Orson Welles, Vol I

by Simon Callow

  Lastly, friends: or rather firstly, since it was Nick Hern who urged me to write a book about Orson Welles’s theatre, and Kathleen Tynan and Leo Lerman, both untimely deceased, both dreadfully missed, who persuaded me to go the whole hog and take on le tout Orson. So it’s all their fault. Edward Johnson, musicologist, cinephile and passionate fan, supplied me with all sorts of curious information, as well as tape transfers of The Mercury Shakespeare series of records. I would further like to thank two men, Richard Holmes and Robin Lane Fox, for their influence on my approach to biography; one I know (Holmes), the other I do not; both have been beacons in my attempt to make the past live in a credible fashion. My last thought is of two women; first my friend Ann Rogers, for many years Orson Welles’s secretary (and before that, Charles Laughton’s), whose subtle and shrewd support has kept me in touch with my purposes in writing this book, and secondly, the late Peggy Ramsay. This is the first book I have written without subjecting it to her sharp eye and full heart, and I miss both more than I can say.

  Oh, and thank you, Christopher, for putting up with five years of Orson in the morning, Orson in the evening and Orson at suppertime. This book is for you.

  S.C.

  London

  January, 1995

  The author and publishers are grateful for permission to reprint the following: excerpts from Virgil Thomson by Virgil Thomson, copyright © 1966 by Virgil Thomson; excerpts from Orson Welles: A Biography by Barbara Leaming, copyright © 1985 by Barbara Leaming; both published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson: excerpts from Run-Through by John Houseman, copyright © 1972 by John Houseman, published by Simon & Schuster, reprinted by permission of the estate of John Houseman: excerpts from This is Orson Welles, edited by Jonathan Rosenbaum and Peter Bogdanovich, reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.: excerpt from an article by Orson Welles from the December 1982 issue of French Vogue, reprinted by permission of French Vogue.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

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  Auden, W.H. The Dyer’s Hand. Faber & Faber, 1963.

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  Barr, Richard, Memoirs. Unpublished.

  Blake, Nicholas (C. Day Lewis), The Smiler with the Knife. Collins, 1939.

  Bogdanovich, Peter & Orson Welles, ed. Jonathan Rosenbaum, This is Orson Welles. HarperCollins, 1992.

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  Cantril, Hadley, The Invasion from Mars: A Study in the Psychology of Panic. With the complete script of ‘The War of the Worlds’. Princeton University Press, 1940.

  Carringer, Robert L., The Making of ‘Citizen Kane’. University of California Press, 1985.

  Clurman, Harold, The Fervent Years. Harcourt Brace, 1975.

  Cocteau, Jean, My Journey Round the World. Peter Owen, 1958.

  Connelly, Marc, Voices Offstage. Henry Holt, 1968.

  Copland, Aaron & Vivian Perlis, Copland 1900–1942. St Martin’s Press, 1984.

  Corneau, Guy, Absent Fathers, Lost Sons. Shambhala, 1991.

  Cotten, Joseph, Vanity Will Get You Somewhere. Mercury House, 1987.

  Davies, Marion, The Times We Had: Life with William Randolph Hearst. Foreword by Orson Welles. Bobbs-Merrill, 1975.

  Edwards, Hilton, The Mantle of Harlequin. Progress House, 1958.

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  Fowler, Roy Alexander, Orson Welles: A First Biography. Pendulum Publications, 1946.

  France, Richard, ed., Orson Welles on Shakespeare: The W.P.A. and Mercury Theatre Playscripts. Greenwood Press, 1990.

  France, Richard, The Theatre of Orson Welles. Bucknell University Press, 1977.

  Gassner, John, Producing the Play. Dryden Press, 1941.

  Goldstein, Malcolm, The Political Stage. Oxford University Press, 1974.

  Gordon, Eric A., Mark the Music: The Life and Work of Marc Blitzstein. St Martin’s Press, 1989.

  Guiles, Fred Laurence, Marion Davies. McGraw-Hill, 1972.

  Higham, Charles, Orson Welles: The Rise and Fall of an American Genius. St Martin’s Press, 1985.

  Hill, Roger, One Man’s Time and Chance: A Memoir of Eighty Years 1895–1975. Privately printed, 1977.

  Hill, Roger & Orson Welles, Marching Song. Unpublished play. Everybody’s Shakespeare: Three Plays (The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar and Twelfth Night). Edited for Reading and Arranged for Staging. Todd Press, 1934. Reprinted as Mercury Shakespeare. Harper, 1939.

  Himelstein, Morgan Y., Drama was a Weapon: The Left-Wing Theatre in New York 1929–1941. Rutgers University Press, 1973.

  Hoke, John, Todd School. Unpublished thesis, 1934.

