Orson Welles: The Rise and Fall of an American Genius

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Summary: Welles
Review: One thing's for sure: Higham's 1985 ORSON WELLES: THE RISE AND FALL OF AN AMERICAN GENIUS is an entertaining read.

Published just months before Welles' death, RISE determines to cut through Welles' mythmaking and debunk the legend. It is quite effective in doing so.

But Higham short-changes the last thirty years of Welles' life, and is so determined to emphasize the bad things that the overall portrait emerges as grotesque. This might not be bad if Welles was not so famously charming.

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Summary: The Rise of Welles Continues, his spirit lives on.
Review: ORSON WELLES, THE SHADOW, AND OLD TIME RADIO By Mike Ray

Before he made Citizen Kane (recently named the Greatest American Movie ever), and before his success at the Gate Theatre in Dublin, and the Apollo Theatre in New York, Orson Welles was the top Radio star of his day. Barely 21 years old, Welles was the producer and director of "The Mercury Theatre on the Air," as well as the main attraction of "The American Cavalcade," and as Lamont Cranston, the dapper man about town, in "The Shadow."

Yes it's true, Welles had "THE VOICE," but he was also a pure genius (not a term to be thrown around lightly). He had a vision for what he wanted to accomplish, and many of his Radio productions are considered (60 years later) the greatest programs the industry ever produced.

Welles believed that ones creative days are limited. So he literally conducted his life burning both end! ! s of the candle to accomplish everything he wanted to do. His typical day would have him start out at 8 a.m. with the Mutual Radio Network, and then he would rush across town to hit NBC by nine. He, and that marvelous voice would be needed at CBS to do the Shadow at 10 a.m. Then back to Mutual and continue the process throughout the day. Not only was that process physically draining on Welles, it was also nerve racking trying to make his job appointments on time. One day a co-worker (Agnes Moorhead of the Mercury Theatre) suggested to him that he rent out an ambulance and with siren blaring weave in and out of traffic to get him to the networks on time. Welles found out that it was not against the law to travel in this fashion, and adopted this mode of transportation for the next 2 years.

At night Welles would produce his own stage productions, using money he earned from all of his radio jobs during the day. Quite often his Mercury Theatre Radio team would join him in his e! ! vening pursuits. Welles and his Mercury crew produced Shake! speare's "Julius Caesar" in New York. The play was such a hit it put him on the cover of TIME. Not bad for a chubby kid from Kenosha, Wisconsin. Welles then produced Macbeth with an all black cast at the Apollo theatre in Harlem. The Apollo was not only sold out, but on opening night traffic was at a standstill for over a mile radius of the Theatre. The play was an unqualified success. Welles received rave reviews from critics everywhere.

Still on his breakneck pace, the now 22 year old sensation was about to embark on the project that would make him a household name in America. On October 30, 1938 Welles and his Mercury Theatre presented "The War of the Worlds" by H.G. Wells.

The story is about a Martian invasion of earth. Under Welles' direction, the play was written and performed so it would sound like a news broadcast about an invasion from Mars. As the play unfolded, dance music was interrupted a number of times by fake news bulletins reportin! ! g that a "huge flaming object" had dropped on a farm near Grovers Mill, New Jersey. Welles direction was so stupendous that people either forgot that they were listening to a program, or turned on the radio and thought the news bulletins were real. It caused a huge panic. People packed the roads, hid in cellars, loaded guns, even wrapped their heads in wet towels as protection from Martian poison gas.

Welles and his team of Mercury Theater players made one of the most fascinating and important demonstrations of all time. They proved that a few effective voices, accompanied by sound effects, can convince people of most anything, even an invasion from Mars, and create a nationwide panic.

But that is the power of radio. Thought provoking, exciting, thrilling, and entertaining.

As one who grew up with radio drama, I can't think of a better way to be entertained than to sit back, relax, and enjoy one of those great programs of years gone by. Especially if it's Or! ! son Welles.