Young Orson: The Years of Luck and Genius on the Path to Citizen Kane (120 page)

Sarah Bernhardt in
Les Cathédrales
,
Chicago Tribune
, May 19, 1918. “Touched the hand of . . .” and “a sort of imitation musical Wunderkind” from Bogdanovich,
This Is Orson Welles.
“The most fashionable apartment . . . ,” DCW quotes here and elsewhere, unless otherwise noted, are from Noble,
The Fabulous Orson Welles.
Marian Wilson Kimber’s book
Feminine Entertainments: Women, Music, and the Spoken Word
is forthcoming from the University of Illinois Press. “She had to kill my act . . .” from Chris Welles Feder,
In My Father’s Shadow.
I am indebted to Peter Tonguette and his book
Orson Welles Remembered
, and to James Naremore and Jim Steinmeyer for bolstering my knowledge of magic tricks and history. Additionally I drew from several of Steinmeyer’s books and from Maurice Zolotow, “Unforgettable Orson Welles,”
Reader’s Digest
, December 1986. “I idolized him” from Jim Steinmeyer,
The Last Greatest Magician in the World: Howard Thurston
(Tarcher, 2011). The Louis K. Anspacher dinner is reported in
Chicago Tribune
, April 13, 1922. “While I prayed . . .” from Tarbox,
Orson Welles and Roger Hill.
Michael Atkinson first propounded the theory that Charles Foster Kane’s real father was “the unseen deadbeat boarder” named “Fred Graves” in the published script of
Citizen Kane
: see Atkinson, “Revisiting Rosebud: The Mystery of Mrs. Kane” (movingimagesource.us, 2013). “He [Bernstein] left Kenosha . . . ,” is from Leaming,
Orson Welles.
“The word genius was whispered . . .” from Leaming,
Orson Welles.
“Even when some are cut . . .” from Edward Moore,
Chicago Tribune
, August 13, 1922, roundup of the Ravinia season. Bill Doll, “Ashton Stevens,”
Theatre Arts
, July 1951, helped with biographical background.

Chapter 4:
1922–1926

Details of BW’s appearances in Milwaukee come from
Art Bulletin
(a Milwaukee Art Institute publication) and scrapbooks in the Milwaukee Art Museum archives. “Very modern compositions . . .” and “Her interest at the present time . . .” from publicity in
Milwaukee Evening Sentinel
, January 28, 1923. “I try to be a Christian . . .” from Eric David’s article on Welles and religion,
Christianity Today
, May 19, 2009. The account of BW’s “interpretative concert” from
Milwaukee Journal
, November 16, 1923, “Of the most delicate and colorful imagination . . .” from Catherine Pannill Mead’s obituary for BW,
Milwaukee Evening Sentinel
, May 12, 1924. OW talked about his mother’s penchant for practical jokes and mischief-making on the
David Frost Show
, May 12, 1970: its transcript has been posted by www.wellesnet.com. OW’s faux memoir,
Paris Vogue
, December 1983, was made available in English as “A Brief Career as a Musical Prodigy,” www.wellesnet.com.

“ ‘The Shadow’ was born . . . ,” “something of a masterpiece . . . ,” and “discoursed intelligently . . .” from Noble,
The Fabulous Orson Welles.
“Emily Watson introduced me . . . ,” “He drew a circle on a blackboard . . . ,” “We’ve known each other . . . ,” and “I persistently pretended . . . ,” from Tarbox,
Orson Welles and Roger Hill.
“I
was
my mother . . .” from Leaming,
Orson Welles.
“Shock of black hair . . .” from Charles Higham’s interview with Agnes Moorehead,
Film Digest
no. 21 (Australia), curiously left out of his biography of Welles. OW told slightly varying versions of his several encounters with Houdini; I have favored Jim Steinmeyer’s books, which quote Welles from the author’s conversations with him. Frederick J. Garner is cited from Noble,
The Fabulous Orson Welles.
Lowell Frautschi is from “Camp Indianola and Orson Welles, Boy Genius: A Memoir,”
Wisconsin Academy Review
, Winter 1994–1995, and from “The Profile” (of Frautschi),
Wisconsin State Journal
, June 27, 1943. OW’s summer camp poem (“
From out of the dark and dreary night . . .”
) is extracted from the 1939 special edition of
Campers’ Trail
among Marjorie Kantor’s papers at the Wisconsin State Historical Society in Madison. “Wonderful city” from Joseph McBride’s interview with OW,
Wisconsin State Journal
, September 14, 1970, referenced in McBride,
What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?
Stanley Custer’s papers are at the Wisconsin Historical Society along with those of journalist Frank Custer, who wrote about his brother’s boyhood friendship with OW and Welles’s time in Madison on several occasions in the
Capital Times
, recapping those articles on the occasion of OW’s death on October 25, 1985. “From my earliest childhood . . .” from Leaming,
Orson Welles.
“A squat little man . . .” from Steinmeyer,
Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear
(Carroll and Graf, 2003).