  Holloway, Joseph ed. Robert Hogan & Michael O’Neill, Joseph Holloway’s Irish Theatre. Proscenium Press, 1968.

  Hoogstraten, Nicholas van, Lost Theatres of Broadway. Princeton Architectural Press, 1991.

  Houseman, John, Run-Through. Simon & Schuster, 1972.

  Hughes, Richard, In the Lap of Atlas. Chatto & Windus, 1979.

  Hutton, Edward, Cities of Spain. Methuen, 1927.

  Jewell, Richard B. & Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story. Arlington House, 1982.

  Kael, Pauline, ‘Raising Kane’, the introduction to The Citizen Kane Book. Little Brown, 1971.

  Kaufman, George S. & Moss Hart, The Fabulous Invalid. Random House, 1938.

  Kazin, Alfred, Starting Out in the Thirties. Little Brown, 1965.

  Koch, Howard, The Panic Broadcast. Avon Books, 1971.

  Langner, Lawrence, The Magic Curtain. Dutton, 1951.

  Leaming, Barbara, Orson Welles: A Biography. Viking, 1985.

  Leiter, Sam, The Encyclopaedia of the New York Stage 1930–1940. Greenwood Press, 1989.

  Lewis, Robert, Slings and Arrows: Theater in my Life. Stein & Day, 1984.

  McCann, Sean. The Story of the Abbey Theatre. New English Library, 1967.

  McCarthy, Mary, Sights and Spectacles. Farrar Straus, 1956.

  McClintic, Guthrie, Me and Kit. Atlantic, Little Brown, 1955.

  Mac Liammóir, Micheál, All for Hecuba. Methuen, 1946.

  Maxwell, Gavin, The Lords of Atlas. Century, 1983.

  Meryman, Richard, Mank: The Wit, World and Life of Herman Mankiewicz. William Morrow, 1978.

  Mitchell, Blood Sport. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.

  Mordden, Ethan, The American Theatre. Oxford University Press, 1981.

  Mosel, Tad, Leading Lady. Atlantic, Little Brown, 1978.

  Naremore, James, The Magic World of Orson Welles. Oxford University Press, 1978.

  Noble, Peter, The Fabulous Orson Welles. Hutchinson, 1956.

  Nouryeh, Andrea, The Mercury Theatre: A history. Unpublished thesis, 1987. Native Son. Unpublished thesis.

  O Conaire, Pádraic translated by Cormack Dreathnach, Field and Fair: Travels with a Donkey in Ireland. Talbot Press, 1928.

  O’Connor, John & Lorraine Brown, Free, Adult, and Uncensored. New Republic Books, 1978.

  O’Flaherty, Liam, A Tourist’s Guide to Ireland. Mandrake, 1930.

  Pritchett, V.S., Dublin: A Portrait. Bodley Head, 1967.

  Rathbone, Basil, In and Out of Character. Ianmead, 1989.

  Rosenthal, Jean & Lael Wertenbaker, The Magic of Light: The Craft and Career of Jean Rosenthal, Pioneer in Lighting for the Modern Stage. Little Brown, 1972.

  Sawyer-Laucanno, Christopher, An Invisible Spectator. Weidenfeld, 1989.

  Shiaras,
David, John Deere & the Billion Dollar Plow Gamble. Privately printed, 1983.

  Smith, Alston J., Chicago’s Left Bank. Henry Regnery, 1953.

  Stern, Ernst, translated Fitzgerald, My Life, My Stage. Gollancz, 1951.

  Taubmann, Howard, The Making of the American Theatre. Longman, 1967.

  Teichmann, Howard, Smart Aleck: The Wit, World, and Life of Alexander Woollcott. Morrow, 1976.

  Thomas, François, ‘Dossier: La Radio d’Orson Welles.’ Positif magazine, October 1988.

  Thomson, Virgil, Virgil Thomson. Knopf, 1966.

  Tynan, Kenneth, ‘Playboy Interview: Orson Welles’. Playboy magazine, March 1967.

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  Welles, Orson. Bright Lucifer. Unpublished play. The Cradle Will Rock. Screenplay. Santa Teresa Press, 1992. The Director in the Theatre Today. Theatre Education League, 1939. ‘His Honor, the Mayor’ (text of radio broadcast) in The Free Company Presents … Dodd Mead, 1941. ed. David Ramon. Santa. Screenplay. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 1991.

  Welles, Orson, ed., Vogue. December, 1982.

  Witham, Barry B., Backstage at ‘The Cradle Will Rock’. Theatre History Studies, vol. xii, 1992.

  Woititz, Janet, Adult Children of Alcoholics. Health Communications, 1983.

  Wood, Bret, Orson Welles: A Bio-Bibliography. Greenwood Press, 1990.

  Wray, Fay, On the Other Hand: A Life Story. St Martin’s Press, 1989.

