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

Sun Dec 26 08:45:25 PST 2010

If it's a bootleg, wait for the real thing..it's worth it. And I've had more 
bad luck than good with a lot of those pirated movies (not that I've viewed 
them for any purpose other than research, you understand).

dl

On 12/25/2010 10:14 PM, Cary Ginell wrote:
>
> 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
>>>>
>>>>