WELLESNET MESSAGE BOARD

1. "The Early Days" — Welles discusses a timely earthquake, first-night audiences at the Gate Theatre in Dublin, and how he came to be an actor. (First broadcast 24 April 1955.)

2. "Critics" — Welles talks about a Boston performance of Five Kings, the consequences of Percy Hammond's negative review of the Voodoo Macbeth, and a curse placed on the film It's All True. (First broadcast 8 May 1955.)

3. "The Police" — Welles relates the story of Isaac Woodard, a decorated black World War II veteran who was blinded in a brutal 1946 beating by South Carolina police. Welles first told the story in July 1946 on his radio show, Orson Welles Commentaries (ABC), and made the case a focus of his weekly broadcasts throughout September 1946. Welles's comments on his BBC-TV series foreshadow a speech made in Touch of Evil (1958): "I'm willing to admit that the policeman has a difficult job, a very hard job. But it's the essence of our society that a policeman's job should be hard. He's there to protect the free citizen, not to chase criminals — that's an incidental part of the job." (First broadcast 22 May 1955.)

4. "People I Miss" — Prompts used by actors and others; remembering Harry Houdini; observations on gender differences in the appreciation of magic tricks; John Barrymore. (First broadcast 5 June 1955.)

5. "The War of the Worlds" — The famous 1938 Mercury Theatre broadcast mistaken by many listeners for a real Martian invasion, and the consequent skepticism during the presentation of Norman Corwin's Between Americans on December 7, 1941; and the opening night of the Mercury stage flop, Danton's Death. (First broadcast 19 June 1955.)

6. "Bullfighting" — Welles tells the true story of Bonito the bull. Robert Flaherty's story was partially filmed in 1942 for Welles's unfinished film, It's All True. (First broadcast 3 July 1955.)