  Wright, Richard, Native Son. Harper, 1940.

  PICTURE CREDITS

  The page references below correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created.

  Inset 1: p. 2 above left courtesy Chris Brooks; p. 2 below right, p. 3 above left, p. 3 below Kenosha County Historical Society; p. 5 below left Hascy Tarbox; p. 6 all Highland Park Public Library; p. 7 both Gate Theatre Archive, Special Collections Department, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; p. 8 below Chadwyck-Healey Ltd and the Consortium for Drama and Media in Higher Education.

  Inset 2: p. 1, p. 2 right, p. 3 both, pp. 4–5 all, p. 6 below, p. 7 Federal Theater Archive, George Mason University, Washington D.C.

  Inset 3: p. 1, pp. 2–3 all © Al Hirschfeld. Drawings reproduced by special arrangement with Hirschfeld’s exclusive representative, The Margo Feiden Galleries Ltd, New York; p. 4 Culver Pictures; p. 6 Welles Mss. Hohenberger Collection; p. 7 all Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Margaret Herrick Library; p. 8 Personality Photo, Inc.

  All other photographs courtesy of the estate of Orson Welles.

  Index

  The page references in this index correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.

  Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 83, 93, 95, 101, 105, 146

  Abbott, George, 210, 214

  Abraham and Isaac, 344

  Abraham Lincoln (radio play), 387

  Abraham’s Bosom, 221

  acting/role of actor, 86–7, 93–4, 148–9, 260–1, 272–3, 276–7, 284, 315–18, 319–20, 328–30, 338, 339, 340, 346, 358, 364, 365–6, 392–3, 396, 408, 411, 439, 512–14, 568, 569–70

  Actors’ Dinner Club, 211–12

  Actors’ Fund of America, 152

  Actors’ Repertory Company, 287

  Adair, John, 428

  Adams, John, 278

  Addams, Jane, 9, 18

  Addy, Wesley, 439

  Ade, George, 10–11; Fables in Slang, 11

  Adelphi Theatre, New York, 244–5

  Adventures of Robin Hood, The (film), 448

  Agate, James, 564

  Age of Innocence, The, 143

  Aherne, Brian, 185, 188, 189, 193, 200

  Air Raid (MacLeish: radio play), 400

  Alexander, Rita, 496

  Alfano, Franco, 23

  Algren, Nelson, 19

  Alice in Wonderland, 102

  Alien Corn, 143

  All Alone, The, 106

  Alland, William, 208, 327, 346, 357, 364, 387, 397, 408, 428, 459, 477, 506, 513–14, 523, 545, 546

  Allen, Evelyn, 313

  Ambler, Eric, Journey into Fear, 528, 577

  American see Citizen Kane

  American Laboratory Theatre, 251

  American League of Decency, 485–6

  American Legion, 557

  American Mercury, 308

  American Repertory Company, 290

  American Theatre Council, 294

  Ames, Winthrop, 210

  Anatol (Schnitzler: radio), 387, 389, 418

  Anderson, Arthur, 312, 347, 351, 388–9

  Anderson, John, 338, 341

  Anderson, Judith, 143, 425

  Anderson, Margaret, 17

  Anderson, Maxwell, 332, 424, 427

  Anderson, Sherwood, 16, 17, 418, 555

  Anderson, Tommy, 223

  Androcles and the Lion (Shaw), 53

  Anisfeldt, Boris, 18, 19, 72

  Ankrum, Maurice, 427

  Anna Christie (O’Neill), 19

  Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare), 342

  Appia, Adolphe, 46, 92

  Apple Cart, The (Shaw), 107

  apron stage, 272, 275, 281

  Aran, Isles of, 78–80, 104, 108, 131

  Archdupe, The, 104–5

  Archer, William, The Green Goddess, 445–8

  Arena, 320

  Arliss, George, 445

  Arms and the Man (Shaw), 88

  Around the World, 386

  Arsenic and Old Lace, 553

  ‘Art for Art’s Sake’ (Blitzstein song), 292

  ARTEF (Yiddish group), 417

  Artaud, Antonin, 316; ‘Theatre of Cruelty’, 260

  Arthur, Helen, 249

  As You Like It (Shakespeare), 112

  Ash, Walter, 353, 365

  ‘Ask Us Again’ (Blitzstein song), 292

  Atalante, L’, 460

  Atkins, Robert, 92

  Atkinson, Brooks, 143, 148, 188, 189, 202, 218, 223–4, 237–8, 239–40, 264, 275, 276, 278, 282, 310, 338, 345, 355, 356, 361, 365, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 551, 552–3, 564

