Young Orson: The Years of Luck and Genius on the Path to Citizen Kane (136 page)

Welles with his wife, Virginia, shortly after their marriage. Regardless of his later comments, the two were very much in love. Orson always stressed Virginia’s innocence when they first met, but he was vulnerable too, and she was his salvation.

An eighteen-year-old Orson sat for the noted stage photographer Florence Vandamm for a publicity portrait that would be used for the Katharine Cornell tour and his Broadway debut in
Romeo and Juliet
; he inscribed this copy sweetly to his new wife.

Crowds at the sensational opening night of the Voodoo
Macbeth
: “That was magical,” Orson remembered in later years. “It’s the great success of my life.”

Conferring with his partner—and, at first, his loyal booster—John Houseman on the maiden Project 891, the French farce
Horse Eats Hat
.

Donning his makeup—a preoccupation with Orson from boyhood—for his defining performance as Faustus in Project 891’s 1937 production.

As Brutus (
SECOND
FROM
LEFT
) with the cast of the fall 1937 production of
Julius Caesar
. A hit with audiences and critics, it launched the Mercury Theatre like a rocket.

The Shoemaker’s Holiday
, the Mercury’s comedic change of pace after
Julius Caesar
, was its second hit. With Joseph Cotten (
CENTER
) flanked by Hiram “Chubby” Sherman (
LEFT
) and Whitford Kane (
RIGHT
). Also pictured are cast members Norman Lloyd (
FAR
LEFT
), Arthur Anderson, and Marian Warring-Manley (
FAR
RIGHT
).

Orson spent several years taking small-time radio gigs for “grocery money” before he finally got his own series to host and produce.

The Christmas card he sketched for friends, 1937.

Orson (
with cigar
) with composer Marc Blitzstein (
with mustache
) during rehearsals for
The Cradle Will Rock
. Their deep friendship tested the Federal Theatre Project—and strengthened Orson’s left-liberal politics.