ORSON WELLES 1915-1985

1. ORSON WELLES 1915-1985 • Mad Genius of Theatre and Film • Born in Wisconsin • Little to no formal education • Left America at 17 and acted on the Irish and English Stage • Self educated and self-taught • Stage Magician as well as actor • Director, Actor, Writer, Designer • Great site of pictures and information: http://hollowaypages.com/welles.htm

2. Quotes from Orson about Art and Creating • “A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.” • “A good artist should be isolated. If he isn't isolated, something is wrong.” • “Create your own visual style... let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others.” • “I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.” • “In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” Now we sit through Shakespeare in order to recognize the quotations.

3. Great Advice about Directing • “I want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they won't contribute anything themselves. Give them just a suggestion and you get them working with you. That's what gives the theater meaning: when it becomes a social act.” • “If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.”

4. More quotes about Art and Creating • “The director is simply the audience. So the terrible burden of the director is to take the place of that yawning vacuum, to be the audience and to select from what happens during the day which movement shall be a disaster and which a gala night. His job is to preside over accidents.” • “The essential is to excite the spectators. If that means playing Hamlet on a flying trapeze or in an aquarium, you do it.” • “The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.” • “The laws and the stage, both are a form of exhibitionism.” • “Now we sit through Shakespeare in order to recognize the quotations.”

5. Quotes about life and himself • “Gluttony is not a secret vice.” • “I don't pray because I don't want to bore God.” • “I don't say that we ought to all misbehave, but we ought to look as if we could.” • “I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts.” • “I have a great love and respect for religion, great love and respect for atheism. What I hate is agnosticism, people who do not choose.” • “I started at the top and worked my way down.” • “If there hadn't been women we'd still be squatting in a cave eating raw meat, because we made civilization in order to impress our girlfriends.” • “My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.”

6. MACBETH • Produced on stage in 1936- in Harlem (when Welles’ was only 20!) • Cast entirely of African-American Actors (professionals and amateurs alike) • Set in Haiti- used a Voodoo subtext. Incorporated dancing, drumming and other primitive motifs. • Financed by the WPA ( Works Progress Association-American Government) • For more information:http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fedtp/ftsmth03.html

7. JULIUS CAESAR • Produced on stage in 1937 (Welles was 22!) • Used a contemporary “Fascist” motif- visually inspired by Hitler’s commissioned documentary THE TRIUMPH OF THE WILL (1935) • Also financed by the WPA • Besides Directing, Welles also acted and designed. • For more information: http://hollowaypages.com/welles.htm

8. THE MERCURY THEATRE • While still in his early 20’s, Welles founded and became the artistic director of THE MERCURY THEATRE- a radio show devoted to producing original scripts (often penned by Welles himself) • Welles’ rich, baritone voice lent itself immediately to radio • Mercury Theatre lasted from 1937 well into the War Years.

9. THE WAR OF THE WORLDS • First broadcast on Halloween in 1938. • Caused widespread panic across the nation. • People actually thought the broadcast was real and that Martians were attacking America. • Welles treated the program like a news program- constantly interrupting “regular scheduled programming” to give “live remote news reports”.

10. CITIZEN KANE -1941 • Directed and co-written by Orson Welles who also acted as “Charles Foster Kane” • Welles controlled EVERY creative aspect of the film • Film gave rise to the theory of “Auteurism” the theory that the DIRECTOR is the ultimate creative force or author behind a film. • Revolutionized how films are made and how stories are told. • As ON THE WATERFRONT is to actors, CITIZEN KANE is to directors.

11. A few key points to KANE’S narrative structure • Film does not completely unfold in linear time. • Much of the film is told through flashbacks. • Film also uses a Multi-Genre approach to telling the story: Fake newsreels, interviews, newspaper headlines as well as staged scenes • Film operates as a mystery – a puzzle (literally and figuratively) – as it is told from a variety of points of view (several people putting together a picture of one man’s life.)

12. A few visual elements to look for • The stark and heavy contrast of black and white. • The use of shadows (mysteries) and light (illumination?) • Bands of dusty light (a carry over idea from Welles’ production of JULIUS CAESAR) • Back lighting • Deep focus • Careful composition • Symbolism (puzzles, pieces, roses, etc.) • The multi-reflecting mirror (many points of view) a Welles hallmark- repeats it in other films • Many many other things

13. Just a few narrative innovations • Multiple Montages • Temporal (narrative time) flexibility • Multiple Flashbacks (frequent flashbacks within flashbacks.

14. Cinematographer – Greg Toland • 1904-1948 • Brilliant visual composer • Specialized in black and white photography • Largely responsible for executing Welles’ vision • Other Films: • WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939) • THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940) • Many others

22. The Magnificent Ambersons -1942 • His second film, about a family at the turn of the century, taken from him by the studio RKO and completely savaged and recut. • Film contains cinematography by Greg Toland and typical (for Welles’ style) long takes and deep focus with high contrasts between black and white.

23. TOUCH OF EVIL -1958 • Perhaps his last “great” film. • Like many of his films, the studio took it and recut it without his consent. • Plays crooked policeman “Quinlan” • Actually padded himself up to look even fatter • Film boasts an expert use of camera as well as a celebration of the sordid. • Film features Charleton Heston as a Mexican and Janet Leigh terrorized in a remote and sleazy Motel (two years before PSYCHO!) • Film opens with an impressive Long, continuous take- at the time a record.

24. William Randolph Hearst • 1863-1951 • The real life model for Charles Foster Kane • All powerful American publishing Magnet- controlled a vast majority of America’s newspapers and media • Son of a rich miner/land owner • “You provide the pictures Freddy, I’ll provide the war.” • Ran for Governor and President • Built HEARST CASTLE in San Simeon

25. HEARST CASTLE • For more information go to www.hearstcastle.org • 56 bedrooms • 41 fireplaces • 90,080 square feet • 61 bathrooms • 19 sitting rooms • Several large swimming pools • Loaded with priceless Roman art and wild animals • The model for Kane’s XANADU

26. Marion Davies 1897-1961 • Silent film actress • Hearst’s main mistress • Built HEARST’S CASTLE partially to impress her and to provide a place to have parties • Hearst’s nickname for her was “Rosebud” – a specific reference to her genitalia

27. Jack Black in KING KONG (2005) • His “Carl Denham” clearly patterned off of young Orson Welles. • Obsessive, controlling, egomaniacal, pipe smoking character who is always out of money and doing everything he can to con people out of more money and time- EXACTLY like Welles. • In KONG, Denham wants to make a film about a slow descent into the wild and savage word, this is exactly like Welles wanting to make HEART OF DARKNESS as his first film. • KONG has several references (blantant and subtle alike) to HEART OF DARKNESS