Orson Welles

“The Jack Benny Show” ran from 1933 (except for a pilot in May of ‘32) until May of ‘55. One of his gimmicks was his exasperated “ Welllllllllll. ” But the Welles that concerns us here is Orson, who guested on radio program, The Jack Benny Show: 3-17-40 3-14-43 3-21-43 3-28-43 4-11-43 In some cases, Welles interacted with Benny, while in others, he guest-hosted. He would play himself in sketches, or at least a version of himself, perhaps more a caricature than a persona. He portrayed a prima dona and tyrant. In one sketch, he walked into a cafe and met an assistant to approve the script of that night’s  The Jack Benny Show , but had to first order a guinea hen under glass and a bottle of expensive wine. When the soda jerk protested, Welles bellowed “get back under that counter.” Late in his life, Welles waxed very analytical about his appearances on Benny: “I used to play Orson Welles all the time on  Jack Benny ...that’s the Orson Welles everyone thinks I am.” He

Having its turn on ABC, CBS, and NBC, this legendary radio program lived on the air from 1934-1955. Its initial format was adaptations of Broadway plays, and later it began adapting films. Lux Radio Theater’s first host was John Anthony, who played the character of the show’s fictional producer, Douglas Garrick. This convention was dropped and a bona fide star, Cecil B. DeMille took the helm. Welles entered the pantheon of elite stars of the era (Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, and Ingrid Bergman to name a few) by appearing on the show for the first time on May 6, 1944, playing the lead role of Mr. Rochester in a production of Jane Eyre. The episode was broken into two parts, with the second playing the next week. On Sept. 1 of the same year, Welles appeared in the episode “The Break of Cards” with Rita Hayworth, his new bride. During this time, Welles was occupied with his participation in the campaign to re-elect FDR and in writing political essays for various publications.

Silver Theater ran nine seasons, from 1932-1941. It was sponsored by the International Silver Company, which had sponsored previous radio programs. Conrad Nagel was the show’s director and announcer, and in his absence on Nov. 13, 1938, Welles pinch hit as the show’s m.c. and as a character in the play “Stars in their Courses,” whose star was Helen Hayes ]. On Mar. 30 of ‘41, he made his Silver Theater encore on the episode “One Step Ahead.” His first appearance saw Welles on his ascent as a stage actor and as the man behind “Mercury Theatre on the Air.” By the spring of ‘41, he was famous and infamous for the “The War of the Worlds” spectacle and had made a name for himself as a director and actor. And he had just finished shooting a film that would come out in the fall: Citizen Kane.

One of the hallmarks of old-time radio culture was its value of and celebration of the work of various contemporary and classic playwrights. Some plays were passed around like folk songs, rendered by various teams of actors in their directors in their own style. A prime example of this is the revered radio drama “Suspense,” which showcased the works of well-known authors of suspense and thriller plays. The show aired from ‘42-’62 and produced 945 episodes. It featured the cream of America’s crop of directors and actors, who brought to life the work of several great writers. One such writer was Lucille Fletcher, whose “Sorry, Wrong Number” was first aired in May of 1943, and re-staged (rather than a tape of the show simply being re-run) seven times. Fletcher also authored “The Hitchhiker,” the work in which Orson Welles starred on his first “Suspense” appearance. What’s insteresting is that Welles had performed “The Hitchhiker,” on his own show “Mercury Theatre on the Air.

What can be said about Citizen Kane , topper of Best Of lists for half a century, staple in college film courses, and buster of conventions and assumptions about film-making? No less an intellect than Welles, the boy wonder with a career on the stage before his 18th birthday and omnivore of all things artistic and intellectual, could’ve produced such a towering monument. The story centers around a gaggle of reporters chasing the meaning of the last word, “Rosebud,” of Charles Foster Kane, an iconic and enigmatic newspaper publisher. Their journey takes the viewer through a tour of Kane’s life and rise to fame and power. We see that when Kane his father and then his mother die, and the boy is sent to live with the tycoon Walter Thatcher, whose memoirs become one of the clues used by Jerry Thompson, one of the reporters investigating the origin of “Rosebud.” Kane’s relations with Thatcher were thorny, but that can probably be said of his relations with many of the people in his

Welles entered his tumultuous but illustrious teenage years before talking pictures were made. He cut his teeth in live theatre and then got into broadcasting via radio. For him, film was a frontier. It’s only fair to note, though, that his original motivation for exploring this virgin territory was to raise money for Broadway productions of such upcoming plays as Five Kings and Playboys of the Western World. He flew to Hollywood, rented a house between the residences of Shirley Temple and Greta Garbo, and signed a luxurious two-movie contract with RKO. His plan was to shoot, for his first film, an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s controversial classic Heart of Darkness . But work on this project ran aground, producing nothing. Welles also forayed briefly into an attempt at producing an adaptation of Nicholas Blake’s The Smiler With a Knife. This, too would be aborted, and according to the tired adage, the third time would be the charm, yielding the classic Citizen Kane . Bef

Citizen Kane not only went on to status a classic, essentially the pinnacle of American filmmaking, but it was also very well received upon its release. Here’s a sampling of the remarks of various newspaper and magazine film reviews: Orson Welles removes his Citizen Kane make up 1940 John O’Hara, Newsweek: “your faithful bystander reports that he has just seen a picture which he thinks must be the best picture he ever saw.” Bosley Crowther, The New York Times: “Far and away the most surprising and cinematically exciting motion picture to be seen here in many a moon.”: Howard Barnes, The New York Herald Tribune: “The motion picture stretched its muscles at the Palace Theater last night, to remind one that it is a sleeping giant of the arts.” Life: “Few movies have ever come from Hollywood with such powerful narrative, such original technique, such exciting photography.” Cecilia Ager, PM: “Seeing it, it’s as if you never really saw a movie before.” William Boehnel, The