An Introduction to

Orson Welles

By Dave Johnson

In the year of 1938on the eve of Halloweenmillions of

Americans all across the countrytuned into a small radio

drama seriesperformed byMercury Theater on the

Air.This is what they heard...

Intercontinental Radio News

HUGE

Mars

a flaming

object

fell from the sky!

Three explosions on the planet

A few moments laterthe musical program was interrupted once again

Claims of poisonous gas

People ran the streets with wet towels over their faces

In Newark, NJ shots were fired at water towers and windmills thought

to be the alien invaders.

Telephone switchboards were all tied up as people tried to call the police, the newspapers and their loved ones

to say their last goodbyes.

All of this commotion was caused by one young man’s amazing ability to tell a story

Orson Welles was a man of vision

Most homes did not have televisions Radio was the

most common form of entertainment

America had just come out of the Great Depression World War II

was looming and Hitler was becoming a greater threat

With the scare of the War of the Worlds broadcast, Orson

Welles gained instant fame around the globe

President of RKO Pictures offered Welles a two picture deal.

Something that was unheard of in that day and age.

After great struggle and strife Orson began work on his first motion picture.

Orson’s first film was to be titled American, and was based on the life of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. Hearst did

everything in his power to keep the studio from distributing Welles’ film.

Though Hearst was successful in frightening many of the smaller theaters into not showing the film

The film was released to critical acclaim garnering 9 Oscar nominations including:

Direction (Welles)Actor (Welles)

SoundEditing

Original Screenplay*

Cinematography

Best Picture

Musical Score

Art Direction

The greatest movie ever made!

Welles was a talent before his time

Many of his film and projects did not find the praise they deserved

until years later

THOUGH ORSON WELLES PASSED AWAY IN OCTOBER OF 1985

www.wellesnet.com

he still has great influence on the

industry even today.

I encourage everyone to check out an Orson Welles film.

He was a great influence throughout the history of film,

television and radio!

BIBLIOGRAPHY Wilson, Jeff. "Orson Welles Web Resource."

Wellesnet. Nov. 2005. Nov. 2008 <http://www.wellesnet.com>.