Comments

Orson Welles was the archetypal ‘enfant phenomenon,’ a major theatrical star by his early 20’s whose meteoric rise to pre-eminence crystallised on Halloween night 1938, with a live radio production that would scare the living daylights out of his native America.

CBS had been sufficiently impressed with Welles’s turn as Lamont Cranston in ‘The Shadow’ on radio, to offer his Mercury Theatre group of players an hour-long weekly show to do essentially, whatever the hell took Orson’s fancy. Taking his cue, he would stage a radio play adapted from H.G. Wells’ ‘War Of The Worlds,’ framing the story of an alien invasion so that it sounded like an emergency broadcast interruption of regular programming. There was panic in the streets. with some people contemplating suicide, instead of being brutally murdered by one of those heat-rays reportedly rendering many asunder, as described on the radio.

Falling in line with the impeccibly brilliant life he had led thus far, RKO Pictures gave Orson the best contract ever in Hollywood history – complete artistic control. He could write, direct, cast, edit and star in his movies, without any interference from the studio. With all the genius, talent and great big brass balls he could muster, in his first attempt in a medium he was a total stranger to, Orson Welles cranked out what has been considered by many to be the greatest film ever made – “Citizen Kane.”

Thereafter, as popular legend would have it, the maestro’s career would go into near permanent freefall. I don’t agree and so time therefore, to rewrite history and get a sense of perspective on things.