  Auden, W.H., 442, 543; ‘The Prince’s Dog’ (essay), 442–3

  Bach, Johann Sebastian, 291

  Badger Brass, 4, 5, 7, 8, 15

  Baer, Richard, 428, 459–60, 464, 477, 515, 520, 529, 560

  Baird, Bill, 253–4, 255, 256, 269

  Baker, Carlos, 136

  Bakst, Leon, 109

  Balanchine, George, 378

  Ball, Lucille, 480–1

  Bankhead, Tallulah, 342, 427

  Bannerman, LeRoy, 400

  Barber, Phillip, 239, 243, 265

  Barker, Harley Granville, 148, 173

  Barnes, Baron, 73

  Barnouw, Eric, 371, 373, 375, 380, 399, 400

  Barr, Richard, 377, 397, 400, 404, 429, 433, 513

  Barrett, Edith (Mrs Vincent Price), 348, 356

  Barretts of Wimpole Street, The (Besier), 141, 143, 144–5, 148–9, 153, 154, 185, 200

  Barrier, Edgar, 384, 428, 470, 503

  Barry, Phillip, 546

  Barrymore, John, 140, 150, 154, 169, 198, 241, 263, 284, 319, 424, 446, 561

  Bartholomew Fair (Jonson), 349

  Batista, Miriam, 208

  Baudelaire, Charles, 196

  Bax, Clifford, Rose Without a Thorn, 112

  Bazin, André, 50, 566

  Beardsley, Aubrey, 109

  Beau Geste (Wren), radio adaptation of, 445

  Beaumarchais, Pierre, The Marriage of Figaro, 295

  Beaumont, Francis and Fletcher, John, 159, 164

  Beck, Martin, 439

  Beethoven, Ludwig van, 292

  Belasco, David, 181, 188, 210, 214

  Belfrage, Cedric, 565, 566, 572

  Benchley, Robert, 278, 342, 411

  Benét, Stephen Vincent, 119, 555

  Benson, Sir Frank, 83, 100

  Bergman, Ingrid, 470

  Berlin, 50, 109, 1
21, 288, 429

  Berman, Pandro S., 450

  Bernhardt, Sarah, 50

  Bernstein, Edith (née Mason: second wife), 23, 65, 73

  Bernstein, Hazel (née Moore: third wife), 20, 23, 49, 73, 75

  Bernstein, Leonard, 288

  Bernstein, Dr Maurice Abraham (‘Dadda’), 13–14, 15, 17, 20, 23, 30–1, 32, 41, 47, 50, 57, 58, 61, 62, 198, 199, 514; Beatrice’s relationship with, 14, 20, 21, 31, 63, 74; Highland Park house, 47, 49, 73; legal guardian of Welles, 65, 474; moves to California, 475; second marriage to Edith Mason, 65, 73; third marriage to Hazel Moore, 73; as trustee of Dick Welles’s estate, 74, 435; Welles’s letters to, 76, 77, 79–80, 81, 86–7; Welles’s relations with, 13–14, 21, 27, 28, 30–1, 33, 34, 37, 49, 54, 63, 69, 73, 74–5, 118, 125, 126, 127, 128, 141, 142, 185, 474, 475–6

  Bernstein, Minna (née Elman: first wife), 14

  Betterton, Thomas, 178

  Big Sisterhood Association, 14

  Big White Fog, 552

  Bijou Theatre, New York, 208

  Bird, William, 278

  Birdseye, Clarence, 230

  Bitter Sweet, 83

  Blackbirds, revue, 221

  Blake, Eubie, 219

  Blavatsky, Mme, 64

  Bleak House (Dickens), 158

  Blitzstein, Eva (née Goldbeck), 288, 289

  Blitzstein, Marc, 288–302, 346, 354, 384, 386, 394, 529, 556; Christina (song), 393; The Condemned, 289; The Cradle Will Rock (operetta), 287, 288–303, 304, 345, 346; Danton’s Death, music score for, 393, 394; The Harpies, 289; I’ve Got the Tune (radio play), 302; Julius Caesar, music score for, 310, 322, 328, 332, 336, 353; Ode to Reason (song), 393

  Blossom Time, 211

  Bodenheim, Max, 16, 20

  Bogdanovich, Peter, This is Orson Welles, ix, x, 26–7, 43, 50, 87, 127, 137, 196, 234, 263, 264, 320, 329, 346, 385, 386, 424, 442, 486, 501, 503, 506, 509, 511, 514, 523, 535, 561, 565, 571

  Bohm, Adolph, 19

  Bokassa, Emperor, 222

  Boleslavsky, Richard, 251

  Bond, Ward, 460

  Bonstelle, Jessie, Detroit stock company of, 143

  Book of Todd, The 1931, Welles’s editing of, 69–71

  Booth, Edwin, 95, 109, 169, 178

  Booth, John Wilkes, 120

  Booth, Clare, 334

  Bordwell, David, 522, 523, 571

  Borges, Jorge Luis, 570

  Borgias, The, 481, 484