“Quite a large and discerning . . .” from Noble,
The Fabulous Orson Welles.
“Eastern oysters and Western trout” from OW’s piece in
Paris Vogue
, 1983. “I chased him into the hotel . . .” from Higham’s
Orson Welles.
Henry C. Warner is quoted from Noble,
The Fabulous Orson Welles.
Annetta Collins’s reminiscences are from her tape recording among Todd School oral histories in the McHenry County Historical Society. Notes of Roger Hill (RH) on young OW’s “genius” score on the Binet-Simon test were supplied to the author by Todd Tarbox, who described them as “typed and taped by my grandfather on the outside of one of his ‘Orson’ files.” OW mused on “genius” in Michel Mok, “Orson Welles, Who Puts Shakespeare’s Romans in Fancy Duds, Discusses Ruffians, Past and Present,”
New York Post
, November 24, 1937.

Chapter 5:
1926–1929

“A paradise for boys” from Feder,
In My Father’s Shadow.
“I hear we’ve got another . . .” from Leaming,
Orson Welles.
Unless otherwise noted, John Dexter is quoted from
Reunion 2005 Stories
, a Camp Tosebo Clubhouse CD recording supplied to the author by Daniel and Caryl Lemanski. “Rather too much hair . . . ,” “A terrific show,” and “No doubt my fascination . . .” from Tarbox,
Orson Welles and Roger Hill.
“When he finished with me . . .” from Callow,
Orson Welles.
“Was always trying to get some money . . .” is from the transcript of Leaming’s interview with RH, February 19, 1983, supplied to the author by Todd Tarbox. Issues of
The
Red & White
courtesy of Tarbox. “My great pal . . .” from the full OW-RH telephone transcripts. “In many a school . . .” from the Leaming-RH transcript.

“One of those lost worlds . . . ,” and “a childhood in the last century . . .” from Bogdanovich,
This Is Orson Welles.
“How easily words flowed . . .” is from Hill,
One Man’s Time and Chance.
“One of the sexiest pictures . . .” from the OW-RH phone transcripts. “Our sunshine . . .” from OW’s eulogy for Hortense Hill, cited in Feder,
In My Father’s Shadow.
“Try to build a mountain . . .” from the OW-RH transcripts. The local newspaper reports I consulted for coverage of the Sheffield fire include “Sheffield Hotel at Grand Detour Burned Today,”
Dixon Evening Telegraph
, May 14, 1928; “Historic Inn at Grand Detour Burned,”
Freeport Journal-Standard
, May 14, 1928; and “Grand Detour Hotel Destroyed by Fire,”
Ogle County Republican
, May 17, 1928.

“Thirteen-year-old dramatic critic . . .” from
Highland Park News
, July 6, 1928. “Hitting the High Notes,” young OW’s column, is quoted from
Highland Park News
, July 6, July 13, July 20, July 27, and August 3, 1928. “I have so many happy memories . . .” from OW’s undated 1970s letter to Ruth Miller (UM). For history and context of the Goodman Theatre I drew on James S. Newell’s authoritative PhD thesis, “A Critical Analysis of the Kenneth Sawyer Goodman Memorial Theatre and School of Drama, Chicago, Illinois, 1925–1971” (Wayne State University, 1973). “As Cassius, I killed Caesar . . .” from
New York Post
, November 24, 1937. “For God’s sake, Roger . . .” from Tarbox,
Orson Welles and Roger Hill.
MAB’s letter to young OW, May 21, 1930, is in the Lily Library collection. “Third rate, almost bumming” from OW’s first “travel talk,” reported in
Woodstock Daily Sentinel
, March 25, 1930. “I was, however, not a wunderkind . . .” from Leaming,
Orson Welles.
“I was just becoming interested . . .” from the “Revisiting Vienna” episode of the British television series
Around the World with Orson Welles
, 1955.

