[78-L] Me and "Me and Orson Welles"

Sat Dec 25 19:14:50 PST 2010

Here's the DVD for a buck on eBay. Can't beat that with a stick.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ME-AND-ORSON-WELLES-NEW-DVD-/110621390395?pt=US_DVD_HD_DVD_Blu_ray&hash=item19c18c763b

Film stars Christian McKay and Zack Efron.

Cary Ginell

> Date: Sat, 25 Dec 2010 18:44:38 -0800
> From: danvanlandingham at yahoo.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Me and "Me and Orson Welles"
> 
> Who was in "Me and Orson Welles"/Is this something I can get thru Amazon.com or 
> the local Wal Mart,Fred Meyer or Bi Mart here in southwestern Oregon?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
> To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Sat, December 25, 2010 6:34:31 AM
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Me and "Me and Orson Welles"
> 
> p.s.  Julius Caesar was the only one of the Welles plays to be reissued on LP, 
> on Entre, and it's seen in "Lucy Meets Orson Welles".
> 
> dl
> 
> On 12/25/2010 9:32 AM, David Lennick wrote:
> > Julius Caesar was commercially recorded, but not in the theater. Welles and
> > company did 4 "complete" Shakespeare plays, recorded by Columbia and issued as
> > "Mercury Records" (well before the Chicago-based label of the same name) on 78
> > sets of 8 to 12 discs, and there was a 5-disc set of highlights from Caesar
> > prior to this on Columbia. The latter is one of those early examples of an
> > album with a photo attached to the front cover. Most were done in New York in
> > 1938 while Macbeth was done in Los Angeles, during the filming of Citizen 
> Kane,
> > and I've always suspected from the terrible sound quality that Welles tried
> > recording it on film. I did all of these for Pearl some years ago.
> >
> > The record that is glimpsed briefly in the "First Nighter Program" scene is an
> > LP..if you get the film, slow it down. There are two other errors in that
> > scene, one of which is on the IMDB page.
> >
> > I'm still awe-struck by this picture.
> >
> > dl
> >
> > On 12/25/2010 2:24 AM, Michael Biel wrote:
> >> Because Leah and I know Arthur Anderson, the little boy who really was
> >> the lute player in the real show, we saw it in the theater.  Arthur
> >> played many kid roles in the Mercury Theater broadcasts, is on all the
> >> Let's Pretend 78s, did hundreds of other radio programs, and has lived a
> >> secure life as the voice of the Lucky Charms Leprechaun. The most
> >> amazing part of the movie to me was to see the re-creation of the play.
> >>
> >> I've heard all these years that it was in "modern dress" but this and
> >> the rehearsals in the movie do not give any clue to the surprise when
> >> you see the opening night that the modern dress was NAZI (or Fascist)
> >> dress.  When I saw Arthur in Oct I didn't get a chance to ask him the
> >> question that I think is important -- how accurate is that re-creation
> >> of the play?  We know he wasn't the type who would go around screwing
> >> Orson's girlfriend, but that aspect of the movie is all he ever gets
> >> asked aboutI and he is annoyed with it -- especially since his wife is
> >> always by his side!
> >>
> >>    I only have the abridged set on 78s but I do have the un-abridged 2-Lp
> >> set on Listening Library.  I've been meaning to see if Arthur is there.
> >>
> >> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
> >>
> >>
> >> On 12/25/2010 1:37 AM, Cary Ginell wrote:
> >>> Just got through watching "Me and Orson Welles" and I agree with David that it 
> >>>is a magnificent film. It kind of sank out of sight at the box office, and never 
> >>>came to my town, not even the art theaters, but that's probably because of its 
> >>>subject matter. The drooling teenage crowd that most theaters are courting these 
> >>>days would not sit still for a minute with something this esoteric, without any 
> >>>blatant sex or violence, car crashes, or explosions, and a plot that centers on 
> >>>Shakespeare and the theater. Talk about the cinematic kiss of death. But I found 
> >>>it to be a lovingly assembled, extremely faithful historical document of Orson 
> >>>Welles' Mercurial (pun intended) personality and the most realistic portrayal of 
> >>>what it was like to be in the New York theater during the 1930s that I've ever 
> >>>seen. Christian McKay was devastatingly good in the role of Welles. I did a lot 
> >>>of research on Welles when writing my Jazz Man book -(he is the subject of two 
> >>>chapters), and found this 
> >>>
> p
> > ar
> >>    t
> >>>    of his career ultimately fascinating.
> >>>
> >>> I was reminded of the other outstanding performance as Welles in a film - by 
> >>>Paul Shenar in another extraordinarily well-done period piece, "The Night That 
> >>>Panicked America" (from 1975) about the "War of the Worlds" broadcast of 1938.
> >>>
> >>> I thought the best line in "Me and Orson Welles" was during the tumultuous 
> >>>applause received after the opening of "Julius Caesar" when Welles quips, "Now 
> >>>how the hell can I top this?" The music was great - with Ellington, Goodman, 
> >>>Dorsey, all the bands you'd expect to hear on the radio in 1937, and it was also 
> >>>nice to hear Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven version of "The Music Goes 'Round and 
> >>>Around" played over the closing credits. There's one shot of a turntable playing 
> >>>a record - it was during the radio broadcast and the record was supposed to be a 
> >>>sound effects disc, but the label wasn't clearly displayed. No matter. The 
> >>>details of the film were marvelous and, from what I could see, perfectly 
> >>>correct, even down to the tabletop radio in Welles' apartment and the paste they 
> >>>used to stick playbills on walls and telephone booths.
> >>>
> >>> Discographical note: in "The Encyclopedia of Orson Welles," co-author Chuck 
> >>>Berg states that Welles' "Julius Caesar" was the first drama to be commercially 
> >>>recorded in its entirety - by Columbia Records, with a score by Marc Blitzstein. 
> >>>Apparently everything that was audible in the theatre production was captured, 
> >>>including dialogue, cries of the mob, offstage sounds, and conversations of 
> >>>secondary characters. Can anyone verify this?
> >>>
> >>> Anyone reading this should go out and rent this movie - it's apparently only 
> >>>been available for a few months. Target had an exclusive on selling it but I 
> >>>rented mine from our neighborhood Blockbuster.
> >>>
> >>> Cary Ginell
> >>>
> >>>> Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2010 22:26:11 -0500
> >>>> From: dlennick at sympatico.ca
> >>>> To: 78-L at 78online.com
> >>>> Subject: [78-L] Me and Orson Welles
> >>>>
> >>>> Just watched this movie tonight..I don't recall seeing it mentioned on any 
> >of
> >>>> our groups, and it's a shame because it's fabulous and jam-packed with 
> >>vintage
> >>>> 1930s recordings. Lots of Duke Ellington, which is fine by me..the music 
> >list
> >>>> will be huge and it was impossible to read. Oh, and the acting ain't half 
> >bad
> >>>> either, and Joseph Cotten looks like Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles looks 
> >>(and
> >>>> sounds) like Orson Welles. Actually this is the best Welles portrayal I've 
> >>>ever
> >>>> heard or seen.
> >>>>
> >>>> Three false notes occur in a scene at a radio station. Don't know why those
> >>>> were the only ones I noticed. (Okay, the sprinkler makes four.)
> >>>>
> >>>> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1175506/
> >>>>
> >>>> dl
> >>
> >>
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> >
> 
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