, so that would be a nice catch for the guy that purchased these items. Welles and Kodar's last screenplay together, MERCEDES, was based on Blind Window.
Actually, here's AI on SOMEBODY ELSE:
The "Orson Welles rainbow machine" appears to be a reference to a script or unrealized project, potentially titled "Rainbow Machine/Somebody Else", that Orson Welles worked on during the 1970s or 1980s.
The exact nature or plot of the project is not detailed in the available snippets. It is listed among the Orson Welles and Oja Kodar papers in an archival collection, indicating that some script drafts or related materials exist within their papers at the University of Michigan Library.
The term does not refer to a physical, real-world machine invented or used by the filmmaker. Welles was known for his love of magic and illusion, but "rainbow machine" is tied to a specific creative work he was developing.
I would like to think that whoever bought these screenplays would immediately donate them to one of the main Welles collections in one of these libraries (and one museum), so that they don't end up being unknowingly thrown out when the buyer passes away.
University of Michigan Library, Special Collections Research Center:
This repository holds the world's most extensive international collection of Orson Welles archives. It houses several distinct collections, including the Orson Welles-Oja Kodar Collection, the Richard Wilson-Orson Welles Papers, and materials from his daughters, Beatrice Welles and Chris Welles Feder. These collections feature thousands of documents, scripts, photographs, and personal correspondence covering his entire career. You can explore more on their Orson Welles Papers page.
Lilly Library at Indiana University:
The Lilly Library holds a significant collection of approximately 20,000 items related to Welles's life and work in film, television, and radio. The materials include film scripts, rare photographs, letters, and legal papers, which have been used for numerous publications and research. Information about their holdings is available on the Indiana University Libraries website.
Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University:
The Beinecke Library has materials related to Welles's RKO era projects from 1940-1943, including scripts and notes for Citizen Kane, Journey into Fear, and the unfinished It's All True.
The Library of Congress:
The Library of Congress holds the records of the Federal Theatre Project, which include extensive documentation of Welles's early stage productions like the famous "Voodoo" Macbeth and The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library:
This library holds the RKO Studios Orson Welles Collection, containing scripts, contracts, correspondence, and production materials for his RKO films.
Museo Nazionale del Cinema (National Museum of Cinema) in Turin:
This museum holds unique materials like scripts, screenplays, photos, letters and even a lost novel, complementing the major US collections like those at the University of Michigan. Researchers visiting the Turin museum have found substantial, often unexplored, materials relevant to Welles' career, especially his Italian period. This collection holds a substantial archive of Welles' European working files from the 1950s to the mid-1970s,
There's also the collection of L. Arnold Weissberger (Welles's longtime lawyer)
at the Wisconsin Historical Society. It includes the original typescript
of Welles's early play BRIGHT LUCIFER, with his illustrations, as well
as scripts of CITIZEN KANE and the unmade THE WAY TO SANTIAGO.
Thanks, Joseph- I had no idea of this location's existence. I suppose it's fortunate that all the Welles material is not housed at one location, as that location could burn down. However, it would be great if, at some point, all the materials could be digitized and made available online, although I know that would be a mammoth undertaking.