Chapter 6:
1929–1931

Young OW’s “running fight” with Coach Roskie, his wariness of homosexual classmates, his flirtations with town girls (“Barking and yelling”), his attempted escapes from “the main part of the prison,” RH’s defense of him before the faculty, and the headmaster’s children’s resentment of OW: all from the OW-RH phone transcripts. “Was a good kid . . .” from Callow,
Orson Welles.
“Constant play going of this sort . . .” from
Woodstock Evening Sentinel
, February 24, 1930. The MAB–Edith Mason “rift” precipitated by young OW from
Chicago Tribune
, January 4, 1930. Details of the divorce proceedings, including Mason’s complaint that MAB often boasted of “his feminine conquests,” were reported on the front page of the
Chicago Herald and Examiner
, May 5, 1931. “Inklings” ran in the
Highland Park News
, June 20, July 4, August 1, and September 5, 1930. “Find a drink that wouldn’t . . .” and “I’ll never forget . . .” from Feder,
In My Father’s Shadow.
“That was the last . . .” from Leaming,
Orson Welles.
“A funny little fellow . . .” from the OW-RH phone transcripts. “If you had a lead . . .” (Hascy Tarbox) and “Keep it moving! . . .” (John Dexter), both quoted in Callow,
Orson Welles.
“His father would come . . .” from the Leaming-RH transcript. “Usually pretty heavily cocked . . .” from Leaming,
Orson Welles.
Ashton Stevens (AS), “A Column or Less,” his first piece about young OW,
Chicago Herald and Examiner
, November 11, 1930. “I admire him for that . . .” from the OW-RH phone transcripts. “Old-timers in the industry . . .” from
Automobile Topics
, March 7, 1931. “Dr. Bernstein Made Guardian of Rich Boy” from
Chicago Herald and Examiner
, January 3, 1931. “Enormously likable and attractive . . . ,” from Kenneth Tynan’s interview with Welles,
Playboy
, March 1967, included in Estrin,
Orson Welles Interviews.
“Momentarily, false gods” from Leaming,
Orson Welles.
“I couldn’t let them down . . .” from Feder,
In My Father’s Shadow.
“China and Japan,” OW’s talk, is in
Woodstock Evening Sentinel
, January 20, 1931.

“A falling-to-pieces one-volume . . .” from France,
The Theatre of Orson Welles.
“The most outstanding affair . . .” from
Woodstock Daily Sentinel
, June 10, 1931. OW’s 1930–31 report card is in the Lilly Library. “At Todd, the guy was really . . .” from the Camp Tosebo reunion recording. “It was only at Todd . . .” from Feder,
In My Father’s Shadow.
“I remember we sat down . . .” is from the Leaming-RH transcript. RH’s letter of September 6, 1931, to Clyde Tull at Cornell College is posted at www.lettersofnote.com. Young OW’s initial
Billboard
advertisement from Hill,
One Man’s Time and Chance
; the second from Callow,
Orson Welles.
“Under his wing . . .” from the RH-Tull letter. Welles’s letter of August 1931 to RH, announcing his trip to Ireland, from France,
The Theatre of Orson Welles.

Chapter 7:
1931–1932

There are many letters from young OW to RH and MAB, and some have been excerpted or published in their entirety—for example in the books by Roger Hill, Richard France, Barbara Leaming, Frank Brady, and Simon Callow. Callow apparently saw several letters (including one describing the post–Aran Islands bicycle trip) that are absent from archives. Others survive in handwritten or retyped form at LL or UM, or both. The Ashton Stevens collection at the Newberry Library (NL) also contains copies circulated by MAB. Most lack specific dating, and I have done my best to straighten out their chronology. OW’s contemporaneous letters home, when checked against known facts, seem relatively accurate and truthful.

Orson “Ort” Wells is quoted from a letter of June 3, 1934, to George Ade, among Ade’s papers. Christopher Townley, “Galway’s Early Association with the Theatre,” from the
Galway Reader
(Spring, 1953), and the description of the Taibhdhearc Collection at the National University of Ireland, Galway, helped with the Taibhdhearc background. Mysteries shadow OW’s time in Dublin. The Gate Theatre archives at Northwestern University are extensive and helpful but sparse when it comes to OW, and there is almost nothing about the branch operations of the Peacock Repertory Theatre. Extensive searches of surviving periodicals, electronic indexes, and archival collections did not turn up any article with OW’s pen name “Knowles Noel Shane.” Trinity College in Dublin has no record of any application from OW.
All for Hecuba
is a tremendous source, but MacLíammóir also has been accused of embellishing the facts—even, on occasion, describing incidents at which he was possibly not present. (Christopher Fitz-Simon,
The Boys: A Double Biography
, published by Nick Hern Books in 1994, offers a valuable corrective.) Production records for the Peacock could not be traced; nor did the Irish press extensively cover the auxiliary operation. So it appears that OW made his professional directing as well as acting debut in Dublin—but what exact play he directed, when, and to what effect, remains to be discovered.